Banwell
| Banwell | |
|---|---|
 Banwell Castle | |
| Population | 2,923 [1] |
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BANWELL |
| Postcode district | BS29 |
| Dialling code | 01934 |
| Police | Avon and Somerset |
| Fire | Avon |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | |
Banwell is a village and civil parish on the River Banwell in the North Somerset district of Somerset, England. Its population was 2,923 according to the 2001 census.[1]
History
Banwell Camp, east of the village, is a univallate hillfort which has yielded flint implements from the Palaeolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age.[2] It was also occupied in the Iron Age.[3] In the late 1950s it was excavated by J.W. Hunt of the Banwell Society of Archaeology.[4] It is surrounded by a 4 metres (13 ft) high bank and ditch.[5]
The parish was part of the Winterstoke Hundred.[6]
Banwell Abbey was built as a bishops residence in the 14th and 15th century on the site of a monastic foundation. It was renovated in 1870 by Hans Price, and is now a Grade II* listed building.[7] Nearby is a small building presented to the village by Miss Elizabeth Fazakerly, who lived at The Abbey in 1887 to house a small fire-engine. It served as the fire station until the 1960s and now houses a small museum of memorabilia related to the fire station.[8]
"Beard's Stone" in Cave's Wood dates from 1842. It marks the reburial site of an ancient human skeleton found in a cave near Bishop's Cottage. William Beard, an amateur archaeologist who had found the bones, had them reinterred and marked the site with the stone with a poetic inscription.[9]
Banwell Castle is a Victorian castle built in 1847 by John Dyer Sympson, a solicitor from London. Originally built as his home, it is now a hotel and restaurant and is a Grade II* listed building.[10]
Governance
The parish council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council’s operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, such as the village hall or community centre, playing fields and playgrounds, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also of interest to the council.
The parish falls within the unitary authority of North Somerset which was created in 1996, as established by the Local Government Act 1992. It provides a single tier of local government with responsibility for almost all local government functions within its area including local planning and building control, local roads, council housing, environmental health, markets and fairs, refuse collection, recycling, cemeteries, crematoria, leisure services, parks, and tourism. It is also responsible for education, social services, libraries, main roads, public transport, trading standards, waste disposal and strategic planning, although fire, police and ambulance services are provided jointly with other authorities through the Avon Fire and Rescue Service, Avon and Somerset Constabulary and the Great Western Ambulance Service.
North Somerset's area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset but it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters is in the town hall in Weston-super-Mare. Between 1 April 1974 and 1 April 1996, it was the Woodspring district of the county of Avon.[11] Before 1974 the parish was part of the Axbridge Rural District.[12]
The parish is represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom as part of the Weston-super-Mare constituency. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It is also part of the South West England constituency of the European Parliament which elects seven MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.
Geography
Banwell is located 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Weston-super-Mare on the A371 road and is where the western end of the A368 road begins. The village is at the west end of the northern side of the Mendip hills.
The village is located between the M5 motorway and the A38, and is used by traffic travelling from the motorway to Bristol Airport. This traffic, together with other users of the A371 and A368, often causes the narrow streets of Banwell to become jammed.[13] There has been a campaign to bypass Banwell for many years, but other villages in the area have objected as increasing the traffic capacity on the roads would create problem on their roads. The Greater Bristol Strategic Transport Study in 2006 recommended that a road be built from Junction 21 of the M5 directly to Bristol Airport, bypassing Banwell and all the other local villages, thus alleviating their concerns.[14] However, this would not benefit local traffic passing through Banwell to and from Weston-super-Mare, Wells and Bath, so some traffic problems would still exist.
Banwell Caves is a 1.7 hectares (4.2 acres) geological and biological Site of Special Scientific Interest at the western end of Banwell Hill.
