11 miles. Starting from and returning to Bridgwater, to explore the wider landscape of Sedgemoor. However the core of the battlefield cannot be traversed by car and so one must also take the walk from Westonzoyland.

BRIDGWATER

The best starting point for a driving tour of the battlefield is Bridgwater, which was the rebel headquarters on the 5th July. From St Mary’s church Monmouth himself is said to have surveyed the landscape of Sedgemoor, supposedly with a telescope now in Bridgwater museum. While in the town you might like to take a Civil War diversion for this was an important royalist garrison stormed by the New Model army in 1645 and home to Robert Blake a parliamentarian commander during the Civil War and admiral of the Navy during the Commonwealth. From Bridgwater take the A39 towards the motorway. The modern road follows closely the course of what was in 1685 the post road to London running out across moorland along the old causeway.

Turn right immediately after the motorway towards Chedzoy village. Watch carefully for the point at which the land rises very slightly before you enter the village – you have just reached the ‘zoy’ or island (derived from the old English ‘eg’) which gave Chedzoy its name.

CHEDZOY

This is a pleasant village with a few old houses and walls of stone although most of the buildings were build in brick in the 19th or 20th century. The street is narrow and winding but there are several parking places in front of the church.

The tradition that the marks on the buttress outside the south transept were created by rebels sharpening their weapons, repeated by Clark, 1996, is clearly wrong, not least because we know they never entered Chedzoy village.

WESTONZOYLAND

If you lack the time or the inclination to walk in the footsteps of the rebel army all the way from Chedzoy you can drive south from that village to Westonzoyland. As you leave the village note the way the road winds its way across the ancient arable land past the isolated farms. After it turns south once more notice when it drops down a few feet off the island and onto the almost perfectly flat land of the former moor. At the main road (A372) turn left to Westonzoyland. As you enter the village, now expanded well beyond the confines of the 17th century settlement, the ground rises onto the main island which has given its name to both Westonzoyland and Middlezoy. It is somewhere here, guarding the direct route from Bridgwater, that Feversham had place the royal artillery on the night of the 5th July. Continue to the middle of Westonzoyland where it is possible to park on the main road close to the church. From here it is best to follow the walking tour of the battlefield.