Wookey railway station
Encyclopedia
Wookey railway station was a station on the Bristol and Exeter Railway
's Cheddar Valley line
in Somerset
, England. The site is a 0.04 hectare
geological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Wells
and Wookey Hole
because of the exposure of a 3 metres (9.8 ft) thick sequence of Pleistocene
-aged cryoturbated
gravels which exhibit scour-and-fill structures in their lower part. A small, silty channel-infilling has yielded an assemblage of palynomorph
spores dating from the last (Devensian) glacial period.
line from Cheddar to Wells
had been built. The line was converted to standard gauge in the mid-1870s and then linked up to the East Somerset Railway
to provide through services from Yatton
to Witham
in 1878. All the railways involved were absorbed into the Great Western Railway
in the 1870s.
The Yatton to Witham line closed to passengers in 1963; Wookey station closed on 9 September 1963, though goods traffic continued to the paper mills at Wookey until 1965. Wookey station had a small wooden building, unlike some of the other stations on the line which had impressive stone buildings. The site was cleared after closure.
Bristol and Exeter Railway
The Bristol & Exeter Railway was a railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter.The company's head office was situated outside their Bristol station...
's Cheddar Valley line
Cheddar Valley line
The Cheddar Valley line was a railway line in Somerset, England, opened in 1869 and closed in 1963. It became known as The Strawberry Line because of the volume of locally-grown strawberries that it carried....
in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, England. The site is a 0.04 hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
geological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Wells
Wells
Wells is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. Although the population recorded in the 2001 census is 10,406, it has had city status since 1205...
and Wookey Hole
Wookey Hole
Wookey Hole Caves is a show cave and tourist attraction in the village of Wookey Hole on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills near Wells in Somerset, England.Wookey Hole cave was formed through erosion of the limestone hills by the River Axe...
Site of Special Scientific Interest
It is listed in the Geological Conservation ReviewGeological Conservation Review
The Geological Conservation Review is produced by the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee and is designed to identify those sites of national and international importance needed to show all the key scientific elements of the geological and geomorphological features of Britain...
because of the exposure of a 3 metres (9.8 ft) thick sequence of Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
-aged cryoturbated
Cryoturbation
In gelisols , cryoturbation refers to the mixing of materials from various horizons of the soil right down to the bedrock due to freezing and thawing.Cryoturbation occurs to varying degrees in most gelisols...
gravels which exhibit scour-and-fill structures in their lower part. A small, silty channel-infilling has yielded an assemblage of palynomorph
Palynomorph
Palynomorph is the geological term used to describe a particle of a size between five and 500 micrometres, found in rock deposits and composed of organic material such as chitin, pseudochitin and sporopollenin...
spores dating from the last (Devensian) glacial period.
Station
The station opened on 1 August 1871 about a year after the extension of the broad gaugeBroad gauge
Broad-gauge railways use a track gauge greater than the standard gauge of .- List :For list see: List of broad gauges, by gauge and country- History :...
line from Cheddar to Wells
Wells (Tucker Street) railway station
Wells railway station was the second terminus station on the Bristol and Exeter Railway's Cheddar Valley line in Somerset after the extension from the first terminus at Cheddar was opened...
had been built. The line was converted to standard gauge in the mid-1870s and then linked up to the East Somerset Railway
East Somerset Railway
The East Somerset Railway is a heritage railway in Somerset, running between Cranmore and Mendip Vale. Prior to the Beeching Axe, the railway ran from Witham to Wells, meeting both the Cheddar Valley line and Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway at the latter station.- History :The line was...
to provide through services from Yatton
Yatton railway station
Yatton railway station serves the village of Yatton in North Somerset, England. It is west of Bristol Temple Meads railway station on the Bristol to Taunton Line.-History:...
to Witham
Witham (Somerset) railway station
Witham railway station was a station serving the Somerset village of Witham Friary and was located on the Frome to Yeovil section of the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway that opened in 1856...
in 1878. All the railways involved were absorbed into the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
in the 1870s.
The Yatton to Witham line closed to passengers in 1963; Wookey station closed on 9 September 1963, though goods traffic continued to the paper mills at Wookey until 1965. Wookey station had a small wooden building, unlike some of the other stations on the line which had impressive stone buildings. The site was cleared after closure.