| Site Name: |
Bristol and Exeter Railway |
| Civil Parish: |
Brent Knoll, Bridgwater Without, Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge, Burnham Without, Lympsham, Lyng, North Petherton, Pawlett, Puriton, West Huntspill, Bradford-on-Tone, Cheddon Fitzpaine, Creech St. Michael, Durston, Norton Fitzwarren, Nynehead, Oake, Sampford Arundel, Staplegrove, Wellington, Wellington Without, West Buckland, West Monkton, Taunton, Bridgwater |
| Comprises: | |
| | PRN 17096 | Crooked Lane Railway Bridge, Brent Knoll |
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| | PRN 17098 | Cripp's Bridge, Exeter to Bristol Railway, Brent Knoll |
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| | PRN 17100 | Brent Knoll Station, Bristol to Exeter Railway, Brent Knoll |
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| | PRN 18272 | Mail catching apparatus site, S of Bridgwater Station |
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| | PRN 18574 | Railway water troughs, Creech St Michael |
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| | PRN 19899 | Railway mail catching apparatus, Poole, Wellington |
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| | PRN 22811 | Great Western Railway Wharf and Dock Branch, Bridgwater |
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| | PRN 29878 | Staplegrove Road railway bridge, Taunton |
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| | PRN 40949 | Railway bridge and lodge adjoining on south front at NGR ST 1445 2174, Nynehead |
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| Grid Ref: |
ST 324 556 (ST 35 NW) ST 324 520 (ST 35 SW) ST 323 480 (ST 34 NW) ST 315 420 (ST 34 SW) ST 308 373 (ST 33 NW) ST 332 320 (ST 33 SW) ST 310 288 (ST 32 NW) ST 270 254 (ST 22 NE) ST 220 256 (ST 22 NW) ST 190 254 (ST 12 NE) ST 170 239 (ST 12 SE) ST 130 212 (ST 12 SW) ST 108 193 (ST 11 NW) ST 093 181 (ST 01 NE) |
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The public accessibility of this site is unknown or has not been checked. Please ask locally and do not visit without permission. (The railway lines themselves are inaccessible to the public. Some stations along the line are still in use and accessible.). [Information last updated on 12 June 2006]
The Bristol and Exeter Railway raised capital in 1835 and obtained an act the following year. Work proceeded, engineered by Brunel, from both ends but was faster in the north which reached Bridgwater in June 1841 and Taunton a year later. A temporary terminus was established at Beam Bridge (ST108195) in 1843 until the line was completed to Exeter in 1844. The Taunton avoiding loop was added in 1896 and a line into the Royal Ordnance Factory (PRN 12502) in 1940. {1}
The line between Coagload Junction and Norton Fitzwarren was quadrupled in 1932 to reduce congestion in Taunton Station and as a government funded job-creation scheme during the depression. {4}
| 1 |
Description - Madge, R. Somerset Railways. (1984) |
| 2 |
Historical reference - Isambard Kingdom Brunel GWR Sketchbook 15. (1841) Available at University of Bristol Library Special Collections. Reference: DM162/8/1/3/GWR Sketchbook 15 [Ff 23, 29 digital: 1272, 1273] |
| 3 |
Mention - Clinker, CR and Thoma, DSJ. A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain. Vol. 1 (1960), 9-28. |
| 4 |
Description - Nock, O S. The Great Western Railway in the Twentieth Century. (1964), 133. Copy held in Somerset Studies at Somerset Heritage Centre. |