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= River Parrett =
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Introduction
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The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in
South West England, from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in
the hills around Chedington in Dorset. Flowing northwest through
Somerset and the Somerset Levels to its mouth at Burnham-on-Sea, into
the Bridgwater Bay nature reserve on the Bristol Channel, the Parrett
and its tributaries drain an area of 1700 km2 - about 50 per cent of
Somerset's land area, with a population of 300,000.
The Parrett's main tributaries include the Rivers Tone, Isle, and Yeo,
and the River Cary via the King's Sedgemoor Drain. The 37 mi long
river is tidal for 19 mi up to Oath. Between Langport and Bridgwater,
the river falls only 1 ft/mi, so it is prone to frequent flooding in
winter and during high tides. Many approaches have been tried since at
least the medieval period to reduce the incidence and effect of floods
and to drain the surrounding fields.
In Anglo-Saxon times, the river formed a boundary between Wessex and
Dumnonia. It later served the Port of Bridgwater and enabled cargoes
to be transported inland. The arrival of the railways led to a decline
in commercial shipping, and the only working docks are at Dunball.
Human influence on the river has left a legacy of bridges and
industrial artefacts. The Parrett along with its connected waterways
and network of drains supports an ecosystem that includes several rare
species of flora and fauna. The River Parrett Trail has been
established along the banks of the river.
Course
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The River Parrett is 37 mi long, flowing roughly south to north from
Dorset through Somerset. Its source is in the Thorney Mills springs in
the hills around Chedington, 2.5 mi from that of the River Axe, in
nearby Beaminster, which runs in the opposite direction to the English
Channel at Axmouth in Devon. The two rivers give their names to
Parrett and Axe Parish Council.
From its source, the Parrett runs north through South Perrott and
under the Salisbury to Exeter railway line before passing to the west
of North Perrott and Haselbury Plucknett. It then runs through fields
between Merriott to the west and West Chinnock and Chiselborough to
the east. Passing under the A303 road to the east of South Petherton,
the river flows between East Lambrook and Bower Hinton west of Martock
and then towards Kingsbury Episcopi, through Thorney and Muchelney,
passing the remains of Muchelney Abbey before entering Langport, which
is about 10 mi north of Chiselborough. Below Thorney Bridge the
river's banks have been raised to mitigate flooding.
The Parrett then flows northwest for approximately another 10 mi to
Bridgwater through the Somerset Levels past Aller, close to the Aller
and Beer Woods and Aller Hill biological Sites of Special Scientific
Interest (SSSI). The sluice gate (formerly a lock built in the late
1830s) at the deserted medieval village of Oath marks the river's
tidal limit. The river then crosses Southlake Moor. The next major
landmark along the river's course is Burrow Mump, an ancient earthwork
owned by the National Trust. The river then arrives in Burrowbridge,
where the old pumping station building was once a museum. Flowing
north, it passes Langmead and Weston Level SSSI, and on past the
land-drainage pumping station at Westonzoyland.
Further downstream the river passes the village of Huntworth before
flowing under the M5 motorway at Dunwear. As it enters Bridgwater it
passes under Somerset and Hamp Bridges, and past Bridgwater Castle,
which had a tidal moat up to 65 ft wide in places, fed by water from
the river. From Bridgwater to the sea is approximately 6 mi. The
King's Sedgemoor Drain empties into the River Parrett next to the
wharf at Dunball; it enters via a clyce (or clyse), which is a local
word for a sluice. The clyce has been moved about 0.3 mi downstream
from its original position and now obstructs the entrance to the small
harbour next to the wharf.
The course of the river below Bridgwater is now somewhat straighter
than in former times. The village of Combwich lies adjacent to a
channel in the river known as "Combwich Reach"; from here the Parrett
flows to the Bristol Channel past the Steart Peninsula. Cartographic
evidence indicates that in the early 18th century the peninsula was
longer than at present. A "neck" started to form in the peninsula, and
by 1802 the tip had broken off to form Stert Island. Fenning Island
also broke away but has rejoined the peninsula. Much of the
peninsula's northern end eroded away or now exists as "islands"
visible at low tide within an intertidal area of mud known as the
Stert Flats.
The mouth at Burnham-on-Sea is a nature reserve where the river flows
into Bridgwater Bay on the Bristol Channel. In addition to the rivers
Parrett, Brue and Washford, several of the man-made drainage ditches,
including the River Huntspill from the Somerset Levels, and the
Cannington Brook from the "Pawlett Hams", also discharge into the bay.
Flow and tidal bore
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The Parrett has only one gauging station, at Chiselborough, fairly
close to the source. It measures flow from the first 29 sqmi of the
drainage basin, or about 4.3 per cent of the total. The mean flow
measured by the Environment Agency at Chiselborough was 1.19 m3/s,
with a peak of 173 m3/s on 30 May 1979 and a minimum of 0.07 m3/s over
a seven-day period in August 1976. Tributaries of the Parrett with
gauging stations include the Yeo, Isle, Cary, and Tone.
The lower Parrett has a fall of only 1 ft/mi between Langport and
Bridgwater. To the northeast of the River Parrett's mouth, the Bristol
Channel becomes the Severn Estuary, which has a tidal range of 14 m.
The rate and direction of flow of the Parrett is therefore dependent
on the state of the tide on the River Severn. In common with the lower
reaches of the River Severn, the Parrett experiences a tidal bore.
Certain combinations of the tides funnel the rising water into a wave
that travels upstream at about 6 mph, against the river's current.
Hydrology and water quality
=============================
Near the source at Chiselborough the typical level range for the depth
of the river is 0.05 m to 0.63 m but has reached a maximum of 2.93 m.
The mean flow rate is 1.196 m3/s. By the time it reaches Gaw Bridge
the normal level range is 0.23 m to 0.97 m and a highest reading of
3.84 m. At West Quay in Bridgwater where the river is tidal the
highest astronomical tide level is 8.63 m above ordnance datum (AOD).
