Cheddar is a large village and civil parish in the district of Sedgemoor in the English county of Somerset. It is situated on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills, north-west of Wells. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Nyland and Bradley Cross. Cheddar Gorge is the largest gorge in the United Kingdom and includes several show caves. It has been the setting for a major centre of human settlement since Neolithic times, including a Saxon palace. It also provides a unique geological and biological environment which has been recognised by the designation of several Sites of Special Scientific Interest. The village gave its name to Cheddar cheese and has also been a major centre for strawberry growing. It is now a major tourist destination and large village with several cultural and community facilities, including the Cheddar Show Caves Museum. HistoryThere is evidence of occupation from both the Neolithic and Roman periods in Cheddar. Britain's oldest complete human skeleton, Cheddar Man, estimated to be 9,000 years old, was found in 1903. Older remains from the Upper Late Palaeolithic era (12,000–13,000 years ago) have been found. There is some evidence of a Bronze Age field system at the Batts Combe quarry site. The remains of a Roman villa have been excavated in the grounds of the current vicarage. In the 10th century, the Witenagemot met three times at the Saxon palace in Cheddar. The ruins of the palace were excavated in the 1960s. They are located in the grounds of The Kings of Wessex School, together with a 14th-century chapel dedicated to St. Columbanus. Roman remains have also been uncovered at the site.
Cheddar was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Ceder, meaning 'Shear Water' from the Old English scear and Celtic dwr. An alternative possible meaning is from Ceodre or ceod (a pouch, referring to the caves or gorge.)
As early as 1527 there are records of watermills on the river.[ In the 17th and 18th centuries, there were several watermills which ground corn and made paper, with 13 mills on the Yeo at the peak, declining to seven by 1791 and just three by 1915.]
In the Victorian era it also became a centre for the production of clothing. The last mill, used as a shirt factory, closed in the early 1950s.
William Wilberforce saw the poor conditions of the locals when he visited Cheddar in 1789. He inspired Hannah More in her work to improve the conditions of the Mendip miners and agricultural workers. In 1801, of common land were enclosed under the Inclosure Acts.GovernanceVillage statusCheddar is a village. The adjacent settlement of Axbridge, although only about a third the population of Cheddar, is a town. This apparently illogical situation is explained by the relative importance of the two places in historic times. While Axbridge grew in importance as a centre for cloth manufacture in the Tudor period and gained a charter from King John, Cheddar remained a more dispersed mining and dairy-farming village. Its population grew with the arrival of the railway in the Victorian era and the advent of tourism. The political classifications are unlikely to change in the near future, as the residents of both Axbridge and Cheddar are proud of their settlements' respective status and have a friendly local rivalry.
The parish council, which has 15 members who are elected for four years, has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council’s operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also the responsibility of the council.District and county Cheddar Fire Station has a crew of retained firefighters
Somerset County Council is responsible for running the largest and most expensive local services such as education, social services, the library, roads, public transport, trading standards, waste disposal and strategic planning, although fire, police and ambulance services are provided jointly with other authorities through the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, Avon and Somerset Constabulary and the Great Western Ambulance Service.National and internationalIt is also part of the Wells county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election, and part of the South West England constituency of the European Parliament which elects six MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.TwinningCheddar is twinned with Felsberg in Germany and Vernouillet in France. It has an active programme of exchange visits.Geography Cheddar Gorge circa 1907 Gorge and cavesCheddar Gorge is the largest gorge in the United Kingdom and located near the village of Cheddar in the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England. The gorge is the site of the Cheddar Caves, where Britain's oldest complete human skeleton, Cheddar Man, estimated to be 9,000 years old, was found in 1903. Older remains from the Upper Late Palaeolithic era (12,000–13,000 years ago) have been found. The caves, produced by the activity of an underground river, contain stalactites and stalagmites.
Cheddar Gorge, including Cox's Cave, Gough's Cave and other attractions, has become a tourist destination, attracting about 500,000 visitors per year.
In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, following its appearance on the 2005 television programme Seven Natural Wonders, Cheddar Gorge was named as the second greatest natural wonder in Britain, surpassed only by Dan yr Ogof caves.Sites of Special Scientific InterestThere are several large and unique Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) around the village.
