Mells River
| Mells River | |
|---|---|
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Somerset, England |
| • elevation | 2 m (6 ft 7 in) |
| Mouth | River Frome |
• location | Frome, Somerset, England |
• coordinates | 51°14′50″N 2°19′14″W / 51.24722°N 2.32056°W |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • right | Finger Stream, Whatley Brook, Nunney Brook |
The Mells River flows through the eastern
The river forms one of the boundaries of Mells Park, a country house estate in Mells.[1] A few kilometres downstream it flows between the pre-Roman fortifications of Wadbury Camp to the north and Tedbury Camp to the south.[2] The river flows through the western part of the
Mells River also powered the
Vobster Inn Bridge, which carries the lane over the Mells River, is dated 1764 and is Grade II listed.[8] At Great Elm the Murtry Aqueduct,[9] built around 1795, carried the Dorset and Somerset Canal over the river.
The river takes the outfall from Whatley Quarry.[10] Downstream of the outfall is the Mells River Sink. This acts as a spring when the water table is high and as a sink into underground aquifers, through the Limestone, when the water table is low.[11] Water tracing showed this to be part of an underground part of the river 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) long. Archaeological investigations found the remains of woolly rhinoceros bones and a 1st-century bronze brooch.[12]
References
- ^ "Park, Mells". Somerset Historic Environment Record. Somerset County Council. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
- ^ Phelps, William (1836), The History and Antiquities of Somersetshire: Being a General and Parochial Survey of that Interesting County. To which is Prefixed an Historical Introduction, with a Brief View of Ecclesiastical History; and an Account of the Druidical, Belgic-British, Roman, Saxon, Danish, and Norman Antiquities, Now Extant, J.B. Nichols and son, p. 105, retrieved 19 August 2016
- ^ Harridge Woods Leafet (PDF), Somerset Wildlife Trust, retrieved 22 August 2016
- ^ "The Case for Extending the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty". Mendip Hills Society. 2005. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
- ISBN 0-7153-5171-0.
- ^ "English Nature citation sheet" (PDF). 2006. Retrieved 25 July 2006.
- ISBN 978-0-9565869-1-9.
- ^ "Vobster Inn Bridge". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 14 November 2006.
- ^ "Murtry Aqueduct". historicengland.org.uk. English Heritage. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
- ^ "Quarry control helps maintain river levels". ABB. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
- ^ "Mells and the Wadbury Valley". British Geological Survey. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
- ^ Stanton, W.I. (1982). "Mells River Sink: A spelaeological curiosity in east mendip Somerset" (PDF). Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelæological Society. 16 (2): 93–104.
