Creech St Michael

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Map sources for Creech St Michael at grid reference ST274253

Creech St. Michael is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated three miles east of Taunton in the Taunton Deane district. The village has a population of 2,464 ^[1].

The name derives from a creech, or creek, on the River Tone, which creates an island in the river to the south of the village, and the parish church of St. Michael, which dates from the 12th century.

The Bridgwater & Taunton Canal provides a picturesque route through the village for pleasure boats, and the tow path is open to pedestrians and cyclists. There are also dramatic remains of the Chard Canal, including the (filled) junction with the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal, a raised embankment leading south from the village, a ruined aqueduct that would have carried the canal over the River Tone, and the abutments of a second aqueduct across a local road.

The Great Western Railway railway from London Paddington to Penzance also runs through the village. Just as there is a ruined spur of the Chard Canal, so there is an abandoned spur of the Chard Railway, including the skeleton of a Five Arch Bridge across the River Tone, and an embankment curving south, parallel to the abandoned canal.

A large paper mill was built on the river to the west of the village in 1875, finally closing in 1993.

In the Second World War, a line of fortifications was built through the village, as part of the Taunton Stop Line. The line was meant to contain any German invasion of the south west peninsula. Several pillboxes remain along the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal, one at the old junction with the Chard canal, and one on the embankment of the Chard railway.