Cheddar Reservoir is a circular artificial reservoir operated by Bristol Water. Dating from the 1930s, it has a capacity of 135 million gallons (614,000 cubic metres). The reservoir is supplied with water taken from the Cheddar Yeo, which rises in Gough's Cave in Cheddar Gorge, and is a tributary of the River Axe. The inlet grate for the water pipe that is used to transport the water can be seen next to the sensory garden in Cheddar Gorge. It has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to its wintering waterfowl populations.
Cheddar Wood and the smaller Macall's Wood form a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest from what remains of the wood of the Bishops of Bath and Wells in the thirteenth century and of King Edmund the Magnificent's wood in the tenth. During the nineteenth century, its lower fringes were grubbed out to make strawberry fields. Most of these have been allowed to revert to woodland. The wood was coppiced until 1917. This site compromises a wide range of habitats which include ancient and secondary semi-natural broadleaved woodland, unimproved neutral grassland, and a complex mosaic of calcareous grassland and acidic dry dwarf-shrub heath. Cheddar Wood is one of only a few English stations for Starved Wood-sedge (Carex depauperata).[Twist, Colin, Rare Plants in Great Britain - a site guide] The nationally rare Purple Gromwell (Lithospermum purpurocaeruleum) is also present, growing in the lane along the west side of the wood.
By far the largest of the SSSis is called Cheddar Complex and covers of the gorge, caves and the surrounding area. It is considered important for both biological and geological features. It includes four SSSIs, formerly known as Cheddar Gorge SSSI, August Hole/Longwood Swallet SSSI, GB Cavern Charterhouse SSSI and Charterhouse on-Mendip SSSI. It is part owned by the National Trust and part managed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust.QuarriesClose to the village and gorge are Batts Combe quarry and Callow Rock quarry, two of the active Quarries of the Mendip Hills where limestone is still extracted. Operating since the early 20th century, Batts Combe is owned and operated by Hanson Aggregates. The output in 2005 was around 4,000 tonnes of limestone per day, one third of which was supplied to an on-site lime kiln, the remainder was sold as coated or dusted aggregates. The limestone at this site is close to 99% carbonate of calcium and magnesium (dolomite).ClimateAlong with the rest of South West England, Cheddar has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of the country. The annual mean temperature is approximately and shows a seasonal and a diurnal variation, but due to the modifying effect of the sea the range is less than in most other parts of the UK. January is the coldest month with mean minimum temperatures between and . July and August are the warmest months in the region with mean daily maxima around .
The south-west of England has a favoured location with respect to the Azores high pressure when it extends its influence north-eastwards towards the UK, particularly in summer. Convective cloud often forms inland however, especially near hills, reducing the number of hours of sunshine. The average annual sunshine totals around 1,600 hours.
Rainfall tends to be associated with Atlantic depressions or with convection. The Atlantic depressions are more vigorous in autumn and winter and most of the rain which falls in those seasons in the south-west is from this source. Average rainfall is about . November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, with June to August having the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the south-west.DemographyThe parish has a population of 5,093,Economythumb|left|Cheddar Youth Hostel
The village gave its name to Cheddar cheese,
Since the 1880s, Cheddar's other main produce has been the strawberry,
which are grown on the south-facing lower slopes of the Mendip hills.
The line closed in the 1960s, when it became part of the Cheddar Valley Railway Nature Reserve. It ran from Yatton to Wells. When the rest of the line was closed and all passenger services ceased, the section of the line between Cheddar and Yatton remained open for goods traffic. It provided a fast link with the main markets for the strawberries in Birmingham and London, but finally closing in 1964.
Cheddar Ales is a small brewery, based in the village, which produces beer for pubs in the local area. Its owner and head brewer, Jem Ham, previously worked 15 years at Butcombe Brewery in nearby Wrington.
Tourism is a significant source of employment. Around 15% of employment in Sedgemoor is provided by tourism, but within Cheddar it is estimated to employ as many as 1,000 people.
The village also has a youth hostel, and a number of camping and caravan sites.Culture and communityCheddar has a number of active service clubs including Cheddar Vale Lions Club, Mendip Rotary and Mendip Inner Wheel Club. The clubs raise money for projects in the local community and hold annual events such as a fireworks display, duck races in the Gorge, a dragon boat race on the reservoir and concerts in the grounds of the nearby St Michael's Cheshire Home.Notable people- Jack Bessant, bass guiarist with band Reef grew up on his parents' strawberry farm in Cheddar.
