History
There were several lead mines and stone quarries in the parish. It is also the site of Attborough Swallet (also known as Red Quar Swallet), a cave which is unusual for a cave on the Mendip Hills in that it is not in limestone but instead in Dolomitic Conglomerate and Marl. The cave was first entered in 1992.
There is a long barrow to the north of the village 100 ft (30 m) by 50 ft (15 m). Excavation in 1946 revealed six Bronze Age barrows below the crest of the Mendips. The shape of some of the existing fields suggest they are of medieval origin.
The parish was part of the hundred of Chewton.
On 12 June 1643 the village was the site of a skirmish in the English Civil War, between Royalist forces led by Robert Dormer, 1st Earl of Carnarvon and the parliamentary forces under William Waller including the cavalry unit of Sir Arthur Haselrig known as Haselrig's lobsters.
The village used to have a Gothic style mansion built for the Waldegrave family before 1791, however all that remains is an 18th-century lodge.
The Mendip Engineering Company Ltd was based in Chewton Mendip around the time of World War I. It was originally founded in the early 19th century as Cutler's Green Ironworks and supplied the British Army with swords. By the 19th century they were repairing farm machinery and casting drain covers and road signs. By the start of the 20th century the company was controlled by C.W. Harris and trading as the Mendip Engineering Company. C.W. Harris designed and built steam lorries in 1907/8 that were sold as Mendips; in 1911 petrol engine vans were added to the range. W.L. Adams was employed to design an engine and by 1913 had built a four-cylinder unit suitable for Cyclecars. In March 1914 Harris announced a Light Car completely made by the company; this was sold up to 1916 when war intervened. After World War I the company moved to Southmead Road in Bristol, and was later taken over by Baines Manufacturing Company Ltd of Westbury-on-Trym. Although over 300 cars were built, only one incomplete Mendip car survives, having been dug out of a hedge at Cookham near Marlow, Buckinghamshire in 1967.
Read more about this topic: Chewton Mendip
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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