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Settlement in the Cannington area almost
certainly first occurred on Cannington
Hill, a limestone outcrop to the north
of the present village. The hill is
crowned with an Iron Age fort and there
is evidence of Romano-British occupancy.
Cannington Hill is believed to be the
site of a battle in AD 878 when the
Saxons under King Odda defeated a force
of Danish sea raiders who had landed at
nearby Combwich.
To the east of the hill was a large
Christian burial ground that was
completely lost to quarrying in the
1960s. One grave was especially
venerated, that occupied by a young girl
of about sixteen years of age. Now known
as the Child of Cannington her remains
have been re-interred in the Parish
Church where she is immortalised by a
wooden statue.
By Saxon times the settlement had moved
to the present village site beside
Cannington Brook. No Saxon structures
remain, though it is possible the
present church is on the site of a
wooden Saxon church.
The Norman Invasion of England in 1066
by William the Conqueror led to upheaval
across the country. Lands were given to
William's followers. Roger de
Courseulles was given large areas of
Somerset including Cannington, while the
De Courci family, lords of nearby
Stogursey (Stoke Courcy) established
Cannington Priory in about 1138. The
priory was very influential in the life
of Cannington although records show that
by the 14th century there was a degree
of corruption and various inquiries
revealed misuse of funds and illicit
wanderings by the nuns. The Normans
built a church on the site now occupied
by the present church adjoining the
Priory. The present tower was built in
the 14th century to compliment the
existing Norman church. In the 15th
century the Norman church was demolished
and the present magnificent building in
the Perpendicular style was erected.
Intriguingly the church was rebuilt out
of line with the tower, possibly so that
the church did not encroach into the
area of the Priory.
A further transfer of lands followed the
Reformation when King Henry VIII
dissolved the Catholic Church in
England. The church lands returned to
the Crown and in due course Henry gave
Cannington and all its affairs to an
Edward Rogers. Edward Rogers'
descendants were influential in
Cannington life until the line died out,
the last heir provided the Almshouse,
which still exists in the centre of the
village. King Charles II then granted
Cannington to the Clifford family. In
the 19th Century the then Lord
Clifford lent Cannington Court (as the
former Priory buildings were now called)
to a community of Benedictine nuns
expelled from France. Cannington College
now uses these buildings.
At the beginning of the 20th Century,
Cannington was primarily an agricultural
community. The First World War took an
appalling toll of Cannington's young men
in common with all communities across
the country. The village population
which had peaked in the 1860s fell
steadily until the 1930s as the number
of jobs on the land reduced. Mobility
gradually redressed the balance, the big
jump in population occurring the 1960s,
partly associated with the building of
the nearby Hinkley Point Nuclear Power
Station. |
