Shepton Mallet
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Shepton Mallet is a small rural town in Somerset, England, situated five miles to the east of Wells and just south of the Mendip hills. The town has a population of 8,440 (2002 estimate). The town contains the administrative headquarters of Mendip District Council.
Rich in history, the market cross in the town centre dates back to the 1500s. It boasts England's oldest prison still in use. National treasures such as the Domesday Book were kept safe here in World War II. Archeologists uncovered a significant number of Roman artifacts in the early 1990s at a site adjacent to the nearby Fosse Way, including a Chi-Rho amulet, held to be among the earliest evidence of Christianity in England. In honour of this the town's underused 1970s entertainment complex, generally held to be a white elephant, was renamed The Amulet.
Shepton Mallet is home to Europe's largest cider plant. This produces Blackthorn Cider and Gaymer's Olde English cider, and Babycham.
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History
Image:Somerset sm market.jpg Image:St Peter and Paul shepton mallet 11-07-03.jpg
The town's first name derives from the Anglo-Saxon for sheep fold, pointing to the original source of the town's wealth. It was part of lands given to the Malet family by Henry I in 1100, making it one of the first double place names in the country.
Shepton Mallet was a site of one of the original gatherings of the Monmouth Rebellion, after Monmouth rallied troops there in 1685 after landing at Lyme Regis. Many rebels joined the cause, but Monmouth had to return to Shepton after failing to take Bath or Bristol. Following the Bloody Assizes, a number of rebels were hanged from the market cross.
The traditional wool and silk industries were joined by brewing in the 19th century. The Anglo-Bavarian Brewery, still a local landmark, was reputedly the first in England to brew lager. The town, home to Babycham, is still an important centre for cider production. In recent years there has been the addition of hi-tech services from companies such as the ISP UK Online. A factory that once made Clarks shoes and later Doc Martens boots has closed and the site is planned to be taken by the Tesco food retailer for a supermarket, not without local misgivings.
The town's weekly newspaper, part of the Mid-Somerset Series, is called the Shepton Mallet Journal.
Prison
The prison was open as a civilian jail from 1610 to 1930. It was then closed until 1939, when it was reopened for American Military use. Some eighteen servicemen were hanged there under the provisions of the Visiting Forces Act (1942). The prison was returned to civilian use in 1966.
Events
Two annual agricultural shows are held close to the town: the week-long Royal Bath and West Show near Evercreech, on a site that hosts many other events, and the one-day Mid-Somerset Show, on fields on the town's southern edge.
The Glastonbury Festival, the largest music festival in Europe, is held in the village of Pilton, approximately 3 km (2 miles) from the town.
Tescos
Shepton Mallet became home to a group of roughly 30 protestors in February of 2006, as they fought a planning decision by the town council to allow construction of a Tesco's store nearer the town centre to replace the out-of-town Tesco supermarket that will then no longer be used for retail purposes. The development would have destroyed a wooded area of about 200-300 trees. After the group where evicted by bailiffs following a court order, a second group established themselves just outside the planned development, to help protect trees not scheduled for destruction.
Very few of the protestors were local to the area, coming from as far afield as Brighton and Nottingham. They seem to have completely missed the point that the full planning process had been gone through for two or more years prior to the granting of planning permission. Many of the townsfolk were dismayed and disgusted by the protests - especially those that had given up their free time during the planning process to attend meetings and thrash out changes to the original plans. Many of the trees being "protected" by this protest were scrubby Norfolk Pines that were (and had been in the past) in danger of falling in high winds. The total number of trees being removed is around 180, and 210 will be planted to replace them. The site in question is a brownfield site that has been left derelict for many years, thus the trees had no maintenance for quite some time.