For the purpose of water quality measurement, the river is divided
into five water body areas by the Environment Agency. In 2015, both
the area from the source to Broad River around Crewkerne and the area
from Broad River to Lopen Brook are rated good for chemical quality
and moderate for ecological quality. The area from Lopen Brook to the
River Isle, around Martock and South Petherton, is rated good for
chemical quality, poor for ecological quality and poor overall. From
the River Isle to River Yeo around Muchelney, chemical quality is
rated good, and ecology is rated moderate. The section around Langport
to the West Sedgemoor Drain continues to rate good for chemical
quality and moderate for ecological quality, as does the final area
leading to Bridgwater Bay.
History
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The origin of the name Parrett is unclear, but several derivations
from the Celtic languages used in Wales have been suggested.
Priestley-Evans suggests, "Parrett has been said to be a form of the
Welsh 'pared', a partition, and that it was the name which the Welsh
people of Somerset and Devon gave to that river because it was at one
time the dividing line between themselves and the Saxons". Another
spelling, 'parwydydd', is also translated as `partition'. Another
explanation from Welsh, 'Peraidd', meaning 'the sweet or delicious
river', has also been suggested. An alternative explanation, based on
Celtic, is a derivation from 'Pedair' or 'Pedride' from 'pedr',
meaning four and the Old Cornish 'Rit' meaning `flow', which in this
case would relate to the four flows or streams: the Tone, Yeo, Isle
and Parrett. This is based on the explanation given in Ekwall's 1928
book 'English River-Names'. Whichever derivation is correct, the name
Parrett and its spelling variations have been in use since the
Anglo-Saxon era, as evidenced by the addition of '-tun' onto river
names as seen in the local towns North Petherton and South Petherton.
The spelling 'Pedred' and 'Pedrida' are also mentioned in connection
with the Parrett. The Oxford Dictionary of British Place-Names states
only that the name is a 'pre-English river-name of obscure origin'.
Landscape
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The River Parrett, the Bristol Channel and the Severn Estuary are
believed to have been used for riverine bulk transportation of people
and supplies in Somerset under Roman and later Anglo-Saxon and Norman
occupation. Roman Somerset, which lasted for over 250 years until
around the beginning of the 5th century, had various settlements,
including Bath ('Aquae Sulis'), Ilchester ('Lindinis') and lead mines
at Charterhouse; and four roads surrounding the Somerset Levels. There
is evidence of two Roman ports on the Parrett. The port at Combwich,
on the west bank, was ill-recorded before its destruction by quarrying
and erosion. The other at Crandon Bridge on the east bank near where
the current King's Sedgemoor Drain enters the Parrett, was in use
between the first and the fourth centuries. Evidence of an extensive
site with storehouses was found in the mid-1970s, during motorway
construction works. The Crandon Bridge site may have been linked by a
probable Roman road over the Polden Hills to the Fosse Way, at
Ilchester. Ilchester, the largest Roman town in Somerset, was a port
with large granaries, sited where the Fosse Way crossed the Ilchester
Yeo by means of a paved ford. The Yeo was navigable by small craft all
the way to the Parrett allowing military supplies to be brought by
boat directly to Ilchester; however, disembarkation at Crandon Bridge
and use of the Polden Hills roadway allowed more rapid movement to
Ilchester. The Yeo may already have been straightened and canalised
before Roman occupation.
The Parrett was established as the border between the Anglo-Saxon
kingdom of Wessex and the Brythonic kingdom of Dumnonia in 658,
following the Dumnonians' defeat at the Battle of Peonnum that year.
This natural border endured for almost a century until further
fighting between the Anglo-Saxons and Britons in the mid-8th century,
when the border shifted west to its current location between the
modern ceremonial counties of Somerset and Devon. It is thought a
ford, usable only at low tide, crossed the river near its mouth,
between Combwich and Pawlett (east bank). This crossing, at the
western end of the Polden Hills, was known since Roman times and lay
on the route of a Saxon 'herepath'. It was here, or in the immediate
vicinity, that Hubba, the Danish raider, was defeated and killed by
Odda in 878. In the 'Domesday Book' Combwich was known as Comich,
which means "the settlement by the water", from the Old English 'cumb'
and 'wic'. The ford was later replaced by a ferry, one of which was in
operation from at least the 13th century. In the 15th century the
ferry was regarded as part of the 'King's Highway', and both
passengers and cattle were carried in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Records of the joint Manorial ownership and costs of the ferry exist
for 1589 and 1810. The 'White House Inn', a licensed victualler and
part-owner of the ferry, traded on the Pawlett bank from 1655 to 1897;
the building was retained as a farm dwelling for another 20 years. The
Combwich river crossing, which was a main route until the 18th
century, fell out of use due to turnpike trusts improving what were to
become the A38 and A39 roads, and traffic went via Bridgwater; the
former inn was demolished c. 1930.
After the departure of the Romans, the low-lying Somerset Levels
appear to have been abandoned, as the archaeological record shows that
they were flooded and the former Roman landscape covered with a thick
layer of alluvial deposits. Recovery of the levels involved both the
construction of sea walls and the containment of the Parrett. Celtic
Christianity came to the remoter areas of the Somerset Levels, making
use of "island" sites. Glastonbury Abbey, possibly founded in the 7th
century (or earlier), was nearby and had undertaken extensive water
management to enable it to bring materials by boat to Glastonbury,
albeit not via the Parrett. Muchelney Abbey, founded in the mid-8th
century, was sited at the confluence of the Parrett and its
tributaries, the rivers Isle and Yeo; and Athelney Abbey lay on
another tributary, the River Tone. These three abbeys together with
the Bishop of Bath and Wells were major landowners with fishing and
riparian rights, often conflicting, on these rivers. They gained
financially from improvements to land and waterways due to the
resulting greater fertility of their lands and the increased rents
that they were able to charge their tenants.
