Mendip is a local government district in the English county of Somerset. The Mendip district covers a largely rural area of 285 square miles (738 km2)[1] ranging from the Mendip Hills through on to the Somerset Levels. It has a population of approximately 11,000.[1] The administrative centre of the district is Shepton Mallet.
In the United Kingdom, the term listed building refers to a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural, historical or cultural significance; Grade I structures are those considered to be "buildings of exceptional interest".[2] Listing was begun by a provision in the Town and Country Planning Act 1947. Once listed, severe restrictions are imposed on the modifications allowed to a building's structure or its fittings. In England, the authority for listing under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990[3] rests with Historic England, a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport; local authorities have a responsibility to regulate and enforce the planning regulations.
There are 90 Grade I listed buildings in Mendip. Most are Norman- or medieval-era churches, many of which are included in the Somerset towers, a collection of distinctive, mostly spireless Gothic church towers. The greatest concentrations of Grade I listed buildings are in Wells and Glastonbury. In Wells these are clustered around the 10th-century Cathedral Church of St Andrew, better known as Wells Cathedral, and the 13th-century Bishop's Palace.[4] Glastonbury is the site of the Abbey, where construction started in the 7th century,[5] and its associated buildings. The ruined St Michael's church, damaged in an earthquake of 1275,[6] stands on Glastonbury Tor, where the site shows evidence of occupation from Neolithic times and the Dark Ages.[7] The Chalice Well has been in use since Pre-Christian times.[8] Glastonbury Abbey had a wider influence outside the town: tithe barns were built at Pilton[9] and West Bradley[10] to hold tithes, and a Fish House[11] was built at Meare along with a summer residence for the Abbot (now Manor Farmhouse[12]).
Medieval structures include Farleigh Hungerford Castle, fortified around 1370, and The George InnatNorton St Philip, used as an army headquarters during the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685, and then as a courtroom to try the rebels in the Bloody Assizes.[13] Manor houses such as the 15th-century Seymours Court Farmhouse[14]atBeckington and The Old ManoratCroscombe. Mells Manor followed in the 16th century and in the 17th century Southill House[15]inCranmore was built. Ston Easton Park[16] and Ammerdown House[17]inKilmersdon were both completed in the 18th century. The most recent buildings included in the list are churches: the Church of St PeteratHornblotton, built in 1872–74 by Sir Thomas Graham Jackson to replace a medieval church on the same site,[18] and Downside AbbeyatStratton-on-the-Fosse, more formally known as "The BasilicaofSt Gregory the Great at Downside", a Roman Catholic Benedictine monastery and the Senior House of the English Benedictine Congregation. The current buildings were started in the 19th century and are still unfinished.[19]
