Camerton is a village and
civil parish in
Somerset, south west of
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
, lying on the
Cam Brook
The Cam brook is a small river in Somerset, England. It rises near Hinton Blewitt, flows through Cameley, Temple Cloud, Camerton, Dunkerton and Combe Hay. It then joins the Wellow Brook at Midford to form Midford Brook before joining the Ri ...
. The parish has a population of 655.
History
The parish includes the hamlet of Tunley, which is the site of a
hill fort that has been designated as a
Scheduled Ancient Monument.
The village stands beside the route of the
Fosse Way
The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis (Ilchester), Aquae Sulis ( Bath), Corini ...
, and a
Roman settlement was south-west of the current village.
The parish of Camerton was part of the
Wellow Hundred.
![Camerton Court, from lawn](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Camerton_Court%2C_from_lawn.jpg)
Originally a
farming village in North Somerset, its
vicar from 1800 was the amateur
antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...
and
archaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
The Rev.
John Skinner, who committed suicide in 1839. His studies led him to conclude, incorrectly, that Camerton was the location of the notable ancient British site of
Camulodunum.
Camerton Court
Camerton Court is a historic house in the village of Camerton, Somerset, Camerton, Somerset, England. It has been designated as a Grade II listed building.
House
The country house was built in 1835, designed by George Stanley Repton, George Repto ...
was built by the Jarrett family, to a design by George Repton (son of
Humphry Repton), in 1838–40, replacing an earlier Manor House.
The village expanded as a result of coal mining on the
Somerset coalfield in the 19th century. Camerton New Colliery, which started in the very early 19th century, and Camerton Old Colliery, which predates it by about 20 years. Camerton New Pit survived to be
nationalised
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
, eventually closing in 1950. The maximum amount mined was 77,000 tons in 1903. In the centre of the village is an old coal
spoil tip or "
batch" called Camerton Batch (or Camerton Old Batch to distinguish it from the taller Camerton New Batch which lies just to the east). Camerton Batch was designated as a
Local Nature Reserve in 1997.
With the closure of the coal mines, it is now primarily a
commuter village
A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...
for people working in Bristol or Bath. Camerton is also home to the
National Osteoporosis Society.
In 2007 Camerton was the site of a prosecution by 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 ...
for the illegal dumping of waste including concrete, tarmac, bricks, blocks, subsoil, metal, fluorescent light tubes, electrical cable and asbestos sheets on the site.
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, such as the
village hall or
community centre,
playing fields and
playground
A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people ...
s, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street-cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also of interest to the council.
The parish falls within the
unitary authority of
Bath and North East Somerset which was created in 1996, as established by the
Local Government Act 1992. It provides a single tier of
local government with responsibility for almost all local government functions within its area including
local planning and
building control
Building automation (BAS), also known as building management system (BMS) or building energy management system (BEMS), is the automatic centralized control of a building's HVAC, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), electrical, ligh ...
, local roads,
council housing
Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...
,
environmental health,
markets and fairs,
refuse collection
Waste collection is a part of the process of waste management. It is the transfer of solid waste from the point of use and disposal to the point of treatment or landfill. Waste collection also includes the curbside collection of recyclable m ...
,
recycling,
cemeteries
A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...
,
crematoria
Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning.
Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre i ...
, leisure services, parks, and
tourism. It is also responsible for
education,
social services
Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or administe ...
,
libraries, main roads,
public transport,
trading standards,
waste disposal and strategic planning, although fire, police and ambulance services are provided jointly with other authorities through the
Avon Fire and Rescue Service
Avon Fire & Rescue Service (AF&RS) is the fire and rescue service covering the unitary authorities of Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire in South West England.
The headquarters of the service is co ...
,
Avon and Somerset Constabulary and the
Great Western Ambulance Service
The Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust (GWAS) was a National Health Service (NHS) trust which provided emergency and non-emergency patient transport services to Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Swind ...
.
Bath and North East Somerset's area covers part of the
ceremonial county
The counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies, also referred to as the lieutenancy areas of England and informally known as ceremonial counties, are areas of England to which lords-lieutenant are appointed. Legally, the areas i ...
of
Somerset but it is administered independently of the
non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters is in
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
. Between 1 April 1974 and 1 April 1996, it was the
Wansdyke district and the
City of Bath
Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...
of the
county of Avon. Before 1974 that the parish was part of the
Bathavon Rural District
Bathavon was a rural district in Somerset, England, from 1933 to 1974.
It was created in 1933 with the abolition of Bath Rural District and Keynsham Rural District.
In 1974 it was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972, becoming part o ...
.
The parish is represented in the
House of Commons of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom as part of
North East Somerset
North East Somerset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, since its 2010 creation, by Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Boundaries
The constituency covers the part of Bath and North East Somerset District th ...
. It elects one
Member of Parliament (MP) by the
first past the post system of election. It was also part of the
South West England constituency of the
European Parliament prior to
Britain leaving the European Union
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EA ...
in January 2020, which elected seven
MEPs
A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
using the
d'Hondt method of
party-list proportional representation.
Transport
![Camerton (GWR) station site geograph-3128169-by-Ben-Brooksbank](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Camerton_%28GWR%29_station_site_geograph-3128169-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg)
Camerton once had a branch line from the
Bristol and North Somerset Railway
The Bristol and North Somerset Railway was a railway line in the West of England that connected Bristol with Radstock, through Pensford and further into northern Somerset, to allow access to the Somerset Coalfield. The line ran almost due so ...
(part of the
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
) mainly for coal. It opened from
Hallatrow in 1882 and was extended along the line of the former
Somerset Coal Canal to
Limpley Stoke in 1910, where it joined with the main line from
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
to
Bradford-on-Avon. Traffic on the line was never heavy: passenger services were suspended in 1915, resumed in 1923 and finally withdrawn in 1925. Goods traffic remained until 1951.
The Titfield Thunderbolt was filmed on the line shortly after it closed.
Religious sites
The
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
parish
Church of St. Peter dates from the 15th century with addition and renovation in 1638 and again in 1891. It has been designated as a Grade I
listed building. The grave of
Sir Frank Beauchamp who owned many coalmines in the area is in the churchyard.
Notable residents
* Actress
Ashley Jensen
* Actor
Terence Beesley (deceased)
References
External links
{{Commons category, Camerton, Somerset
Somerset coalfield
Civil parishes in Somerset
Villages in Bath and North East Somerset