The Church of St Edward King and Martyr in

Goathurst Goathurst is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Somerset, around 3 miles from the town of Bridgwater. The parish includes the hamlets of Andersfield and Huntstile. The village is on the route of the Samaritans Way South ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, England, dates from the 14th century and has been designated as a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The parish was originally part of the Royal Forest of North Petherton and its first squire owned St Edward's church. The dedication to

Edward the Martyr Edward the Martyr ( – 18 March 978) was King of the English from 8 July 975 until he was killed in 978. He was the eldest son of King Edgar (r. 959–975). On Edgar's death, the succession to the throne was contested between Edward's sup ...

is unusual; Edward was a young

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

king who was murdered by his stepmother Elfrida in 978 at

Corfe Castle Corfe Castle is a fortification standing above the Corfe Castle (village), village of the same name on the Isle of Purbeck peninsula in the English county of Dorset. Built by William the Conqueror, the castle dates to the 11th century and ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

so that her own son would become king. The church includes a 19th-century monument to three-year-old Isabella Kemeys, showing the child lying on a pillow holding a broken flower, and monuments to the Kemeys-Tynte family of

Halswell House Halswell House is a Grade I listed building, listed country house in Goathurst, Somerset, England. Descent Domesday Book The Domesday Book of 1086 lists the holder of the Manorialism, manor of Halswell as Roger Arundel, whose tenant was Wido. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goathurst, Saint Edward 14th-century church buildings in England Church of England church buildings in Sedgemoor Grade I listed churches in Somerset Grade I listed buildings in Sedgemoor

See also

References