Continuing land reclamation and control of the Parrett was a
long-running cycle of neglect followed by improvement. Work was
carried out on the upper River Parrett basin in the Middle Ages by
Glastonbury Abbey. Abbot Michael's survey of 1234 showed 722 acre of
meadow recovered around the "island" of Sowy; from the accounts in the
Abbey's rent books, this had increased to 972 acre by 1240. Flooding
of adjacent moor land was partially addressed in the 13th century by
building a number of embankment walls to contain the Parrett. These
included Southlake Wall, Burrow Wall and Lake Wall. The River Tone was
also diverted by the Abbot of Athelney and other land owners into a
new embanked channel, joining the Parrett upstream from its original
confluence. After the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th
century, much of the former abbey lands came under the control of the
Crown, particularly King's Sedgemoor, which had been wholly owned by
Glastonbury Abbey, with Henry VI's Courts of Sewers made responsible
for maintaining existing drainage and various Commissions made
responsible for land improvements. Further reclamation work was
carried out over the next 500 years. In 1597, 50 acre of land were
recovered near the Parrett estuary; a few years later 140 acre near
Pawlett were recovered by means of embankments; three further
reclamations, totalling 110 acre, were undertaken downstream of
Bridgwater by 1660. Kings James I, Charles I, and Charles II continued
to improve King's Sedgemoor.
Attempts were also made to improve navigation on the lower river.
Between 1677 and 1678, Sir John Moulton cut a new channel at "Vikings
Creek" on the Horsey Levels to remove a large meander; the old river
bed soon silted up, providing 120 acre of new land. A further scheme
was proposed in 1723 to improve navigation, shorten the journey time
for boats, and recover land by obtaining an Act of Parliament to make
an artificial cut across the Steart Peninsula. Eventually, after much
debate, the cut was not made due to lack of land owner support and
concerns over costs and risks. The English Civil War put a stop to
most reclamation work; however, in 1764 a clyse was built at Dunball
to contain tidal influences on a run-off stream near King's Sedgemoor.
Extensive land recovery was undertaken in the Somerset Levels by land
owners between 1770 and the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, as
part of a general scheme of agricultural improvements, including
improvements to the Brue Valley and to King's Sedgemoor. The latter
involved the connection of various drainage schemes into a new
hand-dug channel connected to the clyse at Dunball - the King's
Sedgemoor Drain. Further drainage improvements were needed in the 19th
century, which involved the use of mechanical pumping engines,
originally steam powered but later powered by electricity. In January
1940, further improvements were funded by the Ministry of Supply,
during the Second World War, as "Priority War Work" during the
construction of Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) Bridgwater. This involved
doubling the width of the King's Sedgemoor Drain at its western end
and the excavation of the River Huntspill. In the longer-term this
provided a drain for the Brue valley, but in war-time the scheme
provided a guaranteed daily supply of 4500000 impgal of water for the
ROF.
The town of Bridgwater, from 'Brigewaltier' (place at) the bridge held
by Walter of Douai, or alternatively "Brugie" from Old English 'brycg'
meaning gang plank between ships, or from Old Norse 'brygja' meaning
quay, was founded as a new borough about 1200; it had a castle and a
market and became a port in its own right. It was the major port for
Somerset which, around the Quantocks, the Brendon Hills and the Tone
valley, was mainly agricultural, producing arable crops and vegetables
to supply the new industrial towns. Combwich was the traditional River
Parrett pilots' harbour from at least the 14th century. It also served
as a port for the export of local produce and, from the 15th century,
the import of timber. Until the late 1930s, when the creek silted up,
coastal shipping served Combwich's local brick and coal yard.
In the medieval era the river was used to transport Hamstone from the
quarry at Ham Hill for the construction of churches throughout the
county. Later, in the 19th century, coal from south Wales, for
heating, Bath bricks, bricks and tiles would be carried. Brick making,
which had been carried out intermittently in Bridgwater from the 17th
century, by the late 18th century had expanded into an industry based
on permanent brickyards in the Bridgwater area adjacent to the
Parrett. The brick and tile industry made use of the local alluvial
clays and the Parrett's coastal trade, using ketches mostly based at
Bridgwater to transport their products, which were heavy and bulky,
and to bring in coal to heat the kilns. The 19th century industrial
revolution opened up mass markets leading to further expansion of the
industry, particularly beginning in 1850 when the duty (tax) on bricks
was abolished. Brick and tile works, making use of river transport,
were opened in the 1840s and 1850s south of Bridgwater at North
Petherton and Dunwear, in Bridgwater itself, and downstream at Chilton
Trinity, Combwich, Puriton and Pawlett. Numerous brickworks were also
opened elsewhere in Somerset, but many of them used the railways to
transport their products; some 264 sites are listed in the Somerset
Industrial Archaeological Society's 'Gazetteer of sites'. Silt was
also dredged from the river over a 2 mi stretch between Somerset
Bridge and Castle Fields, Bridgwater, to make Bath bricks, an early
abrasive cleaning material patented in 1827.
Port of Bridgwater
====================
Bridgwater was part of the Port of Bristol until the Port of
Bridgwater was created in 1348, covering 80 mi of the Somerset coast
line, from the Devon border to the mouth of the River Axe. Under an
1845 Act of Parliament the Port of Bridgwater extends from Brean Down
to Hinkley Point in Bridgwater Bay, and includes parts of the River
Parrett (to Bridgwater), River Brue and the River Axe.
Historically, the main port on the river was at Bridgwater, where a
span crossed the river from 1200 AD onwards. Quays were built at
Bridgwater in 1424, with another quay, the 'Langport slip', being
built in 1488 upstream of the Town Bridge. A custom house was sited at
Bridgwater, on West Quay, and a dry dock, launching slips and a boat
yard on East Quay. Bridgwater built some 167 ships, the last one being
the 'Irene' launched in 1907.
The river was navigable, with care, to Bridgwater Town Bridge by 400
to vessels. By trans-shipping goods into barges at the Town Bridge,
the Parrett was navigable as far as Langport and (via the River Yeo)
to Ilchester. After 1827, it was also possible to transport goods to
Taunton via the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal at Huntworth. A floating
harbour, known as the "docks", was constructed between 1837 and 1841,
and the canal was extended through Bridgwater to the floating harbour.
The dock area contained flour mills, timber yards and chandlers.
Shipping to Bridgwater expanded with the construction of the docks,
which opened on 25 March 1841, and reached a peak in the 19th century
between 1880 and 1885, with an average of 3,600 ships per year
entering the port. Peak tonnage occurred in 1857, with 142 vessels
totaling 17800 tonne. In the short term, the opening of the docks
increased the profitability of the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, which
carried 81650 tonne of cargo in 1840. This peaked in 1847 at 88000
tonne of cargo; however, by the mid-1850s the canal was bankrupt due
to competition from the railways.
