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Severn Bridge Railway
The Severn Bridge Railway was a railway company which constructed a railway from Lydney to Sharpness in Gloucestershire, England. It was intended chiefly to give access for minerals in the Forest of Dean to Sharpness Docks, and the company built a long bridge, in length, over the River Severn. The line opened in 1879. On opening the company entered a partnership with the Severn and Wye Railway; the Sharpness branch of the Midland Railway was transferred into the group, the combined network forming the Severn & Wye and Severn Bridge Railway. The Severn Bridge Railway and the former Midland Railway branch formed the "Bridge" section of the S&WJR; the former Severn and Wye Railway formed the "Forest" section. The line was never profitable, being dependent on the colliery activity in the Forest of Dean, and the huge construction cost of the bridge meant that there were heavy, and unaffordable, interest charges, and the S&W&SBR Company went into receivership. It was purchased by t ...
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Severn And Wye Railway
The Severn and Wye Railway began as an early tramroad network established in the Forest of Dean to facilitate the carriage of minerals to watercourses for onward conveyance. It was based on Lydney, where a small harbour was constructed, and opened its line to Parkend in 1810. It was progressively extended northwards, and a second line, the ''Mineral Loop'' was opened to connect newly opened mineral workings. To facilitate transfer of traffic to the neighbouring South Wales Railway main line, the Severn and Wye Railway network was converted from a plateway to a locomotive-worked broad gauge edge railway, and then to a standard gauge railway. Extensions were made to Lydbrook, Cinderford and Coleford. The company's finances were dependent on the mineral industry of the Forest of Dean, and in 1879 economic difficulties caused it to amalgamate with the Severn Bridge Railway. In fact this resulted in a worsening of the situation, and the combined company sold its business to the Gre ...
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Standard Gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the most widely used track gauge around the world, with approximately 55% of the lines in the world using it. All high-speed rail lines use standard gauge except those in Russia, Finland, and Uzbekistan. The distance between the inside edges of the rails is defined to be 1435 mm except in the United States and on some heritage British lines, where it is defined in U.S. customary/Imperial units as exactly "four feet eight and one half inches" which is equivalent to 1435.1mm. History As railways developed and expanded, one of the key issues was the track gauge (the distance, or width, between the inner sides of the rails) to be used. Different railways used different gauges, and where rails of different gauge met – ...
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Royal Wootton Bassett
Royal Wootton Bassett , formerly Wootton Bassett, is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, with a population of 11,043 in 2001, increasing to 11,385 in 2011. Situated in the north of the county, it lies to the west of the major town of Swindon and northeast of Calne. From 1447 until 1832 Wootton Bassett was a parliamentary borough which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons. In 1832 it was deemed a rotten borough and abolished by the Great Reform Act. The town was granted royal patronage in March 2011 by Elizabeth II in recognition of its role in the early-21st-century military funeral repatriations, which passed through the town. This honour was officially conferred in a ceremony on 16 October 2011 – the first royal patronage to be conferred upon a town (as distinguished from a borough or county) since 1909. History Wodeton settlement AD 681 is usually taken as the starting point for recorded history of Wootton Bassett, then k ...
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Awre
Awre () is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Forest of Dean District of Gloucestershire, England, near the River Severn. Both the parish and the electoral ward include Blakeney, Etloe, Gatcombe, Viney Hill, and Two Bridges. According to the 2001 census, Awre had a population of 1,644, increasing to 1,714 at the 2011 census. The electoral ward gives similar figures History The name is from Old English; ''āfor'' "bitter or sour" and ''ēa'' "water-meadow or island" translates to "sour water-meadow". The manor of Awre is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. Together with Lydney and Alvington, the parish of Awre comprised Bledisloe Hundred.Bledisloe Hundred
A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 5. Victoria County History
Awre was a large parish which included the tithings of Blakeney, Bledi ...
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Fretherne
Fretherne is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Fretherne with Saul, in the Stroud district, in Gloucestershire, England, situated between the larger villages of Frampton-on-Severn and Arlingham. In 1881 the parish had a population of 239. In the Domesday Book of 1086 it is recorded as held by Turstin FitzRolf. The village name probably originates from O.E. 'Frithorne,' meaning 'Freo's thorn.' A public footpath 50 metres west of the church leads to Hock Cliff at the River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ... (at its widest pre-estuary point), which is popular with fossil hunters. On 24 March 1884 the parish was abolished to form "Fretherne with Saul". See also * Fretherne Court References External links {{authority control Vi ...
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Sharpness
Sharpness ( ) is an English port in Gloucestershire, one of the most inland in Britain, and eighth largest in the South West. It is on the River Severn at , at a point where the tidal range, though less than at Avonmouth downstream ( typical spring tide), is still large ( typical spring). There is a small community of approximately 100 residents directly adjacent to the port, in addition to the subvillage of Newtown approximately 0.5 miles to the south-east. Four miles to the south lies the small town of Berkeley. Docks Sharpness docks began as a basin giving access to the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal. There were no port facilities at Sharpness itself and all traffic proceeded up the canal to Gloucester. The original Old Dock opened, with the canal, in 1827. The dock was separated from the Severn by a lock gate. The level of the basin varied for the hour or two for which the gate was open and so it was isolated from the canal by a lock with two gates. This lock was improve ...
