1.
River Axe (Bristol Channel)
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The River Axe is a river in South West England. The river is formed by water entering swallets in the limestone and rises from the ground at Wookey Hole Caves in the Mendip Hills in Somerset, and runs through a V-shaped valley. The geology of the area is limestone and the water reaches Wookey Hole in a series of channels that have eroded through the soluble limestone. The river mouth is in Weston Bay on the Bristol Channel, the river was navigable from the middle ages until 1915, and used for international trade. It is the second largest resurgence on Mendip, with a catchment area of 46.2 square kilometres. Some of the water is allogenic in origin i. e and it then passes through major cave systems such as Swildons Hole, Eastwater Cavern and St Cuthberts Swallet, around Priddy, but 95% is water that has percolated directly into the limestone. From Wookey Hole village the river flows through a ravine and then west through the village of Wookey, the Lower River Axe then runs north along the west most edge of Knowle Moor whilst the River Axe continues west through the same moor. The two channels meet again on the boundary between Knowle and Panborough Moors, the river continues northwest past Wedmore Moor and through Oxmoor, Stoke Moor and Monk Moor. The river passes through the settlement of Lower Weare and on to the south of Loxton, from this point until it passes between Uphill Cliff and Brean Down, then reaches the coast at Weston Bay, the river forms the northern boundary of the county. Tributaries of the Axe include three rivers called Yeo, the Cheddar Yeo, the Mark Yeo and the Lox Yeo. The name derives from a Common Brittonic word meaning abounding in fish, the name is cognate with pysg, the Welsh word for fish. The lower reaches of the Axe have a history of navigation from the harbour at Uphill through to the settlement of Weare, the current tidal limit of the Axe is the sluice gates at Bleadon and Brean Cross. In the Middle Ages overseas trade was carried out from the port of Rackley, Rackley is now a farm below Crook Peak and west of Axbridge, which also had wharves. In the 14th century a French ship sailed up the river and by 1388 Thomas Tanner from Wells used Rackley to export cloth and corn to Portugal, and received iron and salt in exchange. Bleadon had been a port, sometimes known as Lympsham Wharf, for many years. It was last used by the ketch Democrat in 1942, a series of 11 watermills were powered by the river but the only one which remains is at Burcott
2.
Dorset
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Dorset /ˈdɔːrsᵻt/ is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the county, which is governed by Dorset County Council. Covering an area of 2,653 square kilometres, Dorset borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, the county town is Dorchester which is in the south. After the reorganisation of government in 1974 the countys border was extended eastward to incorporate the Hampshire towns of Bournemouth. Around half of the lives in the South East Dorset conurbation. The county has a history of human settlement stretching back to the Neolithic era. The Romans conquered Dorsets indigenous Celtic tribe, and during the early Middle Ages, the first recorded Viking raid on the British Isles occurred in Dorset during the eighth century, and the Black Death entered England at Melcombe Regis in 1348. During the Second World War, Dorset was heavily involved in the preparations for the invasion of Normandy, the former was the sailing venue in the 2012 Summer Olympics, and both have clubs or hire venues for sailing, Cornish pilot gig rowing, sea kayaking and powerboating. Dorset has a varied landscape featuring broad elevated chalk downs, steep limestone ridges, over half the county is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Three-quarters of its coastline is part of the Jurassic Coast Natural World Heritage Site due to its geological and it features notable landforms such as Lulworth Cove, the Isle of Portland, Chesil Beach and Durdle Door. Agriculture was traditionally the major industry of Dorset but is now in decline, there are no motorways in Dorset but a network of A roads cross the county and two railway main lines connect to London. Dorset has ports at Poole, Weymouth and Portland, and an international airport, the county has a variety of museums, theatres and festivals, and is host to one of Europes largest outdoor shows. It is the birthplace of Thomas Hardy, who used the county as the setting of his novels. Dorset derives its name from the county town of Dorchester, the Romans established the settlement in the 1st century and named it Durnovaria which was a Latinised version of a Common Brittonic word possibly meaning place with fist-sized pebbles. It is first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in AD845 and in the 10th century the countys archaic name, the first human visitors to Dorset were Mesolithic hunters, from around 8000 BC. The first permanent Neolithic settlers appeared around 3000 BC and were responsible for the creation of the Dorset Cursus, from 2800 BC onwards Bronze Age farmers cleared Dorsets woodlands for agricultural use and Dorsets high chalk hills provided a location for numerous round barrows. During the Iron Age, the British tribe known as the Durotriges established a series of forts across the county—most notably Maiden Castle which is one of the largest in Europe. The Romans arrived in Dorset during their conquest of Britain in AD43, Maiden Castle was captured by a Roman legion under the command of Vespasian, and the Roman settlement of Durnovaria was established nearby
3.