- Comedian Richard Herring grew up in Cheddar. His 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe show, The Headmaster's Son is based on his time at The Kings of Wessex School, where his father Keith was the headmaster. The final performance of this show was held at the school in November 2009. He also visited the school in March 2010 to perform his show Hitler Moustache.
LandmarksMarket crossThe market cross in Bath Street dates from the 15th century, with the shelter being rebuilt in 1834. It has a central octagonal pier, socket raised on four steps, hexagonal shelter with six arched four-centred arch openings, shallow two stage buttresses at each angle, and embattled parapet. The shaft is crowned by an abacus with figures in niches, probably from the late 19th century, although the cross is now missing. It was rebuilt by Thomas, Marquis of Bath. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument (Somerset County No 21) and Grade II* listed building.
In January 2000, the cross was seriously damaged in a traffic accident. By 2002, the cross had been rebuilt and the area around it was redesigned to protect and enhance its appearance.Hannah More's CottagePhilanthropist educator Hannah More founded a school in the village in the late 18th century for the children of miners. Her first school was located in a 17th-century house. Now named "Hannah More's Cottage", the Grade II-listed building is used by the local community as a meeting place.
TransportThe village is on the A371 road which runs from Wincanton, to Weston-super-Mare.
It was on the Cheddar Valley line, a railway line that was opened in 1869 and closed in 1963. It became known as The Strawberry Line because of the large volume of locally-grown strawberries that it carried. It ran from Yatton railway station through to Wells (Tucker Street) railway station and joined the East Somerset Railway to make a through route via Shepton Mallet (High Street) railway station to Witham. Sections of the now-disused railway have been opened as the Strawberry Line Trail, which currently runs from Yatton to Cheddar. The Cheddar Valley line survived until the "Beeching Axe". Towards the end of its life, there were so few passengers that diesel railcars were sometimes used. The Cheddar branch closed to passengers on 9 September 1963 and to goods in 1964.EducationCheddar has three schools, which are part of the Cheddar Valley Group of Schools, twelve schools which form the three-tier education system used in the Cheddar Valley. Cheddar First School, has ten classes for children between 4 and 9 years. Fairlands Middle School, a middle school, categorised at a middle deemed secondary school, has 510 pupils between 9 and 13. Fairlands takes children moving up from Cheddar First School as well as other first schools in the Cheddar Valley. The Kings of Wessex School, a coeducational comprehensive school, rated as "outstanding" by Ofsted, that has 1,182 students aged 13 to 18, including 302 in the 6th form. Kings is a faith school linked to the Church of England. It was awarded the specialist status of Technology College in 2001, enabling it to develop its IT facilities and improve courses in Science, Mathematics and Design Technology. In 2007, it became a foundation school, giving it more control over its own finances. The school also owns and runs a sports centre and swimming pool, Kings Fitness & Leisure, with facilities that are used by students as well as residents.Religious sitesthumb|[[Church of St Andrew, Cheddar|Church of St Andrew]]
The Church of St Andrew dates from the 14th century. It was restored in 1873 by William Butterfield. It is a Grade I listed building and contains some 15th-century stained glass and an altar table of 1631. The chest tomb in the chancel is believed to be to Sir Thomas Cheddar and is dated 1442. The tower, which rises to ,
There are also churches for Roman Catholic, Methodist and other denominations, including Cheddar Valley Community Church who not only meet at the Kings of Wessex, senior school on Sunday, but also have their own site on Tweentown for meeting during the week. The Baptist chapel was built in 1831.SportKings Fitness & Leisure, situated within the grounds of The Kings of Wessex School, provides a venue for various sports and includes a 20 metre swimming pool, racket sport courts, sports hall, dance studios and gym. A youth sports festival was held on Sharpham Road Playing Fields. a skatepark is under construction in the village, funded by the Cheddar Local Action Team.
Cheddar Football Club, which was founded in 1892 and are known as "The Cheesemen",
Cheddar Cricket Club, which was formed in the late 19th century, and moved to Sharpham Road Playing fields in 1964. They now play in the West of England Premier League Somerset Division.
Cheddar Rugby Club organises an annual Cheddar Rugby Tournament.
Cheddar Lawn Tennis Club, was formed in 1924, and play in the North Somerset League and also has social tennis and coaching.
Cheddar Running Club organised an annual Half Marathon until 2009.
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