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Severn Railway Bridge, From Near Purton - Geograph
, name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_caption = Tributaries (light blue) and major settlements on and near the Severn (bold blue) , pushpin_map = , pushpin_map_size = 288 , pushpin_map_caption= , subdivision_type1 = Country , subdivision_name1 = England and Wales , subdivision_type2 = , subdivision_name2 = , subdivision_type3 = Region , subdivision_name3 = Mid Wales, West Midlands (region), West Midlands, South West England, South West , subdivision_type4 = Counties , subdivision_name4 = Powys, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire , subdivision_type5 = Cities , subdivision_name5 = Shrewsbury, Worcester, England, Worcester, Gloucester, Bristol , length = , width_min = , width_avg = , width_m ...
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Forest Of Dean
The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and northwest, Herefordshire to the north, the River Severn to the south, and the City of Gloucester to the east. The area is characterised by more than of mixed woodland, one of the surviving ancient woodlands in England. A large area was reserved for royal hunting before 1066, and remained as the second largest crown forest in England, after the New Forest. Although the name is used loosely to refer to the part of Gloucestershire between the Severn and Wye, the Forest of Dean proper has covered a much smaller area since the Middle Ages. In 1327, it was defined to cover only the royal demesne and parts of parishes within the hundred of St Briavels, and after 1668 comprised the royal demesne only. The Forest proper is within the civil parishes of West Dean, Lydbrook, Cin ...
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Lydney
Lydney is a town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is on the west bank of the River Severn in the Forest of Dean District, and is 16 miles (25 km) southwest of Gloucester. The town has been bypassed by the A48 road since 1995. The population was about 8,960 in the 2001 census, reducing to 8,766 at the 2011 census. Increasing to 10,043 at the 2021 Census. Lydney has a harbour on the Severn, created when the Lydney Canal was built. Adjoining the town, Lydney Park gardens have a Roman temple dedicated to Nodens. Etymology According to Cook (1906) the toponym "Lydney" derives from the Old English *''Lydan-eġ'', "Lludd's Island", which could connect it with the name Nudd/Nodens. However, alternative etymologies of Lydney are offered in other sources. A. D. Mills suggests "island or river-meadow of the sailor, or of a man named *Lida", citing the forms "Lideneg" from c. 853 and "Ledenei" from the 1086 Domesday Book. History In the Iron Age a promontory fort w ...
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Plateway
A plateway is an early kind of railway, tramway or wagonway, where the rails are made from cast iron. They were mainly used for about 50 years up to 1830, though some continued later. Plateways consisted of "L"-shaped rails, where the flange on the rail guides the wheels, in contrast to edgeways, where flanges on the wheels guide them along the track. Plateways were originally horsedrawn but, later on, cable haulage and small locomotives were sometimes used. The plates of the plateway were made of cast iron, often fabricated by the ironworks that were their users. On most lines, that system was replaced by rolled wrought iron (and later steel) "edge rails" which, along with realignment to increase the radius of curves, converted them into modern railways, better suited to locomotive operation. Plateways were particularly favoured in South Wales and the Forest of Dean, in some cases replacing existing edge rails. Other notable plateways included the Hay Railway, the Glouces ...
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Portskewett
Portskewett ( cy, Porthsgiwed or ''Porthysgewin'') is a village and community (parish) in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. It is located four miles south west of Chepstow and one mile east of Caldicot, in an archaeologically sensitive part of the Caldicot Levels on the Welsh shore of the Severn Estuary. The Second Severn Crossing passes overhead carrying the M4 motorway. The community includes Sudbrook, Crick and Leechpool. Black Rock is located just over half a mile away from the top end of Portskewett. This is 4miles away from Chepstow and 1mile away from Caldicot Castle History and prehistory Heston Brake At the eastern edge of the village, in a privately owned field opposite Black Rock Road, very near to the Leechpool turn, is evidence of a significant neolithic chambered tomb or long barrow. A small group of puddingstones mark the entrance of the site known as Heston Brake. Human skeletons, cattle bones and some pottery were discovered in the chamber when it was exc ...
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Severn Beach
Severn Beach is a village on the Severn Estuary in South Gloucestershire, England. The eastern portal of the Severn Tunnel is on the outskirts of the village. The Severn footpathon the sea wallis part of the Severn Way that leads from Gloucester, Slimbridge and the Second Severn Crossing. Extensive sea defences have been constructed and this provides a popular walkway along its length. Originally, the Severn Way finished at Severn Beach, but it has been extended to Bristol. The village is part of the Filton and Bradley Stoke Parliamentary constituency and is represented by the Conservative MP, Jack Lopresti. History Before the Great Western Railway arrived in 1900, the area was farmland. In 1922, the village became a seaside resort with a swimming pool called the "Blue Lagoon", a boating lake, dozens of fun-fair stalls, donkey rides (on grass), mostly by local entrepreneur Robert Stride. Many people came from nearby Bristol because Severn Beach had less strict licensing laws. Th ...
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