Pensford

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Pensford
Somerset

Pensford with the Pensford Viaduct in the foreground
Location
Grid reference: ST619637
Location: 51°22’16"N, 2°32’48"W
Data
Post town: Bristol
Postcode: BS39
Dialling code: 01761
Local Government
Council: Bath & NE Somerset
Parliamentary
constituency: 		North East Somerset

Pensford is a village in the Chew Valley of Somerset, approximately seven miles south of Bristol and eight miles west of Bath. It is on the A37 road from Bristol to Shepton Mallet. It lies in the Keynsham Hundred.[1]

Pensford was identified as being of special architectural and historic interest and was designated as a Conservation Area in May 1988.[2]

History

High Street

The name Pensford is believed to mean 'The animal pens by the ford' from the Old English pens and ford.[3]

During the 14th to 16th centuries Pensford was a cloth centre based on local wool.[4]

On 24 June 1685 rebel forces camped at Pensford during the Monmouth Rebellion.[5]

During the 19th and 20th centuries the main industry was coal mining, with Pensford and the surrounding area forming a major part of the Somerset coalfield. Pensford colliery opened in 1909 and closed in 1955.[6]

The River Chew suffered a major flood in 1968 with serious damage to towns and villages along its route. The flood swept away the bridge over the A37 and damaged the railway viaduct so badly that it never reopened.[7] On 10–11 July, a storm brought heavy rainfall to the valley, with seven inches falling in 18 hours on Chew Stoke, double the area's average rainfall for the whole of July.[8]

In 2014 the Chew Valley Brewery, a microbrewery, was opened by local residents Dom Lowe and Matt Stalker, after training at Masters Brewery in Wellington.[9][10] First sales of their Pagan bitter were at the Stoke Inn in Chew Stoke,[11] and are now available at several pubs in the Chew Valley.

Buildings

St Thomas à Becket Church

St Thomas à Becket Church

The St Thomas à Becket Church is a Grade II* listed building[12] and is currently on the English Heritage Heritage at Risk Register,[13] following damage in a flood in 1968. During the 1980s an attempt was made to turn it into an arts centre but this was abandoned when the extent of the repairs required to make the building safe became clear. In 2007 the church was put on the market for redevelopment,[14] and in 2008 purchased for repair and use as a private dwelling.[15] The redevelopment of the church into a private dwelling was featured in the first episode of television series Restoration Home.

The Lock-up

The Lock-up

Pensford has an octagonal eighteenth-century village lock-up.[16] This is a Grade II listed building[17] and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Pubs

George and Dragon

Pensford has three pubs: the Travellers Rest, the Rising Sun, and the George and Dragon. During the 17th and 18th centuries Pensford was an important staging post for stage coaches which stopped at the George and Dragon and the Rising Sun.[16] The George and Dragon dates from 1752 and is a Grade II listed Building.[18]

Other Grade II listed buildings

Bridge over the River Chew
  • 149 High Street[19]
  • Bridge House[20]
  • Bridge over the River Chew[21]
  • Gill's G.V. Shoe Shop[22]
  • 129-131 High Street[23]
  • Old Bakery[24]
  • Guy's Farm[25]
  • Viaduct View[26]

The village's war memorial commemorates the seven people from the village who died in each of World War I and World War II. It is a wheel cross, with a Celtic-style carving.[27]

For centuries Pensford has been an important crossing point on the River Chew. The modern road bridge was rebuilt in 1968 after flood damage, but the much older (1839–85) bridge, by the church, survived the flood.

On the western side of the village is a viaduct on the disused Bristol and North Somerset Railway, built in 1873 but closed to trains in 1968 after the great flood of Pensford, after which it was deemed unsafe. The last passenger train had been earlier: the 9:25 a.m. from Frome to Bristol on 31 October 1959; after that there were only goods trains (mainly bringing coal from Radstock), which ceased in 1964, and very occasional excursion trains. Pensford viaduct is 995 feet long, reaches a maximum height of 95 feet to rail level and consists of sixteen arches. The viaduct is now a Grade II listed building.

Surrounding area

Nearby is Lord's Wood and the village is on the route of the Monarch's Way long distance footpath.

Famous residents

Pensford was home to the clarinet player, Acker Bilk. Robert Hunter of the Grateful Dead lived in the village from 1979–81. John Perry guitarist with The Only Ones lived here between 1972 and 1975.

