| Combe Hay | |
|---|---|
 Combe Hay Church | |
  Combe Hay Location within Somerset | |
| Population | 147 [1] |
| OS grid reference | ST735600 |
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Bath |
| Postcode district | BA2 |
| Police | Avon and Somerset |
| Fire | Avon |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | |
Combe Hay is a village and civil parish in the English county of Somerset. It falls within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The parish has a population of 147. [1]
Combe Hay was known in the Domesday Book as Cumb. The parish of Combe Hay was part of the Wellow Hundred. [2]
The village includes a church with a 15th-century tower, the Georgian Combe Hay Manor [3] and Georgian rectory. [4]
Combe Hay was the site of a series of locks, dating from 1805 on the Somerset Coal Canal on which research and restoration is proposed. [5] It is the site of one of the only caisson locks ever built which was near the current Caisson House. [6] Many of the locks and associated workings are listed buildings. [7] [8] It was also served by the Camerton and Limpley Stoke Railway.
From the 1880s until 1980 mines extracting fuller's earth were to be found in Combe Hay. [9] [10] During World War II production expanded to supply foundries and in paint production. Work was scheduled under the Essential Works Order 1941 and new equipment installed. The site was bombed on the night of 25–26 April 1942 during the Baedeker Blitz raids on Bath, causing damage to some of the machines. The next night local residents sheltered in the mine. By the end of the war production was up to 250 tins a week. By 1949 the site had been electrified, therefore the Garrett steam engine was sold and the chimney demolished. The Fuller's Earth Union was taken over by Laporte plc. In 1978 a new extension was built making granules for cat litter, but in 1979 a major customer making cars in the West Midlands closed and production was wound down until closure in 1980. [11]
The site of the former Fuller's earth works on the A367 was taken over by Bath Recycling Skips (see above image), in the distance is the Bath Odd Down Park & Ride at the end of Combe Hay Lane. Further development is planned just below this site with up to 171 new houses being developed, although with a great deal of opposition from the inhabitants of Southstoke and Combe Hay. [12]
The village appears in the Ealing comedy The Titfield Thunderbolt .
The parish council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council’s operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, such as the village hall or community centre, playing fields and playgrounds, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also of interest to the council.
The parish falls within the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset which was created in 1996, as established by the Local Government Act 1992. It provides a single tier of local government with responsibility for almost all local government functions within their area including local planning and building control, local roads, council housing, environmental health, markets and fairs, refuse collection, recycling, cemeteries, crematoria, leisure services, parks, and tourism. They are also responsible for education, social services, libraries, main roads, public transport, trading standards, waste disposal and strategic planning, although fire, police and ambulance services are provided jointly with other authorities through the Avon Fire and Rescue Service, Avon and Somerset Constabulary and the Great Western Ambulance Service.
Bath and North East Somerset's area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset but it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters are in Bath. Between 1 April 1974 and 1 April 1996, it was the Wansdyke district and the City of Bath of the county of Avon. [13] Before 1974 that the parish was part of the Bathavon Rural District. [14]
The parish is represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom as part of the North East Somerset constituency. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It was also part of the South West England constituency of the European Parliament prior to Britain leaving the European Union in January 2020, which elected seven MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.
The Anglican parish church has a 15th-century tower but the body of the church was altered in the late 18th century and restored with the addition of a south aisle and porch in 1874, possibly by the Lord of the manor, George Smart. [15]
Monkton Combe is a village and civil parish in north Somerset, England, 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Bath. The parish, which includes the hamlet of Tucking Mill, had a population of 554 in 2013. It was formerly known as Combe, owing to its geography, while it was also known as Monckton Combe and Combe Monckton until last century.
Bathampton is a village and civil parish 2 miles (3 km) east of Bath, England on the south bank of the River Avon. The parish has a population of 1,603.
