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Charterhouse
Charterhouse, looking west
CharterhouseLocation within Somerset
OS grid reference	ST497557
Civil parish	Priddy
Unitary authority	Somerset
Shire county	Somerset
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BRISTOL
Postcode district	BS40
Dialling code	01761
Police	Avon and Somerset
Fire	Devon and Somerset
Ambulance	South Western
UK Parliament	Wells and Mendip Hills
List of places UK England Somerset 51°17′55″N 2°43′20″W / 51.2986°N 2.7221°W / 51.2986; -2.7221

Charterhouse, also known as Charterhouse-on-Mendip, is a hamlet and former civil parish, now in the parish of Priddy, in the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in the Somerset district, in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. The area between Charterhouse and Cheddar Gorge including Velvet Bottom and Ubley Warren is covered by the Cheddar Complex Site of Special Scientific Interest. In 1931 the parish had a population of 68.

Name

The name is believed to come from the Carthusian order of Chartreuse in France, which was established in Witham (near Frome) in 1181 and formed a cell at Charterhouse in 1283 with a grant to mine lead ore.

History

There is evidence, in the form of burials in local caves, of human occupation since the late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age. A 2024 study of bones from a mass grave found in caves at Charthouse Warren in the 1970s suggests that 37 pepole were massacred in a violent cannabalistic event occuring between 2200-2000 BC.

The lead and silver mines at Charterhouse were first operated on a large scale by the Romans, from at least AD 49. At first the lead/silver industries were tightly controlled by the Roman military, but within a short time the extraction of these metals was contracted out to civilian companies, probably because the silver content of the local ore was not particularly high. There was also some kind of 'fortlet' here in the 1st century, and an amphitheatre. The Roman landscape has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

The parish was part of the Winterstoke Hundred.

Charter-House-on-Mendip was an extra-parochial ville, from 1858 Charterhouse was a civil parish in its own right, on 1 April 1933 the parish was abolished and merged with Blagdon and Cheddar.

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it was granted to Robert May who constructed a substantial house here and one of his descendants John May became High Sheriff of Somerset in 1602.

There is further evidence of mine workings in the medieval and Victorian periods, some of which survives within the Blackmoor Nature Reserve owned by Somerset County Council. There is also evidence of a rectangular medieval enclosure.

Caves

There are several caves in the limestone around the village including Manor Farm Swallet and Upper Flood Swallet.

Church

The Church of St Hugh was built in 1908 by W.D. Caroe, on the initiative of the Rev. Menzies Lambrick, from the former welfare hall for the lead miners. It is a Grade II* listed building. A cross in the churchyard and the churchyard wall are also listed buildings.

The roof-truss, screen, rood, and altar are all made of carved whitened oak.

References

1. "Population statistics Charterhouse ExP/CP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
2. Robinson, Stephen (1992). Somerset Place Names. Wimborne, Dorset: The Dovecote Press Ltd. ISBN 1-874336-03-2.
3. ^ Reid, Robert Douglas (1979). Some buildings of Mendip. The Mendip Society. ISBN 0-905459-16-4.
4. "Autumn newsletter 2007" (PDF). Mendip Hills AONB. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 November 2007. Retrieved 25 September 2007.
5. "Mendip Hills: An Archaeological Survey of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty" (PDF). Somerset County Council Archaeological Projects. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
6. Addley, Esther (16 December 2024). "Something horrible': Somerset pit reveals bronze age cannibalism". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
7. Havinden, Michael (1981). The Somerset Landscape. The making of the English landscape. London: Hodder and Stoughton. pp. 58–59. ISBN 0-340-20116-9.
8. "Major Romano-British Settlement Charterhouse on Mendip, Avon". Roman Britain.org. Archived from the original on 27 September 2006. Retrieved 28 October 2006.
9. "Charterhouse". Big Roman Dig. Retrieved 28 October 2006.
10. Firth, Hannah (2007). Mendip from the air. Taunton: South West Heritage Trust. ISBN 978-0-86183-390-0.
11. "Somerset Hundreds". GENUKI. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
12. "History of Charterhouse, in Mendip and Somerset". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
13. "Relationships and changes Charterhouse ExP/CP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
14. "Mendip Hills: An Archaeological Survey of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty" (PDF). Somerset County Council Archaeological Projects. Retrieved 28 October 2006.
15. Gough, J.W. (1967). The mines of Mendip. Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles.
16. Adkins, Lesley and Roy (1992). A Field Guide to Somerset Archaeology. Wimborne, Dorset: Dovecote Press. pp. 37–39. ISBN 0-946159-94-7.
17. ^ Staveacre, Tony (December 2006). "Christmas at Charterhouse". Mendip Times. 2 (7): 8.
18. Historic England. "Church of St Hugh (1307304)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 29 October 2006.
19. Historic England. "Churchyard Cross in churchyard, Church of St Hugh (1058630)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 29 October 2006.
20. Historic England. "Churchyard Wall to Church of St Hugh (1058631)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 29 October 2006.

External links

• Media from Commons
• Data from Wikidata

• Aerial photograph of Roman fort
• Charterhouse Centre
• Map of Charterhouse circa 1900

• Villages in Mendip District
• Mendip Hills
• Scheduled monuments in Mendip District
• Former civil parishes in Somerset