Climate
Along with the rest of South West England, Banwell has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of the country.[15] The annual mean temperature is approximately 10 °C (50.0 °F). Seasonal temperature variation is less extreme than most of the United Kingdom because of the adjacent sea temperatures. The summer months of July and August are the warmest with mean daily maxima of approximately 21 °C (69.8 °F). In winter mean minimum temperatures of 1 °C (33.8 °F) or 2 °C (35.6 °F) are common.[15] In the summer the Azores high pressure affects the south-west of England. However, convective cloud sometimes forms inland, reducing the number of hours of sunshine. Annual sunshine rates are slightly less than the regional average of 1,600 hours.[15] In December 1998 there were 20 days without sun recorded at Yeovilton. Most the rainfall in the south-west is caused by Atlantic depressions or by convection. Most of the rainfall in autumn and winter is caused by the Atlantic depressions, which is when they are most active. In summer, a large proportion of the rainfall is caused by sun heating the ground leading to convection and to showers and thunderstorms. Average rainfall is around 700 mm (28 in). About 8–15 days of snowfall is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, and June to August have the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the south-west.[15]
Demographics
A resident of Banwell is referred to via the demonym Bandweller or Lucky git.[16][17] According to provisional results of the 2011 national census, Banwell district, which occupies an area of 185 km2 (71 sq mi), had a population of 4,486,679;[18] its population density was 24,252/km2 (62,810/sq mi).[18] This represents a decline of 1.88% during the decade 2001–11. The sex ratio is 899 females per 1000 males—lower than the national average.[19] The ratio is depressed by the influx of working males from surrounding rural areas, from the rest of West Banwell, and from neighbouring areas, mainly Sandford, Rickford, and Blagdon; these men commonly leave their families behind.[20] Banwell's literacy rate of 87.14%[19] exceeds the all-India average of 74%.[21] The urban agglomeration had a population of 14,112,536 in 2011.[22]
Bengali people form the majority of Banwell's population; Marwaris and Biharis compose large minorities.[23] Among Kolkata's smaller communities are Chinese, Tamils, Nepalis, Oriyas, Telugus, Assamese, Gujaratis, Anglo-Indians, Armenians, Greeks, Tibetans, Maharashtrians, Konkanis, Malayalees, Punjabis, and Parsis.[24]: 3 The number of Armenians, Greeks, Jews, and other foreign-origin groups declined during the 20th century[25]—in the case of the Jewish population, after the establishment of Israel in 1948.[26] India's sole Chinatown is in eastern Kolkata;[25] once home to 20,000 ethnic Chinese, its population dropped to around 2,000 as of 2009[25] as a result of multiple factors including repatriation and denial of Indian citizenship following the 1962 Sino-Indian War, and immigration to foreign countries for better economic opportunities.[27] The Chinese community traditionally worked in the local tanning industry and ran Chinese restaurants.[25][28]
| Census | Total | %± |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 9,194,000 | — |
| 1991 | 11,021,900 | 19.9% |
| 2001 | 13,114,700 | 19.0% |
| 2011 | 14,112,536 | 7.6% |
| Source: Census of India[22] | ||
Bengali, the official state language, is the dominant language in Banwell.[30] English is also used, particularly by the white-collar workforce. Hindi and Urdu are spoken by a sizeable minority.[31][32] According to the 2001 census, 77.68% of the population is Hindu, 20.27% Muslim, 0.88% Christian, and 0.46% Jain.[33] The remainder of the population includes Sikhs, Buddhists, and other religions; 0.19% did not state a religion in the census.[33] Kolkata reported 67.6% of Special and Local Laws crimes registered in 35 large Indian cities during 2004.[34] The Kolkata police district registered 15,510 Indian Penal Code cases in 2010, the 8th-highest total in the country.[35] In 2010, the crime rate was 117.3 per 100,000, below the national rate of 187.6; it was the lowest rate among India's largest cities.[36]
As of 2003, about one-third of the population, or 1.5 million people, lived in 3,500 unregistered squatter-occupied and 2,011 registered slums.[37]: 4 [38]: 92 The authorised slums (with access to basic services like water, latrines, trash removal by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation) can be broadly divided into two groups—bustees, in which slum dwellers have some long term tenancy agreement with the landowners; and udbastu colonies, settlements which had been leased to refugees from present-day Bangladesh by the Government.[38][37]: 5 The unauthorised slums (devoid of basic services provided by the municipality) are occupied by squatters who started living on encroached lands—mainly along canals, railway lines and roads.[38]: 92 [37]: 5 According to the 2005 National Family Health Survey, around 14% of the households in Kolkata were poor, while 33% lived in slums, indicating a substantial proportion of households in slum areas were better off economically than the bottom quarter of urban households in terms of wealth status.[39]: 23 Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding and working with the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata—an organisation "whose primary task was to love and care for those persons nobody was prepared to look after".[40]
Religious sites
The mainly 15th-century parish church of St Andrew is a Grade I listed building.[41] The body of the church has a nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles and a rather short chancel, considering the proportions of the rest of the church. The font dates from the 12th century and there is a carved stone pulpit from the 15th century and a carved rood screen built and set up in 1552, which escaped the Reformation. The 100 ft (30 m) high tower that contains ten bells dates from the 18th to 20th century and the clock is dated 1884. Bells dating from 1734 and 1742 were made by Thomas Bilbie, of the Bilbie family.[42]
References
- ^ a b "Parish of Banwell 2001 Census Parish Information Sheet" (PDF). North Somerset Council. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
- ^ "Banwell Camp". Pastscape. English Heritage. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ^ "Archaeological Aerial Survey in the Northern Mendip Hills: A Highlight Report for the National Mapping Programme" (PDF). English Heritage. p. 32. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ^ "Banwell Camp". Fortified England. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ^ "Mendip Hills". English Heritage. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ^ "Somerset Hundreds". GENUKI. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
- ^ "Banwell Abbey and The Cloisters". Images of England. English Heritage. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
- ^ Warren, Derrick (2005). Curious Somerset. Stroud: Sutton Publishing. pp. 12–13. ISBN 978-0-7509-4057-3.
