Burnett, Somerset
| Burnett | |
| Somerset | |
|---|---|
_St_Michael%27s_Church_-_geograph.org.uk_-_67582.jpg) Church of St Michael | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | ST6646165032 |
| Location: | 51°22’60"N, 2°28’60"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 68 |
| Post town: | Bristol |
| Postcode: | BS31 |
| Dialling code: | 0117 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Bath & NE Somerset |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
North East Somerset |
Burnett is a small village and ancient parish in Somerset, located in the Chew Valley in the Keynsham Hundred.[1] The nearest town is Keynsham, which lies approximately three miles north of the village. The parish became a civil parish in 1866, which merged with that of Compton Dando in 1933. It is within the Bristol/Bath Green Belt.
History
The origin of the name Burnett is most likely derived from the old English word baernet, meaning a place cleared by burning, and the earliest evidence of a settlement was in the period of the Roman occupation.[2]
Burnett later appeared in the Domesday Book of 1086 with 30 inhabitants. In 1102 the village came under the control of the powerful ecclesiastical body of Tewkesbury Abbey and the Benedictine monks stopped to worship and rest at St Michael's Church en route to Glastonbury.[3]
The manor was held by Edith of Wessex, probably from the time of her marriage to King Edward the Confessor in 1045, until her death in 1074. Along with other lands in Somerset, it was reverted to William the Conqueror.[4]
The religious upheavals of the 16th century saw Burnett finish in the hands of a wealthy Bristol merchant named John Cutte, (later, mayor of Bristol) and a fine wall brass (dated 1575) on the church's chancel wall commemorates his family.[5]
The next notable was another Bristol merchant, John Whitson, who, on his death, bequeathed the parish of Burnett in trust to found a school for the orphaned daughters of Bristol's aldermen and merchants, where "the said children to go and be apparelled in red". Thus was founded the country's oldest surviving girls' school, Red Maids School. [6]
The growing population of Burnett gave rise to the need for a village school which was built in 1859 and the 1871 census showed the highest number of residents as 101. [7] However, following the drift from agriculture based livelihood to urban living the school was closed in 1922.
In 2013 Burnett still has two working farms which are largely arable with some pasture land for sheep grazing and the Paget family have been farming Elm farm since 1755.[8]
Although the number of dwellings has increased, this is as a result of barn conversions rather than new buildings. The fact that Burnett has spent two lots of 400 years under the single ownership of first the church and then Bristol Municipal Charities, has resulted in little change with the village managing to maintain much of its character. There are now 23 homes with a population of around 60. The majority of residents no longer work on the land but commute to Bristol and Bath, run their businesses from home or are retired.
The only communal building, St Michael's church, still holds regular services as part of the Parish of Kenysham[9] as it has done for over 1000 years. [10] The old village pump, once the only source of water, stands at the centre of the village and was renovated in 2000 to mark the millennium.
A small industrial estate off Gypsy Lane in the village includes premises for Network Commercial Systems Ltd,[11] Helphire (UK) Ltd[12] Aurora Scientific, Bath Bus Co, Casella Hazmat, Crescent Sash Services, Top Tier, Wessex Plant and other small companies.[13]
Geography
The rocks underlying Burnett Village and the immediately surrounding fields are the limestones and shales of the Lias Group.[14] The village itself is underlain by Blue Lias limestones, while the White Lias is found in the fields to the immediate south and west. A prominent Fault system (Burnett Fault) runs approximately east-west just to the north of the village (an extension of the Newton fault, [15]), and the two rises on Burnett Hill (B3116) represent the eroded scarps of two branches of this fault. In contrast, the steady incline of the B3116 from Burnett south to the junction with the A39 represents the geological dip of the top of the Blue Lias.
The steep slope marking the edge of the Chew Valley, immediately west of Burnett village, is an erosional scarp through the softer red and green shales of the Triassic Mercia Mudstone.