Combwich Pill, a small creek near the mouth of the river, had been
used for shipping since the 14th century. From the 1830s, with the
development of the brick and tile industry in the Combwich area, the
wharf was used by two local brickyards to import coal and export tiles
to Wales and parts of Gloucestershire. This traffic ceased in the
1930s; in the late 1950s the wharf was taken over and upgraded by the
Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) to bring in heavy
materials for the Hinkley Point nuclear power stations. Construction
of Hinkley Point A nuclear power station was ordered in 1957, with a
scheduled completion date of 1960, but was not completed until 1965.
This was followed by Hinkley Point B nuclear power station, which
began operation in 1976. It is proposed to use the wharf again for the
construction of Hinkley Point C.
Dunball wharf was built in 1844 by Bridgwater coal merchants, and was
linked to the Bristol and Exeter Railway by a rail track which crossed
the A38. The link was built in 1876, also by coal merchants, and was
originally operated as a horse-drawn tramway. In 1875, the local
landowner built The Dunball Steam Pottery & Brick & Tile Works
adjacent to the wharf.
The Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, which had been bought out by the
Bristol and Exeter Railway in 1866 and later passed into the control
of the Great Western Railway had, by the beginning of the First World
War, fallen into disrepair due to lack of trade. This trade,
particularly the Wales-Somerset traffic after the opening of the
Severn Tunnel in 1886, had been lost to the railways; the canal
continued to be used as a source of water. In the mid-1950s, the Port
of Bridgwater was importing some 80050 to of cargo, mainly sand and
coal by tonnage, followed by timber and flour. It was also exporting
some 7300 tonne of bricks and tiles. By then, Bridgwater's brick and
tile industry was in terminal decline. In the 1960s, British Rail, the
owner of the docks, which were limited by the size of its locks to
boats of maximum size 180 by, decided that they were commercially
non-viable. British Railways offered to sell the docks to any buyer;
however, there were no takers, so the docks were closed to river
traffic.
Although ships no longer dock in the town of Bridgwater, 90213 tonne
of cargo were handled within the port authority's area in 2006, most
of which was stone products via the wharf at Dunball. It is no longer
linked to the railway system. The link was removed in the 1960s as
part of the railway closures following the Beeching Report. Dunball
railway station, which had opened in 1873, was closed to both
passengers and goods in 1964. All traces of the station, other than
"Station Road", have been removed. The wharf is now used for landing
stone products, mainly marine sand and gravels dredged in the Bristol
Channel. Marine sand and gravel accounted for 55754 tonne of the total
tonnage of 90213 tonne using the Port facilities in 2006, with salt
products accounting for 21170 tonne in the same year, while the
roll-on roll-off berth at Combwich is used occasionally for the
transfer of heavy goods for the two existing Hinkley Point nuclear
power stations. With the possible future construction of the two
Hinkley Point C nuclear power stations by EDF Energy, it is proposed
that Combwich wharf be employed to transfer heavy goods to the sites.
Combwich Pill is the only site where recreational moorings are
available in the estuary.
Sedgemoor District Council acts as the Competent Harbour Authority for
the port, and has provided pilotage services for all boats over 98 ft
using the river since 1998, when it took over the service from Trinity
House. Pilotage is important because of the constant changes in the
navigable channel resulting from the large tidal range, which can
exceed 39 ft on spring tides. Most commercial shipping travels upriver
as far as Dunball wharf, which handles bulk cargoes.
Parrett Navigation
====================
The Parrett Navigation was a series of improvements to the river to
allow increased boat traffic between Burrowbridge and Thorney. The
work, done in the 1830s and 1840s, was made mostly obsolete by the
coming of railways in 1853, though some aspects survive to this day.
Background
============
Trade on the river upstream of Bridgwater had developed during the
18th century, with 20 LT barges operating between Bridgwater and
Langport, while smaller barges carrying 6 to operated on the upper
reaches between Langport and Thorney, and along the River Yeo to Long
Load Bridge and Ilchester. The channel below the junction with the
River Tone had been improved as a result of Acts of Parliament passed
in 1699 and 1707, "for making and keeping the River Tone navigable
from Bridgewater to Taunton", and a third act with a similar purpose
was passed in 1804. Traffic on the higher reaches was hindered by
shoals in the river and by the Great Bow Bridge at Langport, which
consisted on nine small arches, none of them big enough for
navigation. All cargoes heading upstream had to be off-loaded from the
bigger barges, carried to the other side of the bridge, and reloaded
into the smaller barges. Traffic above Langport was sporadic, as the
water levels were often inadequate, forcing boats to wait several days
for the right conditions before proceeding.
The abortive Ivelchester and Langport Navigation scheme had sought to
avoid the Great Bow Bridge by making the Portlake Rhine navigable,
rebuilding Little Bow Bridge in the centre of Langport, and making a
new cut to Bicknell's Bridge. Seven locks, each with a small rise,
were planned, but the scheme foundered in 1797 due to financial
difficulties. After the cessation of hostilities with France at the
beginning of the 19th century, there was renewed interest in canal
building in Somerset; the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal was authorised
in 1824, the Glastonbury Canal in 1827, and the Chard Canal in 1834.
When the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal was opened in 1827, it joined
the Parrett by a lock at Huntworth, where a basin was constructed, but
in 1841 the canal was extended to the new floating harbour in
Bridgwater, and the Huntworth link was filled in. The canal and river
were not re-connected at this point when the canal was restored,
because the tidal Parrett, at Huntworth, is a salt water river laden
with silt whereas the canal contains fresh water. Not only is there a
risk of silt entering the canal, but the salt water cannot be allowed
to contaminate the fresh, as the canal is still used for the transport
of drinking water for Bridgwater's population.
Construction
==============
With the prospect of the Chard Canal in particular damaging trade on
the Parrett, four traders from Langport including Vincent Stuckey and
Walter Bagehot, who together operated a river freight business,
commissioned the engineer Joseph Jones to carry out a survey for the
Parrett Navigation which was then put before Parliament. It was
supported by Brunel and a large quantity of documentary evidence.
