Peasedown St John is one of the largest villages in Somerset, England, lying on one of the many hills outside of Bath, roughly 7 km south-southwest of Bath and 20 km southeast of Bristol. The A367 (which follows the route of the Roman Fosse Way) between Lincoln and Exeter used to run through Peasedown, but it was bypassed in the mid 1990s
Archaeological and documentary evidence suggests that Peasedown St John had been occupied continuously since the early Iron Age. There is evidence of Roman and Saxon villages in Peasedown St John, the Saxon settlements resulting in several entries in the Domesday Book of 1086.
The small hamlet of Carlingcott is believed to have existed before the 1800s the modern developments began in the 19th century when the Somerset coalfield was expanded as the Industrial Revolution increased demand for coal across England. The sinking of the Braysdown colliery in 1845 allowed for the village to expand. By the second half of the 20th century there were at least six collieries within 3 km of Peasedown St John evidence of these mines can still be seen today around the area.
With the closure of the coal mines in the 1950s, and the popularity of people living out of town, Peasedown became a commuter village for the cities of Bath and Bristol. This enabled two further phases of construction, the first in the 1950s and 1960s and the second in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Both involved the construction of affordable family housing, the first phase being mainly in the southeast of the village and consisting of terraced or semi-detached properties. The second and more recent phase was the construction of a large number of detached and semi-detached houses.
Peasedown St John is well known for its 6.000 residents, most of whom have lived in the village for many years, but there was one noteable person who lived in the village he was called Peter Alexander (born 1952) actor who played Phil Pearce in Emmerdale Farm, and he also appeared in Eastenders, Hollyoaks, Brookside and Coronation Street, he spent the first seven years of his life in Peasedown.