Somerset
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Somerset is a county in South West England which borders Gloucestershire and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east and Devon to the south-west. It is bounded to the north and west by the Severn Estuary and its traditional border with Gloucestershire is the River Avon. Somerset is a county of rolling hills such as the Blackdown Hills, Mendip Hills, Quantock Hills and Exmoor National Park. There is evidence of occupation from Paleolithic times, and of subsequent settlement in the Roman. The county played a significant part in the consolidation of power and rise of King Alfred the Great, and later in the English Civil War, the city of Bath is famous for its substantial Georgian architecture and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Somersets name derives from Old English Sumorsǣte, short for Sumortūnsǣte, an alternative suggestion is the name derives from Seo-mere-saetan meaning settlers by the sea lakes. The Old English name is used in the motto of the county, Sumorsǣte ealle, adopted as the motto in 1911, the phrase is taken from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Somerset settlement names are mostly Anglo-Saxon in origin, but some hill names include Brittonic Celtic elements, for example, an Anglo-Saxon charter of 682 refers to Creechborough Hill as the hill the British call Cructan and we call Crychbeorh. Some modern names are Brythonic in origin, such as Tarnock, the caves of the Mendip Hills were settled during the Palaeolithic period, and contain extensive archaeological sites such as those at Cheddar Gorge. Bones from Goughs Cave have been dated to 12,000 BC, examples of cave art have been found in Avelines Hole. Some caves continued to be occupied until modern times, including Wookey Hole, the Somerset Levels—specifically dry points at Glastonbury and Brent Knoll— also have a long history of settlement, and are known to have been settled by Mesolithic hunters. Travel in the area was facilitated by the construction of one of the worlds oldest known engineered roadways, the Sweet Track, the exact age of the henge monument at Stanton Drew stone circles is unknown, but it is believed to be Neolithic. There are numerous Iron Age hill forts, some of which, like Cadbury Castle, on the authority of the future emperor Vespasian, as part of the ongoing expansion of the Roman presence in Britain, the Second Legion Augusta invaded Somerset from the south-east in AD47. The county remained part of the Roman Empire until around AD409, a variety of Roman remains have been found, including Pagans Hill Roman temple in Chew Stoke, Low Ham Roman Villa and the Roman Baths that gave their name to the city of Bath. After the Romans left, Britain was invaded by Anglo-Saxon peoples, by AD600 they had established control over much of what is now England, but Somerset was still in native British hands. The Saxon royal palace in Cheddar was used several times in the 10th century to host the Witenagemot. After the Norman Conquest, the county was divided into 700 fiefs, Somerset contains HM Prison Shepton Mallet, which was Englands oldest prison still in use prior to its closure in 2013, having opened in 1610. In the English Civil War Somerset was largely Parliamentarian, with key engagements being the Sieges of Taunton, in 1685 the Monmouth Rebellion was played out in Somerset and neighbouring Dorset
4.
Devon
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Devon, also known as Devonshire, which was formerly its common and official name, is a county of England, reaching from the Bristol Channel in the north to the English Channel in the south. It is part of South West England, bounded by Cornwall to the west, Somerset to the northeast, combined as a ceremonial county, Devons area is 6,707 km2 and its population is about 1.1 million. Devon derives its name from Dumnonia, which, during the British Iron Age, Roman Britain, the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain resulted in the partial assimilation of Dumnonia into the Kingdom of Wessex during the eighth and ninth centuries. The western boundary with Cornwall was set at the River Tamar by King Æthelstan in 936, Devon was constituted as a shire of the Kingdom of England thereafter. The north and south coasts of Devon each have both cliffs and sandy shores, and the bays contain seaside resorts, fishing towns. The inland terrain is rural, generally hilly, and has a low density in comparison to many other parts of England. Dartmoor is the largest open space in southern England at 954 km2, to the north of Dartmoor are the Culm Measures and Exmoor. In the valleys and lowlands of south and east Devon the soil is fertile, drained by rivers including the Exe, the Culm, the Teign, the Dart. As well as agriculture, much of the economy of Devon is linked with tourism, in the Brittonic, Devon is known as Welsh, Dyfnaint, Breton, Devnent and Cornish, Dewnens, each meaning deep valleys. One erroneous theory is that the suffix is due to a mistake in the making of the original letters patent for the Duke of Devonshire. However, there are references to Defenascire in Anglo-Saxon texts from before 1000 AD, the term Devonshire may have originated around the 8th century, when it changed from Dumnonia to Defenascir. Kents Cavern in Torquay had produced human remains from 30–40,000 years ago, Dartmoor is thought to have been occupied by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer peoples from about 6000 BC. The Romans held the area under occupation for around 350 years. Devon became a frontier between Brittonic and Anglo-Saxon Wessex, and it was absorbed into Wessex by the mid 9th century. This suggests the Anglo-Saxon migration into Devon was limited rather than a movement of people. The border with Cornwall was set by King Æthelstan on the east bank of the River Tamar in 936 AD, the arrival of William of Orange to launch the Glorious Revolution of 1688 took place at Brixham. Devon has produced tin, copper and other metals from ancient times, Devons tin miners enjoyed a substantial degree of independence through Devons Stannary Parliament, which dates back to the 12th century. The last recorded sitting was in 1748, agriculture has been an important industry in Devon since the 19th century
5.
