Writhlington SSSI

Writhlington is a suburb of Radstock and 6 miles (10 km) north-west of Frome in the Bath and North East Somerset district of Somerset, England.

Writhlington School is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–18 in Writhlington, Bath and North East Somerset, England. It is the main secondary school in the Radstock area, providing further education to local children and some pupils who live outside the catchment area. The school became an academy in October 2011. Around 70% of year 11 pupils apply to attend sixth form. The school is notable for its orchid project, which has won numerous awards including a gold medal at the 2009 Chelsea Flower Show. The school has also won awards in business with their enterprise companies. It is one of the few state schools to have its own non-compulsory Combined Cadet Force (CCF) with over 150 pupils involved from years 9 to 13. In March 2017, the school received a "requires improvement" critical status rating from Ofsted. This is currently still in place. A turf-cutting ceremony was held at the start of a major rebuilding programme funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme. It is designed to increase the capacity of the school to 1,300+ pupils and was due for completion in January 2010. The school moved into the new building in April 2010. The British Council for School Environments, an education charity which pioneers and supports the creation of effective and efficient learning environments, declared the Writhlington School project as Winner of the Excellence in Design for Teaching and Learning: Secondary New Build and Winner of the Badge in Excellence in Design for Virtual Learning.

Norton Radstock is the name of a former parish council that covered the conurbation of Midsomer Norton, Radstock and Westfield, in the English ceremonial county of Somerset. Created in 1974 as a large civil parish, it was abolished in 2011 and replaced by three smaller parishes.The conurbation is within the area of the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset – 8 miles (13 km) south west of Bath, and the same distance north west of Frome. It had a population of 21,325 at the 2001 census. The term Norton Radstock is not recognised by local residents, nor does it appear on any road map. Besides the towns of Midsomer Norton and Radstock, and the parish of Westfield, the parish encompassed the smaller settlements of Clandown, Haydon, Welton and Writhlington. Norton Radstock was twinned with Ambarès-et-Lagrave in France from September 1982.

Radstock Town Football Club is a football club based in Radstock, Somerset, England. It is a member of the Western League Division One and plays at the Southfields Recreation Ground. The club is affiliated to the Somerset County FA.

Huish Colliery Quarry (grid reference ST695542) is a 0.8 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near the town of Radstock, Bath and North East Somerset, notified in 1985. This site includes rocks from the Lower Jurassic period many of which were removed by erosion leading to discontinuations in the Lias. The whole of the Sinemurian Stage and virtually all of the Hettangian Stage is absent. Also notable is the fact that the Jamesoni Zone limestones, which occur here, are much thicker and better developed than at any other comparable sites in the Mendip Hills.

The Anglican Church of St James The Less in Foxcote, within the English county of Somerset, was rebuilt in the early 18th century incorporating a 15th-century bell turret. It is a Grade II* listed building.The church was dedicated to James the Less. Inside the church is a Jacobean altar table.Services take place at St. James' Church Foxcote from Easter Sunday to end of October each year. The services then move to the chapel in Shoscombe from November to Palm Sunday. The parish is part of the benefice of Peasedown St John with Wellow and Foxcote with Shoscombe within the Diocese of Bath and Wells.

The Radstock rail accident took place on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway in south west England, on 7 August 1876. Two trains collided on a single track section, resulting in fifteen passengers being killed. It was difficult to assign blame to any individual for the crash. The underlying cause was that the Somerset and Dorset Railway was essentially bankrupt at the time of the crash. The infrastructure was inadequate to the demands of the traffic and the staff were inadequately trained for their duties.

Peasedown St John (commonly referred to as Peasedown) is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, standing on a hilltop roughly 5 miles (8 km) south-southwest of the city of Bath, and 2 miles (3 km) north-east of the town of Radstock at the foot of the Mendip Hills. Peasedown used to be a coal mining village, and after the last of the mines shut in the 1970s it became a dormitory village for Bath, Trowbridge and to a lesser extent Bristol. Its size was increased by substantial housing developments in the 1960s, 1970s and late 1990s, making it one of the largest villages in Somerset.

Radstock North railway station was a station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway in the county of Somerset in England.

The River Somer is a small river in Somerset, England.

Radstock West railway station was a station on the Bristol and North Somerset Railway which served the town of Radstock in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area of Somerset, England.

Radstock is a town and civil parish on the northern slope of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England, about 9 miles (14 km) south-west of Bath and 8 miles (13 km) north-west of Frome. It is within the area of the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset. The Radstock built-up area had a population of 9,419 at the 2011 Census. Radstock has been settled since the Iron Age, and its importance grew after the construction of the Fosse Way, a Roman road. The town grew after 1763, when coal was discovered in the area. Large numbers of mines opened during the 19th century, including several owned by the Waldegrave family, who had been Lords of the Manor since the Civil War. Admiral Lord Radstock, brother of George, fourth Earl Waldegrave, took the town's name as his title when created a Baron. The spoil heap of Writhlington colliery is now the Writhlington Site of Special Scientific Interest, which includes 3,000 tons of Upper Carboniferous spoil from which more than 1,400 insect fossil specimens have been recovered. The complex geology and narrow seams made coal extraction difficult. Tonnage increased throughout the 19th century, reaching a peak around 1901, when there were 79 separate collieries and annual production was 1,250,000 tons per annum. However, due to local geological difficulties and manpower shortages, output declined and the number of pits reduced from 30 at the beginning of the 20th century to 14 by the mid-thirties; the last two pits, Kilmersdon and Writhlington, closed in September 1973. Manufacturing industries such as printing, binding and packaging provide some local employment. In recent years, Radstock has increasingly become a commuter town for the cities of Bath and Bristol. Radstock is home to the Radstock Museum which is housed in a former market hall, and has a range of exhibits which offer an insight into north-east Somerset life since the 19th century. Many of the exhibits relate to local geology and the now disused Somerset coalfield. The town is also home to Writhlington School, famous for its Orchid collection, and a range of educational, religious and cultural buildings and sporting clubs.