Wookey Hole is a village in Somerset, England. It is the location of the Wookey Hole show caves.

Location

Wookey Hole is located in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

of St Cuthbert Out, in

Mendip District Mendip is a local government district of Somerset in England. The district covers a largely rural area of with a population of approximately 112,500, ranging from the Wiltshire border in the east to part of the Somerset Levels in the west. T ...

. It is one mile north-west of the city of Wells, and lies on the border of the Mendip Hills

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...

(AONB).

Toponymy

One possible origin for the name Wookey is 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 ...

''wocig'' (an animal trap), although it is also a possible alteration from a Celtic word ''ogo'' (cave), referring to

Wookey Hole Caves Wookey is a village and civil parish west of Wells, on the River Axe in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. The parish includes the village of Henton and the nearby hamlets of Yarley and Bleadney where the River Axe travels the length ...

Features

The village of Wookey Hole is dominated by the

tourist site which has

show caves A show cave—also called tourist cave, public cave, and, in the United States, commercial cave—is a cave which has been made accessible to the public for guided visits. Definition A show cave is a cave that has been made accessible to ...

and a controversial

crazy golf Miniature golf, also known as minigolf, mini-putt, crazy golf, or putt-putt, is an offshoot of the sport of golf focusing solely on the putting aspect of its parent game. The aim of the game is to score the lowest number of points. It is played ...

course which was built on the site of the village

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), thou ...

green. The village has shops, a pub, restaurants, hotels and a campsite. The Grade II listed Church of St Mary Magdalene dates to 1873-74. The former paper mill building, whose

water wheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or bucket ...

is powered by a small canal from the river, dates from around 1860 and is a Grade II-

listed building 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 Irel ...

. The production of handmade paper ceased in February 2008 after the owner Gerry Cottle concluded there was no longer a market for the product, and therefore sold most of the historic machinery. Glencot House is a Grade II listed country house dating from 1887, by

Ernest George Sir Ernest George (13 June 1839 – 8 December 1922) was a British architect, landscape and architectural watercolourist, and etcher. Life and work Born in London, Ernest George began his architectural training in 1856, under Samuel Hewit ...

and

Harold Peto Harold Ainsworth Peto FRIBA (11 July 1854 – 16 April 1933) was a British architect, landscape architect and garden designer, who worked in Britain and in Provence, France. Among his best-known gardens are Iford Manor, Wiltshire; Buscot P ...

, for W. S. Hodgkinson. A report of the building appeared in ''The Building News'', 13 May 1887; the architect's drawing was exhibited at the Royal Academy, and is now at

RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

. The 18th-century Bubwith farmhouse is also a Grade II

, as is the post office in the High Street. The

Monarch's Way The Monarch's Way is a long-distance footpath in England that approximates the escape route taken by King Charles II in 1651 after being defeated in the Battle of Worcester. It runs from Worcester via Bristol and Yeovil to Shoreham, West Su ...

and Mendip Way long-distance footpaths both pass through the village, as does National Cycle Route 3. Ebbor Gorge National Nature Reserve is just outside the village.

References

External links

{{Mendip Mendip Hills Villages in Mendip District