Editing Shepton Mallet (section)

===Prehistoric settlement===
[[File:somerset sm market.jpg|alt=Open stone building on five pillars with a spire above.|thumb|upright|[[Market Cross, Shepton Mallet|The Market Cross]]]]
Archaeological investigations have found evidence of prehistoric activity in the Shepton Mallet area, with large amounts of [[Neolithic]] [[flint]] and some [[Sherd|pottery fragments]] of the late Neolithic period. Two [[tumulus|barrows]] on Barren Down, to the north of the town centre, contained [[cremation]] burials from the [[Bronze Age]]; another Bronze Age burial site contained a skeleton and some pottery. The remains of [[Iron Age]] [[roundhouse (dwelling)|roundhouses]] and artefacts such as [[quernstone]]s and beads were found at [[Cannard's Grave]], as was a probable Iron Age farming settlement at Field Farm.<ref name="gathercole">{{Cite web |url=http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/hes/downloads/EUS_Shepton_MalletText.pdf |title=Shepton Mallet |last=Gathercole |first=Clare |work=Somerset Urban Archaeological Survey |publisher=Somerset County Council |year=2003 |access-date=2 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717063246/http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/hes/downloads/EUS_Shepton_MalletText.pdf |archive-date=17 July 2011}}</ref> Nearby countryside provides evidence of Iron Age cave dwellings in Ham Woods to the north-west, and several burial mounds at Beacon Hill, a short distance to the north.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sheptonmallet.info/site/index.php?page_id=194 |title=Shepton Mallet Prehistory |publisher=Shepton Mallet Town Council |access-date=13 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100122030345/http://www.sheptonmallet.info/site/index.php?page_id=194 |archive-date=22 January 2010}}</ref>