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Sydenham House, Somerset

BridgwaterFormer manors in SomersetGrade II listed buildings in SedgemoorGrade II listed houses in SomersetSydenham family residences
SydenhamHouse Bridgwater Somerset WestFront
SydenhamHouse Bridgwater Somerset WestFront

Sydenham House, the manor house of the ancient manor of Sydenham in the parish of Wembdon, Somerset, England, is a grade II listed building, constructed in the early 16th century and refronted and rebuilt after 1613. In 1937, British Cellophane Ltd set up production and built extensive factories on 59 acres (24 ha) of land ("Sydenham Manor Fields") adjacent to the manor house. Production ceased in 2005 and between 2010 and 2015 the industrial site was razed to the ground. In 2015 the razed site is owned by EDF Energy, which in 2012 purchased the manor house with the former factory site, intended for construction of temporary accommodation for 1,000 workers.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Sydenham House, Somerset (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Sydenham House, Somerset

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N 51.1406 ° E -2.9859 °
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TA6 4NZ
England, United Kingdom
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SydenhamHouse Bridgwater Somerset WestFront
SydenhamHouse Bridgwater Somerset WestFront
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Willow Man
Willow Man

Willow Man is a large outdoor sculpture by Serena de la Hey. It is in a field to the west of the M5 motorway, near Bridgwater in Somerset, South West England, near to the Bristol to Exeter railway line and south of junction 23 of the motorway. It stands 40 feet (12 m), with a 16-foot (5 m) arm span, and is made of black maul willow withies woven over a 3-tonne steel frame.Willow Man was commissioned by South West Arts, for the Year of the Artist, and the Moate family the land owner. The sculpture, which cost £15,000 (equivalent to about £27,000 in 2021), was unveiled in September 2000. It marks the millennium and celebrates the role of willow in the ecology and craft tradition of the Somerset Levels. The first sculpture was burnt down in an arson attack on 8 May 2001. The sculpture was rebuilt by the same artist in October 2001, and a 130-foot (40 m) circular moat was excavated around it as a precaution against further attacks.A notable landmark, it can be described as a somehow permanent Wicker man sculpture. The sculpture is popularly known as Withy Man, or Angel of the South in reference to Antony Gormley's sculpture Angel of the North. The name Angel of the South is now commonly used also as the unofficial title for a proposed colossal sculpture in Ebbsfleet. In September 2006, Willow Man received "a £20,000 hair cut". The sculptor Serena de la Hey said that she thought many local birds had been using the material for their nests. When the artist saw her sculpture she was "shocked to see the wear and tear". In 2018, an appeal to raise funds for the repair of the structure failed to meet its target. By 2021, the structure had further deteriorated with the head and arms having lost form.

Somerset Brick and Tile Museum
Somerset Brick and Tile Museum

The Somerset Brick and Tile Museum is in Bridgwater, Somerset, England and is administered by The South West Heritage Trust. The museum is dedicated to the Brick and Tile Industry of Somerset. Bridgwater had been a centre of trade and industry since the Middle Ages, benefiting from local clay from the alluvial deposits of the River Parrett to make bricks and tiles. In the 1840s there were 1,300 people in Bridgewater employed making bricks and tiles.The Chandos Glass Cone was built in 1725 as a glasswork firing kiln by James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos as part of an industrial development. After a short period of use for glassmaking it was converted for the production of pottery, bricks and tiles, which continued until 1939. The majority of the brickwork cone was demolished in 1943. The bottom 2.4 metres (7 ft 10 in) has been preserved and scheduled as an ancient monument.It incorporates the last surviving 'pinnacle kiln' in Bridgwater, which dates from the 19th century, and has been scheduled as an ancient monument and Grade II* listed building. It used to be one of six at the former Barham Brothers' Yard at East Quay. The industry declined during the 20th century as the products of the London Brick Company were more uniform than those produced in Bridgwater, and the increasing use of concrete after World War II. The kiln was last fired in 1965, the year that the works closed. The other kiln, built in 1858 by Alfred Barham, was originally used for up-draught firing and converted to the more energy efficient down-draught firing.The existing works were converted into a museum in the 1990s. Demonstrated inside are the tools, methods and processes involved in making a variety of bricks, tiles, and terracotta plaques.

Telescopic Bridge, Bridgwater
Telescopic Bridge, Bridgwater

The Telescopic Bridge (locally known as the Black Bridge) in Bridgwater, within the English county of Somerset, was built in 1871 to carry a railway over the River Parrett. It has been scheduled as an ancient monument and is a Grade II* listed building.The retractable bridge was built in 1871 to the design of Sir Francis Fox, the engineer for the Bristol and Exeter Railway. It carried a railway siding over the river to the coal yard and docks in the Port of Bridgwater, but had to be movable, to allow boats to proceed upriver to the Town Bridge. Part of the railway siding followed the route previously used by a horse-drawn tram which had later been converted to a mixed gauge rail system. An 80-foot (24 m) section of railway track to the east of the bridge could be moved sideways by a traverser, making space so that the main 127-foot (39 m) girders could be retracted, creating a navigable channel which was 78 feet (24 m) wide. It was manually operated for the first eight months, and then powered by a steam engine, reverting to manual operation in 1913, when the steam engine failed. The Bristol and Exeter Railway, including the branch line and bridge, was taken over by the Great Western Railway in 1876. The bridge was temporarily immobilised during World War II and last opened in 1953, and the traverser section was demolished in 1974, but public outcry at the action resulted in the bridge being listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and the rest of the bridge was kept. It was later used as a road crossing, until the construction of the Chandos road bridge alongside it, and is now only used by pedestrians. Parts of the steam engine were moved to Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum in 1977, and other parts of the bridge mechanism to Didcot Railway Centre.