Charlton Musgrove

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Charlton Musgrove
Charlton Musgrove shown within Somerset
Population	375^[1]
OS grid reference	ST725315
District	South Somerset
Shire county	Somerset
Region	South West
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	WINCANTON
Postcode district	BA9
Dialling code	01963
Police	Avon and Somerset
Fire	Devon and Somerset
Ambulance	South Western
European Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	Somerton and Frome
List of places: UK • England • Somerset

Coordinates: 51°04′56″N 2°23′38″W / 51.0821, -2.3939

Charlton Musgrove is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated one mile north east of Wincanton in the South Somerset district. The village has a population of 375^[2]. The parish includes the hamlet of Barrow.

The village is unusual in having two churches and two centres; the second centre is said to have originated when people fled to avoid the plague. The newer centre had no church until 1877 when a chapel of ease at Barrow Lane, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, was given by Mrs. E. F. Davies (née Leir), the widow of a former rector. It is of stone in a 13th-century style, designed by C. E. Davis of Bath, and comprises an apsidal chancel and a nave with a southern bell tower (www.british-history.ac.uk). The Leir family themselves have provided a number of Rectors to the parish.

Stavordale Priory, now a private home owned by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, is thought to be linked to the village's Old Church near the altar by a tunnel, perhaps used as a priest's escape route, some two miles in length.