Bishop Sutton

Coordinates: 51°20′05″N 2°35′32″W / 51.3348°N 2.5921°W / 51.3348; -2.5921
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Bishops Sutton.

Bishop Sutton
Avon and Somerset
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UK
England
Somerset
51°20′05″N 2°35′32″W / 51.3348°N 2.5921°W / 51.3348; -2.5921

Bishop Sutton (

Stowey Sutton
.

The village has a large village hall, a

Bishop Sutton F.C.
play. The lake is a popular place for children, adults and the elderly alike with beautiful views and entertainment such as fishing and sailing. There is a museum and tea shop on one side of the lake and a restaurant on the other.

The main industry in the village was a

flour mill
, part of which was converted into flats.

History

Coal mining

Much of the exploratory survey work which identified the geology of the area was carried out by William Smith, who became known as the "Father of English Geology", building on earlier work in the same area by John Strachey, who lived at Sutton Court.[1]

The

Farmborough and Hunstrete
.

The date for the first pits around Bishop Sutton are uncertain but there was at least one before 1719.[2] By 1824 a collection of four bell pits were identified in field tithe No 1409, and four shaft pits in field tithe No 1428, but they were no longer working.[2]

The Old Pit (ST587597), which was also known as Sutton Top Pit or Upper Sutton Pit, was dug before 1799 and owned by Lieutenant Henry Fisher, who sold it in 1821 to Robert Blinman Dowling and several seams of coal were identified and exploited. After Dowling's death the Old Pit was sold to Mr. T.T. Hawkes in 1852,[2] but he defaulted on the payments and it was sold in 1853 to William Rees-Mogg (an ancestor of William Rees-Mogg) and his associates.[3] The shaft reached a depth of 304 feet (93 m),[4] but went out of production by 1855,[2] when the "New" Pit which had been sunk in the early 19th century but then closed, was reopened and deepened to exploit deeper seams. The New Pit (ST587597) had two shafts of 4 feet (1.2 m) diameter, one for winding and one for pumping. In 1896 it was owned by F. Spencer, New Rock Colliery,[5] and in 1908 by Jesse Lovell and Sons.[6] The pit finally closed in 1929.[2][7]

Government and politics

Bishop Sutton, along with Stowey, makes up the Stowey Sutton

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

Avon and Somerset Constabulary and the Great Western Ambulance Service
.

Bath and North East Somerset's area covers part of the

county of Avon.[8] Before 1974 that the parish was part of the Clutton Rural District.[9]

The parish falls within the 'Chew Valley South' electoral division. Bishop Sutton is the most populous area of the ward but this stretches north and west to Nempnett Thrubwell. The total population of the ward as at the 2011 census was 2,377.[10]

The parish is represented in the

MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation
.

Geography

Folly Farm

Main article: Folly Farm, Somerset

Folly Farm is a traditionally managed visitable farm and nature reserve run by the Avon Wildlife Trust. The

biological Site of Special Scientific Interest. The SSSI comprises two adjacent areas, the meadows (19.36 hectares) and Dowlings Wood (9 hectares). The site is situated on a curved ridge of land on neutral soils derived from the underlying Keuper Marl. The soil is of the Icknield Association with dark brown, moist but moderately well-drained clay. It attracts a wide range of birds. The pasture is of a kind now rare in the area. A number of scarce species of fly are listed from the site.[11][12]

The site was purchased from the

Strachey family who were lords of the manor of the nearby Sutton Court in 1987.[13]

Burledge Hill

Main article: Burledge Hill

Burledge Hill is on the southern edge of the village of Bishop Sutton. The site comprises a mixture of flower rich grassland, scrub and mature hedgerows. Three fields are designated as Burledge Sidelands and Meadows a Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI),[14] and, since November 2005, as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) covering 48.7 ha.[15]

Burledge hillfort is a

archaeologists found evidence of post or stake holes, ditches, pits, and gullies inside the fort. They also found artifacts like a part of an iron fibula, animal bones, and pottery. One find which evidenced that metalworking was done at this site was the discovery of iron slag.[19]

Demographics

According to the 2001 census, the Chew Valley South Ward (which includes Bishop Sutton and Stowey) had 1,222 residents, living in 476 households, with an average age of 40.3 years. Of these, 76% of residents described their health as 'good', 25% of 16- to 74-year-olds had no qualifications; and the area had an unemployment rate of 1.9% of all economically active people aged 16–74. In the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2004, it was ranked at 28,854 out of 32,482 wards in England, where 1 was the most deprived LSOA and 32,482 the least deprived.[20]

Church

Church & Primary School

The Church of the Holy Trinity in Wick Road is the Anglican parish church. The building dates from 1848 and is a Grade II listed building.[21] During 2006 a grant of £64,000 was received from English Heritage to replace the roof of the church.

