Compton Martin is a small village and civil parish within the Chew Valley in Somerset and in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority in England.
It lies between Chew Valley Lake and Blagdon Lake, north of the Mendip Hills, approximately 10 miles south of Bristol on the A368 road Weston-super-Mare to Bath.
A spring rises near the church and feeds the village duck pond, which used to power a paper mill and ultimately becomes the River Yeo.
History of Compton Martin.
- There is evidence of habitation of the area from prehistoric times, and the Romans mined lead on the local hill. It is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book as Comtona.
- William the Conqueror gave the Manor of Compton to Serlo de Burci. In the reign of Henry I of England, it passed to his grandson, Robert Fitz Martin, who gave the village the latter half of its name.
- The parish was part of the hundred of Chewton.
- In the 14th century, the Manor passed to the Wake family. Alice, the wife of Ralph de Wake, was tried and sentenced to be burned for the murder of her husband. Perhaps she is the inspiration for the legendary White Lady, a ghostly figure who is said to haunt the parish.
- Compton Martin was the birthplace of Saint Wulfric (1080–1154), hermit and miracle worker.
- Around 1500, teazle farming for use in the weaving of cloth became a primary local industry.
- In 1770, a new whipping post was installed by the pond for corporal punishment for minor offences such as petty theft, vagrancy or absence from church.
- The organ at Frenchay Unitarian Church came from the former Compton Martin Methodist Church in 1980.
- On 14 March 1944, during World War II, a United States Navy Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber crashed near the village with the loss of five lives.
- In August 2010, the village had a surprise visit and performance by singer Kylie Minogue at the Ring O’Bells pub.