Objections from local landowners were handled by including clauses in
the Parrett Navigation Act to ensure that surplus water would be
channelled to the Long Sutton Catchwater Drain by culverts, siphons,
and sluices, and the Act of Parliament was passed on 4 July 1836.
The Parrett Navigation Act allowed the proprietors, of whom 25 were
named, to raise £10,500 in shares and £3,300 by mortgage, with which
to make improvements to the river from Burrow Bridge to Langport, to
reconstruct the restrictive bridge at Langport, and to continue the
improvements as far as Thorney. The River Isle, which joined the
Parrett at Muchelney, was to be improved for its first mile, and then
the Westport Canal was to be constructed from there to Westport. Locks
were planned at Stanmoor, Langport, and Muchelney, with a half-lock at
Thorney. An extra lock was added at Oath, when tests revealed that the
depth of water would not meet that specified in the Act without it.
Costs were considerably higher than expected, and a second Act of
Parliament was obtained in 1839, to allow an extra £20,000 to be
raised. The lock at Oath has since been replaced by a sluice gate to
control flooding.
The section below Langport opened on 28 October 1839; the section to
Thorney and the Westport Canal were completed in August 1840. The
Langport Bridge was not finished until March 1841; of the £3,749 cost
of construction, £500 came from the Langport Corporation and the rest
was raised by a bridge toll operated from March 1841 until January
1843. The total cost of the works was £38,876, and no dividends were
paid until 1853, as all profits were used to repay the loans which had
been taken out. There are no records of traffic, but it has been
estimated at 60000 to per year, based on the toll receipts and the
knowledge that the Stuckey and Bagehot boats carried about
three-quarters of the total tonnage.
Decline
=========
The Bristol and Exeter Railway opened in late 1853, and the effects on
the Parrett Navigation were immediate. Despite petitions from users of
the Westport Canal to keep their section open for navigation, the
Commissioners opted to abandon the entire navigation; the canal was
maintained for drain purposes only. Some boats continued to use the
river to reach Langport and beyond until the early years of the 20th
century. There is still a public right of navigation as far as Oath
Lock, but very few private boats use the river, largely due to the
fierce tides in the estuary and a lack of moorings along its route.
In 2019, the town of Langport obtained a grant of £179,000 from the
European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Department
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). With a contribution
from the town council and other sources, over £200,000 was available
to improve access to 7.6 mi of the river from Oath Lock to Thorney
Bridge. The grant funded the construction of pontoons and access
ramps, and improvements to the riverside pathway between Langport and
Huish Bridge. The project covered 6.5 mi of the upper Parrett,
together with 1 mi of the River Yeo and a tiny section of the River
Isle. Langport councillor Ian Macnab launched a former ferry from
Devon onto the upper Parrett on 5 July 2017, with a view to running it
as a community boat. The launch of 'The Duchess of Cocklemoor' was
witnessed by over 200 local people, and the vessel has since had its
diesel engine replaced by a 1.5 kW electric motor, powered by solar
panels mounted on the roof.
Bridges and structures
======================================================================
Much of the history of the river is defined by its bridges, which are
described here from mouth to source. The Drove Bridge, which marks the
current extent of the Port of Bridgwater, is the nearest to the mouth
and the newest road bridge to cross the river. With a span of 184 ft,
the bridge was constructed as part of the Bridgwater Northern
Distributor road scheme (1992), and provides a navigable channel which
is 66 ft wide with 8.2 ft headroom at normal spring high tides.
Upstream of this is the retractable or Telescopic Bridge, built in
1871 to the design of Sir Francis Fox, the engineer for the Bristol
and Exeter Railway. It carried a broad gauge (later standard gauge)
railway siding over the river to the docks, and was movable, to allow
boats to proceed up river. An 80 ft section of railway track to the
east of the bridge could be moved sideways, so that the main 127 ft
girders could be retracted, creating a navigable channel which was 78
ft wide. It was manually operated for the first eight months, and then
powered by a steam engine, reverting to manual operation in 1913, when
the steam engine failed. The bridge was last opened in 1953, and the
traverser section was demolished in 1974, but public outcry at this
resulted in the bridge being listed as a Scheduled monument, and the
rest of the bridge was kept. It was later used as a road crossing,
until the construction of the Chandos road bridge alongside it, and is
now only used by pedestrians. Parts of the steam engine were moved to
Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum in 1977.
The next bridge is the Town Bridge. There has been a bridge here since
the 13th century, when Bridgwater was granted a charter by King John.
The present bridge was designed by R. C. Else and G. B. Laffan, and
the 75 ft cast iron structure was completed in 1883. It replaced an
earlier iron bridge, which was completed in 1797 and was the first
cast iron bridge to be built in Somerset. The stone abutments of that
bridge were reused for the later bridge, which was the only road
crossing of the river in Bridgwater until 1958. Above the bridge there
were two shoals, called The Coals and The Stones, which were a hazard
to barge traffic on the river, and bargees had to navigate the river
at high tide, when there was enough water to carry them over these
obstructions. In March 1958 a new reinforced concrete road bridge, the
Blake Bridge, was opened as part of a bypass to take traffic away from
the centre of Bridgwater. It now carries the A38 and A39 roads. At the
southern edge of Bridgwater is a bridge which carries the Bristol and
Exeter Railway across the River Parrett. Isambard Kingdom Brunel
designed a brick bridge, known as the Somerset Bridge, with a 100 ft
span but a rise of just 12 ft. Work started in 1838 and was completed
in 1841. Brunel left the centring scaffold in place, as the
foundations were still settling, but had to remove it in 1843 to
reopen the river for navigation. Brunel demolished the brick arch and
replaced it with a timber arch within six months without interrupting
the traffic on the railway. This was in turn replaced in 1904 by a
steel girder bridge. Slightly further east is a modern concrete bridge
which carries the M5 motorway over both the river and the railway
line. It was started in 1971 and opened in 1973.
