Compton Dundon 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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England, lying beside

King's Sedgemoor King's Sedgemoor is a piece of rich animal habitat and farming land, that forms part of the Somerset Levels and Moors in South West England. The area of King's Sedgemoor fell within the Whitley Hundred, It is a Site of Special Scientific Inte ...

and the Polden Hills, south of

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbur ...

and north of

Somerton Somerton may refer to: Places Australia * Somerton, New South Wales * Somerton Park, South Australia, a seaside Adelaide suburb ** Somerton Man, unsolved case of an unidentified man found dead in 1948 on the Somerton Park beach * Somerton, Victoria ...

in the

South Somerset South Somerset is a local government district in Somerset, England. The South Somerset district covers an area of ranging from the borders with Devon, Wiltshire and Dorset to the edge of the Somerset Levels. It has a population of approxim ...

district. The village has a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 705. The parish includes the small village of Dundon and the hamlet of Littleton.

History

Just outside the village is Dundon Hill (or ''Dundon Camp''), an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

, with 2 m (6.5 ft) ramparts. An excavation in 1916 found pottery and flints here, but the fort has been damaged by quarrying. The manor was owned by

Glastonbury Abbey Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Its ruins, a grade I listed building and scheduled ancient monument, are open as a visitor attraction. The abbey was founded in the 8th century and enlarged in the 10th. It w ...

at the time of 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

in 1086. The parish of Compton Dundon was part of the Whitley (hundred), Whitley Hundred (county subdivision), Hundred. Paul Kemp-King writes in an unpublished manuscript that it is almost certain that there was once a bell foundry in the village, although its exact location is uncertain. Bells cast in Compton Dundon can be found in nearby villages:

(a 1661 bell) and Aller, Somerset, Aller (bells cast in 1638, 1640, and 1663 by Robert Austen), for example. Kemp-King writes that the difficulty of transporting the heavy bells by horse and cart made local casting by itinerant bell-founders desirable. Within the parish is the Admiral Hood Monument celebrating Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, 1st Baronet, Sir Samuel Hood. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.

Governance

The Parish councils of England, 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 (UK), 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. The village falls within the Non-metropolitan district of

, which was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, having previously been part of Langport Rural District. The district council is responsible for planning permission, local planning and Building regulations in the United Kingdom, building control, local roads, council housing, environmental health, Market (place), markets and fairs, refuse collection and recycling, cemeteries and crematoria, leisure services, parks, and tourism. Compton Dundon falls within the electoral ward of Wessex (ward), Wessex. Somerset County Council is responsible for running the largest and most expensive local services such as Local Education Authority, education, social services, library, libraries, main roads, public transport, police, policing and fire services, Trading Standards, trading standards, waste disposal and strategic planning. It is also part of the Somerton and Frome (UK Parliament constituency), Somerton and Frome county constituency represented in the British House of Commons, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament, Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election, and was part of the South West England (European Parliament constituency), South West England constituency of the European Parliament prior to Brexit, Britain leaving the European Union in January 2020, which elected seven Members of the European Parliament, MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.

Geography

At the central crossroads is the remains of a 14th-century wayside cross. Just south of the village is Great Breach and Copley Woods, a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest which is a Nature Conservation Review Woodland Site, owned and managed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust. The site consists of Ancient woodland, ancient and semi-natural broadleaved woodland. Two woodland types with a restricted distribution in Britain occur and the site supports a locally important invertebrate fauna.

Religious sites

The parish Church of St Andrew, Compton Dundon, Church of St Andrew, at Dundon, dates from the 14th century and has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.

Gallery

File:Carved Seat above Compton Dundon - geograph.org.uk - 892237.jpg, Carved seat above Compton Dundon File:Thatched Cottage, Compton Dundon - geograph.org.uk - 192902.jpg, Thatched cottage in Compton Dundon

References

External links

Compton Dundon and Littleton parish website
{{Authority control Villages in South Somerset Hill forts in Somerset Civil parishes in Somerset