References

  1. ↑ "Somerset Hundreds". GENUKI. http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Miscellaneous/. Retrieved 15 October 2011. 
  2. ↑ "Pensford Conservation Area Character Appraisal". Bath and North East Somerset Council. Archived from the original on 13 April 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080413143835/http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/BathNES/environmentandplanning/Conservation/conservationareas/ConservationAreaCharacterAppraisals/pensford.htm. Retrieved 14 January 2008. 
  3. ↑ Robinson, Stephen (1992). Somerset Place Names. Wimborne, Dorset: The Dovecote Press Ltd. ISBN 1-874336-03-2. 
  4. ↑ Hare, J.N. (22 January 2003). "Growth and recession in the fifteenth-century economy: the Wiltshire textile industry and the countryside". The Economic History Review 52 (1): 1–26. doi:10.1111/1468-0289.00116. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119059117/abstract?CRETRY=1. 
  5. ↑ Tincey, John (2005). Sedgemoor 1685: Marlborough's first victory. Barnsley: Pen and Sword Books. p. 61. ISBN 978-1844151479. 
  6. ↑ Down, C.G.; Warrington, A. J. (2005). The history of the Somerset coalfield. Radstock: Radstock Museum. ISBN 978-0-9551684-0-6. 
  7. ↑ "The great flood of 1968". Memories of Bristol. Archived from the original on 2 May 2006. https://web.archive.org/web/20060502142132/http://weldgen.tripod.com/the-great-flood-1968/index.html. Retrieved 4 January 2006. 
  8. ↑ Richley, Rob (June 2008). The Chew Valley floods of 1968. Exeter: Environment Agency. 
  9. ↑ Biddle, Pete (Summer 2014). "More breweries opening in local area!" (PDF). Pints West (CAMRA) (102): p. 3. http://www.camrabristol.org.uk/PW102.pdf. Retrieved 27 September 2014. 
  10. ↑ "New brewery launched". Mendip Times 10 (8): 18. October 2014. 
  11. ↑ "Chew Valley rolling out the barrel" (PDF). Pints West (CAMRA) (103): p. 7. Autumn 2014. http://www.camrabristol.org.uk/PW103.pdf. Retrieved 27 September 2014. 
  12. ↑ Images of England — details from listed building database (32618 ) St Thomas A Beckett Church
  13. ↑ "St Thomas A Beckett Church". English Heritage Buildings at Risk Register. http://risk.english-heritage.org.uk/2010.aspx?id=1459&rt=1&pn=1&st=a&ctype=all&crit=. Retrieved 9 April 2011. 
  14. ↑ "For Sale — Pensford Church". Chew Valley Gazette. October 2007. 
  15. ↑ "Church sold". Mendip Times. May 2008. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Mason, Edmund J. & Mason, Doreen (1982). Avon Villages. Robert Hale Ltd. ISBN 0-7091-9585-0. 
  17. ↑ Images of England — details from listed building database (32625 ) Pensford Lock
  18. ↑ Images of England — details from listed building database (32624) George and Dragon
  19. ↑ Images of England — details from listed building database (32626) 149 High Street
  20. ↑ Images of England — details from listed building database (32620) Bridge House
  21. ↑ Images of England — details from listed building database (32619) Bridge over the River Chew
  22. ↑ Images of England — details from listed building database (32621) Gill's G.V. Shoe Shop — Row of 6 cottages
  23. ↑ Images of England — details from listed building database (32622) 129-131 High Street
  24. ↑ Images of England — details from listed building database (32627) Old Bakery
  25. ↑ Images of England — details from listed building database (350200) Guy's Farm
  26. ↑ Images of England — details from listed building database (32623) Viaduct View
  27. ↑ "Pensford". United Kingdom National Inventory of War memorials. Imperial War Museum. http://www.ukniwm.org.uk/server/show/conMemorial.29136/. Retrieved 1 July 2008. 

Bibliography

  • Durham, I. & M. (1991). Chew Magna and the Chew Valley in old photographs. Redcliffe Press. ISBN 1-872971-61-X. 
  • Janes, Rowland (ed) (1987). The Natural History of the Chew Valley. ISBN 0-9545125-2-9. 

Outside links

 ("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Pensford)
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