Beaminster
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It is sited in a bowl-shaped valley near the source of the small River Brit. The 2013 mid-year estimate of the population of Beaminster parish is 3,100, in its history Beaminster has been a centre of manufacture of linen and woollens, the raw materials for which were produced in the surrounding countryside. The town experienced three fires in the 17th and 18th centuries, the first of these, during the English Civil War. Beaminster parish church is notable for its architecture, particularly its handsome tower, in the Domesday Book of 1086 the manor of Beaminster was recorded as being owned by the See of Salisbury. Bishop Osmund gave it as a supplement to two of the Cathedral prebends in 1091, in the English Civil War the town declared for Parliament and was sacked by Royalist forces in 1644. Prince Maurice stayed in the town on Palm Sunday, though his stay was brief because a fire, caused by a musket being discharged into a thatched roof, the town suffered further accidental fires in 1684 and 1781. Previously Beaminster was a centre for the production of linen and woollens, no railway line came through Beaminster and as a result the town declined relative to other local towns such as Bridport and Dorchester. Horn Park, about 1.5 miles north-west of Beaminster, is a country house of five bays and two-storeys designed by architect T. Lawrence Dale. Inside the house the central corridor is barrel vaulted and leads to a room whose groin vault is reminiscent of the work of Sir John Soane. The drawing room includes Jacobean features re-used from a 16th-century country house at nearby Parnham, Horn Park is Listed Grade II. Its gardens are open to the public as part of the National Gardens Scheme. Beaminster is sited between 50 to 80 metres above sea level in a valley, surrounded by hills which rise to 244 metres at Beaminster Down to the northeast. The River Brit and many small streams emerge from springs on the slopes above the town, the confluences of several of these streams are within the towns boundaries. Beaminsters growth has historically been along the course of these streams, Beaminster is situated approximately 45 miles south of Bristol,38 miles west of Bournemouth,35 miles east of Exeter and 15 miles northwest of the county town Dorchester. Beaminster is sited mostly on Middle Jurassic Fullers earth clay, with some Inferior Oolite in the south of the town and Bridport and Yeovil Sands north of the town centre. The hills north and east of the town are Cretaceous chalk with a face of Upper Greensand, while those to the south and west are of Bridport. There are several faults running westnorthwest to eastsoutheast through the town, Horn Park Quarry SSSI produced building stone from the Inferior Oolite and some quality fossil specimens before becoming a light industrial estate on the road to Broadwindsor. Apart from the ammonites, the site displays a remarkable flat erosion surface, dorset County Councils 2013 mid-year estimate of the population of Beaminster parish is 3,100
6.
