Kingston St Mary

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 51.0595
longitude= -3.1072
official_name= Kingston St Mary
population = 888cite web |url=http://www.somerset.gov.uk/somerset/statistics/contents/population/estimates/2002mye/ |title=2002 Population estimates |accessdate=2008-03-08 |format= |work=Somerset County Council ]
shire_district= Taunton Deane
shire_county = Somerset
region= South West England
Ambulance= South Western
constituency_westminster= Taunton
post_town= TAUNTON|postcode_district = TA2
postcode_area= TA |dial_code= 01823
os_grid_reference= ST225295

Kingston St Mary is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated four miles north of Taunton in the Taunton Deane district. The village has a population of 888.

The Church of St Mary in Kingston St Mary on the Quantock Hills dates from the 13th century but the tower is from the early 16th century and was reroofed in 1952, with further restoration 1976-8. It is a 3-stage crenellated tower, with crocketed pinnacles with bracketed pinnacles set at angles, decorative pierced merlons, and set back buttresses crowned with pinnacles. [cite web | title=St. Mary's church, Kingston St Mary | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=270621 | accessdate=2008-03-07] The decorative "hunky-punks" are perched high on the corners. There may be so named because the carvings are squatting on their Hunkers- as in one hunkers i.e. squatting and punch meaning short and thick. They actually serve no function unlike gargoyles which carry off water. [cite web |url=http://www.quantockonline.co.uk/quantocks/villages/kingston/kingston01.html |title=Kingston St Mary |accessdate=2008-03-07 |format= |work=Quantock Online ] The churchyard includes tombs of the Warre family who owned nearby Hestercombe House.cite book |title=Portrait of the Quantocks |last=Waite |first=Vincent |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1964 |publisher=Robert Hale |location=London |isbn=0709111584 |pages= ]

They also have a local [http://kingston-st-mary.org.uk/ website] , with local activities and other village information.

References