Writhlington

infobox UK place
country= England
latitude= 51.2890
longitude= -2.4327
official_name= Writhlington
population=
civil_parish=
unitary_england= Bath and North East Somerset
lieutenancy_england= Somerset
region= South West England
constituency_westminster= Wansdyke
post_town= RADSTOCK
postcode_district= BA3
postcode_area= BA
dial_code= 01761
os_grid_reference= ST699545

Writhlington is a village near Radstock and convert|6|mi|km|0|lk=on north west of Frome in the Bath and North East Somerset district of Somerset, England.

Writhlington School was attended between 1974 and 1979 by Susan Chilcott. Andy Robinson taught Mathematics, Physical Education and Rugby at the school.

The village cricket team plays in the North Somerset Cricket League.

Church

The church is dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene. It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II listed building. [cite web | title=Church of St Mary Magdalen | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=31924 | accessdate=2008-01-13] The old rectory which accompanies it dates from the 18th century. [cite web | title=The Old Rectory | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=31923 | accessdate=2008-01-13]

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, [aut|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)] and Graeophonus. [Dunlop, J.A. (1994). An Upper Carboniferous amblypygid from the Writhlington Geological Nature Reserve. "Proceedings of the Geologists' Association" 105:245-250. [http://members.tripod.com/~DrJasonDunlop/pj3.html] ] and the world's earliest known Damselfly, [cite web | title=Decay and Disarticulation of the Cockroach: Implications for Preservation of the Blattoids of Writhlington (Upper Carboniferous), UK | work=PALAIOS; June 2003; v. 18; no. 3; p. 256-265; | url=http://palaios.sepmonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/18/3/256 | accessdate=2006-11-14] It is a Geological Conservation - Protected Site. [cite web | title=Writhlington SSSI, Somerset | work=English Nature | url=http://www.lifescapes.co.uk/text_version/special/geological/protect3t.asp | accessdate=2006-11-14]

In 1896 cite web | title=Peak District Mines Historical Society Ltd | url=http://www.tidza.demon.co.uk/pages/1896-68.htm | accessdate=2006-11-12] they were owned by Writhlington, Huish and Foxcote Colliery Co., and by 1908cite web | title= List of Mines in Great Britain and the Isle of Man, 1908 | work=Coal Mining Resource Centre | url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cmhrc/lom08glos.htm | accessdate=2006-11-12] 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 Somerset Coal Canal however this was converted into a tramway in 1815. [cite book |last=Priestley |first=Joseph |authorlink= |title=Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals, and Railways, of Great Britain P580 |year=1831 | url=http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/PNRC0581.htm#PNRC580 | accessdate=2007-12-09 ]

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 130m, 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. [cite web | title=Rural Areas - Area 15 Norton Radstock Southern Farmlands | work=Bath and North East Somerset Council | url=http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/BathNES/environmentandplanning/planningservices/Landscape/rlarea15.htm | accessdate=2006-12-10]

References

External links

* [http://www.writhlington.ukfossils.co.uk/ Fossils and Geology of Writhlington from UK Fossils Network]