Shipham () is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is on the western edge of the

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

near the A38, approximately south of Bristol. It is in the local government district of

Sedgemoor Sedgemoor is a low-lying area of land in Somerset, England. It lies close to sea level south of the Polden Hills, historically largely marsh (or "moor" in its older sense). The eastern part is known as King's Sedgemoor, and the western part Wes ...

. The parish includes the village of Rowberrow and the hamlet of Star. The parish population, according to the 2011 census, is 1,087.

History

Shipham was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Sipeham'', meaning 'The sheep home' from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

''scip'' and ''ham''. The tenant-in-chief is shown as being Roger de Courcelles. The parish was part of the Winterstoke Hundred.

Governance

Shipham parish council, which was established in 1894, 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 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. In 2008, Shipham Parish Council won the communications category of the Calor Somerset Village of the Year competition. The village falls within the Non-metropolitan district of

, 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 Axbridge Rural District, which is responsible for local planning and building control, local roads,

council housing Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...

, environmental health, markets and fairs,

refuse collection Waste collection is a part of the process of waste management. It is the transfer of solid waste from the point of use and disposal to the point of treatment or landfill. Waste collection also includes the curbside collection of recyclable m ...

and recycling,

cemeteries A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

and

crematoria Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre i ...

, leisure services, parks, and tourism. The village is part of the Cheddar & Shipham Ward, which elects three councillors to Sedgemoor District Council.

Somerset County Council Somerset County Council is the county council of Somerset in the South West of England, an elected local government authority responsible for the most significant local government services in most of the county. On 1 April 2023 the county counc ...

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

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or administe ...

, libraries, main roads, public transport,

policing The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

and fire services, trading standards, waste disposal and strategic planning. It is also part of the Wells county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Geography

Shipham Hill is one of the highest points in the Mendips at . The village has a panorama over Weston-super-Mare and the

Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel ( cy, Môr Hafren, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Seve ...

which is mentioned in ''The Secret Places of the Heart'' by H. G. Wells: ''But the loveliness of the weather did not fail, and the whole day was set in Severn landscapes. They first saw the great river like a sea with the Welsh mountains hanging in the sky behind as they came over the Mendip crest above Shipham''. Near to the village is

GB Cave GB Cave is a cave between Charterhouse and Shipham in the limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England. The cave was first entered on 19 November 1939, after ten months of digging, by the University of Bristol Spelæological Society, and ...

. The Limestone Link Path runs from Shipham to Cold Ashton in Gloucestershire.

Mining

The substrata contain rich mineral deposits and so there were zinc and lead mines in the area. The Singing River Mine was worked in the 18th and 19th centuries for calamine (zinc carbonate), blende (zinc sulphide) and

galena Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver. Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It cryst ...

(lead sulphide). In the 1920s it was used as an underground reservoir by the water authorities. A small stream flows through the mine in parts. The entrance is actually in the back garden of a private house but access is allowed for

potholers Caving – also known as spelunking in the United States and Canada and potholing in the United Kingdom and Ireland – is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems (as distinguished from show caves). In contrast, speleology is ...

. The 5-metre high 19th-century calamine processor is a Grade II listed building. The present landscape shows the piecemeal nature of the mining. Although the lead industry began to decline in the late 17th century, it revived in the mid 19th century when tips were re-worked. Its mining history has given rise to street names such as Hind Pits Lane, Hollow Road, and Comrade Avenue. The old mines have also meant that the soil is heavily contaminated by heavy metals such as cadmium. This was investigated in 1979. Concentrations of cadmium, lead and zinc in local crops were higher than would normally be expected. Copper concentrations were normal, and the results for

mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

showed that mercury translocation from soil to crops was very low. Dietary copper intakes at Shipham were a little lower than national average intakes. Four participants in the duplicate diet study, or 6% of the study population, had cadmium intakes higher than 0.4 mg per week. There is some evidence of field cultivation by the miners during the medieval period.

Religious sites

The Anglican parish church of St Leonard was built in 1843 by James Wilson of

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

and is a Grade II listed building.

Stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

in the north window of the nave commemorates Hannah More, who as part of her work to 'civilise' the people of Cheddar and the surrounding villages, particularly the lead-miners of Shipham, established th
Shipham Church of England Voluntary Controlled School
A chest tomb to Amelia Day in the churchyard, south of the nave, is also a listed building.

Stock car racing

Near Shipham for over 40 years has flourished the ¼-mile tarmac race track of

Mendips Raceway Mendips Raceway is a motorsport venue in the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England. It is located on the rim of Batts Combe quarry between Shipham and Charterhouse. The oval shaped circuit is used for racing hot rods, stock cars, Hotstox, bangers and ...

, high on the Mendips. The venue is in the bowl of an old abandoned reservoir, and features the British sport of stock-car racing. The race track is perched on the edge of

Batts Combe quarry Batts Combe quarry, is a limestone quarry on the edge of Cheddar village on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England. It has been operating since the early 20th century and is currently owned and operated by Singleton Birch Ltd. The output in 20 ...

with views from the edge, across Cheddar, the Cheddar Valley towards Glastonbury Tor and the

References

External links

*
Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
{{Mendip Hills Villages in Sedgemoor Mendip Hills Civil parishes in Somerset