About Shepton Mallet
Our history almost certainly starts with our river. With the Mendip Hills to the north and rising land to the south, the River Sheppey runs through the valley of the town and is at the heart of much of its rich history and economic development. The Sheppey provided waterpower for the mills producing wool, and later silk. And the presence of very good quality spring water at Darshill was used in brewing by the Anglo Bavarian lager company in the 1800s, when water was pumped from Darshill up the valley side to the brewery.
Neolithic burials, Iron age farms, a Roman village, medieval industry and buildings and England’s first lager brewery all reflect the ancient history of this important Somerset trading centre. Today, that rich history needs to inform future planning and development of the town and its community life.
The Sheppey Valley has seen human activity since at least the neolithic period. Many artefacts have come from the rising ground south of the modern town, and the remains of iron age farmsteads have been found at Cannard’s Grave, near Field Farm, and possibly underlying part of the Roman town. Evidence of prehistoric burials from both sides of the valley suggests that activity was widespread.
The Fosse Way, the principal Roman road into the southwest of England, runs through the town, and there is evidence of Roman settlement. Recent archaeological investigations along Fosse Lane have revealed many details of the linear Roman roadside settlement, which survives well and is a find of great archaeological importance. But other finds, such as the early Roman kilns (possibly associated with early military activity) discovered during work on the 19th century Anglo-Bavarian brewery, remind us that much remains to be learnt about Roman activity in Shepton Mallet.
Shepton itself is first mentioned by name, as Sceaptun (the sheep farm), in the Domesday Survey, by which time there were already many sheep, a mill, and, one assumes, a village, at Shepton. •In the medieval period, Shepton was one of a number of small settlements along the Sheppey Valley: Charlton is recorded separately at Domesday as Cereletone and may have been deliberately developed as a commercial enterprise, either by Glastonbury Abbey or by the Mallet family who held the manor from the Abbey by the 14th century.
A market and fair charter was granted in 1235 and though this was subsequently suppressed after objections by Wells, further market and fair grants were made in 1260 and 1318. A planned urban core may have been laid out, and though no borough was ever established, the amounts of tax which were raised from Shepton in the medieval period testify to its prosperity, which was firmly based on the woollen industry.
Shepton continued to thrive in the post-medieval period, and its continued significance was underlined by the placing of the county prison there in the early 17th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries the town expanded eastward along the river, where the mills on which its prosperity rested were built. Shepton itself, and the outlying settlements, became populous, industrialised settlements. Collinson (1791) describes an industry employing about four and a half thousand people in the valley. But the streets of Shepton, according to his account, were narrow and dirty.
By 1840, the woollen industry was already declining, and this trend continued in the early 19th century. However, other industries, such as silk manufacture, brewing and cheese making, were growing to take its place. Braggs’ 1840 Directory was able to describe Shepton as a neat and clean market town, and the other 19th century directories also give a picture of a town in recovery from the economic threat imposed by the failure of the cloth industry. The arrival of the railways from the 1850s onwards was a boost to the town’s attempts to keep its head above water.
The establishment of the Anglo-Bavarian brewery in 1864, the first lager-beer production in England, began a continued development of the brewing industry; today, the town is a major centre for the production of Cider. Shepton has a fine parish church and a considerable number of listed buildings including its prison, which was England's oldest prison still in use when it closed in March 2013.
All of this rich history and archaeology, needs to inform and colour future planning decisions. Historic buildings and ancient road layouts need careful consideration when new developments are discussed. And our river with its important ecology and tranquil views needs continued sensitive management
Source document, An Archaeological Assessment of Shepton Mallet, is included as Appendix 8