![Berkeley Arms, Purton - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Berkeley_Arms%2C_Purton_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1708664.jpg)
Purton is a village on the east bank of 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 ...
, 3 miles north of
Berkeley
Berkeley most often refers to:
*Berkeley, California, a city in the United States
**University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California
* George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher
Berkeley may also refer ...
, in
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
, England. The village is in the civil parish of
Hinton. It lies opposite the hamlet of
Purton
Purton is a large village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about northwest of the centre of Swindon. The parish includes the village of Purton Stoke and the hamlets of Bentham, Hayes Knoll, Purton Common, Restrop, The Fox and Widham. Th ...
on the west bank of the river.
The
Gloucester and Sharpness Canal
The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal (also known as the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal) is a ship canal in the west of England, between Gloucester and Sharpness; for much of its length it runs close to the tidal River Severn, but cuts off a sign ...
passes through the village.
The name of the place derives from the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
''pirige tun'', meaning "pear orchard".
River crossing
There was a ferry across the river to the other Purton by 1282. In the late 18th and early 19th century, there was also a ford across the river here. The ferry, known as Purton Passage, continued in use until 1879, when it was replaced by the
Severn Railway Bridge
The Severn Railway Bridge (historically called the Severn Bridge) was a bridge carrying the railway across the River Severn between Sharpness and Lydney in Gloucestershire, England. It was built in the 1870s by the Severn Bridge Railway Co ...
.
The Berkeley Arms public house
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...
is on the
Campaign for Real Ale's
National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors.
Tidal erosion barrier
In the early 20th century, a number of old vessels were run aground along the bank of the Severn, near Purton, to create a makeshift tidal erosion barrier to reinforce the narrow strip of land between the river and canal. barges,
trow
A trow was a type of cargo boat found in the past on the rivers Severn and Wye in Great Britain and used to transport goods.
Features
The mast could be taken down so that the trow could go under bridges, such as the bridge at Worcester and ...
s and schooners were 'hulked' at high tide, and have since filled with silt. More boats have been added, including the schooner ''Katherine Ellen'' which was impounded in 1921 for running guns to the
IRA
Ira or IRA may refer to:
*Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name
*Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name
*Iran, UNDP code IRA
Law
*Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...
, the
Kennet Canal barge ''Harriett'', and Ferrous Concrete Barges built in World War II.
Purton Passage SSSI
Purton Passage () is a
geological Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle o ...
near Purton
notified in 1966. The site is listed in the ‘Stroud District’ Local Plan, adopted November 2005, Appendix 6 (online for download) as an SSSI and a
Regionally Important Geological Site Regionally important geological and geomorphological sites (RIGS) (also known as regionally important geological sites or, especially in Wales, regionally important geodiversity sites) are locally designated sites of local, national and regional imp ...
(RIGS).
It is adjacent to the
Severn Estuary
The Severn Estuary ( cy, Aber Hafren) is the estuary of the River Severn, flowing into the Bristol Channel between South West England and South Wales. Its high tidal range, approximately , means that it has been at the centre of discussions in t ...
SSSI.
Rocks of the Upper Ludlow
Silurian age are exposed on the foreshore at Tites Point. These include bone beds, and the area is a declared important educational resource for the study of vertebrate
palaeontology. Most important are the plates of Cyathaspis banksi. The remains of primitive fish include
thelodont denticles and
acanthodian
Acanthodii or acanthodians is an extinct class of gnathostomes (jawed fishes), typically considered a paraphyletic group. They are currently considered to represent a grade of various fish lineages leading up to the extant Chondrichthyes, which ...
fragments.
Inspections by
Natural England
Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...
in 2009 report only acceptable change due to the natural processes of estuarine muds, and no establishment of vegetation; this is controlled due to the natural process of tidal scour.
Natural England SSSI information on the Purton Passage unit of assessment
/ref>
Purton Water Treatment Works
Built in the 1970s, the treatment works filters water from the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal and the River Frome and supplies around half of Bristol’s water supply.
Site of Berkeley Castle's old duck decoy pond
This is the site of the old decoy pond; the new one is due north east at Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre, and is maintained in full working order.
Extract from The Book of Duck Decoys by Sir Ralph Payne Gallwey, 1886, ch7 p93
"...3 miles N. of the town of Berkeley, 12 miles SW. of Gloucester, and close to the south bank of the River Severn, within a mile E. of Purton. These are the only Decoys in the county. The pools, of which there are two within a mile of one another, are about an acre apiece in extent, and there are four pipes to each. The old pool is on the verge of the S. bank of the Berkeley and Gloucester Canal, which was formed so close to it that, fearing the Decoy would suffer therefrom, the new Decoy was constructed in 1840 between the canal and the Severn, on the New Grounds."
References
SSSI Source
Natural England SSSI information on the citation
Natural England SSSI information on the Purton Passage unit
External links
Friends of Purton website
Natural England
(SSSI information)
{{authority control
Villages in Gloucestershire
Stroud District