Hart

The John Hart was paying rates in the East End of Chewton Mendip in the churchwarden accounts in 1706.   This farm has not yet been identified and it may be another branch of the family that gave their name to the field shown in the 1794 map.  However, the records that have been analysed suggest that the Harts were occupying what has been called Lynch Farm.  A Mary Scott of Chewton Mendip married John Hart of High Littleton on 24/5/1753. It is possible that Scott was an alternative spelling of Scutt and Scutts Hill is still the name of the field that is connected to Sarah Hart’s field. It is not clear who Sarah was married to. A George Hart was paying poor  rates  from 1745, his estate was sometimes called ‘ye field ground’.A William and Samuel Hart were accepting apprentices for an unspecified estate c 1768. The field may have been part of the Kingsmill estate sold in 1785, Mr Hart was renting Corp Close and Green Paddock in 1785.

Sarah is may be commemorated on the fine gravestone in Chewton Mendip Church yard. This is one of the best preserved of the  early gravestones which is a sign of the economic standing of the Hart family at the time. The stone is now difficult to read because of the lichen but the names of Mary Hart who died in 1816 and William who died in 1823 can still be read.

Mary Hart was a widow in 1840 who still paid tithes for a number of properties including the fair ground next to the old Waldegrave Arms. She may have been responsible for running the pub.

The 1840 map does not show any buildings on the site of Lynch Farm and the 1902 map shows the Lynch Cottage,  Lime Kiln Cottage and a quarry so the Harts may have been responsible for all of those developments.

These are the most recent records for this branch of the Hart Family in Chewton Mendip although the Hart family living in Chetwon Mendip at the time of writing (April 2013) are a local family.