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Westport Canal
The Westport Canal was built in the late 1830s to link Westport and Langport in Somerset, England. It was part of a larger scheme involving improvements to the River Parrett above Burrow Bridge. Langport is the point at which the River Yeo joins the River Parrett and the intention was to enable trade via the port at Bridgwater. It remained in use until the 1870s, but closed when the Somerset Drainage Commissioners took over control of the River Parrett. Despite a petition against closure by local people, the Commissioners ruled that navigation of the canal must cease due to their interpretation of the Act which gave them control of it, leaving the canal to serve as a drainage channel since 1878. The channel has survived to the modern day due to its drainage function, and many of the structures associated with the canal can still be seen. A number of them are on the listed building register because of their historic importance. There is some interest in improving the canal for i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parrett Navigation Company
The Parrett Navigation Company was formed to improve river navigation on the River Parrett, Ivelchester and Langport Navigation and linked waterways. Tolls were introduced to pay for the improvements. It was a trading Company owned by Vincent Stuckey and Walter Bagehot. The company was formed by the Parrett Navigation Navigation Act 1836, prior to this maintenance of the banks had been the responsibility of the riparian owners (Frontagers) under the authority of the County Commissioners. The Act authorised improvements to the River Parrett below Langport, the construction of a canal to Westport. The Act gave the newly formed Parrett Navigation Company powers to raise £10,500 by the issuing of shares, and an additional £3,300 from a mortgage if required.''The Canals of South West England'', (1967), Charles Hadfield, David and Charles, The engineer for the whole scheme was William Gravatt, who had previously worked on the Bristol and Exeter Railway, and he was assisted locally ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bristol And Exeter Railway
The Bristol & 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 gauge wars, 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 Tiverton. The B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of Somerset
Somerset is a historic county in the south west of England. There is evidence of human occupation since prehistoric times with hand axes and flint points from the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic eras, and a range of burial mounds, hill forts and other artefacts dating from the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages. The oldest dated human road work in Great Britain is the Sweet Track, constructed across the Somerset Levels with wooden planks in the 39th century BCE. Following the Roman Empire's invasion of southern Britain, the mining of lead and silver in the Mendip Hills provided a basis for local industry and commerce. Bath became the site of a major Roman fort and city, the remains of which can still be seen. During the Early Medieval period Somerset was the scene of battles between the Anglo-Saxons and first the Britons and later the Danes. In this period it was ruled first by various kings of Wessex, and later by kings of England. Following the defeat of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canals In Somerset
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow under atmospheric pressure, and can be thought of as artificial rivers. In most cases, a canal has a series of dams and locks that create reservoirs of low speed current flow. These reservoirs are referred to as ''slack water levels'', often just called ''levels''. A canal can be called a ''navigation canal'' when it parallels a natural river and shares part of the latter's discharges and drainage basin, and leverages its resources by building dams and locks to increase and lengthen its stretches of slack water levels while staying in its valley. A canal can cut across a drainage divide atop a ridge, generally requiring an external water source above the highest elevation. The best-known example of such a canal is the Panama Canal. Many ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David & Charles
David & Charles Ltd is an English publishing company. It is the owner of the David & Charles imprint, which specialises in craft and lifestyle publishing. David and Charles Ltd acts as distributor for all David and Charles Ltd books and content outside North America, and also distributes Interweave Press publications in the UK and worldwide excluding North America, and as foreign language editions. The company distributes Dover Publications and Reader's Digest books into the UK TradeF&W Media International company overview, http://www.davidandcharles.com/. Accessed 8 January 2014 and is also a UK and Europe distribution platform for the overseas acquired companies Krause Publications and Adams Media. History The current company was founded in 2019, taking the original founding name of the business that was first established in 1960. The company is the UK distributor for Dover Publications. David and Charles was first founded in Newton Abbot, England, on 1 April 1960 by Davi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muchelney Abbey
