WELLS MOAT WALK
1 From the Market Place, take a circular walk lasting about 25 minutes to see many of the famous sights of Wells.
2 The moated Bishop’s Palace was built between the 13th & 15th centuries. To the left of the drawbridge is a bell
which the swans traditionally ring when they want feeding. From beside the moat look back for a beautiful view of
the Cathedral, moat and castellated walls of the Palace. It is open most of the year but please check their website for
opening times: www.bishopspalace.org.uk
3 The Bishop’s Tythe Barn (also 15th century) was used in medieval times for storing the grain that was required from
tenants of the Church.
4 The Palace Fields, originally the Bishop’s hunting forests, run up to the edge of Wells, with a public footpath to
the village of Dulcote.
5 At this bend of the moat you can see the waterfall flowing from the wells from which Wells gets its name.
Black Dog of Wells in Tor Street makes a unique range of decorative terracotta tiles, stone casts and ceramic
panels. We have over 130 richly detailed relief wall plaques including house blessings, zodiacs, animals,
garden and religious themes which are all created on our premises.
Central Wells has remained virtually unchanged so we like to use this historic map from 1735!
6 Visit the Fountain Inn for refreshments and good food.
7 Vicars Close (1342) is the earliest continuously occupied street in Europe, and still lived in today by choristers
and the clergy.
8 The Wells Cathedral Clock. The famous part of this clock with its 24 hour face, Jack Blandiver and jousting
knights can be seen inside.
9 The Wells Museum which houses the Visitor Information Centre has displays of local history and
interest including sculpture and caving.
10 The cathedral’s majestic West Front is covered with over 300 medieval carvings. This magnificent facade
was initially painted in vivid colours which must have made an extraordinary impression on the medieval visitor.

The city was a Roman settlement that became an important centre under the Anglo-Saxons when King Ine of Wessex founded a minster church in 704. Two hundred years later, in 909, it became the seat of the newly formed bishopric of Wells; but in 1090, the bishop's seat was removed to Bath. The move caused severe arguments between the canons of Wells and the monks of Bath until 1245 when the bishopric was renamed the Diocese of Bath and Wells, to be elected by both religious houses. With the construction of the current cathedral and the bishop's palace in the first half of the 13th century, under the direction of Bishop Reginald and later Bishop Jocelin, a native of the city, Wells became the principal seat of the diocese.

The 8th-century port at Bleadney on the River Axe enabled goods to be brought to within 3 mi (5 km) of Wells. In the Middle Ages overseas trade was carried out from the port of Rackley. In the 14th century a French ship sailed up the river, and by 1388 Thomas Tanner from Wells used Rackley to export cloth and corn to Portugal, and received iron and salt in exchange. Wells had been a centre for cloth making; however, in the 16th and 17th centuries this diminished, but the city retained its important market focus. Wells in the 19th century had the largest cheese market in the west of England.

Wells was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Welle, from the Old English wiells, not as a town but as four manors with a population of 132, which implies a population of 500–600. Earlier names for the settlement have been identified which includeFontanetum,^[13]in a charter of 725 granted by King Ina to Glastonbury and Fontanensis Ecclesia. "Tidesput" or "Tithesput furlang" relates to the area east of the bishop's garden in 1245. Wells was part of, and gave its name to, the hundred of Wells Forum.

TheHundred of Wells Forum is one of the 40 historical Hundreds in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, dating from the Anglo-Saxon era before the Norman conquest. Each hundred had afyrdwhich acted as the local defence force, and a court which was responsible for the maintenance of the frankpledge system. The hundred also formed a unit for the collection of taxes.^[2]The role of the hundred court was described in the Dooms (laws) of King Edgar. The name of the hundred was normally that of its meeting-place.

The name Wells Forum was derived from the city of Wells, which lies within its limits, to which was added the word Forum, referring to Wells' market place. These were generally called Fora Venaliain Roman times, and this term added to a proper name denotes a market or borough town (e.g. Blandford Forum). The hundred of Wells Forum encompassed the ancient Forest of Mendip, which occupied the northern part; and extended to the south into the lowlands of East Sedgemoor.^[4]

Its neighbouring hundreds were Chewton to the north; Whitstone to the east; Glaston Twelve-hides to the south; and Bempstone and Winterstoke to the west. Two small rivers had their source within the hundred: the Wells and the Axe.

The hundred covered around 30,000 acres (12,000 ha) and included the parishes of Binegar ,Cranmore West, Dinder ,Evercreech ,Litton ,Priddy ,Westbury andWookey .

