Shapwick, Somerset

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

History

Shapwick is the site of one end of the Sweet Track, an ancient causeway dating from the 39th century BC.

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. 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. It became known as the Shapwick Hoard.

Due to the plan of its roads and streets academics have described it as a "typical English village". Shapwick originally belonged to Glastonbury Abbey, forming part of its Pouholt (Polden) estate in 729. The manor house (which was previously known as Down House) dates to around 1475; originally it was moated but the moat was filled in during the rebuilding in the first quarter of the 17th century. After the Dissolution of the monasteries the manor passed to Thomas Walton and then to the Rolle family. Sir Henry Rolle remodelled Shapwick House in 1630.

Shapwick is one of the nine Thankful Villages in Somerset - those that...
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