Muchelney Abbey is an English Heritage property in the village of Muchelney in the Somerset Levels, England. The site consists of ruined walls showing the layout of the abbey buildings constructed from the 7th to 16th centuries, and the remaining intact Abbot's House. It is next to the parish church in which some of the fabric of the abbey has been reused. It comprises the remains and foundations of a medieval Benedictine abbey, the site of an earlier Anglo-Saxon abbey, and an early Tudor house dating from the 16th century, formerly the lodgings of the resident Abbot, which is now a Grade I listed building. The ruins of the abbey have been scheduled as an ancient monument. The abbey was founded in the 7th or 8th century, damaged by Viking raids and rebuilt and refounded in the 10th century. It owned and managed local land. The buildings were expanded from the 12th to 16th centuries until its dissolution in 1538. Most of the buildings were demolished and the stone used in loc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midelney Manor
Midelney Manor in Drayton, Somerset, England was built in the late 16th century in two distinct halves by Richard and Thomas Trevillian. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building. The manor house is sited on a former island site, and was the property of Muchelney Abbey, passing to the Trevillian family after the dissolution of the monasteries. The building incorporates fragments of an earlier medieval building on the site which burned down. At the rear of the house is an 18th-century falcon mews. In 1985 the Manor was the venue for a television quiz series in which guests identify the origin and use of various artifacts. See also * List of Grade I listed buildings in South Somerset South Somerset is a local government district in the English county of Somerset. The South Somerset district occupies an area of , stretching from its borders with Devon and Dorset to the edge of the Somerset Levels. The district has a populatio ... References {{reflist Houses co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Curry Rivel
Curry Rivel is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated west of Somerton and east of Taunton in the South Somerset district. The parish has a population of 2,148. The parish includes the hamlet of Burton Pynsent. History The site of a Roman house has been discovered south of Fairview House. The site is on the Heritage at Risk Register due to ploughing. The unusual name Curry Rivel, comes from the Celtic word , meaning boundary and ''Rivel'' from its 12th century landlord Sir Richard Revel. In 1237 the king granted Henry de l'Orti a licence to empark his woods in Curry Rivel separating it from the control of the foresters of Castle Neroche. Curry Rivel was part of the hundred of Abdick and Bulstone. Notable structures Earnshill House was built in 1725 by John Strachan for Henry Combe, a prominent Bristol merchant. Burton Pynsent House was built around 1756 for William Pitt, after he inherited the estate from Sir William Pynsent, 2nd Baronet. It forme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grade II Listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in Northern Ireland. The term has also been used in the Republic of Ireland, where buildings are protected under the Planning and Development Act 2000. The statutory term in Ireland is " protected structure". A listed building may not be demolished, extended, or altered without special permission from the local planning authority, which typically consults the relevant central government agency, particularly for significant alterations to the more notable listed buildings. In England and Wales, a national amenity society must be notified of any work to a listed building which involves any element of demolition. Exemption from secular listed building control is provided for some buildings in current use for worship, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Somerset Levels
The Somerset Levels are a coastal plain and wetland area of Somerset, England, running south from the Mendip Hills, Mendips to the Blackdown Hills. The Somerset Levels have an area of about and are bisected by the Polden Hills; the areas to the south are drained by the River Parrett, and the areas to the north by the rivers River Axe (Bristol Channel), Axe and River Brue, Brue. The Mendip Hills separate the Somerset Levels from the North Somerset Levels. The Somerset Levels consist of marine clay "levels" along the coast and inland peat-based "moors"; agriculturally, about 70 per cent is used as grassland and the rest is arable. Willow and Dipsacus fullonum, teazel are grown commercially and peat is extracted. A Palaeolithic flint tool found in West Sedgemoor is the earliest indication of human presence in the area. The Neolithic people exploited the reed swamps for their natural resources and started to construct wooden trackways, including the world's oldest known tim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Isle
The River Isle (also known as the River Ile) flows from its source near Combe St Nicholas, through Somerset, England and discharges into the River Parrett south of Langport near Midelney. Several small springs merge into the river near Wadeford it then flows north past Donyatt, Ilminster, Puckington, and Isle Abbotts, before joining the Parrett. The first section of the river falls in and then falls less steeply falling during the subsequent . As a result, several mills were built on the upper reaches of the river. At least one mill was in existence at the time of the Domesday Book in 1086. These mills were an important part of the local economy connecting with the wool trade. The road bridge over the river at Knowle St Giles is a Grade II listed building. A lock was built at the junction with the River Parrett, to maintain water levels, when the Westport Canal was built in the 1830s. The canal joins the river approximately before the confluence with the Parrett. Chard ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