Axminster
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Axminster is a market town and civil parish on the eastern border of the county of Devon in England, some 28 miles from the county town of Exeter. The town is built on a hill overlooking the River Axe which heads towards the English Channel at Axmouth, at the 2001 census, it had a population of 5,626, increasing to 5,761 at the 2011 census. The town contains two wards the total sum of both wards being a population of 7,110. The market is held every Thursday. Axminster gave its name to a type of carpet, an Axminster-type power loom is capable of weaving high quality carpets with many varying colours and patterns. While Axminster carpets are made in the town by Axminster Carpets Ltd, the town dates back to the Celtic times of around 300 BC. It lies on two major Roman roads, the Fosse Way from Lincoln to Seaton, and the Dorchester to Exeter road, there was a Roman fort on the crossroads at Woodbury Farm, just south of the present town. Axminster appears on the Peutinger Map, one of only 15 British towns on that Roman era map, Axminster was recorded in the late 9th century as Ascanmynster and in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Aixeministra. The name means monastery or large church by the River Axe and is a mixture of languages, the history of the town is very much linked to the carpet industry, started by Thomas Whitty at Court House near the church in 1755. The completion of the early hand tufted carpets was marked by a peal of bells from the church as it took a great amount of time. In 1210, a charter was granted to the town included the right to hold a weekly cattle market which took place in the market square until it was moved to Trinity Square in 1834. It then moved in October 1912 to a site off South Street where it was held for 94 years and it finally closed in 2006 in the aftermath of the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak. A building on the site continued to be used for a general auction until all the buildings were demolished and replaced by a housing development. The town was on the route from London to Exeter. In 1760 a coaching inn named The George Hotel was opened on the corner of Lyme Street, over 16 coaches a day would stop at the hotel in its heyday for refreshments and to change horses, the building still stands but it is currently unoccupied. Part of the parish of Axminster had historically been an exclave of Dorset until the Counties Act 1844, Axminster railway station was opened on 19 July 1860, with the London and South Western Railway offering direct services between Central Station in Exeter and Yeovil. The station building was designed by the LSWRs architect Sir William Tite in mock gothic style, in 1903, the branch line from Axminster to Lyme Regis was opened. This branch line was closed with the Beeching cuts, in the 1960s, one engine has been preserved on the Bluebell Line, in Sussex, while the station was dismantled and reconstructed at New Alresford, on the Watercress Line, in Hampshire
7.
English Channel
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The English Channel, also called simply the Channel, is the body of water that separates southern England from northern France, and links the southern part of the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. It is about 560 km long and varies in width from 240 km at its widest to 33.3 km in the Strait of Dover and it is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some 75,000 km2. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the English Channel as follows, a line joining Isle Vierge to Lands End. The southwestern limit of the North Sea, the IHO defines the southwestern limit of the North Sea as a line joining the Walde Lighthouse and Leathercoat Point. The Walde Lighthouse is 6 km east of Calais, and Leathercoat Point is at the end of St Margarets Bay. The Strait of Dover, at the Channels eastern end, is its narrowest point and it is relatively shallow, with an average depth of about 120 m at its widest part, reducing to a depth of about 45 m between Dover and Calais. Eastwards from there the adjoining North Sea reduces to about 26 m in the Broad Fourteens where it lies over the watershed of the land bridge between East Anglia and the Low Countries. It reaches a depth of 180 m in the submerged valley of Hurds Deep,48 km west-northwest of Guernsey. The eastern region along the French coast between Cherbourg and the mouth of the Seine river at Le Havre is frequently referred to as the Bay of the Seine. There are several islands in the Channel, the most notable being the Isle of Wight off the English coast. The coastline, particularly on the French shore, is indented, several small islands close to the coastline, including Chausey. The Cotentin Peninsula in France juts out into the Channel, whilst on the English side there is a parallel channel known as the Solent between the Isle of Wight and the mainland. The Celtic Sea is to the west of the Channel, the time difference of about six hours between high water at the eastern and western limits of the Channel is indicative of the tidal range being amplified further by resonance. It was never defined as a border and the names were more or less descriptive. It was not considered as the property of a nation, strangely, before the development of the modern nations, British scholars very often referred to it as Gaulish and the French one as British or English. The name English Channel has been used since the early 18th century. In modern Dutch, however, it is known as Het Kanaal, later, it has also been known as the British Channel or the British Sea having been called the Oceanus Britannicus by the 2nd-century geographer Ptolemy. The same name is used on an Italian map of about 1450, the Anglo-Saxon texts often call it Sūð-sǣ as opposed to Norð-sǣ
8.
Axmouth
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Axmouth is a village, civil parish and former manor in the East Devon district of Devon, England, near the mouth of the River Axe. The village itself is about 1 km inland, although the parish extends to the sea, the village is near Seaton and Beer which are on the other side of the Axe estuary. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 493, in the will of King Alfred the Great, a copy of which is in the British Library, Axmouth was left to his youngest son Aethelweard. According to Historic England, Axmouth was ranked as a port by the mid-14th century. The remains of a medieval fishing boat can be seen at low tide in the River Axe. Erle purchased the manor of Axmouth following the Dissolution of Syon Monastery of which it had been a possession, the village includes some thatched cottages, the church has a fifteenth-century tower and a carved Norman doorway and pillars. The Tudor period Bindon House is nearby and the remains of a hillfort can be seen on Hawkesdown Hill above the village, an early concrete bridge crosses the mouth of the river close to the harbour which is home to a yacht club. Media related to Axmouth at Wikimedia Commons Devon Local Studies - Axmouth community page Axmouth in the Domesday Book
9.
