St. Andrew's Church in the village of Aller in South Somerset where the Danish King Guthrum was baptised after his defeat by Alfred the Great.

At this time of year I thought posting about notable churches in South Somerset might be appropriate!

The village Church of St. Andrew in Aller has Saxon origins and is where the Danish King Guthrum was baptised after his defeat by Alfred the Great at the Battle of Edington in 878AD and the subsequent Treaty of Wedmore.

Today the village rambles along the A372 below Aller Hill midway between Othery and Langport in South Somerset.  The Church is on the fringe of the village, alongside the Victorian Aller Court, looking out over Aller Moor. 

Over one hundred years ago Edward Hutton in his Highways & Byways in Somerset (Macmillan & Co., 1912) wrote of Aller: “Its little church stands firmly upon a rising ground well out of the marsh, and, wonderful to relate, within is the very font in which Guthrum was made a Christian more than a thousand years ago.”

St. Andrew's Church in the village of Aller in South Somerset.  

Aller is also noteworthy as being where Parliamentarians under the command of Fairfax captured the remnants of the Royalist forces after their defeat at the key Battle of Langport in 1645.