Coleford, Somerset
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Coleford is a village in Somerset, England, situated on the Mells river in the Mendip Hills five miles west of Frome. The village has a population of 2,358 (2002 estimate).
Coleford was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Colford, meaning 'The hill ford' possibly from the Old French col and ford, or alternatively The coal ford a ford over which charcoal was carried.[1][2]
There are visible remains of a famous unfinished engineering project, the Dorset and Somerset Canal, which was abandoned in 1803.
The village once had several coal mines as part of the now closed Somerset coalfield. Just north of Coleford there were the collieries of Newbury and Mackintosh. Mackintosh opened in 1867 but closed in 1919, due to flooding. The Natural Stone Products factory is built on the site of Newbury Colliery. This pit started around the beginning of the 19th century and closed in 1927.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ Robinson, Stephen (1992). Somerset Place Names. Wimbourne: The Dovecote Press Ltd. ISBN 1874336032.
- ^ Atthill, Robin (1976). Mendip: A new study. Newton Abbott: David & Charles. ISBN 0715372971.
- ^ Coal Mining. Somerset Ramblers. Retrieved on November 12, 2006.
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