Ditcheat is a village and
civil parish south of
Shepton Mallet
Shepton Mallet is a market town and civil parish in the Mendip District of Somerset, England, some south-west of Bath, south of Bristol and east of Wells. It had an estimated population of 10,810 in 2019. Mendip District Council is based t ...
, and north-west of
Castle Cary
Castle Cary () is a market town and civil parish in south Somerset, England, north west of Wincanton and south of Shepton Mallet, at the foot of Lodge Hill and on the River Cary, a tributary of the Parrett.
History
The word Cary derives fr ...
, in the
Mendip
Mendip may refer to:
*Mendip District, a local government district of Somerset, England
* Mendip Hills, a group of hills in Somerset, England
** Mendip Way, a footpath across the Mendip Hills
**Mendip TV Mast, a transmitter in the Mendips area
*For ...
district of
Somerset, England. Besides the village, the parish has four hamlets: Wraxall, Lower Wraxall, Alhampton and Sutton.
History
In the
Domesday Book of 1086, Ditcheat belonged to
Glastonbury Abbey and contained 36 families.
The parish of Ditcheat was part of the
Whitstone
Whitstone is a village and civil parish in east Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is roughly halfway between the towns of Bude and Launceston. The population at the 2011 census was 590.
History
The earliest mention of the village is in the Dome ...
Hundred.
Nearby main roads are the
A37, west of the village, connecting
Bristol and
Yeovil, and the
A371, east, connecting Shepton Mallet and
Wincanton. It lies near the
River Brue which is crossed by Ansford bridge which dates from 1823. Boulter's Bridge which spans the
River Alham
The River Alham flows through Somerset, England.
It rises at Higher Alham above Batcombe and runs through Alhampton, Milton Clevedon and joins the River Brue to the north of Alford.
It was known as the Alauna in Roman times.
The river supp ...
is of medieval origin and has been designated as a
Scheduled Ancient Monument. The parish is close to the Roman
Fosse Way
The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis (Ilchester), Aquae Sulis ( Bath), Corini ...
.
The Manor House is a 17th-century manor house built by Sir Ralph Hopton.
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 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
Mendip
Mendip may refer to:
*Mendip District, a local government district of Somerset, England
* Mendip Hills, a group of hills in Somerset, England
** Mendip Way, a footpath across the Mendip Hills
**Mendip TV Mast, a transmitter in the Mendips area
*For ...
, 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
Shepton Mallet Rural District
Shepton Mallet was a rural district in Somerset, England, from 1894 to 1974.
It was created in 1894, under the Local Government Act 1894.
In 1974 it was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972 when it became part of the Mendip dist ...
,
who are responsible for
local planning and
building control
Building automation (BAS), also known as building management system (BMS) or building energy management system (BEMS), is the automatic centralized control of a building's HVAC, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), electrical, ligh ...
, 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.
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
Somerton and Frome
Somerton and Frome is a constituency in Somerset represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by David Warburton, who was elected as a Conservative, but currently sits as an Independent after losing the Conservative whip in ...
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. It was part of the
South West England constituency of the
European Parliament prior to
Britain leaving the European Union
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EA ...
in January 2020, which elected seven
MEPs
A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
using the
d'Hondt method of
party-list proportional representation.
Religious sites

The
Church of St Mary Magdalene has 12th-century origins. It has been designated by
English Heritage as a Grade I
listed building.
The Abbey is a large house (formerly known as The Priory), built as the
rectory
A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage.
Function
A clergy house is typically ow ...
by
John Gunthorpe who was rector of Ditcheat,
Dean of Wells and
Lord Privy Seal
The Lord Privy Seal (or, more formally, the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal) is the fifth of the Great Officers of State (United Kingdom), Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and abov ...
, in 1473. The house was altered in 1667 for
Christopher Coward; and given a new facade and rearranged internally in 1864–68, probably by
James Piers St Aubyn for Rev.
William Leir
William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conqu ...
. The exterior is now mostly his
Victorian
Victorian or Victorians may refer to:
19th century
* Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign
** Victorian architecture
** Victorian house
** Victorian decorative arts
** Victorian fashion
** Victorian literature ...
neo-Tudor; inside there are reused fragments and some original 15th- and 17th-century work – coffered ceilings and the arch-braced roof of the ‘chapel wing’ – but most of the elaborate Gothic work dates from the 1860s.
Priors Leigh on the Alhampton Road is a former chapel, now a private home.
Alhampton is served by
Alhampton Chapel, a small mission church and
tin tabernacle which was erected in 1892. Alhampton Chapel is under the auspices of St Mary Magdalene Church in Ditcheat, both of which form part of the Fosse Trinity Benefice.
Sport
Ditcheat is home to the stables operated by
Paul Nicholls, trainer of
Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning horses
Kauto Star
Kauto Star (19 March 2000 – 29 June 2015) was a French-bred National Hunt champion racehorse trained by Paul Nicholls in Somerset and owned by Clive Smith. He was known for his versatility and longevity, being the only horse ever to be top ...
and
Denman Denman may refer to:
__NOTOC__ Places
* Denman Glacier, near Antarctica
* Denman Shire, New South Wales, Australia
** Denman, New South Wales, a town in the Hunter Valley of Australia
* Denman Island, one of the Gulf Islands of British Columbia, Can ...
.
Notable people
*
William Alleine
William Alleine (1614 – October 1677) was an English minister.
Life
He was the younger brother of Richard Alleine, born at Ditcheat, Somerset, in 1613–1614. As with all this family, his first education was under his own father. He proceeded t ...
(1614–1677), minister
References
External links
Parish website*
*
{{Mendip
Villages in Mendip District
Civil parishes in Somerset