Oakhill
Coordinates: 51°13′22″N 2°31′19″W / 51.2227°N 2.5220°W
Oakhill, Somerset is a village located approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Shepton Mallet between the A37 and the A367 (The Fosseway). Oakhill is today is mainly a commuter village of 0.4 square miles (1.0 km2) in size, and is notable for former activities which including brewing. The village contains a Church of England primary school, as well as an Inn.
Little London is the name given to a cluster of houses at the Western end of the village. It is sometimes referred to as a district in itself for the purpose of location by trades persons etc. due to the elongated nature of the village.
The village borders with the Parish village of Ashwick and the now demolished Ashwick Grove was arguably closer to Oakhill than its neighbour. Ashwick Grove was the home of John Billingsley of Ashwick,[1] the grandson of Nicholas Billingsley, a Presbyterian dissenter who was minister at Ashwick from 1699 to 1729, and is most remembered locally as the owner of Oakhill Brewery, established in 1761,[1] and famous for its Oakhill Invalid Stout.
The village had its own railway, built in 1904,[2] to take beer barrels to the Somerset & Dorset Railway at nearby Binegar. The railway had a 2'6" gauge and operated two 0-4-0T locomotives, the 'Mendip' and the 'Oakhill', which were painted in an olive green livery. Traces of the railway can still be seen in the surrounding area. The railways made a brief reappearance in the village of Oakhill in the 1980s, albeit in a miniature form. In the grounds of Oakhill Manor, the manor's owner, Walter Harper, opened a 'ride on' replica collection to the public. Among the engines, which towed thousands of people during their time there, was a 'Pacific' replica locomotive called Robin Hood. Oakhill Manor closed its doors to the public in 1985 and the collection of engines are now elsewhere around the country.
References
- 1 2 Atthill, Robin (1971). Old Mendip (2nd ed.). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5171-0.
- ↑ "Oakhill Brewery railway, Ashwick". Somerset Historic Environment Record. Somerset County Council. Retrieved 2009-09-04.
External links
Media related to Oakhill at Wikimedia Commons