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People have been living in this part of Britain since very ancient times. Aveline’s Hole, a cave in the Mendip Hills, has been identified as Britain’s earliest cemetery, dating back more than 10000 years. Human remains excavated from the cave date to the little-known Mesolithic period after the last Ice Age. The Mendip’s earliest permanent inhabitants may have been short (5ft tall)and under-nourished, living brief (age 50) but arduous lives, but their funerary practices predated those of other prehistoric Britons by more than 4000 years. They hunted deer and boar for food and probably animals like wolves and lynx for their fur.

There are three Stone Circles at Stanton Drew about 6 miles north of Compton Martin: the Great Circle being one of the largest in the country. Stone circles such as those here are known to date broadly to the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age (approx 3000-2000 BC)and testify to a long and complex history within a landscape dense in other evidence of prehistoric activity.

The Romans mined lead above the village up at Charterhouse on the Mendips, about 3 miles south of Compton Martin. There is ample evidence that the Romans found the industry in being and with their practical experience organised and developed it. They probably trudged down the Roman Road marked on the Ordinance Survey map near Highfield Lane on their way to a hot bath in Aquae Sulis. They also dug red lead oxide for colouring from a pit up the Coombe. 200-250 A.D.