Cheddar

A site in Somerset county, England, where a gorge and caverns have offered up human remains and artifacts (stone and bone tools) dating back to the Stone Age. The Gough's Cave finds probably date from 8-10,000 BC. Cheddar cheese was first made there at or before the beginning of the 12th century and was aged in the caves.

(1) Gough’s Cave in the Cheddar Gorge in the Mendips, southwest England, has produced late Palaeolithic remains, comprising bohe and stone tools and skeletal remains which include the nearly complete skeleton of Cheddar man. These finds probably date from about 8000 to 10,000 be and are often called Creswelljan or Cheddarian, being a kind of late Magdalenian. (2) The site of the palace complex of the kings of Wessex. The Cheddar site is well documented from the reigns of Alfred, Edmund, Edwin and Edgar, and is described in charters and chronicles. Excavations have revealed a sequence of wooden halls and outbuildings representing the nucleus of the complex, with no obvious residential quarters. One of the most interesting features was the elaborate drainage system, constructed prior to 930 to protect the long hall and outbuildings from flood waters. After 930 a new west hall was built, with a small stone private chapel and ancillary agricultural buildings nearby. The entrance to the palace was protected by a timber stockade and ditch, and the foundations for a timber pole or flagstaff were located beyond this. Extensive rebuilding was carried out during the 11th century, but the layout remained essentially the same.