Before 1826, the bridge at Burrowbridge, just below the junction with
the River Tone, consisted of three arches, each only a little wider
than the barges that used the river. They restricted the flow of water
in times of flood and made navigation difficult. The bridge was
highlighted in a report made by William Armstrong in 1824, as a factor
which would prevent the River Tone Navigation competing with the new
Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, then being built. An Act of Parliament
was obtained in 1824 by the Turnpike Commissioners, authorising the
construction of a new bridge and the removal of the old. A design for
a 70 ft single-span bridge in cast iron was dropped because of the
cost of cast iron at the time, and instead a stone bridge was built,
which was completed in 1826. This is the longest single span masonry
road bridge in the county, and was also the last toll bridge in
Somerset until it was "freed" in 1946. It now carries the A361 road.
Just below the bridge there was a shoal of rocks and stones, which was
also mentioned in Armstrong's report, but no action was taken to
remove it. Except at spring tides, Burrowbridge was the normal upper
limit for barges riding the incoming tide. Above here, horses were
used to pull the boats, either towards Langport or along the River
Tone towards Taunton.
Stanmoor lock was constructed above the junction with the River Tone,
but all traces of it have gone. Next to the pedestrian bridge at
Stathe four living willow cones, which were woven in 1997 by Clare
Wilks, have now rooted and sprouted. Oath lock no longer functions as
a lock, but the sluice is used to regulate the river levels. Below
Langport, the river is crossed by a lattice girder bridge, carrying
the Taunton to Westbury railway line, which approaches the crossing on
multi-arched viaducts. This is followed by the derelict remains of the
Langport lock and sluice.
At Langport, the Great Bow Bridge, which now carries the A378, is a
three-arched bridge, constructed under the terms of the Parrett
Navigation Act of 1836. Completed in 1841 at a cost of £3,749, it
replaced the previous medieval bridge, with its nine tiny arches, all
too small to allow navigation. A bridge at this site was first
mentioned in 1220. The medieval bridge consisted of a total of 31
arches, of which nine crossed the river, and 19 of the original arches
were located by ground-penetrating radar in 1987, buried beneath the
road which runs from Great Bow Bridge to Little Bow Bridge. The
Warehouse in Langport was built in the late 18th century of English
bond red brick, with Flemish bond extensions. It has clay plain tile
roofs with hipped ends. It was built by the Parrett Navigation
Company, a trading company owned by Vincent Stuckey and Walter
Bagehot, on the banks of the River. When the river became unnavigable,
the building was no longer needed, and it was eventually abandoned.
The Somerset Trust for Sustainable Development, which became the Ecos
Trust, purchased the site, designated as a brown field site, in
February 2003, and worked with Somerset Buildings Preservation Trust,
English Heritage and local councils to redevelop it into a craft,
heritage learning and small business centre, with the surrounding land
being used for an eco-friendly housing development. It is a grade II
listed building.
The newest bridge across the Parrett is Cocklemoor Bridge, a
pedestrian footbridge close to the Great Bow Bridge. It was erected in
2006 and forms part of the River Parrett Trail. The next bridge
upstream is Bicknell's bridge, which was formerly known as Bickling
bridge, which carries the road from Huish Episcopi to Muchelney. It
replaced a footbridge in 1829 or 1830. At Muchelney the Westover
Bridge carries a minor road over the river, and another minor road
crosses on the Thorney Bridge close to the Thorney (or silent) Mill
and a lock. The mill, with an iron overshot wheel, was built to grind
corn in 1823. Another bridge and mill occur further upstream at
Gawbridge west of Martock, where the mill has been the subject of a
feasibility study by the South Somerset Hydropower Group. Carey's Mill
Bridge was built of Ham stone in the 18th century and named after
Carey's Mill, which originally occupied the site. It is surrounded by
a collection of buildings known as the Parrett Iron Works, founded in
1855 on the site of a former snuff mill, which included a foundry,
with a prominent chimney, ropewalk, workshops and several smaller
workshops and cottages. The sluice which powered the waterwheel and
sluice keeper's cottage still exist. Further south the river flows
under the A303 near Norton-sub-Hamdon and the A356 near Chedington.
Flood prevention
======================================================================
The waters of the Severn Estuary, which are heavily laden with silt,
flow into the lower reaches of the Parrett and the Tone on each tide.
This silt can rapidly gather on the banks of the rivers, reducing the
capacity and performance of the channel, and increasing the risk of
flooding of surrounding land.
The river is a highland carrier, as it is embanked and the water level
is often higher than the land through which it flows. Water from the
surrounding countryside does not therefore drain into the river
naturally, and drainage schemes have relied on pumping to remove the
water. The pumping station at Westonzoyland was built in 1830, the
first mechanical pumping station on the Somerset Levels. It was
designed to drain the area around Westonzoyland, Middlezoy and Othery,
and the success of the drainage system led to the formation of
internal drainage boards and the construction of other pumping
stations.
The pump at Westonzoyland originally comprised a beam engine and scoop
wheel, which is similar to a water wheel, except that it is driven
round by the engine and lifts water up to a higher level. After 25
years, there were problems pumping the water away as the land surface
had dropped as it dried out. A better method was sought, and in 1861 a
replacement pump was installed. The engine was built by Easton and
Amos of London, to a design patented in 1858 by Charles Amos. It is a
twin cylinder, vertical condensing engine, driving a centrifugal pump.
A similar engine was on display at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and
was shown to be able to lift 100 tons of water per minute (1,700 L/s),
to a height of 6 ft. The Westonzoyland pump lifts water from the rhyne
(pronounced "reen") into the River Parrett. The pump operated until
1951, when a new diesel-powered pumping station, capable of pumping 35
tons per minute (600 L/s) at any state of the tide, was built beside
the old one. The pumping station is now an Industrial Heritage museum
of steam powered machinery and land drainage, and houses most of the
equipment from the disused Burrowbridge pumping station.
The Somerset River Authority was established in the 1960s, and later
became part of Wessex Water. Tidal models were used to explore the
effects of any improvements to the river, and the likelihood of
adverse consequences, i.e. flooding and subsequent silting.
Engineering works were undertaken at the Parrett, King's Sedgemoor
Drain, and River Brue systems, to try to ensure that the agricultural
land benefited from a potable water supply in the groundwaters from
the Quantock Hills to the coastline.
