Wanstrow

Wanstrow railway station was a small station on the East Somerset Railway serving the village of Wanstrow in Somerset. The East Somerset Railway opened between its junction with the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway at Witham and Shepton Mallet in 1858, but the railway company did not build a station at Wanstrow. The cost of a building a station was estimated at between £600 and £800, and annual costs of £100. With other stations at Bruton four miles away, and Witham only two miles distant, it was considered there would be very little traffic. Local people paid for a small building, and a platform was built later. The station opened on 1 January 1860. The East Somerset Railway was extended to Wells in 1862 and then, in 1878, linked through Wells to the Bristol and Exeter Railway's Cheddar Valley line. With both the railway companies involved coming under the ownership of the Great Western Railway, through services began between Witham and Yatton. Wanstrow station was one of the smallest stations on this line, and for many years the platform was only long enough for two railway coaches. It was unstaffed until 1909 and the buildings were wooden. It closed to passenger traffic with the rest of the line on 9 September 1963 and was then demolished, although the line through the site is still used for goods traffic from local quarries and for transport to and from the preserved East Somerset line.

The Anglican Church Of St Mary in Wanstrow, within the English county of Somerset, was built in the 15th century. It is a Grade II* listed building.The church was extended and partially rebuilt in the 19th century. The three stage tower, which was added in 1810, is supported by corner buttresses.The parish is part of the Postlebury benefice which includes the churches in Cloford, Marston Bigot, Nunney, Wanstrow and Witham Friary within the Diocese of Bath and Wells.

The Anglican Church Of St Mary and St John in Upton Noble, within the English county of Somerset, was built in the 12th century. It is a Grade II* listed building.The church was a chapelry of Batcombe which, until the Dissolution of the Monasteries was controlled by Glastonbury Abbey.The south door is Norman. The church was altered in the 16th century and underwent Victorian restoration in the 1870s which included lengthening the nave and chancel.The parish is part of the Bruton and District Team Ministry benefice within the Diocese of Bath and Wells.

Upton Noble is a village and civil parish on the River Frome. It is roughly 4.5 miles (7 km) north-east of Bruton, and 7 miles (11 km) from Frome town centre, in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. There was a 17th-century village pub called The Lamb Inn (now closed), a village hall, a primary school, a church, a post office and a garage.

Cloford Quarry (grid reference ST718444) is a 39.92-hectare (98.6-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest to the south of the A361 approximately 350 metres (1,150 ft) north of the hamlet of Cloford and 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) west of Nunney on the Mendip Hills in Somerset. It was notified in 1994. It is a Geological Conservation Review site important for the exposures of sediments of Triassic and Jurassic age which occur in major fissures within the Carboniferous Limestone laid down beneath the sea some 350 million years ago. Fissures, created by the uplift, folding and faulting of the Carboniferous Limestone, periodically opened and closed which were filled with deposits of Rhaetic, Hettangian, Sinemurian, Pliensbachian, Toarcian and Bathonian ages. The surface also contains large number of borings made into it by bivalved molluscs living in the Jurassic seas. No other site in Britain shows such a variety and abundance of sediment-infilled fissures of this age.In 2006 planning permission was granted for continued extraction of limestone until 2042.Cloford Quarry was the main location used for the planet Lakertya in the Doctor Who story Time and the Rani. Shots filmed here include the exterior of the Rani's laboratory.

Leighton Road Cutting (grid reference ST702437) is a 0.6 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest between East Cranmore and Cloford in Somerset, notified in 1984. It is a Geological Conservation Review site Leighton Road Cutting provides exposure of a series of early Jurassic limestones, of Lower Lias age, which are the only known outcrops of these particular rocks to occur in a normal horizontally-bedded sequence in the Mendips. The discovery of the Leighton Road Cutting sections enabled geologists to understand how the fissure infills seen widely throughout the Mendips had been formed.

The Church of St Mary in Cloford, Wanstrow, Somerset, England was built in the 15th century. It is a Grade II* listed building.

Batcombe is a village and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, situated in the steep valley of the River Alham 5 miles (8 km) south-east of Shepton Mallet and 26 miles (42 km) south of Bristol. The parish has a population of 439. Batcombe village is at the heart of the parish, which also includes the hamlets of Westcombe, Spargrove and Eastcombe (historically Ashcombe).

Holwell Quarries (grid reference ST726450) is a 1.3-hectare (3.2-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest at Holwell near Nunney on the Mendip Hills in Somerset, notified in 1952. Holwell Quarries represent an internationally important geological locality. A comprehensive assemblage of Triassic (including Rhaetic), Lower Jurassic and Middle Jurassic fissure fillings are well displayed. The Rhaetic fissure fillings have yielded the richest assemblage of vertebrate faunas known from the British Triassic. Fissure deposits have also yielded 8 or 9 genera of Reptiles: a Crocodilian, a Placodont (the first record in Britain of this sub-order), and the dinosaurs Thecodontosaurus and Palaeosaurus. The Lower Jurassic fissure fillings yield ammonites and brachiopods which are important in dating these deposits.

Colemans Quarry, grid reference ST726452 is a limestone quarry at Holwell, near Nunney on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England. The Colemans Quarry complex comprises four pits separated by three roads (including the A361) The quarry exhibits pale to dark grey Black Rock, Vallis and Clifton Down Groups of Carboniferous Limestone with overlying buff-coloured Jurassic oolitic limestone forming an angular unconformity. The ancient Jurassic erosion surface at the unconformity contains oyster shells and abundant marine borings in the top of the Carboniferous Limestone. There are near-vertical fissures and joints in the limestone with varying amounts of calcite mineralization. A few of these have been found to contain rare Upper Triassic and Jurassic vertebrate remains. There are abundant shelly fossils and corals. It came to fame in 1858 when a geologist named Moore purchased three tons of fissure filling, and then spent 3 years sifting and sorting and separated more than one million fossils including 27 small mammal teeth.Minerals found at the site include Calcite, Goethite, Purple Fluorite, Baryte, Galena, Rhodochrosite and Manganese minerals.

Postlebury Wood (grid reference ST740430) is an 87 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Trudoxhill in Somerset, notified in 1987. Postlebury Wood is a large and relatively undisturbed woodland with the first records of the woodland being from documents dated 1182, shortly after which it was incorporated in the Royal Forest of Selwood, and has been coppiced and has been used for charcoal production in the past.The wood is largely composed of Oak (Quercus robur), Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and Hazel (Corylus avellana). The ground flora is well developed, ranging from communities of Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta), Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum), Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) and Wood Sorrel (Oxalis acetosella). Plants of particular interest include Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum multiflorum), Greater Butterfly Orchid (Platanthera chlorantha), Bird's Nest Orchid (Neottia nidus-avis), Broad-leaved Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine) and Autumn Crocus (Colchicum autumnale).Postlebury Wood supports large populations of homostyle Primroses, a plant found in only one area outside south-east Somerset. These plants, which are unique in that they represent a self-fertile form of a normally self-sterile species, are of international significance in providing opportunities for genetic studies.

Torr Works quarry, grid reference ST695446 is a limestone quarry at East Cranmore, near Shepton Mallet on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England. The quarry was formerly known as Merehead, a name which has been retained for its rail depot on the opposite side of the A361 road.