NAME ORIGINS

During the 1300's, the time of Chaucer, first names were no longer enough and family names came into use. Some were simply the suffix 'son' as in Johnson. People also became identified with where they lived and what they did. The Miner family of Chew Magna could have descended from someone whose name originated from an association with mining in the Mendip Hills area.

MENDIP HILLS

The Mendip Hills are a range of limestone hills in the north of the county Somerset, England. They are situated to the south of Bristol and Bath, and they run east to west between Weston-super-Mare and Frome. The Hills overlook the Somerset Levels to the south and the Avon Nd Chew valleys to the north. The hills are largely beds of Carboniferous limestone originating as sediment from aquatic life laid down in a warm shallow sea 300 million years ago. Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite.

In some areas the limestone has been mineralized with lead and zinc ores deposited as vertical veins in the faults. The Mendip Hills had rich veins of lead running just beneath the surface in seams. These seams were dug and then reworked over generations as machinery and techniques improved. This activity has led to the industrial wasteland or gruffy ground of lumps, bumps and rock outcrops you see today.

MINING

Lead-mining took place in Britain before the Roman invasion and archaeological remains of mining occur in the Mendip Hills in Somerset, Devon, Cornwall, the Pennines, and Wales. Demand for lead grew during the Roman period when the metal was used for various purposes including making water-pipes. Much of the attraction of the lead mines may have been the potential for the extraction of silver. Lead-mining continued after the Romans left.

From the late Saxon period to the 14th century, the plateau and much of the surrounding land was a Royal forest. However, this status exerted less influence on the landscape than the development of a prosperous clothing industry in the surrounding villages and towns. Lead mining revived in the 12th century, but was an insignificant source of wealth compared with cloth.

After about 1670, the lead industry began to decline but revived in the mid 19th century when the rock dumps were re-worked. Much of the present evidence of mining dates from that period. Mining in England dwindled rapidly in importance after 1850 when cheaper supplies of lead from overseas became available.

Updated 23 December 2008.