MOST PEOPLE ASSOCIATE the name Cheddar with a cheese and a geological formation, the Cheddar Gorge. While these are both noteworthy things, there is more to Cheddar than them.

 

The gorge, a rock lined chasm along which a road winds, is a deservedly popular tourist attraction. It was formed 225 million years ago.  The lower half of the gorge is lined with formidable cliffs.  The upper half of it has tree covered slopes. The gorge is popular with walkers and rock climbers. At the lower end of the gorge, there are plenty of shops and eateries catering for tourists, who flock to the area in large numbers.

 

The caves in the gorge and around the village of  Cheddar provide steady conditions of humidity and temperature that are ideal for making cheese. It was here that the type of cheese known as Cheddar. It was here that Cheddar cheese originated.  However, nowadays Cheddar cheese is manufactured in other places in the British Isles.

 

The village of Cheddar, which is close to the bottom of the gorge, deserves a visit.  There is a market cross, which was put up in the fifteenth century. It protrudes from  a hexagonal structure that was rebuilt in 1844.

 

The Church of St Andrew Cheddar is near the market Cross. It was mostly built between 1350 and 1450 on the site of a Roman settlement. The tower includes Roman bricks in its structure. On the north side of the chancel, there is an elaborate canopy above the tomb of the Bristol merchant Sir Thomas de Cheddar, who died in 1443. His wife is buried in front of his tomb. Other features in the church include a fine patterned timber ceiling.

 

The origin of the name Cheddar is according to Wikipedia:

“Richard Coates, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the University of the West of England, has suggested that the name is Ciw-dor, ‘the door to Chew’, referencing an idea that the gorge marked an important routeway through at least part of the Mendip watershed, and giving access between two large and important estates which had probably been a part of the Wessex royal demesne from the 7th century.”

Whatever the origin of the name, Cheddar, its gorge,  and its cheese  are all worthy of note.