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Watchet
Watchet is a harbour town, civil parish and electoral ward in the county of Somerset, England, with a population in 2011 of 3,785. It is situated west of Bridgwater, north-west of Taunton, and east of Minehead. The town lies at the mouth of the Washford River on Bridgwater Bay, part of the Bristol Channel, and on the edge of Exmoor National Park. The original settlement may have been at the Iron Age fort, Daw's Castle. It then moved to the mouth of the river and a small harbour developed. After the Saxon conquest of the area the town developed, becoming known as Weced or Waeced, and was attacked by Vikings in the 10th century. Trade using the harbour gradually grew, despite damage during several severe storms, with import and exports of goods including those from Wansbrough Paper Mill until the 19th century when it increased with the export of iron ore, brought from the Brendon Hills via the West Somerset Mineral Railway, mainly to Newport for onward transportation to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Somerset Mineral Railway
The West Somerset Mineral Railway was a standard gauge line in Somerset, England. Originally expected to be long its length as built was , with a branch to Raleigh's Cross Mine. The line's core purpose was to carry iron ore northwards from mines on the Brendon Hills to Watchet harbour on the Bristol Channel. From there the ore was shipped northwards to Newport where it was unloaded onto railway wagons and hauled to ironworks at Ebbw Vale. The line opened as intended in 1861. Passenger services commenced in 1865. The mines' and line's "period of prosperity" ended in 1875 and by 1883 all mining had ceased. The line lingered on for passengers and small goods until 1898, when it closed. A new mineral venture was attempted in 1907, for which much of the line was re-opened and a -gauge extension was added, but this failed and the line closed again in 1910. A section of the track was used to test and demonstrate an automatic signal warning device in 1911 and occasionally used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Somerset Railway
The West Somerset Railway (WSR) is a heritage railway line in Somerset, England. The freehold of the line and stations is owned by Somerset Council. The railway is leased to and operated by West Somerset Railway plc (WSR plc), which is supported and minority-owned by the West Somerset Railway Association (WSRA) charitable trust and the West Somerset Railway Heritage Trust (WSRHT). WSR operates services using both heritage steam and diesel trains. It originally opened in 1862 between and . In 1874 it was extended from Watchet to by the Minehead Railway. Although just a single line, improvements were needed in the first half of the twentieth century to accommodate the significant number of tourists that wished to travel to the Somerset coast. The line was closed by British Rail in 1971 and reopened in 1976 as a heritage line. It is the longest standard gauge independent heritage railway in the United Kingdom. Services normally operate over just the between Minehead and . D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Wyndham (1558–1645)
Sir John Wyndham (1558 – 1 April 1645), Justice of the Peace, JP, of Orchard Wyndham in the parish of Watchet in Somerset, was an English landowner who played an important role in the establishment of defence organisation in the West Country against the threat of Spanish invasion. Origins He was born at Orchard Wyndham, the only child and heir of Sir John Wyndham (d. 1572) of Orchard Wyndham, by his wife Florence Wadham (1538–1597), a co-heiress of her brother Nicholas Wadham (1531–1609), Nicholas Wadham (1531/2–1609), of Merryfield, Ilton, in Somerset and of Edge, Branscombe, in Devon, who with his wife Dorothy Wadham, Dorothy Petre (1534/5–1618), eldest daughter of Sir William Petre, principal secretary to King Henry VIII of England, Henry VIII, founded Wadham College, Oxford. In memory of his parents, Sir John erected a pair of almost life-size monumental brasses in St Decuman's Church, Watchet, and also erected an almost identical pair (considered the fin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saint Decuman
Decuman (; ; died ) was one of the Celtic saints who came to Somerset from Pembrokeshire, South Wales, in the seventh century, arriving on a raft (or his cloak) with a cow for a companion. There he was a pastor and physician to the local inhabitants. Life and cult Decuman is said to have been born of noble parents at Rhoscrowther in Pembrokeshire, Wales, where the church is dedicated to him. His name comes from the Latin for a farmer of tithes, which is a smallholder who paid a rent for his farm. Decuman had a chapel at nearby Pwllcrochan. Wishing to escape from worldly companions he crossed the Bristol Channel and landed at Dunster: he then became a hermit at nearby Watchet, living from the produce of his cow. There he healed the sick and acted as a pastor to the inhabitants. There Decuman is said to have been killed by a pagan. Legend tells that the holy man's head was cut off by "a certain man more venomous than an asp, more poisonous than the adder...." Beheading ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wansbrough Paper Mill
Wansbrough Paper Mill was a paper mill located in the town of Watchet, Somerset, when it was the UK's largest manufacturer of coreboard. History Watchet, then a relatively isolated farming community with a major port on the Bristol Channel since Roman times, had a population with a need for income over the winter months. With access to ample supplies of wood in the Quantock Hills, the earliest records of paper making in the community date back to 1652. In the 15th century, a flour mill had been established in the town near the mouth of the Washford River, by the Fulford and Hadley families. Taken over by Sir John Wyndham in 1616, he was keen to develop further milling facilities on his lands in the town. By 1587 the Wyndham estate had established a fulling and grist mill to the south west, on a farm called ''Snailholt'' (the site of today's paper mill factory), which was leased to Silvester Bickham. By 1652, the mill had started to produce some paper, which had been sold to Joh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daw's Castle