Definition of medieval

The adjective medieval literally means “of the Middle Ages,” i.e., the period between antiquity (the Roman world) and the early modern era 

Common chronological range

Historians most often treat the Middle Ages as roughly the 5th century to the 15th century: from the collapse of the Western Roman Empire (commonly dated 476) up to the Renaissance and early modern transitions around 1400–1500 

Standard subperiods and their usual dates

• Early Middle Ages: about 500–1000.
• High Middle Ages: about 1000–1300.
• Late Middle Ages: about 1300–1500.
  These are conventional labels; exact boundaries vary by region and by the historian’s focus 

What authors usually mean when they write “medieval”

• Broad cultural sense: the social, political, religious, and material world shaped by feudal institutions, Christendom, and post‑Roman societies in Europe between Late Antiquity and the Renaissance 
• In specialised works an author may narrow the term (for example, “medieval urban law” might mean 1100–1400), so check the author’s period definition in introductions or captions 

Origin and first use of the word

The English term derives from Latin medium aevum “middle age.” The modern English adjective (often spelled mediaeval earlier) was coined in the 19th century from that Latin phrase; recorded modern forms date from the early 1800s (commonly cited 1825 for the form medieval/mediaeval) 

Quick guidance for reading historical scripts

When you encounter “medieval” in a text, assume 5th–15th centuries unless the author states otherwise; for precise work always look for the author’s explicit chronological scope because usages and boundary years differ by topic and region 

Bronze Age time boundaries overview

The Bronze Age is a cultural-technical phase defined by the pervasive use of bronze (an alloy of copper with tin or arsenic), alongside associated changes in technology, trade, burial practice, and social organisation. Its absolute dates vary widely by region because metallurgy and associated cultural changes spread at different times. Below are commonly used regional ranges and practical guidance for tagging or labelling gazetteer entries.

Common regional date ranges

• Near East and Anatolia
  Early Bronze Age: c. 3300–2100 BCE; Middle Bronze Age: c. 2100–1600 BCE; Late Bronze Age: c. 1600–1200 BCE.
• Aegean (Greece and Cyclades)
  Early Bronze Age: c. 3000–2000 BCE; Middle Bronze Age: c. 2000–1600 BCE; Late Bronze Age: c. 1600–1100 BCE.
• Central and Western Europe
  Broad Bronze Age: c. 2300–800 BCE; subdivided (Early/Middle/Late) roughly as Early c. 2300–1500 BCE, Middle c. 1500–1200 BCE, Late c. 1200–800 BCE.
• British Isles (including Devon and Cornwall)
  Broad Bronze Age: c. 2500–800 BCE; Early Bronze Age often starts c. 2500–2000 BCE (after Late Neolithic/Beaker horizons), Late Bronze Age ends c. 800 BCE.
• South Asia (Indian subcontinent)
  Indus-related Bronze Age/Harappan: c. 3300–1300 BCE (mature Harappan c. 2600–1900 BCE); local Bronze-using traditions continue and overlap with early Iron use.
• East Asia
  Bronze Age in China: roughly c. 2000–771 BCE (Xia-Shang-Zhou sequences; Shang c. 1600–1046 BCE is strongly bronze-rich).
• The Americas and parts of Sub-Saharan Africa
  No true widespread Bronze Age phase comparable to Old World sequences; metallurgy often appears much later and in different forms.

Practical guidance for mapping and gazetteer work

• Use region-specific ranges rather than a single global boundary.
• For ambiguous or single-site reports, prefer relative labels: Early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age, or Bronze Age (broad)with a numeric range (e.g., Bronze Age c. 2500–800 BCE).
• Where chronology is uncertain, record both: cultural label(Bronze Age) and confidence/precision(e.g., high if radiocarbon dated; low if typological only).
• Include key local markers in metadata: metallurgy present; Beaker/urnfield/bronze-ritual features; radiocarbon dates range; typology links.
• Allow fields for overlapping phases (e.g., “Late Neolithic / Early Bronze Age transitional”) and for caveats like reuse or later disturbance.

Why ranges differ and how to communicate that

• Start and end dates depend on: first local alloy production; availability of tin or copper sources and trade; cultural adoption of bronze technologies; and the arrival of ironworking.
• Use wording that communicates variability: “Bronze Age (regional: c. 2500–800 BCE)”or “Bronze Age — British Isles convention: c. 2500–800 BCE”.
• When precision matters, attach dating evidence: radiocarbon ranges, stratigraphic context, or diagnostic artefact types.

Short recommended labels for database fields

• Period label: Bronze Age
• Region qualifier: e.g., British Isles
• Numeric range: e.g., c. 2500–800 BCE
• Subdivision: Early / Middle / Late (if known)
• Dating confidence: High / Medium / Low
• Dating evidence: Radiocarbon; typology; stratigraphy; historical reference

The suffix ‘ton’ constitutes a sort of test word,” says Mr. Isaac Taylor, “ by which we are able to discriminate the Anglo-Saxon settlements.”1 “A tun or ‘ton ’ was a place
surrounded by a hedge, or rudely fortified by a palisade”

The passage you quoted is part of the author’s argument that Plympton’s name is unmistakably Anglo‑Saxon, and that the key to recognising this lies in the suffix ‑ton. The PDF you have open confirms this discussion in its treatment of early Plympton history .

🏰 What ‑tonActually Signifies

The core point is that ‑ton(Old English tūn) originally meant:

• An enclosed place— literally a fenced or hedged area

• A defended homestead or settlement— often with a palisade

• A farmstead that could grow into a village or manor

So when you see a place‑name ending in ‑ton, you are almost always looking at:

• A Saxon foundation, or

• A Saxon renamingof an older site they took over.

This is why Isaac Taylor calls it a “test word”: it reliably marks Anglo‑Saxon occupation or administrative control.