RADSTOCK Museum
S&D talkq
Radstock Museum 'What's On' October & November 2019
Autumn 2019 - You are invited!!!
An array of things going on at Radstock Museum: talks, workshops, trails, hunts, valuations.
radstockmuseum.co.uk for full details.
Places to see in ( Radstock - UK )
Places to see in ( Radstock - UK )
Radstock is a town in Somerset, England, 9 miles south west of Bath, and 8 miles north west of Frome. It is within the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset and had a population of 5,620 according to the 2011 Census. Since 2011 Radstock has been a town council in its own right.
Radstock has been settled since the Iron Age, and its importance grew after the construction of the Fosse Way, a Roman road. The growth of the town occurred 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 English 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. The Great Western Railway and the Somerset and Dorset Railway both established stations and marshalling yards in the town. The last passenger train services to Radstock closed in 1966. Manufacturing industries such as printing, binding and packaging provide some local employment. In recent years, Radstock has increasingly become a commuter town for the nearby 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 and geology. 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.
The main geological feature in this area of the Mendip Hills south of Hallatrow consists of Supra-Pennant Measures which includes the upper coal measures and outcrops of sandstone. The southern part of the Radstock Syncline have coals of the Lower and Middle Coal Measures been worked, mainly at the Newbury and Vobster collieries in the southeast and in the New Rock and Moorewood pits to the southwest.
Radstock was the terminus for the southern branch of the Somerset Coal Canal, which was turned into a tramway in 1815 and later incorporated into the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. It then became a central point for railway development with large coal depots, warehouses, workshops and a gas works. As part of the development of the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway an 8-mile (13 km) line from Radstock to Frome was built to carry the coal.
( Radstock - UK ) is well know as a tourist destination because of the variety of places you can enjoy while you are visiting Radstock . Through a series of videos we will try to show you recommended places to visit in Radstock - UK
Join us for more :
Radstock Museum Evacuees Week 2019
Daily, from 3rd-7th September, there are various features at Radstock Museum to mark the 80th Anniversary of the 1st Evacuee Trains. We would love you to come and support our local evacuees & enjoy the highlights on offer.
Remember, your entry ticket allows you unlimited return visits within a year! radstockmuseum.co.uk
Radstock - Tour of Britain
Wow outside my house, captured Tour of Britain
Radstock Fosse Way 12 01 2014
This is a nice ride but be very careful at the end as it crosses a cycle way and the kids don,t look for you crossing so dead slow .
Mining in Somerset, 1960's - Film 6677
The Somerset Coal field: Map showing Somerset pits, view of countryside, ....... Hills, Radstock, Midsommer Norton ruins. Dried up Somerset coal canal, railway. Jolly Collier pub. Man talks of pit history, working and closed. Working and derelict pits. Countryside shots, view of the grave-yard, traffic at a level crossing, woman pushing pram down street, cyclist. Norton-Radstock Urban District Council. Mis-identified engineer, who is more likely Ron Bartlett, Labour Party chairman of the Norton Radstock District Council. Midsomer Norton, shopping centre. Houses under construction, different streets full of houses. Girls playing rounders outside Secondary modern school, primary children running around playground. new technical college. People (many women) leaving works factory. Man in allotments. Woman with umbrella and shopping bag on wheels. Car park. New colliery buildings under construction. Coal being mined, conveyer belt, men underground. Old miners. Row of houses. Old man reading paper. Old lady washing hands. Close up of wellies/wellington boots. Man planting young tree. Dirt from colliery being emptied into valley. O.S. map showing pits. Miners arrive from other areas. Council houses, chalet homes. Rugby. Football, pitch being mowed. People talking to camera. Old steam engine. View of town.
Cinefilm of Westfield, near Radstock, UK, in the 1960s
Cinefilm taken by Arthur Shearn of Peasedown St John, UK, in the 1960s - showing a rodeo at Westfield recreation ground and a carnival going past Westfield shops.
The original films had deteriorated so the cinefilms that could be saved were converted to VHS in the 1990s and then more recently to a computer file.
The films have no sound.
Sledging Haydon Hill, Radstock
Portas pilot, Radstock.wmv
Radstock's application to be a Portas Pilot
Exploring Somerset coalfields
exploring Somerset coalfields Found a entrance to a mine or maybe a lime kiln? maybe some one know what it could be?
Castlebridge Business Park
Description
WAR IN RADSTOCK
a short war film when radstock get attacked
1601 Shillingstone Station
A quick fly-by of the Shillingstone station project.
National Coal mining Museum ....May 2019
Produced with CyberLink PowerDirector 14
Somerset Mining Memories: Introduction
Knobhead in Radstock
Coach driver picking up near mini roundabouts in Radstock
Windsor Colliery Abertridwr
Excerpts from the movie Circle of Danger / White Heather starring Ray Milland showing Windsor Colliery, Abertridwr. 1950
Discovering Somerset (Volume 1)
This is an excerpt of a DVD produced by 1st Take. The complete film is available to order at 1st-take.com or by calling 01454 321614.
Celebrate the visual beauty, rich heritage and hidden treasures of Somerset with Glastonbury-based author Henry Buckton. Beginning in the north of the county, this first volume of an exciting new series includes visits to ancient hill forts and long barrows, such as at Stantonbury Camp and Stoney Littleton; the mysterious stone circles at Stanton Drew; the sites of medieval castles such as Culverhay, Richmont and Farleigh Hungerford; and historic battlefields at Lansdown Hill and Norton St. Philip. You will also see spectacular limestone gorges at Cheddar and Burrington Combe; the man-made lakes of Chew Valley and Blagdon; and the majestic Clifton Suspension Bridge. We discover how Bath grew from a small Roman spa town to one of the most beautiful Georgian cities in England, and how the Victorian appetite for tourism transformed small coastal villages like Clevedon and Weston-super-Mare into premier seaside resorts. What is now seen as a largely rural area actually has a strong industrial heritage. Special attention is paid to the North Somerset coalfield, which extended from Bath to Nailsea, where glassmaking and later a large cider factory were also significant. We also reveal lead mining at Charterhouse and East Harptree, a watermill at Priston and iron-making near Mells. Transport was key to industrial development and informed contributors reveal the story of the Somerset & Dorset Railway, the 'Strawberry Line' and the Somersetshire Coal Canal. We also learn about the history of Cheddar Cheese, and see how local beer is brewed by visiting the famous Butcombe Brewery near Wrington. Helped by superb modern film and rare archive material, this historical tour of North Somerset will encourage you to explore this beautiful county.