Edington | |
---|---|
The Village Hall | |
Edington Holy Well | |
Location within Somerset | |
Population | 372 (2011) [1] |
OS grid reference | ST385395 |
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | BRIDGWATER |
Postcode district | TA7 |
Dialling code | 01278 |
Police | Avon and Somerset |
Fire | Devon and Somerset |
Ambulance | South Western |
UK Parliament | |
Burtle | ||
Chilton Polden | Edington | Catcott |
Stawell | Sutton Mallet |
Edington is a rural village, situated on the north side of the Polden Hills in Somerset, England.
Either side of it lie the villages of Chilton Polden and Catcott, and north of it is the small village of Burtle. There is a 12th-century church, but the nearest primary school is in the village of Catcott.
Edington has a surgery [2] and a village hall. [3]
At the north end of the village is a Holy Well. [4]
The 1888-1913 Ordnance Survey map of Edington shows the site of a Roman pottery kiln. Bronze Age palstaves have also been found at a site near Edington. [5]
Edington was located in the hundred of Whitley and the county of Somerset. In 1086, it had a recorded population of approximately 20.7 households. [6]
Edington was once linked to the towns of Glastonbury and Burnham-on-Sea by the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway and was later a junction for the short branch to Bridgwater, which opened in 1890. Edington railway station was known as Edington Junction between 1890 and 1953, changing to Edington Burtle on the closure of the Bridgwater line and closing on 7 March 1966. [7]
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, 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 the responsibility of the council.
For local government purposes, since 1 April 2023, the village comes under the unitary authority of Somerset Council. Prior to this, it was part of the non-metropolitan district of Sedgemoor, which was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, having previously been part of Bridgwater Rural District. [8]
The village falls within the 'West Polden' electoral ward. The ward stretches from Burtle in the north to Stawell in the south. The total ward population as at the 2011 census was 2,375. [9]
It is also part of the Wells and Mendip Hills county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election, and was 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.
Catcott, Edington and Chilton Moors SSSI is a 1083 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest consisting of land south of the River Brue managed by Somerset Wildlife Trust and is known for the variety of the bird life. The site consists of low-lying land south of the River Brue, which floods on a regular basis; land north is included in the Tealham and Tadham Moors SSSI. The site is managed by Somerset Wildlife Trust and includes the Catcott Lows National Nature Reserve, of grassland in the summer, but flood during the winter, creating a perfect habitat for wintering waterfowl and Bewick's swans, [10] Roe deer and several invertebrate species of scientific interest also inhabit the area, [11] [12] Catcott Heath [13] and Catcott North. [14]
Sedgemoor is a low-lying area of land in Somerset, England. It lies close to sea level south of the Polden Hills, historically largely marsh. The eastern part is known as King's Sedgemoor, and the western part West Sedgemoor. Sedgemoor is part of the area now known as the Somerset Levels and Moors. Historically the area was known as the site of the Battle of Sedgemoor.
The River Huntspill is an artificial river, in the Somerset Levels, in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. It was built in 1940 to supply process water to ROF Bridgwater, and has resulted in reduced flooding of the lower Brue Valley. Huntspill Sluice at the river's western end, also known as West Huntspill Sluice, separates it from the River Parrett.
Puriton is a village and parish at the westerly end of the Polden Hills, in Somerset, England. The parish has a population of 1,968. The local parish church is dedicated to St Michael and All Angels. A chapel on Woolavington Road was converted to a private house some 20 years ago. The parish includes the hamlets of Dunball and Down End.
The Polden Hills in Somerset, England are a long, low ridge, extending for 10 miles (16 km), and separated from the Mendip Hills, to which they are nearly parallel, by a marshy tract, known as the Somerset Levels. They are now bisected at their western end by the M5 motorway and a railway, the Bristol and Exeter Railway, part of the Great Western Main Line.
Shapwick is a village on the Polden Hills overlooking the Somerset Moors, in Somerset, England. It is situated to the west of Glastonbury.
Bawdrip is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. The village is on the south side of the Polden Hills about 4 miles (6.4 km) north-east of Bridgwater. At the 2011 census the parish had a population of 506. The parish includes the hamlets of Bradney, Horsey and Knowle.
The River Brue originates in the parish of Brewham in Somerset, England, and reaches the sea some 50 kilometres (31 mi) west at Burnham-on-Sea. It originally took a different route from Glastonbury to the sea, but this was changed by Glastonbury Abbey in the twelfth century. The river provides an important drainage route for water from a low-lying area which is prone to flooding which man has tried to manage through rhynes, canals, artificial rivers and sluices for centuries.
Edington Burtle railway station was a station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, and served the village of Edington, Somerset, UK. Originally named Edington Road, with the village two miles away, it became in 1890 the junction for the Bridgwater branch off the Highbridge line and for the next period in its life was known as Edington Junction. After the Bridgwater line closed to passengers in 1952, the station was renamed as Edington Burtle – Burtle is a village to the north of the station, and somewhat closer than Edington. In February 1956 the down platform and signal box was closed. Goods Yard closed on 13 July 1964. It closed in March 1966 when the line was shut as part of the Beeching axe.
Catcott, Edington and Chilton Moors SSSI is a 1083 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset, England notified in 1967. It is close to the villages of Edington and Catcott.
Huntspill is a village and former civil parish on the Huntspill Level in Somerset, England. It lies on the A38 road, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of Highbridge. The village is the principal settlement in the civil parish of West Huntspill. In 2019 it had an estimated population of 1102.
East Huntspill is a village and civil parish on the Huntspill Level, near Highbridge, Somerset, England. The civil parish includes Cote, Hackness and Bason Bridge.
Burtle is a village and civil parish on the Somerset Levels in Somerset, England.
Catcott is a rural village and civil parish, situated close to Edington 7 miles (11.3 km) to the east of Bridgwater on the Somerset Levels to the north of the Polden Hills in Somerset, England.
Chilton Polden is a rural village and civil parish, situated close to Edington on the Somerset Levels to the north of the Polden Hills in Somerset, England.
Cossington is a village and civil parish close to Woolavington and 5 miles (8 km) north of Bridgwater, in Somerset, England. The village lies on the north side of the Polden Hills. Its population in 2021 was 640.
Middlezoy is a village and civil parish on the Somerset Levels in Somerset, England. Situated between the two other villages of Westonzoyland and Othery and is about six miles from the town of Bridgwater which is on the tidal river Parret.
Moorlinch is a village and civil parish where the Polden Hills meet the Somerset Levels in Somerset, England.
The county of Somerset is in South West England, bordered by the Bristol Channel and the counties of Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, and Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south, and Devon to the west. The climate, influenced by its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean and the prevailing westerly winds, tends to be mild, damp and windy.
The Avalon Marshes Partnership is a group of conservation organisations working together in the Somerset Levels. The members are Natural England, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), the Somerset Wildlife Trust, the Hawk and Owl Trust, Historic England, South West Heritage Trust and the Environment Agency. Between 2012 and 2016 the scheme was supported by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £1,772,500 with additional investment of £920,080 from other sources. The Avalon Marshes Centre, run by Natural England, is near the Shapwick Heath reserve. The network of reserves and private land managed for conservation in the Avalon marshes means that wetland management can be carried out on a landscape scale.