1794 Map

The Waldegrave  commissioned a  map was in 1794 to show the land they owned in Chewton Mendip. It focused on showing the land held by Hippisley family.  This map is accurate enough to recognise most of the places  in the village with some exceptions where the land was held by other families. Extracts of this map have been used courtesy of the current earl Waldegrave who retains full copyright on this map.

The Town tithing is mainly blank because most of the land and properties belonged to the Kingsmill and Jenkins families. This conflicts with the commonly held view that the Waldegraves owned the whole parish.

A copy of the list of occupants is held in the Hampshire archives but the 1740  and  1766 map may be used to identify where the various farms and other holdings were situated. These maps and records  show how the East End and West End tithings were more populous than they are now.

The 18th century churchwarden accounts and poor book and list several estates or holdings that are shown on the map although they may not be named.

The 1794 map is roughly contemporary with the Bowen map published in 1777 and the survey conducted by Edmund Rack  in the 1780s.

The detached tithing of Widcomb is not shown in any detail and the extended Middlesex tithing is only shown in parts in the 1794 map.

The 1839 map show that many of the 18th century names were still n used but several farms had already disappeared.