Mendip is a local government district of Somerset in England. The Mendip district covers a largely rural area of ranging from the Mendip Hills through on to the Somerset Levels. It has a population of approximately 110,000. The administrative centre of the district is Shepton Mallet but the largest town (with more than twice the population of Shepton Mallet) is Frome.
A scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or monument which is given legal protection by being placed on a list (or "schedule") by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport; Historic England takes the leading role in identifying such sites. The legislation governing this is the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The term "monument" can apply to the whole range of archaeological sites, and they are not always visible above ground. Such sites have to have been deliberately constructed by human activity. They range from prehistoric standing stones and burial sites, through Roman remains and medieval structures such as castles and monasteries, to later structures such as industrial sites and buildings constructed for the World Wars or the Cold War.
There are 234 scheduled monuments in Mendip. These include a large number of bowl and round barrows and other neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age tumuli such as the Priddy Circles and Priddy Nine Barrows and Ashen Hill Barrow Cemeteries. There are also several Iron Age hill forts on the hill tops and lake villages on the lowlands such as Meare and Glastonbury Lake Villages. The lake villages were often connected by timber trackways such as the Sweet Track. There are several Roman sites particularly around the Charterhouse Roman Town and lead mining. Some later coal mining sites are also included in the list.
Two major religious sites in Mendip at Glastonbury Abbey and Wells Cathedral and their precincts and dispersed residences, tithe barns and The Abbot's Fish House, are included in the list. Prehistoric defensive features such as Ponter's Ball Dyke were supplemented in the medieval period by motte-and-bailey castles such as Farleigh Hungerford, Nunney and Fenny Castle. Commercial and industrial development is represented by the Old Iron Works at Mells and various market crosses. The most recent site on the list is a World War II bombing decoy complex and anti-aircraft obstructions, which were built in 1940, on Black Down, the highest point of the Mendip Hills. The monuments are listed below using the titles given in the Historic England data sheets.
Monuments
|- class="vcard without_image" ! scope="row" class="fn org" | An area of the Romano-British linear village at Fosse Lane, Shepton Mallet | class="label" | Shepton Mallet || class="category" | Earthworks || || || Earthworks from a Romano-British village next to the Fosse Way. | || style="vertical-align:center; text-align:center;" ||
|- class="vcard with_image" ! scope="row" class="fn org" | Ashen Hill barrow cemetery: a group of eight round barrows 500 m southeast of Harptree Lodge | class="label" | Priddy || class="category" | Round barrows || || || Priddy Nine Barrows and Ashen Hill Barrow Cemeteries are a collection of round barrows, dating from the Bronze Age. The barrows sit on crests of land at either end of a field in an area of the Mendip Hills with several Neolithic remains. They are assumed to be related to the Priddy Circles which lie to the north. Ashen Hill consists of six bowl barrows and two bell barrows aligned east to west while Priddy Nine Barrows divided into one group of seven round barrows and another pair slightly separated from the others. Excavations in 1815 uncovered cremation burials and grave goods. A geophysical magnetometry survey suggested that there may have been three further barrows. | || ||
|- class="vcard without_image" ! scope="row" class="fn org" | Badger Hole, Wookey | class="label" | St Cuthbert Out || class="category" | Cave || || || Badger Hole is a dry cave on the slopes above the Wookey ravine near the Wookey Hole Caves resurgence and contain in situ cave sediments laid down during the Ice Age. Just outside the cave the foundations of a 1st century hut have been identified. These had been built on during the Roman era up to the end of the 4th century. | || style="vertical-align:center; text-align:center;" ||
|- class="vcard without_image" ! scope="row" class="fn org" | Barrow, 350 m east of Harptree Lodge | class="label" | Chewton Mendip || class="category" | Bowl barrow || || || A bowl barrow close to Priddy Circles. The mound is approximately in diameter. | || style="vertical-align:center; text-align:center;" ||