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King's Sedgemoor Drain
King's Sedgemoor Drain is an artificial drainage channel which diverts the River Cary in Somerset, England along the southern flank of the Polden Hills, to discharge into the River Parrett at Dunball near Bridgwater. As the name suggests, the channel is used to help drain the peat moors of King's Sedgemoor. There was opposition to drainage schemes from the local inhabitants, who feared that they would lose their common grazing rights. However, the main channel was constructed between 1791 and 1795, and despite some defects, brought some relief from flooding to the area. The drain was upgraded during the Second World War, to provide a backup water supply for an armaments factory at Puriton, and again in 1972, when the Sowy River flood relief channel was built. The drain has hosted the National Fishing Championships, as it is well-stocked with fish, and is also an important haven for birds. Background The area through which the drain runs was farmed as common land when it was o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dunball
Dunball is a small hamlet west of the village of Puriton and close to the town of Bridgwater, Somerset, England. Just north of Dunball is Down End which is the site of Down End Castle a motte-and-bailey castle, which has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Located on the A38, adjacent to Junction 23 of the M5 motorway, it hosts a wharf on the River Parrett, created in 1844 by Bridgwater coal merchants, which is the only part of the Port of Bridgwater still in commercial use today. Dunball also has a small industrial estate, built on the site of the Royal Ordnance Factory's hostel blocks; and a hotel. The wharf was formerly linked to the Bristol and Exeter Railway by a rail track which crossed the A38, on the right hand side of the hotel. The link was built in 1876 by coal merchants, and was originally operated as a horse-drawn tramway. It was removed during the Beeching Axe and Dunball also lost its railway station on 5 October 1964, which had opened in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catcott
Catcott is a rural village and civil parish, situated close to Edington to the east of Bridgwater on the Somerset Levels to the north of the Polden Hills in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. History In the Domesday Book of 1086 Roger de Courcelles held five hides at Catcott, which were recorded with Glastonbury Abbey's Shapwick estate. In 1990 Catcott was the winner of the village category of the Britain in Bloom competition. Governance The parish council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council’s operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, as well as consulting with th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ROF Bridgwater
Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) Bridgwater was a factory between the villages of Puriton and Woolavington in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, UK that produced high explosives for munitions. It was slightly above sea level, between the 5 and 10 metre contour lines on Ordnance Survey maps. BAE Systems closed it when decommissioning was completed in July 2008. History It was constructed early in World War II for the Ministry of Supply, with the Ministry of Works as Agents. It was designed as an Explosive ROF to produce RDX, a new experimental high-explosive developed at the RGPF Waltham Abbey.Cocroft, Wayne D. (2000). ''Dangerous Energy: The archaeology of gunpowder and military explosives manufacture''. Swindon: English Heritage. Construction work started in 1939 and it opened in 1941. On 29 June 1951 an explosion killed six men. No cause was ever identified. It was also known as "''ROF 37''", a name that was reflected in its sports and social association, the "'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Land Drainage Act 1930
The Land Drainage Act 1930 was an Act of Parliament passed by the United Kingdom Government which provided a new set of administrative structures to ensure that drainage of low-lying land could be managed effectively. It followed the proposals of a royal commission which sat during 1927. The Act sought to set up catchment boards with overall responsibility for each of the main rivers of England and Wales, and to alter the basis on which drainage rates could be collected, removing the 400-year-old precept that only those who directly benefitted from drainage works could be expected to pay for them. Background Prior to the 1930s, land drainage in the United Kingdom was regulated by the Statute of Sewers, passed by King Henry VIII in 1531, and several further acts which built upon that foundation. However, there was some dissatisfaction with these powers, as although there were administrative bodies with powers to manage the drainage of low-lying areas, they did not have sufficient ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
County Surveyor
A county surveyor is a public official in the United Kingdom and the United States. United Kingdom Webb & Webb describe the increasing chaos that began to prevail within this same period in field of county surveying in England and Wales, with county surveyors appointed by the justices of the peace at quarter sessions. Eventually, the military defence component of county surveying in the UK began to separate from the civil in 1791, with the Crown's 'Board of Ordnance' being commissioned to carry out a comprehensive survey of the South Coast of England which, as a result of 'the last invasion of Britain 1797', at Fishguard in South West Wales ultimately extended to all of the UK. With that shift in emphasis, county surveying began to concentrate more on its civil engineering and civic architecture roles, producing the historically famous British county surveyors such as Thomas Telford, John Loudon McAdam and John Nash; the expression, "county surveyor", became a UK statutory tit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Jessop
