Great Elm is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

between Mells and

Frome Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills and on the River Frome, south of Bath. The population of the parish was 28,559 in 2021. Frome was one of the largest tow ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Hapsford. In 2011 the parish had a population of 171.

History

The name Great Elm was recorded as ''Telma'' in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086, and then as ''Teames'' in 1236 which is a contraction of ''aet elm'' ''at the elm tree''. Little Elm developed into the village of

Chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a set of Christian liturgical celebrations for the dead (made up of the Requiem Mass and the Office of the Dead), or # a chantry chapel, a b ...

. At

Tedbury Camp Tedbury Camp is a multivallate Iron Age promontory hill fort defended by two parallel banks near Great Elm, Somerset, England. Background Hill forts developed in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, roughly the start of the first millennium&nbs ...

southwest of the village a pot of Roman coins was dug up in 1961. After the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

the manor was held by the Giffards and later by the Hidges family and then the Stracheys. The parish was part of the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

. For many years in the 18th and 19th centuries Great Elm was the site of water powered mills owned by

James Fussell IV James Fussell IV (1748–1832) was an iron magnate operating the Old Iron Works, Mells in Vallis Vale between Mells and Great Elm in Somerset. He was a promoter of the Dorset and Somerset Canal and the inventor of both the roller chain and th ...

. The Stracheys owned Rock House for a period early in the 20th century. Hapsford House on Hapsford Hill is a 19th-century country house. The Jackdaws Music Education Trust has been based in the village since 1993.

Governance

The parish council 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 A neighborhood watch or neighbourhood watch (see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also called a crime watch or neighbourhood crime watch, is an organized group of civilians devoted to crime a ...

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. Until 2023 it was in the

Non-metropolitan district Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of Districts of England, local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties (colloquially ''s ...

of Mendip, which was formed on 1 April 1974 under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, having previously been part of

Frome Rural District Frome was a rural district in Somerset, England, from 1894 to 1974. The district was created in 1894 under the Local Government Act 1894. It was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 when it became part of the district of Men ...

Somerset Council Somerset Council, known until 2023 as Somerset County Council, is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England. Since 2023 it has been a Unitary authorities of England, unita ...

is responsible for running the largest and most expensive local services such as

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

libraries A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

, main roads,

public transport Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

policing The police are a constituted body of people empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citizen ...

and

fire service A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organi ...

s, trading standards,

waste disposal Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final Waste disposal, disposal. This includes the Waste collection, collection, transport, Sewage treatment, treatm ...

and strategic planning. It is also part of the

Frome and East Somerset Frome and East Somerset is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. It was first contested at the 2024 general election. It was created from the parts of the former constituencies of Somerton and Frome and North East Somerset ...

county constituency In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by electoral districts called " constituen ...

represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the

first past the post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

system of election.

Geography

The village lies above the Mells River in the

Mendip Hills The Mendip Hills (commonly called the Mendips) is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath, Somerset, Bath in Somerset, England. Running from Weston-super-Mare and the Bristol Channel in the west to the River Frome, Somerset ...

Vallis Vale Vallis Vale () is a 23.9 hectare biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Great Elm in Somerset, notified in 1952. Vallis Vale is an ancient woodland site and supports an Ash-Wych Elm stand type with a restricted dist ...

is a biological and

geological Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

which includes an

ancient woodland In the United Kingdom, ancient woodland is that which has existed continuously since 1600 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). The practice of planting woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 1600 i ...

and exposes some of Britain's most classic rock outcrops, exhibiting several of the most easily demonstrated examples of

angular unconformity An unconformity is a buried erosional or non-depositional surface separating two rock masses or strata of different ages, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous. In general, the older layer was exposed to erosion for an interval ...

available.

Transport

The

Macmillan Way The Macmillan Way is a long-distance footpath in England that links Boston, Lincolnshire to Abbotsbury in Dorset. The route's distance is . It is promoted to raise money for the charity Macmillan Cancer Relief. The fully waymarked route fol ...

long-distance path passes through the village, the

Mendip Way The Mendip Way is an long-distance footpath across the Mendip Hills from Weston-super-Mare to Frome. It is divided into two sections. The West Mendip Way was opened in 1979 and starts at the Bristol Channel at Uphill Cliff. It climbs the Mend ...

passes by on the far side of the river, and the village is just off the Colliers Way,

National Cycle Route 24 National Cycle Route 24, otherwise known as the ''Colliers Way'' currently runs from Dundas Aqueduct to Frome via Radstock, although it is intended to provide a continuous cycle route from Bristol and South Wales to Southampton and Portsmouth ...

. The parish is crossed by a

Mendip Rail Mendip Rail Ltd is an independent Rail transport in Great Britain#Goods services, freight operating railway company in Great Britain. It is a joint venture composed of the rail-operation divisions of Aggregate Industries (formerly Foster Yeoman) ...

railway line which carries aggregate trains from

Whatley Quarry Whatley Quarry, is a limestone quarry owned by Hanson plc, near the village of Whatley on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England. The quarry exhibits pale to dark grey Carboniferous Limestone with small area of overlying horizontally bedded buff ...

. On 6 October 2008 a freight train was hit from behind by a runaway train near Great Elm on the private line from Whatley Quarry. There were no serious injuries.

Religious sites

The Church of St Mary Magdalene dates from the 12th century and is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

References

External links

Village website
{{Mendip Villages in Mendip District Civil parishes in Somerset