Daw's Castle (or ''Dart's Castle'' or ''Dane's Castle'') is a sea cliff hillfort just west of Watchet, a harbour town in Somerset, England. It is a Scheduled Monument. The name comes from Thomas Dawe, who owned ''castell'' field in 1537. The fort is situated on an east-west cliff about above the sea, on a tapering spur of land bounded by the Washford River to the south, as it flows to the sea at Watchet, about 1 km east. The ramparts of the fort would have formed a semicircle backing on to the sheer cliffs, but coastal erosion has reduced the size of the enclosure, and later destruction by farming, limekilns, and the B3191 road, have left only about of ramparts visible today. The fort may be of Iron Age origin, but was rebuilt and fortified as a ''burh'' by King Alfred, as part of his defense against Viking raids from the Bristol Channel around 878 AD. It would have been one of a chain of forts and coastal lookout posts, connected by the '' Herepath'', or ''military r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Washford River
The Washford River is a river in the English county of Somerset. It rises at above mean sea level near the village of Treborough, in the Brendon Hills, and flows into the Bristol Channel in the port town of Watchet. On its course it flows through the civil parishes of Treborough, Luxborough, Withycombe, Old Cleeve, Nettlecombe, Williton and Watchet, and through the settlements of Pooltown, Kingsbridge, Roadwater, Torre, Washford and Watchet. The river valley passes through the Cleeve Hill Site of Special Scientific Interest, and close to Cleeve Abbey. The Washford River has a length of and drains a catchment area of . The Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ... defines two waterbodies for the catchment area. The ''Washford - Lower'' wate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bridgwater Bay
Bridgwater Bay is on the Bristol Channel, north of Bridgwater in Somerset, England at the mouth of the River Parrett and the end of the River Parrett Trail. It stretches from Minehead at the southwestern end of the bay to Brean Down in the north. The area consists of large areas of mudflats, saltmarsh, sandflats and shingle ridges, some of which are vegetated. It has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) covering an area of since 1989, and is designated as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. The risks to wildlife are highlighted in the local Oil Spill Contingency Plan. Several rivers, including the Parrett, Brue and Washford, drain into the bay. Man-made drainage ditches from the Somerset Levels, including the River Huntspill, also run into the bay. The mud flats provide a habitat for a wide range of flora and fauna. These include some nationally rare plants, beetles and snails. It is particularly important for over ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bristol And Exeter Railway
The Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) was an English railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter. It was built on the broad gauge and its engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It opened in stages between 1841 and 1844. It was allied with the Great Western Railway (GWR), which built its main line between London and Bristol, and in time formed part of a through route between London and Cornwall. It became involved in the British Gauge War, a protracted and expensive attempt to secure territory against rival companies supported by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) which used the narrow gauge, later referred to as ''standard gauge''. At first it contracted with the GWR for that company to work the line, avoiding the expense of acquiring locomotives, but after that arrangement expired in 1849, the B&ER operated its own line. It opened a number of branches within the general area it served: to Clevedon, Cheddar, Wells, Weston-super-Mare, Chard, Yeovil and Tiver ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' (originally ''The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere''), written by English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1797–98 and published in 1798 in the first edition of '' Lyrical Ballads'', is a poem that recounts the experiences of a sailor who has returned from a long sea voyage. Some modern editions use a revised version printed in 1817 that featured a gloss. The poem tells of the mariner stopping a man who is on his way to a wedding ceremony so that the mariner can share his story. The Wedding-Guest's reaction turns from amusement to impatience to fear to fascination as the mariner's story progresses, as can be seen in the language style; Coleridge uses narrative techniques such as personification and repetition to create a sense of danger, the supernatural, or serenity, depending on the mood in different parts of the poem. The ''Rime'' is Coleridge's longest major poem. It is often considered a signal shift to modern poetry and the beginning ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Somerset
Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. The largest settlement is the city of Bath, Somerset, Bath, and the county town is Taunton. Somerset is a predominantly rural county, especially to the south and west, with an area of and a population of 965,424. After Bath (101,557), the largest settlements are Weston-super-Mare (82,418), Taunton (60,479), and Yeovil (49,698). Wells, Somerset, Wells (12,000) is a city, the second-smallest by population in England. For Local government in England, local government purposes the county comprises three Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas: Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, and Somerset Council, Somerset. Bath and North East Somerset Council is a member of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exmoor
Exmoor () is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbath. Exmoor is more precisely defined as the area of the former ancient royal hunting forest, also called Exmoor, which was officially surveyed 1815–1818 as in extent. The moor has given its name to a National parks of England and Wales, National Park, which includes the Brendon Hills, the East Lyn Valley, the Vale of Porlock and of the Bristol Channel coast. The total area of the Exmoor National Park is , of which 71% is in Somerset and 29% in Devon. The upland area is underlain by Sedimentary rock, sedimentary rocks dating from the Devonian and early Carboniferous periods with Triassic and Jurassic age rocks on lower slopes. Where these reach the coast, cliffs are formed which are cut with ravines and waterfalls. It was recognised a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
