Congresbury

The Vicarage (which is also known as The Refectory) in Congresbury, Somerset, England, includes an early 19th-century vicarage and former Priests House from around 1446. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building.The eastern range comprising the Refectory was built by executors of Bishop Thomas Beckington of Wells whose heraldic devices and those of the Poulteney family are on the porch. There are also carved faces on the window surrounds. The specific year of construction is not known but thought to be between 1440 and 1470, although the porch which may be slightly later than other parts of the building has been dated to 1465.In 1823 the refectory was found to be in a bad state of repair and moneys allocated for the construction of the new vicarage. Major repairs were carried out to the refectory in the 1950s following the discovery of deathwatch beetle .The two-storey limewashed stone of the vicarage has a tiled hipped roof and Greek Doric distyle porch. The refectory is supported by buttresses and pantile roofs. The hall and rooms above have original fireplaces and ceilings.The building is now used for church and community functions, with its current Vicar being Rev. Matthew Thompson. In 2016 plans were published for the development of 26 homes on the land belonging to the church. As part of the proposal the vicarage would become a common house providing a communal kitchen and dining room and office space.

Congresbury railway station was a station located at Congresbury on the Bristol and Exeter Railway's Cheddar Valley line in Somerset and the junction for the Wrington Vale Light Railway to Blagdon. The station was opened with the broad gauge line to Cheddar on 3 August 1869 as a single-platform station. The railway was extended to Wells in 1870, converted to standard gauge in the mid-1870s and then linked up to the East Somerset Railway to provide through services from Yatton to Witham in 1878. Congresbury was remodelled as a two-platform station when the Wrington Vale line opened in 1901; with a few exceptions, though, trains on both lines started at Yatton, the junction with the main Bristol and Exeter line. The station was host to a GWR camp coach from 1936 to 1939. A camping coach was also positioned here by the Western Region from 1952 to 1962.The Wrington line shut to passenger traffic on 14 September 1931. The Yatton to Witham line closed to passengers on 9 September 1963. Congresbury remained opened for goods traffic for a few further months, closing on 1 October 1964. The station was later demolished, though traces of the platforms can be seen on the Strawberry Line Trail.

Cadbury Hill is a small hill, mostly in the civil parish of Congresbury, overlooking the village of Yatton in North Somerset. On its summit stands an Iron Age hill fort, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Urchinwood Manor is a Grade II* listed building at Congresbury within the English county of Somerset.Part of the house was built around 1620 with additions being made in the 17th century. The house and surrounding estate has been bought and sold many times over the centuries with the estate now being used as an equestrian centre.

The Old Rectory in Yatton, Somerset, England, was a Prebendary house, built in the 15th century and has been designated as a Grade I listed building.Over the years it has undergone a range of alterations including a mid 19th century rear wing. It is now separated into 2 houses which are occupied separately.

Bow Bridge ( ) is a Grade II listed stone arched bridge, that crosses the Congresbury Yeo at Iwood, a hamlet of Congresbury in North Somerset. The bridge is largely intact and dates from the late 18th or early 19th century. It is constructed from local stone with a single span arch of approximately 5.5 metres (18 feet). The single-coursed stone parapet is low in height and consists of a row of voussoirs and an unmetalled farm track. It is in close proximity to two other Grade II listed bridges to the east and southeast of Congresbury.

Biddle Street, Yatton (grid reference ST423648) is a 44.8 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) near the village of Yatton in North Somerset, notified in 1994. Management practices and the variation in the soils has resulted in the watercourses supporting a wide range of aquatic plant communities. Where open water occurs plants such as Common Water-starwort (Callitriche stagnalis), European Frogbit (Hydrocharis morsusranae), Fan-leaved water-crowfoot (Ranunculus circinatus). The calcareous influence of the underlying Compton soils also encourages Whorled Water-milfoil (Myriophyllum verticillatum) and Stonewort (Chara sp). Also present are the nationally scarce Rootless Duckweed (Wolffia arrhiza) and Hairlike Pondweed (Potamogeton trichoides).A rich invertebrate fauna is also associated with the rhynes and ditches including aquatic beetles including populations of two nationally rare species, Hydacticus transversalis and Britain's largest water beetle, the Great Silver Water Beetle (Hydrophilus piceus). A number of dragonflies and damselflies are also found in the watercourses including the nationally scarce Variable Damselfly (Coenagrion pulchellum). Strong populations of the Common Freshwater Mussel occur as does the nationally rare Pea Mussel (Pisidium pseudosphaerium).