The village also possesses a Methodist Chapel that dates in part from the 1780s and it is thought that John Wesley the founder of Methodism may have preached there.[22]

The Elms

The Elms on Sutton Hill Road is a detached house dating from the early 18th century which has Grade II listed building status.[23]

Education

The village school has 115 pupils aged 4–11 years on the roll. It dates back to 1842[24] and was originally a school for pupils up to the age of 14. At one time it was a Church school but no longer has this status. The building today consists of the original Victorian school and three detached classrooms.[25]

After the age of 11, most pupils attend Chew Valley School

Sport and leisure

AFC Lymington
.

There is also a tennis club and amateur theatre group in the village.[26]

In 2011, residents of Bishop Sutton and surrounding villages banded together to form a new charity, the Chew Valley Youth Trust,[27] to combat the declining provision in leisure and recreational activities for young people in the region. In response to the closure of local Youth Clubs and declining state support for local transport, the charity combats issues of rural isolation and provides young residents with recreational activities.

Notable residents

  • Dr Liam Fox, a Conservative MP and former member of the cabinet, used to live in Bishop Sutton but sold his house in 2005/6.
  • The former professional footballer Andy Williams was brought up in Bishop Sutton

References

  1. ^ "Smith's other debt". Geoscientist 17.7, July 2007. The Geological Society. Archived from the original on 24 November 2008. Retrieved 13 August 2008.
  2. ^ a b c d e Williams, W.J. (1976). Coal Mining in Bishop Sutton North Somerset c. 1799–1929.
  3. ISBN 1-872971-61-X
    .
  4. ISBN 0-9551684-0-6
    .
  5. ^ "Peak District Mines Historical Society Ltd". Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
  6. ^ "List of Mines in Great Britain and the Isle of Man, 1908". Coal Mining Resource Centre. Retrieved 12 November 2006.
  7. ^ "Colliery lists". The Mines of the Bristol and Somerset Coalfield. Archived from the original on 6 September 2006. Retrieved 12 November 2006.
  8. ^ "The Avon (Structural Change) Order 1995". HMSO. Archived from the original on 30 January 2008. Retrieved 9 December 2007.
  9. ^ A Vision of Britain Through Time : Clutton Rural District Archived 23 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ "Chew Valley South ward 2011". Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  11. ^ English Nature SSSI citation sheet Archived 19 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Gibbs, David J. (2002) Scarcer Diptera found in the Bristol region in 1999, 2000 and 2001 Dipterists Digest (second series) 9:1-13
  13. ISBN 978-0-85199-834-3
    .
  14. ^ "Burledge Hill". Avon Wildlife trust. Archived from the original on 26 September 2011. Retrieved 31 December 2010.
  15. ^ "Burledge Sidelands and Meadows" (PDF). English Nature. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 October 2006. Retrieved 9 May 2006.
  16. ^ "Burledge Hillfort". PastScape. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  17. ^ "Mendip Hills An Archaeological Survey of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty" (PDF). Somerset County Council Archeological Projects. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 May 2011. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
  18. ^ "Burledge Camp". Fortified England. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  19. ^ ApSimon, A. M. (1955). Archaeological Notes (PDF) (Report). University of Bristol Spelaeological Society. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  20. ^ "Neighbourhood Statistics LSOA Bath and North East Somerset 021C Chew Valley South". Office for National Statistics 2001 Census. Retrieved 25 April 2006.
  21. ^ Historic England. "Church of the Holy Trinity (1320762)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 May 2006.
  22. ^ "Bishop Sutton Methodist Church". North East Somerset and Bath Methodist Circuit. Archived from the original on 10 May 2011. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
  23. ^ Historic England. "The Elms (1136622)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 May 2006.
  24. ^ "Propectus" (PDF). Bishop Sutton School. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 September 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  25. ^ "Bishop Sutton Primary School". Bishop Sutton Primary School. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  26. ^ "Bishop Sutton Tennis Club". Bishop Sutton Tennis Club. Archived from the original on 30 June 2006. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  27. ^ "Chew Valley Youth Trust". Archived from the original on 30 March 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2006.

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

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