Saint Congar and the Church Cadbury Hill fort could have been associated with the site of a Christian monastery founded by Saint Congar. The village is named after this saint who possibly was a Welsh missionary in the 6th century. He is said to have performed a series of miracles in the village one of which involved his “walking stick” in the churchyard. The remnants of this dead yew, badly vandalised in 1998, are a reminder of the story of how Congar wished for a tree to provide shade from the summer heat. He thrust his yew staff into the ground and next day it put forth leaves and afterwards grew into a wide spreading tree. In 1995 an amazing discovery of several pieces of early carved stone added further to our saints history. Professor Michael Costen has suggested that the carvings date from between 1033 and 1060 and formed part of the shrine of Saint Congar. The carvings illustrated here can be viewed in Taunton Museum.

Top: Christ Below: This could part of the statue of Saint Congar Left: St Congar’s “walking stick”

Clearly our current church, consecrated in 1215 and seen in this early post card (below), was not the first building on this site.

The church is now dedicated to St Andrew and is well worth a visit to view the number and variety of its carved heads