Compton Dundon

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Compton Dundon
Compton Dundon (Somerset)
Compton Dundon

Compton Dundon shown within Somerset
Population 710[1]
OS grid reference ST488327
District South Somerset
Shire county Somerset
Region South West
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Postcode district TA11
Dialling code 01458
Police Avon and Somerset
Fire Devon and Somerset
Ambulance South Western
European Parliament South West England
UK Parliament Somerton and Frome
List of places: UKEnglandSomerset

Coordinates: 51°05′31″N 2°43′56″W / 51.0918, -2.7323

Compton Dundon is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated beside King's Sedge Moor and the Polden Hills, 5 miles (8 km) south of Glastonbury and 4 miles (6 km) north of Somerton in the South Somerset district. The village has a population of 710.[1]

The parish Church of Saint Andrew dates from the 14th century and has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II* listed building.[2]

Within the parish is the Admiral Hood Monument celebrating Admiral Sir Samuel Hood.

Earthworks at Dundon Hill
Earthworks at Dundon Hill

Just outside the village is Dundon Hill (or Dundon Camp), an Iron Age hill fort, with 2 m metre (6.5 ft) ramparts. An excavation in 1916 found pottery and flints here, but the fort has been damaged by quarrying.[3]

Paul Kemp-King writes in an unpublished manuscript [4] that it is almost certain that there was once a bell foundry in the village, although its exact location is uncertain.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 -- Somerton (a 1661 bell) and 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.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Somerset County Council, 2002. Population estimates.
  2. ^ Church of Saint Andrew. Images of England. Retrieved on 2008-03-23.
  3. ^ South Somerset Museums and Heritage Services, n.d. Dundon Hill Fort.
  4. ^ Paul R. Kemp-King, Compton Dundon: The Portrait of a Rural Community, Unpublished Manuscript