William Jessop (23 January 1745 – 18 November 1814) was an English civil engineer, best known for his work on canals, harbours and early railways in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Early life Jessop was born in Devonport, Devon, the son of Josias Jessop, a foreman shipwright in the Naval Dockyard. Josias Jessop was responsible for the repair and maintenance of Rudyerd's Tower, a wooden lighthouse on the Eddystone Rock. He carried out this task for twenty years until 1755, when the lighthouse burnt down. John Smeaton, a leading civil engineer, drew up plans for a new stone lighthouse and Josias became responsible for the overseeing the building work. The two men became close friends, and when Josias died in 1761, two years after the completion of the lighthouse, William Jessop was taken on as a pupil by Smeaton (who also acted as Jessop's guardian), working on various canal schemes in Yorkshire.Rolt, L.T.C., "Great Engineers", 1962, G. Bell and Sons Ltd, ISBN Jessop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sutton Mallet
Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a location * Sutton-in-the-Isle, Ely, Cambridgeshire * Sutton, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire * Sutton, Newton, Cheshire * Sutton, Cheshire East, a civil parish in Cheshire ** Sutton Lane Ends, a village in Cheshire * Sutton Weaver, Cheshire West and Chester * Great Sutton, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire * Guilden Sutton, Chester, Cheshire * Little Sutton, Cheshire, Ellesmere Port * Sutton on the Hill, Derbyshire * Sutton Scarsdale, Derbyshire * Sutton, Devon, a hamlet near Kingsbridge * Sutton, a historic name of Plymouth, Devon ** Sutton Harbour, Plymouth, Devon * Sutton Waldron, Dorset * Sutton, Essex * Long Sutton, Hampshire * Sutton Scotney, Hampshire * Sutton, Herefordshire * East Sutton, Kent * Sutton, Kent * Sutton-at-Hone and Hawley, Dartford, Kent * Sutton Valence, Maidstone, Kent ** Sutton Has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Billingsley (agriculturist)
John Billingsley (1747–1811) was an agricultural pioneer in 18th century Somerset, England. The writer of the 1794 Survey of Somerset, Billingsley was a leading agriculturalist who was one of the founders of the Bath and West Society, known today as the Royal Bath and West of England Society. He lived all his life at Ashwick Grove. Family life He was born in 1747, the grandson of Nicholas Billingsley, a Presbyterian dissenter who was minister at Ashwick from 1699 to 1729. Little is known about his early life but by 1782, he was listed as Brewer along with Ryan Gosling of the Oakhill Brewery in the neighbouring village of Oakhill, and may have been involved in the wool trade before that. He was described as a leading member of the Presbyterian church although at some stage he was reconciled with the Church of England. ''General View of the Agriculture of the County of Somerset'' The 18th century was largely one of peace in Somerset, but the Industrial Revolution i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wells, Somerset
Wells () is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, located on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills, south-east of Weston-super-Mare, south-west of Bath and south of Bristol. Although the population recorded in the 2011 census was only 10,536, (increased to 12,000 by 2018) and with a built-up area of just , Wells has had city status since medieval times, because of the presence of Wells Cathedral. Often described as England's smallest city, it is actually second smallest to the City of London in area and population, but unlike London it is not part of a larger urban agglomeration. Wells takes its name from three wells dedicated to Saint Andrew, one in the market place and two within the grounds of the Bishop's Palace and cathedral. A small Roman settlement surrounded them, which grew in importance and size under the Anglo-Saxons when King Ine of Wessex founded a minster church there in 704. The community became a trading centre based ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wedmore
Wedmore is a large village and civil parish in the county of Somerset, England. It is situated on raised ground, in the Somerset Levels between the River Axe and River Brue, often called the Isle of Wedmore. It forms part of Sedgemoor district. The parish consists of three main villages: Wedmore, Blackford and Theale, with the 17 hamlets of Bagley, Blakeway, Clewer, Crickham, Cocklake, Heath House, Latcham, Little Ireland, Middle Stoughton, Mudgley, Panborough, Sand, Stoughton Cross, Washbrook, West End, West Ham and West Stoughton. The parish of Wedmore has a population of 3,318 according to the 2011 census. Its facilities include a medical and dental practice, pharmacy, butcher's, a village store with off licence, three pubs, restaurant, café and several other local shops. It is south of Cheddar, west of the city of Wells and north west of Glastonbury. Etymology The name ''Wedmore'' in Old English is thought to mean "hunting lodge" or "hunting moor"; there was a Saxon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dunball Wharf
Dunball is a small hamlet (place), hamlet west of the village of Puriton and close to the town of Bridgwater, Somerset, England. Just north of Dunball is Down End which is the site of Down End Castle a motte-and-bailey castle, which has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Located on the A38 road, A38, adjacent to Junction 23 of the M5 motorway, it hosts a wharf on the River Parrett, created in 1844 by Bridgwater coal merchants, which is the only part of the Port of Bridgwater still in commercial use today. Dunball also has a small industrial estate, built on the site of the Royal Ordnance Factory's hostel blocks; and a hotel. The wharf was formerly linked to the Bristol and Exeter Railway by a rail track which crossed the A38, on the right hand side of the hotel. The link was built in 1876 by coal merchants, and was originally operated as a horse-drawn tramway. It was removed during the Beeching Axe and Dunball also lost its Dunball railway station, railway station ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