Seaton, Devon
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Seaton is a small seaside town in East Devon on the south coast of England. It faces onto Lyme Bay, to the west of the mouth of the River Axe with red cliffs to one side, a sea wall provides access to the mostly shingle beach stretching for about a mile, and a small harbour. Seaton sits on the 96-mile long Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site, from here it is possible to visit rock strata dating from three geological periods in a 185 million-year ‘geological walk through time’. Seaton has an population of 7,385, proven to be 8,413 at the 2011 Census, whilst the Seaton. The Seaton electoral ward had a population of 7,096 at the above census, a farming community existed here 4,000 years before the Romans arrived and there were Iron Age forts in the vicinity at Seaton Down, Hawkesdown Hill, Blackbury Camp and Berry Camp. During Roman times this was an important port although the towns Roman remains have been reburied to preserve them, in Saxon times Seaton was known as Fluta or Fleet, the Saxon word for creek. The town of Fleet was founded by Saxon Charter in 1005 AD, the first mention of Seaton was in a papal bull by Pope Eugenius in 1146. Seaton was an important port for centuries, supplying ships and sailors for Edward Is wars against Scotland. In the 14th century heavy storms caused a landslip which blocked the estuary. In 1868 the arrival of the reduced the use of the harbour. In November 2013 builder Laurence Egerton, a metal detector enthusiast, the hoard, of about 22,000 Roman coins, is believed to be one of the largest and best-preserved 4th-century collections ever found in Britain. A team of archaeologists carefully removed and cleaned the coins over the next 10 months, Seaton was served by a branch line, opened in 1886, from Seaton Junction on the Salisbury to Exeter main line. The railway was successful and considerably assisted in the development of Seaton as a holiday destination, Seaton and Beer became the two most popular holiday destinations in East Devon. A Warners holiday camp opened in 1935 close to the station, with the increase in car ownership in the 1960s, usage of the line declined, and with many other Devon branch lines, it closed in 1966. The nearest railway station now is at Axminster, seven miles away, part of the trackbed has been used to construct the Seaton Tramway to Colyton, a tourist attraction. In the 19th century Seaton developed as a resort, which it remains to this day. Seaton lost its largest holiday camp at the beginning of 2009 when the site was purchased by Tesco who opened a supermarket on the site in late 2011. However, Seaton still has many accommodation providers including guest houses, hotels, a camping site, the church on the edge of town was built in the 14th century, with a squat tower dating from the 15th century
10.
Lyme Bay
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Lyme Bay is an area of the English Channel situated in the southwest of England between Start Bay in the west and Portland in the east. The counties of Devon and Dorset front onto the bay, the area around Lyme Bay is part of a World Heritage Site, the Jurassic Coast, named for its Jurassic geology. Many of the earliest discoveries of dinosaur and other prehistoric remains were in the area surrounding Lyme Regis. Notable among these were the discoveries made by self-educated palaeontologist and fossil collector Mary Anning, the weather in the bay is temperate by English standards, and far more temperate than many other places at a similar latitude. The reason for this is the action of the Gulf Stream. The area along the coast of Lyme Bay is thus a popular holiday destination, on 22 March 1993, four schoolchildren died in what is known as the Lyme Bay kayaking tragedy. Lyme Bay was the site of Exercise Tiger, a run for the D-Day invasion of France in 1944. The operation went horribly wrong when German E-boats appeared on the scene and attacked the landing craft, killing 749 American Army, a ship commissioned in 2007 for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary carries the name of the area, RFA Lyme Bay. Tank wrecks from the D-Day practice provide a venue for diving, marine life includes the Devon cup coral and rare pink sea fan. The reefs have been under threat from scallop dredging which, if unregulated, Devon Wildlife Trust has been campaigning to protect the reefs, calling for an end to the dredging and trawling within a 60-square-mile zone to help the reefs recover. About 20% of this area is now protected by an agreement made between the DEFRA and the fishermen of the South West Inshore Fishermens Association. Virtle Rock is an islet in Pokers Pool, Lyme Bay and it is the farthest islet from the coast of Pokers Pool. List of places on the Jurassic Coast Devon Wildlife Trusts page about the Lyme Bay coral reefs Save Lyme Bay Reefs