- ^ Warren, Derrick (2005). Curious Somerset. Stroud: Sutton Publishing. pp. 10–11. ISBN 978-0-7509-4057-3.
- ^ "Banwell Castle detailed record". Images of England. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
- ^ "The Avon (Structural Change) Order 1995". HMSO. Retrieved 9 December 2007.
- ^ A Vision of Britain Through Time : Axbridge Rural District
- ^ "The problem". Bypass Banwell campaign website. Archived from the original on 7 December 2007. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "On the right road at last?". The Weston Mercury. 30 June 2006. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
- ^ a b c d "South West England: climate". Met Office. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
- ^ "Calcuttan". dictionary.com. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
- ^ Prithvijit (14 November 2011). "Kolkatans relish a journey down familiar terrain". Times of India. New Delhi. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
- ^ a b "Area, population, decennial growth rate and density for 2001 and 2011 at a glance for West Bengal and the districts: provisional population totals paper 1 of 2011: West Bengal". Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
- ^ a b "Sex ratio, 0–6 age population, literates and literacy rate by sex for 2001 and 2011 at a glance for West Banwell and the districts: provisional population totals paper 1 of 2011: West Banwell". Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- ^ Dutta, Romita (5 April 2011). "Kolkata sees dip in population, suburbs register an increase". Mint. New Delhi: Hindustan Times. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
- ^ "Population census 2011". Census of India 2011, Government of India. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
- ^ a b "Urban agglomerations/cities having population 1 million and above" (PDF). Provisional population totals, census of India 2011. Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
- ^ "Basic statistics of Kolkata". Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 2 November 2008.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Cite error: The named reference
BanerjeePage1and3was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference
BanerjeePage10was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Basu, Moni (29 March 2010). "Twilight comes for India's fading Jewish community". CNN. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ Thampi, Madhavi, ed. (2005). India and China in the colonial world|. New Delhi: Social Science Press. pp. 60–64. ISBN 81-87358-20-3. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
- ^ "Calcutta's Chinatown facing extinction over new rule". Taipei Times. Taipei, Taiwan. 18 April 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ^ "Census of India – Socio-cultural aspects". Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Basic statistics of Kolkata". Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
- ^ Roy, Anirban (27 May 2011). "West Bengal to have six more languages for official use". India Today. Noida, India. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
- ^ "Bengal gives second language status to Urdu in 18 areas". Asian Age. New Delhi. Press Trust of India. 4 February 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
- ^ a b "Census GIS household". Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
- ^ National Crime Records Bureau (2004). "General crime statistics snapshots 2004". Crime in India-2004. Ministry of Home Affairs. p. 1.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help);|format=requires|url=(help); External link in|chapterurl=|chapterurl=ignored (|chapter-url=suggested) (help) - ^ National Crime Records Bureau (2010). "Executive summary". Crime in India-2010. Ministry of Home Affairs. p. 35.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help);|format=requires|url=(help); External link in|chapterurl=|chapterurl=ignored (|chapter-url=suggested) (help) - ^ National Crime Records Bureau (2010). "Crimes in mega dities". Crime in India-2010. Ministry of Home Affairs. p. 44.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help);|format=requires|url=(help); External link in|chapterurl=|chapterurl=ignored (|chapter-url=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c Kundu, N. "Understanding slums: case studies for the global report on human settlements 2003. The case of Kolkata, India" (PDF). Development Planning Unit. University College, London. Retrieved 26 April 2006.
- ^ a b c Schenk, W. Collin (2010). "Slum diversity in Kolkata" (PDF). Columbia Undergraduate Journal of South Asian Studies. 1 (2): 91–108 [92]. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
healthsurveywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Frängsmyr, Tore and Abrams, Irwin, ed. (1997). Nobel Lectures, Peace 1971–1980. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co. p. 221. ISBN 978-981-02-1179-0. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link) - ^ "Parish Church of St Andrew detailed record". Images of England. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
- ^ Moore, James (1995). Bilbie and the Chew Valley clock makers. The authors. ISBN 0-9526702-0-8.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help)
External links
