Shapwick, Somerset

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Shapwick
Shapwick shown within Somerset
OS grid reference	ST418382
District	Sedgemoor
Shire county	Somerset
Region	South West
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	TAUNTON
Postcode district	TA7
Police	Avon and Somerset
Fire	Devon and Somerset
Ambulance	South Western
European Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	Bridgwater
List of places: UK • England • Somerset

Coordinates: 51°08′27″N 2°49′60″W / 51.140815, -2.833301

Shapwick is a village on the Somerset Levels, in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. It is situated to the west of Glastonbury.

Due to the plan of its roads and streets academics have described it as a "typical English village" (see link below). Shapwick originally belonged to Glastonbury Abbey; its manor house dates to around 1475; originally it was moated but the moat was filled in during the first quarter of the 17th century. The church, dating to 1331, is an anachronism. Its central tower is a style that was at least a century out of date.

In 1998 a hoard of 9,238 silver denarii (the second largest hoard ever found from the Roman Empire, and the largest in the United Kingdom) was discovered in the remains of a previously unknown Roman villa near Shapwick.^[1] Following a Treasure Inquest in Taunton, the hoard was valued and acquired in its entirety by Somerset County Museums Service for the sum of £265,000. .^[2]

It is also the site of one end of the Sweet Track an ancient causeway dating from 3806 BC.

It was the birthplace of Australian politician Henry Strangways in 1832 and Girl Guide leader Joan Marsham in 1888.