Various measures including sluice gates, known locally as "clyce",
have been deployed to try to control flooding. Completed in 1972, the
Sowy River is a 7.5 mi embanked channel which starts at Monks Leaze
clyce below Langport, and carries excess water from the river to the
Kings Sedgemoor Drain, from where it flows to the estuary by gravity,
rejoining the Parrett near Dunball wharf. Construction of the channel,
together with improvements to the Kings Sedgemoor Drain and the
rebuilding of the clyce at Dunball, to create a fresh water seal which
prevents salt water entering the drain from the river, cost £1.4
million. The scheme has resulted in less flooding on Aller Moor.
In the 1970s a study was commissioned by Wessex Water to investigate
the likely effects of constructing a tide-excluding barrier, aimed at
stopping the silt, just upriver of Dunball Wharf on the hydraulic,
sedimentary and pollutant regime of the estuary. Results showed that a
site further upriver could be viable.
The area around the estuary, known as Parrett Reach, around the Steart
Peninsula has flooded many times during the last millennium. As a
result, the Environment Agency produced the Stolford to Combwich
Coastal Defence Strategy Study in 2002, to examine options for the
future. In July 2010 the Environment Agency presented plans to convert
the peninsula into wetland habitat. It was claimed to be the largest
wetland habitat creation scheme in England. The old sea-wall has been
breached to let salt marsh develop.
Following summer floods of 1997 and the prolonged flooding of
1999-2000 the Parrett Catchment Project was formed, partly funded by
the European Union Regional Development Fund, by 30 organisations,
including British Waterways, Campaign to Protect Rural England,
Countryside Agency, Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs, Environment Agency, Kings Sedgemoor and Cary Vale Internal
Drainage Board (now part of Parrett Internal Drainage Board), Levels
and Moors Partnership, National Farmers Union, Sedgemoor, Somerset
County Council, South Somerset District Council, Taunton Deane and
Wessex Water. They aim to tackle twelve areas, which, when combined,
will make a significant contribution to reducing the adverse effects
of flooding. These include the conversion of arable land, adoption of
the Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) approach to controlling
rainwater runoff from developed areas, dredging, raising riverbanks
and improving pumping facilities. Further studies of the possible
beneficial effects of woodland in reducing flooding have also been
undertaken.
During the winter flooding of 2013-14 on the Somerset Levels the River
Parrett overflowed at new year, during the rain and storms from Storm
Dirk, with many residents asking for the Environment Agency to resume
river dredging. On 24 January 2014, in light of the continued flooded
extent of the Somerset Moors and forecast new rainfall as part of the
winter storms of 2013-14 in the United Kingdom, both Somerset County
Council and Sedgemoor District Council declared a major incident, as
defined under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. At this time, with
17000 acre of agricultural land having been under water for over a
month, the village of Thorney was abandoned and Muchelney was cut off
by flood waters for almost a month. Northmoor Green, which is more
commonly known as Moorland, was also severely affected. By the end of
January, agricultural land under water included North Moor, Curry and
Hay Moors and Greylake. Bridgwater was partly flooded on 10 February
2014. Over 600 houses were flooded, and both flooding and groundwater
disrupted services including trains on the Bristol to Exeter line
between Bridgwater and Taunton.
As a result of the extensive flooding, more funds were allocated to
dredge the Parrett, although there are doubts as to whether this is an
effective solution to the problem of flooding. Also, earlier proposals
for a tidal barrage across the Parrett were reviewed, and new
proposals were suggested to construct the barrage at an estimated cost
of between £26,000 and £100,000. Further planning and construction
could take up to ten years. The Inland Waterways Association has
suggested that the barrage should include a lock to enable boats to
travel to Bridgwater and potentially to reopen the link to the harbour
and the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal.
In January 2022 a £100m scheme to construct a tidal barrier at
Bridgwater was announced, planned to be in place by 2027.
Geology
======================================================================
Close to the source of the river the underlying geology is a thin
layer of Fuller's earth clay over Yeovil Sands. The resulting light
soil made the area important for the production of flax and for market
gardening in the past.
Burrow Mump, an ancient earthwork owned by the National Trust, is a
natural hill of Triassic sandstone capped by Keuper marl, standing at
a strategic point where the River Tone and the old course of the River
Cary join the River Parrett. It probably served as a natural outwork
to the defended royal island of Athelney at the end of the 9th
century.
The Levels and Moors are a largely flat area in which there are some
slightly raised parts, called "burtles" as well as higher ridges and
hills. It is an agricultural region typically with open fields of
permanent grass, surrounded by ditches lined with willow trees. Access
to the Levels and Moors is by "droves", i.e. green lanes. The Levels
are a coastal sand and clay barrier about 20 ft above mean sea level
(roughly west of the M5 motorway) whereas the inland Moors can be 20
ft below peak tides and have large areas of peat. The geology of the
area is that of two basins mainly surrounded by hills, the runoff from
which forms rivers that originally meandered across the plain but have
now been controlled by embanking and clyces. The area is prone to
winter floods of fresh water and occasional salt water inundations,
the worst of which in recorded history was the Bristol Channel floods
of 1607, which resulted in the drowning of an estimated 2,000 or more
people, with houses and villages swept away, an estimated 200 sqmi of
farmland inundated and livestock destroyed. A further severe flood
occurred in 1872-1873 when over 107 sqmi were under water from October
to March.
The extraction of peat from the Moors is known to have taken place
during Roman times, and has been an ongoing practice since the levels
were first drained. The introduction of plastic packaging in the 1950s
allowed the peat to be packed without rotting. This led to the
industrialisation of peat extraction during the 1960s as a major
market in horticultural peat was developed. The reduction in water
levels that resulted put local ecosystems at risk; peat wastage in
pasture fields was occurring at rates of 1 - over 100 years.
Ecology
======================================================================
The river flows through several areas of ecological interest and
supports a variety of rare and endangered species.
From January until May, the Parrett provides a source of European eels
('Anguilla anguilla') and young elvers, which are caught by hand
netting as this is the only legal means of catching them. A series of
eel passes have been built on the Parrett at the King's Sedgemoor
Drain to help this endangered species; cameras have shown 10,000 eels
migrating upstream in a single night. The 2003 BBC Radio 4 play 'Glass
Eels' by Nell Leyshon was set on the Parrett.
