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Washford Radio Museum

British museum stubsGrade II listed buildings in West SomersetGrade II listed museum buildingsMuseums in SomersetRadio museums
Use British English from February 2023Vague or ambiguous time from June 2021

Washford Radio Museum has been re-located to 'The Radio Museum' at the former Anchor Inn, 5, Anchor Street, Watchet, Somerset, TA23 0AZ.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Washford Radio Museum (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Washford Radio Museum
B3190,

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Latitude Longitude
N 51.1609 ° E -3.3489 °
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Tropiquaria

B3190
TA23 0QB , Williton
England, United Kingdom
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tropiquaria.co.uk

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Tropiquaria
Tropiquaria

Tropiquaria Zoo is a small tropical house and zoo in Somerset, England. It is located at Washford Cross, 16 miles (26 km) from Taunton and 9 miles (14 km) from Minehead. It is based in a 1930s art deco BBC radio transmitter hall of Washford transmitting station, which became a Grade II listed building in 1984. Tropiquaria opened on the site in 1989. The majority of the old transmitting station building became surplus to the BBC's requirements in 1981 when new, smaller equipment was installed in a separate building to the rear. In 1987, a £100,000 scheme to transform the unused part of the building into an aquarium and reptile house was proposed by the consortium Ark Enterprises Ltd, headed by Stephen Smith. Both a 21-year lease on the building and planning permission were acquired in 1987. There is a mainly African theme to the tropical hall and aquarium as well as the large number of outside enclosures. The zoo is a member of BIAZA, the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and has successfully bred a number of endangered species of mammals, reptiles, birds, and fish. Tropiquaria includes a Tropical Hall with a variety of snakes and lizards, and birds. The zoo also features an aquarium with several species of endangered, critically endangered and even extinct in the wild species of fish. Outside are macaws, helmeted curassow, cockatoos, parrots, agoutis, gibbons, serval, wildcats, wallabies, emus, rheas, tapir, cotton-top tamarins, red-handed tamarins, ring-tailed lemurs, ruffed lemurs, brown lemurs, coatis, yellow mongoose and meerkats amongst many others. There are also a number of outdoor play areas, an indoor play area and cafe.

Cleeve Abbey
Cleeve Abbey

Cleeve Abbey is a medieval monastery located near the Washford River and village of Washford, in the English county of Somerset. It is a Grade I listed building and has been scheduled as an ancient monument. The abbey was founded in the late twelfth century as a house for monks of the austere Cistercian order. Over its 350-year monastic history Cleeve was undistinguished amongst the abbeys of its order, frequently ill-governed and often financially troubled. The sole member of the community to achieve some degree of historical prominence was John Hooper, a man with an obscure personal history who became a Calvinist, was appointed Anglican Bishop of Gloucester but met his end executed for heresy under Queen Mary I. In 1536 Cleeve was closed by Henry VIII in the course of the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the abbey was converted into a country house. Subsequently, the status of the site declined and the abbey was used as farm buildings until the latter half of the nineteenth century when steps were taken to conserve the remains. In the twentieth century Cleeve was taken into state care; the abbey is now looked after by English Heritage and is open to the public. Today Cleeve Abbey is one of the best-preserved medieval Cistercian monastic sites in Britain. While the church is no longer standing, the conventual buildings are still roofed and habitable and contain many features of particular interest including the 'angel' roof in the refectory and the wall paintings in the painted chamber.

Daw's Castle
Daw's Castle

Daw's Castle (or Dart's Castle or Dane's Castle) is a sea cliff hillfort just west of Watchet, a harbour town in Somerset, England. It is a Scheduled Monument. The name comes from Thomas Dawe, who owned castell field in 1537. The fort is situated on an east-west cliff about 80 metres (260 ft) above the sea, on a tapering spur of land bounded by the Washford River to the south, as it flows to the sea at Watchet, about 1 km east. The ramparts of the fort would have formed a semicircle backing on to the sheer cliffs, but coastal erosion has reduced the size of the enclosure, and later destruction by farming, limekilns, and the B3191 road, have left only about 300 metres (980 ft) of ramparts visible today. The fort may be of Iron Age origin, but was rebuilt and fortified as a burh by King Alfred, as part of his defense against Viking raids from the Bristol Channel around 878 AD. It would have been one of a chain of forts and coastal lookout posts, connected by the Herepath, or military road, which allowed Alfred to move his army along the coast, covering Viking movements at sea. Excavations have revealed a first phase of defence with a mortared wall fronting an earth bank from this period. Then a second phase of defence in late 9th or early 10th centuries, also against Viking invaders. In the Burghal Hidage of 919, nearby Watchet is attributed 513 hides, which converts to a defensive perimeter of 645 m. It is not clear whether this refers to the walls of the town, or of Daw's Castle high on the cliff above. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records a Viking raid on Watchet in 914, but they were defeated with great slaughter ... so that few of them came away, except those only who swam out to the ships. There was a plundering raid in 987, and another in 997, with much evil wrought in burning and manslaughter. A Saxon mint was established at Watchet in 1035, and this was probably within the fort, rather than in the town below.