Purton, Berkeley

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Georgian house, and the church of St John the Evangelist Purton, houses and church.jpg
Georgian house, and the church of St John the Evangelist
Canal bridgekeeper's house, designed by Robert Mylne Canal house, Purton.jpg
Canal bridgekeeper's house, designed by Robert Mylne
The Berkeley Arms Berkeley Arms, Purton - geograph.org.uk - 1708664.jpg
The Berkeley Arms

Purton is a village on the east bank of the River Severn, 3 miles north of Berkeley, in Gloucestershire, England. The village is in the civil parish of Hinton. It lies opposite the hamlet of Purton on the west bank of the river.

Contents

The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal passes through the village.

The name of the place derives from the Old English pirige tun, meaning "pear orchard". [1]

River crossing

There was a ferry across the river to the other Purton by 1282. In the late 18th and early 19th century, there was also a ford across the river here. The ferry, known as Purton Passage, continued in use until 1879, when it was replaced by the Severn Railway Bridge. [2]

The Berkeley Arms public house is on the Campaign for Real Ale's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors. [3]

Tidal erosion barrier

In the early 20th century, a number of old vessels were run aground along the bank of the Severn, near Purton, to create a makeshift tidal erosion barrier to reinforce the narrow strip of land between the river and canal. [4] [5] barges, trows and schooners were 'hulked' at high tide, and have since filled with silt. More boats have been added, including the schooner Katherine Ellen which was impounded in 1921 for running guns to the IRA, the Kennet Canal barge Harriett, and Ferrous Concrete Barges built in World War II. [6]

Purton Passage SSSI

Purton Passage
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Gloucestershire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within Gloucestershire
Area of Search Gloucestershire
Grid reference SO687045
Coordinates 51°44′20″N2°27′14″W / 51.738778°N 2.453963°W / 51.738778; -2.453963
InterestGeological
Area4.9 hectare
Notification 1966
Natural England website

Purton Passage (grid reference SO687045 ) is a 4.9-hectare (12-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Purton notified in 1966. The site is listed in the ‘Stroud District’ Local Plan, adopted November 2005, Appendix 6 (online for download) as an SSSI and a Regionally Important Geological Site (RIGS). [7]

It is adjacent to the Severn Estuary SSSI.

Rocks of the Upper Ludlow Silurian age are exposed on the foreshore at Tites Point. These include bone beds, and the area is a declared important educational resource for the study of vertebrate palaeontology. Most important are the plates of Cyathaspis banksi. The remains of primitive fish include thelodont denticles and acanthodian fragments. [8]

Inspections by Natural England in 2009 report only acceptable change due to the natural processes of estuarine muds, and no establishment of vegetation; this is controlled due to the natural process of tidal scour. [9]

Purton Water Treatment Works

Built in the 1970s, the treatment works filters water from the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal and the River Frome and supplies around half of Bristol’s water supply.

Site of Berkeley Castle's old duck decoy pond

This is the site of the old decoy pond; the new one is due north east at Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre, and is maintained in full working order.

Extract from The Book of Duck Decoys by Sir Ralph Payne Gallwey, 1886, ch7 p93

"...3 miles N. of the town of Berkeley, 12 miles SW. of Gloucester, and close to the south bank of the River Severn, within a mile E. of Purton. These are the only Decoys in the county. The pools, of which there are two within a mile of one another, are about an acre apiece in extent, and there are four pipes to each. The old pool is on the verge of the S. bank of the Berkeley and Gloucester Canal, which was formed so close to it that, fearing the Decoy would suffer therefrom, the new Decoy was constructed in 1840 between the canal and the Severn, on the New Grounds."

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Berkeley, Gloucestershire Human settlement in England

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Sharpness Human settlement in England

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Severn Railway Bridge

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Coombe Hill Canal

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Arlingham Human settlement in England

Arlingham is a village and civil parish in the Stroud District of Gloucestershire, England. The 2001 Census recorded a parish population of 410, increasing to 459 at the 2011 census. The parish contains the hamlets of Milton End, Overton and Priding The next parish to the east is Fretherne with Saul.

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Stroudwater Navigation Canal in England

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Sharpness branch line

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Severn Bridge railway station

Severn Bridge railway station was a small station on the Severn Bridge Railway located close to the north west bank of the River Severn, 2 miles (3 km) northeast of Lydney in Gloucestershire, England.

Severn Bridge Railway

The Severn Bridge Railway was a railway company which constructed a railway from Lydney to Sharpness in Gloucestershire, England. It was intended chiefly to give access for minerals in the Forest of Dean to Sharpness Docks, and the company built a long bridge, 1,387 yards (1,268 m) in length, over the River Severn. The line opened in 1879.

Purton Hulks

The Purton Hulks or Purton Ships' Graveyard is a number of abandoned boats and ships, deliberately beached beside the River Severn near Purton in Gloucestershire, England, to reinforce the river banks. Most were beached in the 1950s and are now in a state of considerable decay. The site forms the largest ship graveyard in mainland Britain.

Daneway Banks SSSI Biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, England

Daneway Banks is a 17-hectare (42-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1954 and renotified in 1983. It lies half a mile west of Sapperton and is part of a group of wildlife sites in the Frome Valley that includes Siccaridge Wood and Sapperton Canal reserves. The site is in the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Hucclecote Meadows

Hucclecote Meadows is a 5.74-hectare (14.2-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest divided into two areas on each side of the M5 road in the Severn Vale, Gloucestershire. It was notified in 1984. The western area is also a Local Nature Reserve.

Old River Severn, Upper Lode

Old River Severn, Upper Lode is a 3.72-hectare (9.2-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1985. It is a cross county border site between Gloucestershire and Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Stroudwater barge

A Stroudwater barge was a type of barge developed for use on the Stroudwater Navigation, a canal in Gloucestershire.

References

  1. Mills, A.D. and Room, A. A Dictionary of British Place-Names Oxford University Press
  2. Victoria County History of Gloucestershire: Lydney
  3. Brandwood, Geoff (2013). Britain's best real heritage pubs. St. Albans: CAMRA. p. 44. ISBN   9781852493042.
  4. "The Purton Hulks". morturn.com - Legacy from the past. Retrieved 19 October 2008.
  5. "Purton Barge Graveyard". Gloucester Docks and Sharpness Canal website. Retrieved 6 September 2009.
  6. "Purton Hulks - maritime history sunk by neglect". telegraph.co.uk. London. 18 October 2008. Archived from the original on 20 October 2008. Retrieved 19 October 2008.
  7. Stroud District Local Plan, adopted November 2005, Appendix 6 ‘Sites of Nature Conservation Interest’ Archived 6 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Natural England SSSI information on the citation
  9. Natural England SSSI information on the Purton Passage unit of assessment

SSSI Source

Coordinates: 51°44′10″N2°26′53″W / 51.73611°N 2.44806°W / 51.73611; -2.44806