Yatton is a village and civil parish within the unitary authority of North Somerset, which falls within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located 11 miles (18 km) south-west of Bristol. Its population in 2011 was 7,552. The parish includes Claverham, a small village which was originally a farming hamlet. The origins of the village and its name are unclear; however, there is evidence of Iron Age hill fort and a Roman villa in the area. The arrival of the railway in the 19th century and more recent road building have led to expansion of the village with Yatton now acting as a home to many commuters, while also supporting manufacturing industry and commerce. The village is located on the North Somerset Levels, where the low-lying land, a mixture of peat, estuarine alluvium and low hills of sand and gravel, is crossed by a myriad of watercourses, providing a habitat for several scarce species. St Mary's Church dates from the 14th century and there are a range of other places of worship. In addition to religious groups, Yatton has several sporting clubs and other community groups.

North Somerset is a unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. The council is based in Weston-super-Mare, the area's largest town. The district also contains the towns of Clevedon, Nailsea and Portishead, along with a number of villages and surrounding rural areas. Some southern parts of the district fall within the Mendip Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The district was formed in 1974 as the Woodspring district of the county of Avon. Avon was abolished in 1996, when the district was renamed North Somerset and its council took on county-level functions from the abolished county council. The district is on the coast, facing the Bristol Channel to the west. The neighbouring districts are Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset and Somerset.

King's Wood and Urchin Wood SSSI (grid reference ST454645) is a 128.1 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near the villages of Cleeve and Congresbury, North Somerset, notified in 1990. The site has long been renowned for its botanical interest and records date back to the County Flora of 1893. The woodland supports a particularly high diversity of vascular plants, including populations of the nationally rare plant Purple Gromwell (Lithospermum purpurocaeruleum) and the scarce Angular Solomon's seal (Polygonatum odoratum). Large areas of King's Wood were replanted during the 1960s with beech Fagus sylvatica and a variety of conifer species including Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Lawson's cypress (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana) and Norway spruce (Picea abies) . These crop trees have, however, largely been unsuccessful and the replanted areas are now being overtaken by hardwoods.King's Wood supports nationally important populations of the rare and endangered greater horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) and dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius), and a nationally scarce Chrysomelid beetle (Clytra quadripunctata).

Yatton railway station, on the Bristol to Exeter line, is in the village of Yatton in North Somerset, England. It is 12 miles (19 km) west of Bristol Temple Meads railway station, and 130 miles (209 km) from London Paddington. Its three-letter station code is YAT. It was opened in 1841 by the Bristol and Exeter Railway, and served as a junction station for trains to Clevedon and Cheddar, but these lines closed in the 1960s. The station, which has two platforms, is managed by Great Western Railway, the seventh company to be responsible for the station, and the third franchise since privatisation in 1997. They provide all train services at the station, mainly hourly services between Bristol Parkway and Weston-super-Mare, and between Cardiff Central and Taunton. The line is not currently electrified, and there is local support for electrification as an extension of the Great Western Main Line upgrade programme. A community centre and café was opened at the station in 2011.

The Church of St John the Baptist in Churchill, Somerset, England, was largely built around 1360 and is a Grade I listed building.There was a Norman chapel on this site in 1180, from which the nave has survived into the present church.The stone font dates from around 1200, although the wooden font cover was added in 1879 when there was a revival in gothic designs. The stained glass windows are from a variety of periods.The tower has three stages with diagonal buttresses, moulded string courses, north-east polygonal higher corner stair turret with blind panelled embattled cap and pierced quatrefoil lozenge parapet with corner pinnacles and gargoyles. It is dated to c. 1360 by Poyntz Wright and after 1420 by Harvey.