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Chedder in Somerset County England History and GeographyCHEDDER, a parish (formerly a market-town) in the hundred of WINTERSTOKE, county of SOMERSET, 2½ miles (E.S.E.) from Axbridge, containing 1797 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, within the peculiar jurisdiction and patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Wells, rated in the king's books at £23. 16. 8. The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, is a large and handsome structure, with a square tower one hundred feet high, surmounted by pinnacles. This place is of considerable antiquity, having been the occasional residence of the Saxon monarchs, and in the possession of Alfred the Great, who bequeathed his hunting seat at Chedder, together with his brugge of Ax, and the wet moor, now Nedmore, to his son. The name is generally deduced from Ced, a brow or height, and Dur, water; a broad, clear, and rapid stream flows through the parish, on which are some paper mills. The village consists of three or four irregular streets, in one of which stands a dilapidated hexagonal market-cross; it was once a considerable market-town, the grant having been made to Joceline, Bishop of Wells, in the 19th of Henry III., but it is now principally celebrated for its excellent cheese. Several of the inhabitants are employed in the manufacture of paper, and the knitting of worsted stockings. Fairs for horned cattle and sheep are held, May 4th and October 29th. In 1751, Sarah Comer bequeathed the residue of her estate, amounting to £6052 three per cents., producing an annual dividend of £181. 11. 4., which is under the direction of trustees, who pay one-fourth to the churchwardens for the relief of decayed housekeepers, one-fourth for distribution among the general poor, a fourth to a schoolmaster for instructing thirty-five boys and thirteen girls, and the remainder for apprenticing children. Chedder cliff, a vast chasm more than a mile in length, and appearing as if the mountain had been rent by an earthquake from the summit to the base, exhibits a combination of rocky precipices and gloomy caverns, some of the rocks towering eight hundred feet above the level of the valley. The principal cavern is about one hundred feet high at the entrance, and afterwards sinks three hundred feet beneath the rocks, branching out into several collateral apartments, and producing a perfect and pleasing echo: the sides and roof are covered with stalactites that have assumed a variety of fanciful forms. A carriage road winds through this valley, opening at intervals upon the most wild and magnificent scenery, while huge masses of rock impend on each side, with threatening aspect. The hills above the village, in common with other parts of the Mendip range, abound with metallic ores, but they are not at present worked. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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