St Mary's Church, Luxborough

Luxborough is a small village and civil parish located some 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Dunster, lying amongst the Brendon Hills and the Exmoor National Park in Somerset, England. It is divided into the hamlets of Churchtown, Kingsbridge and Pooltown, which lie within a mile of each other. Luxborough, 'Lolochesberie' in the Domesday Book, means 'stronghold or hill of a man called Lulluc'. In 2011, the population of the parish was 237.

Luxborough Road (sometimes referred to as "Langham" or "Langham Hill") was an intermediate station on the West Somerset Mineral Railway (WSMR), which was built primarily to carry iron ore from mines to Watchet harbour in Somerset, England. The line was unconnected to any other, though it passed under what is now the West Somerset Railway south of the village of Watchet. The station was located west of the top of the line's most striking feature - a three quarters of a mile, rope-hauled incline at a gradient of 1 in 4 (25%). The line's seven stations were designed by Rice Hopkins. Luxborough Road was one of the five which showed a clear family resemblance. It was built in anticipation of offering the usual goods and passenger facilities, but no regular passenger service ever ran south of Comberow. Almost immediately the building was erected it was converted to miners' accommodation by adding a lean-to at the rear. By 1900 the building was roofless and without windows, having been used as a source of materials for repairing other railway buildings.

Gupworthy (sometimes referred to as "Goosemoor") was originally intended as an intermediate station on the West Somerset Mineral Railway (WSMR), but neither the proposed extension to Heath Poult nor that to Joyce's Cleeve was built, leaving Gupworthy as the line's southwestern terminus. The WSMR was built primarily to carry iron ore from mines to Watchet harbour in Somerset, England. The line was unconnected to any other, though it passed under what is now the West Somerset Railway south of the village of Watchet. The station was located west of the top of the line's most striking feature - a three quarters of a mile, rope-hauled incline at a gradient of 1 in 4 (25%). From 1876 to 1883 a horse-drawn tramway brought iron ore from Kennesome Hill mine to the station, where it was transferred to WSMR wagons. The line's seven stations were designed by Rice Hopkins. Uniquely, no photograph of the station as built has been published, so whether it resembled all the others except Watchet is not known. It was built in anticipation of offering the usual goods and passenger facilities, but no regular passenger service ever ran south of Comberow. Before it was finished the building was converted into two dwellings and has now been remodelled.

The Brendon Hills are a range of hills in west Somerset, England. The hills merge level into the eastern side of Exmoor and are included within the Exmoor National Park. The highest point of the range is Lype Hill at 1,388 feet (423 m) above sea level with a secondary summit several kilometres to the southeast at 1,350 feet (411 m). Both points are marked by Ordnance Survey trig points and are located within enclosed farmland. Early versions of the name include Brunedun and Brundon reflecting an original name of Bruna or Brune, meaning 'brown one'. Dun is a common Old English word for a fairly flat and extensive hill. This name is not connected with the village of Brendon in Devon, the name of which has a different origin.The terrain is broken by a series of deeply incised streams and rivers running roughly southwards to meet the River Haddeo, a tributary of the River Exe. The hills are quite heavily cultivated unlike their neighbouring upland areas of Exmoor and the Quantock Hills. The Brendon Hills are largely formed from the Morte Slates, a thick faulted and folded sequence of Devonian age sedimentary rocks. An east-west aligned anticline/syncline pair known as the Brendon Anticline and Brendon Syncline folds these rocks. The fold couplet is itself offset by displacement of the rocks on the NNW-SSE aligned Timberscombe Fault System. Over the centuries they have been mined for minerals, notably ironstone from which iron is extracted for making steel. During the 19th century this activity reached a peak with the West Somerset Mineral Railway, including an 800 feet (244 m) incline, being built to take the ore to Watchet from where it was sent to Ebbw Vale for smelting. The main mining operations ended when the mines were worked out towards the end of the 19th century. The hills are on the route of the Coleridge Way and are also crossed by the Samaritans Way.

Rodhuish Common is a univallate Iron Age hill fort in the county of Somerset, England. There is a small oval enclosure which is thought to be of Iron Age date.

