Writhlington
| Writhlington | |
| Somerset | |
|---|---|
 Houses at the top of the hill in Writhlington | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | ST699545 |
| Location: | 51°17’20"N, 2°25’58"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Radstock |
| Postcode: | BA3 |
| Dialling code: | 01761 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Bath & NE Somerset |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
North East Somerset |
Writhlington is a suburb of Radstock, six miles north-west of Frome in Somerset.
The parish is part of the Kilmersdon Hundred,[1] in the north of the county.
Churches past and present
The parish church was dedicated to St Mary Magdalene. It has been designated a Grade II listed building.[2] The church has since been converted to a private residence.[3]
The old rectory which accompanies it dates from the 18th century.[4]
There is also a Methodist church dating from the early 20th century.
Coal mining
Coal pits within the village were part of the Somerset coalfield and the site is now 'Writhlington Site of Special Scientific Interest', which includes 3,000 tons of Upper Carboniferous spoil from which more than 1,400 insect fossil specimens have been recovered, including Phalangiotarbi,[5] and Graeophonus.[6] and the world's earliest known Damselfly,[7] It is a Geological Conservation — Protected Site.[8]
In 1896, the mines they were owned by Writhlington, Huish and Foxcote Colliery Co., and by 1908[9] this had been changed to Writhlington Collieries Co. Ltd. The Upper and Lower Writhlington, Huish & Foxcote were all merged into one colliery. Most of the output went to Portishead power station.
The village was on a branch of the proposed route of the Somersetshire Coal Canal, however this was converted into a tramway in 1815.[10]
Geology
The base of the Kilmersdon Valley is of alluvium deposits. Above this on both sides of all of the valleys is a band of shales and clays from the Penarth Group. These rocks are from the Triassic period. The majority of the remaining upland in this area is Lias Limestone (white and blue) while the very highest part above 130 m, south of Haydon, is a small outcrop of Inferior Oolitic Limestone. All these limestones are from the Jurassic period. The steepest slopes of both the Kilmersdon and Snail's Bottom Valleys have frequently slipped. Below all of the area is the coal-bearing Carboniferous strata. Haydon is an outlier of Radstock and was built to house the miners for the local pit. The disused railway line and inclined railway at Haydon form important elements within the Kilmersdon valley east of Haydon. The modern landscape has a less maintained and 'rougher' character and texture than neighbouring agricultural areas. This is caused in the main by the remnants of the coal industry and its infrastructure and changes in agricultural management. The disturbance caused by coal mining and the railways and the subsequent ending of mining and disuse of the railways has created valuable habitats of nature conservation interest.[11]
Sport
The village cricket team plays in the North Somerset Cricket League.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Writhlington) |
References
- ↑ "Somerset Hundreds". GENUKI. http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Miscellaneous/. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1115155: Church of St Mary Magdalen
- ↑ "Top 15 unusual buildings for sale". Daily Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/buyingsellingandmoving/9775390/Top-15-unusual-buildings-for-sale.html.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1115154: The Old Rectory
- ↑ Pollitt, J.R.; Braddy, Simon J. & Dunlop, Jason A. (2004): The phylogenetic position of the extinct arachnid order Phalangiotarbida Haase, 1890, with reference to the fauna from the Writhlington Geological Nature Reserve (Somerset, UK)
- ↑ Dunlop, J.A. (1994). "An Upper Carboniferous amblypygid from the Writhlington Geological Nature Reserve". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 105 (4): 245–250. doi:10.1016/S0016-7878(08)80177-0. http://members.tripod.com/~DrJasonDunlop/pj3.html.
- ↑ Duncan, I. J.; Titchener, F.; Briggs, D. E. G. (2003). "Decay and Disarticulation of the Cockroach: Implications for Preservation of the Blattoids of Writhlington (Upper Carboniferous), UK". PALAIOS 18 (3): 256. doi:10.1669/0883-1351(2003)018<0256:dadotc>2.0.co;2. Bibcode: 2003Palai..18..256D.
- ↑ "Writhlington SSSI, Somerset". English Nature. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20070929063002/http://www.lifescapes.co.uk/text_version/special/geological/protect3t.asp. Retrieved 14 November 2006.
- ↑ "List of Mines in Great Britain and the Isle of Man, 1908". Coal Mining Resource Centre. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cmhrc/lom08glos.htm. Retrieved 12 November 2006.
- ↑ Priestley, Joseph (1831). Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals, and Railways, of Great Britain. p. 580. http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/sdoc.php?wpage=PNRC0581#PNRCSMRS. Retrieved 9 December 2007.
- ↑ "Rural Landscapes — Area 15 Norton Radstock Southern Farmlands". Bath and North East Somerset Council. http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/sites/default/files/rural_landscapes_-_chapters_1-6.pdf. Retrieved 6 April 2018.