Avoncliff

Avoncliff Aqueduct (grid reference ST803599) carries the Kennet and Avon Canal over the River Avon and the Bath to Westbury railway, at Avoncliff in Wiltshire, England, about 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) west of Bradford-on-Avon. It was built by John Rennie and chief engineer John Thomas, between 1797 and 1801. It is a Grade II* listed structure.During construction, stone from a local quarry was used which split when affected by frost. This caused buttresses to collapse and parts of the structure to need rebuilding. Eventually Bath stone from Bathampton Down was used to ensure greater stability.The aqueduct has three arches and is 110 yards (100.6 m) long, with a central elliptical arch of 60 ft (18.3 m) span, and two semicircular side arches each 34 ft (10.4 m) across, all with V-jointed arch stones. The spandrel and wing walls are built in alternate courses of ashlar masonry and rock-faced blocks. The central span sagged soon after it was built and has been repaired many times.As part of the 20th-century restoration of the canal, the aqueduct was lined with a concrete "cradle" and made watertight in 1980.

Avoncliff railway station serves the hamlet of Avoncliff in Wiltshire, England, together with the nearby villages of Westwood and Winsley, and Turleigh hamlet. It is next to the Kennet and Avon Canal and almost adjacent to the Avoncliff Aqueduct, so it is popular with walkers and cyclists who wish to travel along the canal path or the picturesque walks around the station.The station has two platforms, each long enough for 1+1⁄2 coaches, with a waiting shelter and original lamp-posts, and is served by Great Western Railway. Residents have voluntarily decorated the station with pots of flowers and, to mark its 100-year anniversary on 9 July 2006, decorated the station with bunting and dressed in Victorian clothing for the celebrations.

Turleigh is a hamlet in west Wiltshire, England. It lies immediately south of the village of Winsley, overlooking the Avon valley, about 1.2 miles (1.9 km) west of Bradford on Avon. The Kennet and Avon Canal and Avoncliff railway station are below the hamlet in the river valley.

Iford Manor (grid reference ST802589) is a manor house in Wiltshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building sitting on the steep, south-facing slope of the Frome valley, in Westwood parish, about 2 miles (3.2 km) southwest of the town of Bradford-on-Avon. Its Grade I registered gardens are open to the public from April to September each year. Iford was rated as among the "20 most beautiful villages in the UK and Ireland" by Condé Nast Traveler in 2020, with the manor taking "center stage".

Winsley is a large village and civil parish about 2 miles (3 km) west of Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Conkwell, Turleigh, Little Ashley and Great Ashley.

Westwood Manor is a 15th-century manor house with 16th-century additions and 17th-century plaster-work in the village of Westwood, near Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, England. Pevsner describes Westwood Manor as "a perfect Wiltshire manor house". It has been in the ownership of the National Trust since 1956 and was designated as Grade I listed in 1962.Early lessees include Thomas Horton (d. 1530), owner of a cloth mill at Iford, who is thought to have been responsible for improvements to the nearby village church.The house was devised to the National Trust by Edgar Lister, a diplomat at the Ottoman court. The house contains fine furniture, musical instruments and tapestries collected by Lister from 1911 until his death in 1956. He restored the house throughout and adorned the garden with topiary; he was also an expert in needlepoint and upholstered much of its furniture in Florentine work.The property is occupied by a tenant who administers it on behalf of the National Trust, and is open to the public a few days of the week in the summer.

Westwood is a large village and a civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. The village is about 1.4 miles (2.3 km) southwest of the town of Bradford-on-Avon. Upper Westwood, on a ridge crest to the north, was a distinct settlement from Lower Westwood but 20th-century housing filled the gap. The parish includes most of the village of Avoncliff, namely the portion south of the Avon, and the hamlet of Lye Green.

The River Frome is a river in Somerset, England. It rises near Bungalow Farm on Cannwood Lane, south-west of Witham Friary, flows north through Blatchbridge to the town of Frome, and continues in a generally northerly direction passing between the eastern edge of the Mendip Hills and Trowbridge before joining the Bristol Avon at Freshford, below Bradford on Avon. The river is approximately 43 kilometres (27 mi) in length, comprising 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from its source to the confluence with Maiden Bradley Brook, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) through Frome to the confluence with the Mells River, and 18 kilometres (11 mi) to the Avon. Below Frome the river passes close to Beckington, Rode, Tellisford, Farleigh Hungerford and Iford Manor. The name Frome comes from the Old British word ffraw meaning fair, fine or brisk and describing the flow of the river. The name was first recorded in 701 when Pope Sergius gave permission to Bishop Aldhelm to found a monastery "close to the river which is called From" (Latin: "juxta fluvium qui vocatur From").

Winsley Mines (grid reference ST795607) is a 1.48 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, near the village of Winsley in Wiltshire, England, notified in 1989. The site is a hibernation roost for the Greater Horseshoe bat, and forms part of the Bath and Bradford-on-Avon Bats Special Area of Conservation.

Freshford railway station is a railway station serving the village of Freshford, Bath and North East Somerset, England. It also serves the nearby village of Limpley Stoke in Wiltshire. The station has two platforms and is served by Great Western Railway. For many years the station had a notable flower garden maintained by the Vaisey sisters. This later faded but in 2007 local residents renovated the garden and planted new flowers in the memory of the Vaisey sisters. A few weeks later staff from Network Rail cut down all the flowers.In February 2006, Platform 2 at Freshford was raised by 30 cm to reduce the large stepping gap between the train and the platform. It had been lowered in 1988 as part of the realignment of the track through the station to allow trains to pass at a faster speed. At the same time the platform was raised, the station also received additional improvements including better lighting and the construction of a new waiting shelter.

Freshford Manor is an early 18th century house in Freshford, Somerset, England. It is a Grade II* listed building.The two-storey Cotswold stone house, designed by Thomas Greenway, was built on the site of a previous house. A new wing at the rear of the house was built in the early 19th century and the north wing was added in the 1880s. By the 1950s the house and garden were derelict and under threat of demolition; however, it was bought and restored. One of the owners was William Francis Patrick Napier who wrote part of his History of the Peninsular War at a stone table in the garden of the house.

The Anglican Church of St Peter in Freshford within the English county of Somerset dates from the 15th century. It is a Grade II* listed building.Parts of St Peter's Church, which is on the north side of the village, date back to the fifteenth century. The three stage tower, which is supported by diagonal buttresses, was added in 1514. The church underwent Victorian restoration by Charles Edward Davis.The churchyard has a number of Georgian chest tombs, dating from the late 18th and early 19th century, four of which are listed in their own right.The parish is part of the benefice of Freshford with Limpley Stoke and Hinton Charterhouse within the Diocese of Bath and Wells.