The fields in the bottom of the valley, north of the Burnett Fault, are underlain by the Supra- Pennant Measures of the Carboniferous period, represented by the Pensford Syncline coal basin, which formed part of the Somerset coalfield. It is a complex formation containing coal seams and is made up of clay and shales. Coal was locally worked near Burnett in the past. South of the fault, towards Compton Dando, the red colour of the fields indicates that the valley is underlain by the Mercia Mudstone. In the floodplain of the river there are alluvial deposits of clay soils.[16]
Education
The nearest schools are in Keynsham including St Johns primary school, Castle Primary school, Chandag infants and junior school and new school St Keyna primary school (a merge of Keynsham primary school and 150 yr old Temple Primary school). There are also two secondary schools, Wellsway School and Broadlands School.
Religious sites
The Church of St Michael dates from the 13th century and is a Grade II listed building.[17] It contains a monumental brass to John Cutte (mayor of Bristol) from 1575.[18]
Landmarks
Burnett has five listed buildings; being the beautiful grade II Tudor Manor house; the grade II Regency Burnett house; St Michael's church and two ancient tombs either side of the church porch. The Manor House, Burnett is a 17th-century manor house.[19]
References
- ↑ "Somerset Hundreds". GENUKI. http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Miscellaneous/. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- ↑ Leighton, W (1937). "The Manor and Parish of Burnett, Somerset". Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 59: 243–285. http://www2.glos.ac.uk/bgas/tbgas/v059/bg059243.pdf. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
- ↑ Leighton, W (1937). "The Manor and Parish of Burnett, Somerset". Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 59: 243–285. http://www2.glos.ac.uk/bgas/tbgas/v059/bg059243.pdf. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
- ↑ Leighton, W (1937). "The Manor and Parish of Burnett, Somerset". Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 59: 243–285. http://www2.glos.ac.uk/bgas/tbgas/v059/bg059243.pdf. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
- ↑ Arthur Mee, "Somerset (King's England)". Hodder & Stroughton, ISBN 978-0340001011
- ↑ Walter Adam Sampson, A History of the Red Maids' School, Bristol 1634-1908 (Privately printed 1924)
- ↑ Bristol Records Office, Cumberland Basin, Bristol.
- ↑ Alfred Paget, Memories of Burnett, undated.
- ↑ Keynsham Parish website, http://www.keynshamparish.org.uk/churches/st-michaels-burnett/
- ↑ Board displaying Rectors of St Michael's Burnett, St Michael's Church.
- ↑ "Contact Us". Network Commercial Systems Ltd. Businesspad.org. http://www.businesspad.org/uk2_business34811_Network-Commercial-Systems-Ltd-Unit-2-Burnett-Business-Park-Gypsy-Lane-Keynsham-Bristol-Avon-BS31-2ED/. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
- ↑ "Helphire UK". Businesspad.org. http://www.businesspad.org/uk1_business26927_Helphire-UK-Ltd-Unit-13-Burnett-Business-Park-Gypsy-Lane-Keynsham-Bristol-Avon-BS31-2ED/. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
- ↑ "Gypsy Lane". Bristol.org. http://www.bristol.org.uk/street/Gypsy_Lane/. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
- ↑ British Geological Survey, Geology of the Bristol district: the Lower Jurassic rocks. Memoir for 1:63,360 Bristol geological special sheet. 1984. ISBN 0 11 884349 4
- ↑ Geological Survey of Great Britain, 1:50,000 Geological Map sheet 265; Bristol
- ↑ "Area 2 - Chew Valley". BANES Environmental Services. http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/sites/default/files/rural_landscapes_-_chapters_1-6.pdf. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
- ↑ "Church of St Michael". Images of England. English Heritage. http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=32463. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
- ↑ Wilson, John Marius Wilson (1872). "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales". http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=12501. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
- ↑ "The Manor House, Burnett". Images of England. English Heritage. http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=32466. Retrieved 4 January 2011.