To the north of the river bank northwest of Langport are the Aller and
Beer Woods and Aller Hill biological Sites of Special Scientific
Interest (SSSI). Aller and Beer Woods is a Somerset Wildlife Trust
reserve. It consists of large blocks of semi-natural ancient woodland
along the west-facing slope of Aller Hill, overlooking King's
Sedgemoor. The reserve is about 40 ha and the underlying geology of
most of it is Lias limestone. Prior to the 20th century it appears to
have been managed for centuries as traditional coppice woodland, and
it provides an outstanding example of ancient escarpment woodland. The
woodland is a variant of the calcareous ash/wych elm stand-type, with
pedunculate oak ('Quercus robur'), and ash ('Fraxinus excelsior') the
dominant canopy trees throughout, and with scattered concentrations of
wych elm ('Ulmus glabra'). Ancient woodland indicators include
small-leaved lime ('Tilia cordata'), and wild service tree ('Sorbus
torminalis'), both of which are locally common. Plants of particular
interest include bird's nest orchid ('Neottia nidus-avis'), greater
butterfly orchid ('Platanthera chlorantha') and the very rare Red Data
Book species purple gromwell ('Lithospermum purpurocaeruleum'). Aller
Hill contains three species of plant which are nationally rare and a
further three which are of restricted distribution in Somerset. The
central area contains a sward dominated by sheep's fescue ('Festuca
ovina') in combination with yellow oat-grass ('Trisetum flavescens')
and quaking-grass ('Briza media'). Salad burnet ('Sanguisorba minor')
forms a major component of the sward with the two nationally rare
species rough marsh-mallow (M'alva setigera') and nit-grass
('Gastridium ventricosum'), also present.
Southlake Moor is another SSSI. The marshes and ditches provide
grazing. At certain times of the year sluice gates can be opened to
flood the moor. Greater water-parsnip ('Sium latifolium') is among the
96 aquatic and vascular plant species on the moor. Numerous wildfowl
visit the flooded moor; up to 22,000 wigeon ('Anas penelope'), 250
Bewick's swan ('Cygnus bewickii') and significant populations of
pochard ('Aythya ferina'), teal ('Anas crecca') and tufted duck
('Aythya fuligula'). Signs of European otters ('Lutra lutra') have
also been seen on the river banks. Palmate newts ('Triturus
helveticus') have been found in surrounding ditches.
Langmead and Weston Level is nationally important for its species-rich
neutral grassland and the invertebrate community found in the ditches
and rhynes. The terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates recorded on the
site include four nationally
rare species: the great silver diving beetle ('Hydrophilus piceus'),
the soldier fly 'Odontomyia ornata', which is now called the ornate
brigadier, and two other flies, 'Lonchoptera scutellata' and
'Stenomicra cogani'.
The Parrett then flows through the Somerset Levels National Nature
Reserve, which contains a rich biodiversity of national and
international importance. It supports a vast variety of plant species,
including common plants such as marsh-marigold ('Caltha palustris'),
meadowsweet ('Filipendula ulmaria') and ragged-robin ('Lychnis
flos-cuculi'). The area is an important feeding ground for birds
including Bewick's swan ('Cygnus columbianus bewickii'), Eurasian
curlew ('Numenius arquata'), common redshank ('Tringa totanus'),
skylark ('Alauda arvensis'), common snipe ('Gallinago gallinago'),
common teal ('Anas crecca'), Eurasian wigeon ('Anas penelope') and
Eurasian whimbrel ('Numenius phaeopus'), as well as birds of prey
including the western marsh harrier ('Circus aeruginosus') and
peregrine falcon ('Falco peregrinus'). A wide range of invertebrate
species is also present including rare insects, particularly the hairy
click beetle ('Synaptus filiformis'), which until recently was only
known in Britain from the Parrett, and other insects, including the
lesser silver water beetle ('Hydrochara caraboides'), 'Bagous
nodulosus', 'Hydrophilus piceus', 'Odontomyia angulata', 'Oulema
erichsoni' and 'Valvata macrostoma'. In addition, the area supports an
important European otter ('Lutra lutra') population. 282 American mink
('Mustela vison') have been captured after their escape from breeding
farms, which is encouraging water voles ('Arvicola amphibius') to
recolonise areas of the Levels where they have been absent for 10
years. The Levels and Moors include 32 Sites of Special Scientific
Interest (twelve of them also Special Protection Areas), the Huntspill
River and Bridgwater Bay National Nature Reserves, the Somerset Levels
and Moors Ramsar Site covering about 86000 acre, the Somerset Levels
National Nature Reserve, Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve, and
numerous Scheduled Ancient Monuments. In addition, some 72000 acre of
the Levels are recognised as an environmentally sensitive area, while
other portions are designated as Areas of High Archaeological
Potential. Despite this, there is currently no single conservation
designation covering the entire area of the Levels and Moors.
On the outskirts of Bridgwater at Huntworth the river passes several
local nature reserves which provide roosts for thousands of common
starlings ('Sturnus vulgaris') each winter. The mouth of the river is
where it flows into the National Nature Reserve at Bridgwater Bay on
the Bristol Channel. It consists of large areas of mudflats,
saltmarsh, sandflats and shingle ridges, some of which are vegetated.
It has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest since
1989, and is designated as a wetland of international importance under
the Ramsar Convention. The risks to wildlife are highlighted in the
local Oil Spill Contingency Plan.
Tourism
======================================================================
The 47 mi River Parrett Trail is a long-distance footpath following
the Parrett from its source to the sea. The river passes many
landmarks and places of interest including: Burrow Hill Cider Farm,
Muchelney Abbey, West Sedgemoor (a Site of Special Scientific Interest
(SSSI), the Blake Museum, Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum, the
site of the Battle of Sedgemoor, and finally discharges into
Bridgwater Bay (another SSSI). The Langport and River Parrett Visitor
Centre located at Langport details local life, history and wildlife.
Since 2000, attempts have been made to clarify the legal status and
organisational responsibilities for the maintenance of the river and
explore issues involving the sustainability and safe use of the
waterway for a public trip boat and recreational craft. The work has
identified economic and social benefits from the development of the
Parrett navigation.
See also
======================================================================
* North Petherton and South Petherton (named after the river)
* Rivers of the United Kingdom
* Taunton Stop Line
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=========
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