CHEDDER, a parish (formerly a market-town) in
the hundred of WINTERSTOKE, county of SOMERSET,.
2 miles (E.S.E.) from Axbridge, containing 1797 inhabitants.
The living is a vicarage, within the peculiar
jurisdiction and patronage of the Dean and Chapter of
Wells, rated in the king's books at £23. 16. 8. The
church, dedicated to St. Andrew, is a large and handsome
structure, with a square tower one hundred feet
high, surmounted by pinnacles. There is a place of
worship for Wesleyan Methodists. This place is of
considerable antiquity, having been the occasional residence
of the Saxon monarchs, and in the possession-of
Alfred the Great, who bequeathed his hunting seat at
Chedder, together with his brugge of Ax, and the wet
moor, now Nedmore, to his son. The name is generally
deduced from Ced, a brow or height,'and Dwr, water;
a broad, clear, and rapid stream flows through the parish,
on which are some paper-mills.' The village consists of
three or four irregular streets, in one of which stands a
dilapidated hexagonal market-cross; it was once a considerable
market .town, the grant having been made to,
Joceline, Bishop, of Wells, in the 19th of Henry III., but
it is now principally celebrated for its excellent cheese.
Several of'the inhabitants are employed in the manufacture
of paper, and the knitting of worsted stockings.
Fairs for- horned cattle and sheep are held on May 4th
and October 29th. In 1751, Sarah Comer bequeathed
the residue of her estate, amounting to £ 6052 three per
cents., producing an annual dividend of £181. 11.4.,
which is under the direction of trustees, who pay onefourth
to the churchwardens for the relief of decayed
housekeepers, one-fourth for distribution among the
general poor, a fourth to a schoolmaster for instructing
thirty-five boys and thirteen girls, and the remainder for
apprenticing children. Chedder cliff, a vast chasm more
than a mile in length, and appearing as if the mountain
had been rent by an earthquake from the summit to the
base, exhibits a combination of rocky precipices and
gloomy caverns, some of the rocks towering eight hundred
feet above the level of the valley. The principal
cavern is about one hundred feet high at the entrance,
and afterwards sinks three hundred feet beneath the
rocks, branching out into several collateral apartments,
and producing a perfect and pleasing echo: the sides
and roof are covered with stalactites that have assumed
a variety of fanciful forms. A carriage road winds
through this valley, opening at intervals upon the wildest
and most magnificent scenery, while huge masses of rock
impend on each side, with threatening aspect. The hills
above the village, in common with other parts of the
Mendip range, abound with metallic ores, but they are
not at present worked.