The Somerset Coal Canal was a narrow canal in England, built around 1800. Its route began in basins at Paulton and Timsbury, ran to nearby Camerton, over two aqueducts at Dunkerton, through a tunnel at Combe Hay, then via Midford and Monkton Combe to Limpley Stoke where it joined the Kennet and Avon Canal. This link gave the Somerset coalfield access east toward London. The longest arm was 10.6 miles (17.1 km) long with 23 locks. From Midford an arm also ran via Writhlington to Radstock, with a tunnel at Wellow.
North East Somerset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, since it was created for the 2010 general election, by Jacob Rees-Mogg of the Conservative Party.
Midford is a village approximately 3 miles (5 km) south-south-east of Bath, Somerset, England. Although relatively small, it extends over 2 counties, is part of two unitary authorities and is part of five parishes. Although all five parishes extend very near to the village centre, most of the residents reside in the parish of Southstoke and are part of the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority.
Camerton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, 6 miles (9.7 km) south west of Bath, lying on the Cam Brook. The parish has a population of 655.
Freshford is a village and civil parish in the Avon valley 6 miles (10 km) south-east of Bath, in the county of Somerset, England. The parish has a population of 551. It is in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), within the Green Belt and is in a conservation area.
Wellow is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, about 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Bath. The parish, which includes the hamlets of Twinhoe, White Ox Mead, Baggridge and part of Midford has a population of 529. The village itself falls within the southernmost boundary of the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is recognised as having special architectural and historic interest, which led to it being designated as a Conservation Area in 1983.
Kelston is a small village and civil parish in Somerset, 4 miles (6.4 km) north west of Bath, and 8 miles (12.9 km) east of Bristol, on the A431 road. It is situated just north of the River Avon, close to the Kelston and Saltford locks. The parish has a population of 248.
Priston is a civil parish and village 4 miles (6 km) south west of Bath in Bath and North East Somerset, which is within the English ceremonial county of Somerset. The parish includes the hamlet of Wilmington.
Claverton is a small village and civil parish about 2 miles (3 km) east of Bath at the southern end of the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in Somerset, England. The parish has a population of 115.
Midford railway station was a single-platform station on the Bath extension of the Somerset and Dorset Railway, just to the north of the point where the double-track became a single track. It served the village of Midford. The station was closed with the rest of the line in March 1966 under the Beeching axe, though it had been unstaffed for some years before that.
Englishcombe is a village and civil parish in Bath and North East Somerset just south-west of Bath, England. The parish, which also includes the hamlets of Inglesbatch and Nailwell, had a population of 318 at the 2011 census.
Southstoke is a small village and civil parish in north east Somerset, England. In 2004 the parish council requested that the name be formally changed to South Stoke, as "this is historically the more established spelling and better reflects the origin and meaning of the Parish name."
Dunkerton is a small village in the civil parish of Dunkerton and Tunley, 4 miles (6.4 km) north east of Radstock, and 5 miles (8.0 km) south west of Bath, in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority, Somerset, England. The parish has a population of 502.
Shoscombe is a small village and civil parish in the valley of the Wellow Brook in north-east Somerset, about 7 miles (11 km) south of Bath, England. The parish has a population of 443.
Corston is a small village and civil parish close to the River Avon and situated on the A39 road in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority, Somerset, England. The parish has a population of 494.
North Stoke is a village within the civil parish of Kelston in the Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) unitary authority within the historic county of Somerset, England, and close to the border with South Gloucestershire. The parish has a population of 72.
Tucking Mill is a small hamlet within the parish of Monkton Combe, Somerset, England. It lies on Midford Brook and was a key point on the now disused Somerset Coal Canal.
The Combe Hay Locks is a derelict flight of locks on the Somerset Coal Canal near Combe Hay, Somerset, England. Twenty two locks raised the canal 134 feet (41 m) over approximately 1.6 miles (2.6 km). The lock flight was predated in the immediate area by two other methods of canal lifts—first by a series of caisson locks, then by an inclined plane. The lock flight opened in 1805, and was in operation until 1899.
