Portal:Somerset

The Somerset Coal Canal (originally known as the Somersetshire Coal Canal) was a narrow canal in England, built around 1800 from basins at Paulton and Timsbury via Camerton, an aqueduct at Dunkerton, Combe Hay, Midford and Monkton Combe to Limpley Stoke where it joined the Kennet and Avon Canal. This gave access from the Somerset coalfield, which at its peak contained 80 collieries, to London. The longest arm was 18 miles (29 km) long with 23 locks. From Midford an arm also ran via Writhlington to Radstock, with a tunnel at Wellow.

A feature of the canal was the variety of methods used at Combe Hay to overcome height differences between the upper and lower reaches of the canal, initially by the use of caisson locks and when this failed an inclined plane and then a flight of 22 locks.

The Radstock arm was never commercially successful and was replaced first with a tramway in 1815 and later incorporated into the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. The Paulton route flourished for some years until the coming of the railway and closed in 1898. Much of the course of the canal has since been used for a railway. In October 2006 a grant was obtained from the Heritage Lottery Fund to carry out a technical study on one of the locks and associated structures at Combe Hay. (Full article...)

Mark Robert Bailey (born 13 January 1965), known professionally as Bill Bailey, is an English musician, comedian, actor and television presenter. He is known for his role as Manny in the sitcom Black Books and for his regular appearances on the panel shows Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You, and QI, as well as for his stand-up comedy work. He plays a variety of musical instruments and incorporates music into his performances.

Bailey was listed by The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy in 2003. In 2007, and again in 2010, he was voted the seventh greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups. In 2020 Bailey won the 18th series of the televised BBC dancing competition Strictly Come Dancing with his professional partner Oti Mabuse. At 55, he is currently the oldest winner in the show's history as of 2024. (Full article...)

1. Somerset (Unitary)
2. North Somerset (Unitary)
3. Bath and North East Somerset (Unitary)

Nailsea
Co-ordinates 51°26′N 2°46′W / 51.43°N 2.76°W / 51.43; -2.76

Nailsea is a town in the unitary district of North Somerset within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, approximately 8 miles (13 km) to the southwest of Bristol and about 11 miles (18 km) to the northeast of the seaside resort of Weston-super-Mare. The nearest village is Backwell, which lies south of Nailsea on the other side of the Bristol to Exeter railway line. Nailsea is a commuter town with a population of 18,000.

The town was an industrial centre based on coal mining and glass manufacture, which have now been replaced by service industries. The surrounding area of the North Somerset Levels provides wildlife habitats including the Tickenham, Nailsea and Kenn Moors biological Site of Special Scientific Interest and Bucklands Pool/Backwell Lake Local Nature Reserve. Nailsea is close to the M5 motorway and Bristol Airport, and has railway services at Nailsea and Backwell station, operated by First Great Western.

Secondary education in Nailsea is provided by Nailsea School, and primary education by St Francis School. Churches in the town include the 14th-century Holy Trinity Church and Christ Church, which was built in 1843. (Full article...)

From Wikipedia's "Did You Know" archives:

• ... that during World War II, Shepton Mallet (pictured), the oldest operating prison in Britain, was used as the protective storage of important government documents including the Magna Carta and Domesday Book?
• ... that the Shapwick Hoard, found by metal detecting cousins in 1998, contained the largest number of silver denarii ever found in Great Britain and was equivalent to ten years' pay for a Roman legionary?
• ... that the village of Sharpham in Somerset, is the birthplace of Elizabethan poet Sir Edward Dyer, writer Henry Fielding and cleric William Gould?
• ... that Simonsbath House was the only house in the Royal Forest of Exmoor for 150 years?
• ... that the only working, full sized, Caisson lock ever built, was on the Somerset Coal Canal at Combe Hay, Somerset in England between 1795 and 1805?

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Main project: WikiProject Somerset Parent projects: WikiProject UK geography, WikiProject England

Nearby projects: WikiProject Bristol, WikiProject Devon, WikiProject Dorset, WikiProject Wiltshire