Richard Cox Gough (1826-1902) discovered the cave, now named Gough’s Cave, which yielded many human remains, including the 10,000-year-old ‘Cheddar Man‘ skeleton. This was found by Gough’s sons in a side fissure called Skeleton Pit in the year following their father’s death. The family’s aim had been to open up the cave for tourists visiting Cheddar Gorge in Somerset and it is still the most visited show cave in the UK.

‘Cheddar Man’ is the country’s oldest near-complete skeleton. His age was deduced from examination of a molar. An attempt to determine his eye colour, skin tone and hair colour was made in 2015, but the technology is not yet advanced enough to produce definitive results. However, the suggestion is that he had green eyes, a swarthy complexion, dark wavy hair and that he is genetically linked to modern-day ethnic Britons.

He died either from a blow or infection and was spared the hunter-gatherers’ cannibalistic rituals that scientists have surmised went on. Instead, his skeleton was preserved under a slowly-forming layer of stalagmites. Much of the other archaeological material from Gough’s Cave was discarded, but bone fragments up to 14,700 years old indicate that red deer, horses and arctic hares were also present.

(Top image (cropped): Abhi Here at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

The feudal system prevailed in Britain between 800 and 1500, when a government with centralised control became the new method of ruling the country. Feudalism had served its purpose well, but after the catastrophe of the Black Death, the Peasants’ Revolt and the revelations being made by science and exploration of the globe, societal changes were inevitable. The growth of towns and cities gave alternatives to rural life.

The medieval belief was that there was a hierarchy of closeness to God ~ the Pope, then the King, dukes, earls, barons, knights and, at the bottom, peasants. The monarch was, and still is, the absolute owner of the country’s land and everyone below him or her was/is a tenant. The term ‘freehold’ comes from the feudal system and means that your tenancy is indefinite.

Under feudalism, peasants were given a cottage and up to five acres of farmland, usually by a baron, in return for food, taxes and membership of the baron’s private army, signified by a ceremonial oath of fealty and homage. This type of relationship was replicated up the chain to the King. At a time with no welfare state, police or judiciary, this was a sensible, mutually beneficial community arrangement.

(Images: Wikimedia Commons / Public domain)