Long Wood Enclosure is an enclosure which may have been a univallate Iron Age hill fort in the county of Somerset, England. The hill fort is approximately 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) southwest of the village of Dunster. It has been scheduled as an ancient monument. The enclosure is approximately 40 metres (130 ft) in diameter and covers around 0.15 hectares (0.37 acres). It is surrounded by a bank and ditches about 6.5 metres (21 ft) wide and 1.9 metres (6 ft 3 in) high. The original entrance will likely be a break in the bank opposite a causeway on the uphill southwesterly side. The hill fort has been damaged in recent years due to forestry plantation.

Bats Castle is an Iron Age hillfort at the top of a 213 metres (699 ft) high hill in the parish of Carhampton south south west of Dunster in Somerset, England. Though clearly shown on the 1902 Ordnance Survey 25 inch map (Somerset XXXV.14, Revised: 1902, Published: 1904), the site was "identified" in 1983 after some schoolboys found eight silver-plated coins dating from 102BC to AD350. It is on the highest point of Gallox Hill. Previously it was known as Caesar's Camp and is possibly associated with Black Ball Camp. Bat's Castle has two stone ramparts and two ditches. The ramparts are damaged in places and the hill fort is partly covered in scrub. Bat's Castle may once have been known as the legendary fortress Din Draithou, a place also associated with a fortress built or used by the legendary Irish king and raider Crimthann mac Fidaig. The site is designated as a scheduled monument.

Black Ball Camp is an Iron Age hillfort South West of Dunster, Somerset, England on the northern summit of Gallox Hill. It is a Scheduled Monument. It is also known as British Camp and is possibly associated with Bat's Castle. It has a 3 metres (10 ft) high rampart and a 2 metres (7 ft) deep ditch. At the beginning of the 20th century the foundations of a stone tower were visible however this is no longer present.

The Anglican Church of St Mary Magdalene in Withiel Florey, Somerset, England was built in the 12th century. It is a Grade II* listed building.

The Gallox Bridge in Dunster, Somerset, England dates from the 15th century. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building and scheduled monument. The bridge is in the guardianship of English Heritage. The stone packhorse bridge crosses the River Avill at the southern end of the village, below Dunster Castle at a point which may have been the limit of tidal flow during the medieval period. It was important for the transport of wool and other goods to the market within the village which was established by 1222. The name is derived from the nearby gallows. The narrow bridge is approach via a raised causeway for pedestrians, while wheeled traffic uses the adjacent ford.

Dunster Working Watermill (also known as Castle Mill) is a restored 18th century watermill, situated on the River Avill, close to Gallox Bridge, in the grounds of Dunster Castle in Dunster, Somerset, England. It is a Grade II* listed building and within the Grade II* registered parkland of the castle. The mill stands on a site where a mill was first recorded in the Domesday Book, but the present building was constructed around 1780. It closed in 1962 but was restored in 1979 and is still used to grind flour. The equipment is powered by two overshot wheels. It is owned and run by the National Trust.

Dunster Castle is a former motte and bailey castle, now a country house, in the village of Dunster, Somerset, England. The castle lies on the top of a steep hill called the Tor, and has been fortified since the late Anglo-Saxon period. After the Norman Conquest of England in the 11th century, William de Mohun constructed a timber castle on the site as part of the pacification of Somerset. A stone shell keep was built on the motte by the start of the 12th century, and the castle survived a siege during the early years of the Anarchy. At the end of the 14th century the de Mohuns sold the castle to the Luttrell family, who continued to occupy the property until the late 20th century. The castle was expanded several times by the Luttrell family during the 17th and 18th centuries; they built a large manor house within the Lower Ward of the castle in 1617, and this was extensively modernised, first during the 1680s and then during the 1760s. The medieval castle walls were mostly destroyed following the siege of Dunster Castle at the end of the First English Civil War, when Parliament ordered the defences to be slighted to prevent their further use. In the 1860s and 1870s, the architect Anthony Salvin was employed to remodel the castle to fit Victorian tastes; this work extensively changed the appearance of Dunster to make it appear more Gothic and Picturesque. Following the death of Alexander Luttrell in 1944, the family was unable to afford the death duties on his estate. The castle and surrounding lands were sold off to a property firm, the family continuing to live in the castle as tenants. The Luttrells bought back the castle in 1954, but in 1976 Colonel Sir Walter Luttrell gave Dunster Castle and most of its contents to the National Trust, which operates it as a tourist attraction. It is a Grade I listed building and scheduled monument.