- Oakhill
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Coordinates: 51°13′22″N 2°31′19″W / 51.2227°N 2.5220°W
Oakhill 
Oakhill
Oakhill shown within SomersetOS grid reference ST635472 District Mendip Shire county Somerset Region South West Country England Sovereign state United Kingdom Post town Radstock Postcode district BA3 Dialling code 01749 Police Avon and Somerset Fire Devon and Somerset Ambulance South Western EU Parliament South West England UK Parliament Wells List of places: UK • England • Somerset For other uses, see Oakhill (disambiguation).Oakhill, Somerset is a village located approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Shepton Mallet between the A37 and the A367 (The Fosseway). Oakhill is today is mainly a commuter village of 0.4 square miles (1.0 km2) in size, but it is more famous for its past activities which include its brewing.
Little London is the name given to a cluster of houses at the far Western end of the village. It is sometimes referred to as a district in itself for the purpose of location by trades persons etc. due to the 'stretched out' nature of the village.
Oakhill Methodist Church
The village borders with the Parish village of Ashwick and the now demolished Ashwick Grove was arguably closer to Oakhill than its neighbour. Ashwick Grove was the home of John Billingsley of Ashwick,[1] the grandson of Nicholas Billingsley, a Presbyterian dissenter who was minister at Ashwick from 1699 to 1729, and is most remembered locally as the owner of Oakhill Brewery, established in 1761,[1] and famous for its Oakhill Invalid Stout.
The village had its own railway, built in 1904,[2] to take beer barrels to the Somerset & Dorset Railway at nearby Binegar. The railway had a 2'6" gauge and operated two 0-4-0T locomotives, the 'Mendip' and the 'Oakhill', which were painted in an olive green livery. Traces of the railway can still be seen in the surrounding area. The railways made a brief reappearance in the village of Oakhill in the 1980s, albeit in a miniature form. In the grounds of Oakhill Manor, the manor's owner, Walter Harper, opened his impressive 'ride on' replica collection to the public. Among the engines, which towed thousands of people during their time there, was a 'Pacific' replica locomotive called Robin Hood. Oakhill Manor closed its doors to the public in 1985 and the collection of engines are now elsewhere around the country.
References
- ^ a b Atthill, Robin (1971). Old Mendip (2nd ed.). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0715351710.
- ^ "Oakhill Brewery railway, Ashwick". Somerset Historic Environment Record. Somerset County Council. http://webapp1.somerset.gov.uk/her/details.asp?prn=23086. Retrieved 2009-09-04.
External links
Media related to Oakhill at Wikimedia CommonsCategories:- Mendip Hills
- Villages in Mendip
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