River Ax (Bristol Channel)

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River Ax
The source at Wookey Hole.

The source at Wookey Hole.

Data
location Somerset , England
River system River Ax
source at Wookey Hole Caves in the Mendip Hills,
51 ° 13 ′ 46 ″  N , 2 ° 40 ′ 18 ″  W
muzzle in Weston Bay of the Bristol Channel Coordinates: 51 ° 19 ′ 15 "  N , 2 ° 59 ′ 34"  W 51 ° 19 ′ 15 "  N , 2 ° 59 ′ 34"  W
Mouth height 0  m ASL

Left tributaries Mark Yeo
Right tributaries Lox Yeo River , Cheddar Yeo
Small towns Wookey

The River Ax is a river in South West England . It has its source in the Wookey Hole Caves in the Mendip Hills in Somerset . The surface water penetrates the soil through karst structures and emerges in the caves in a strong river. The river is relatively short but was navigable and was also used for merchant shipping until 1915.

geography

The river arises from water that seeps through crevices and sinkholes (swallets) in the limestone formations of the Mendip Hills and emerges again a little above sea level in the Wookey Hole Caves . From an extensive underground cave system, the waters collect in several chambers, from where they flow to the karst spring . On the way there, however, you pass two siphons (sumps) with a length of 40 m (130 ft) and 30 m (98 ft) respectively. The spring is the second largest karst spring in the Mendips, with an estimated catchment area of 46.2 km² and an average discharge of 789 l (174 imp gal) per second. Some of the water also has an allogeneic origin, that is, it comes from non-calcareous layers and had already collected in small rivers before it penetrated the limestone layers. The aquifer is located at the boundary layer between Black Rock and Limestone (limestone). A well-known infiltration point is the Plantation swallet at St Cuthbert's lead works between Hunter's Lodge Inn and the Priddy Pools . Other cave systems associated with the Wookey Hole Caves are Swildon's Hole , Eastwater Cavern and St Cuthbert's Swallet , around Priddy . However, 95% of the water has seeped through the limestone .

The river itself initially runs in a deeply cut V-shaped valley to the south, but turns to the west after about two kilometers. At Wookey the river splits into two canals. The Lower River Ax runs south and west of the village towards Henton and on to Panborough Moor , where it receives a number of Rhynes and drainage canals; then it turns north along the westernmost tip of Knowle Moor . The actual River Ax runs a little straighter to the west through the moor. The two arms of the river reunite at the junction of Knowle and Panborough Moor. There the river flows past about 2 km south of Cheddar . It passes Wedmore Moor and Oxmoor , Stoke Moor and Monk Moor , then crosses the village of Lower Weare and thence south to Loxton . Then it turns north again, flows past Uphill Cliff and Brean Down and reaches the coast in Weston Bay . The river forms the northern boundary of the county. It has a length of approximately 28 km.

Muddy river bank with a small boat on it. Water can still be seen in the channel to the right.
The estuary at Uphill .

The Ax's many tributaries include three bodies of water called the Yeo: Cheddar Yeo , Mark Yeo, and Lox Yeo .

history

The name goes back to a word from the Common Brittonic - the common source language of the British languages - meaning "rich in fish", which is also found in other rivers such as the River Ax in Lyme Bay , the Exe , the Esk , Usk and is the basis for other variants. The name is related to pysg , the Welsh word for "fish".

The lower reaches of the Ax was used for shipping. There were harbors between Uphill and the Weare settlement . The lock gates at Bleadon and Brean Cross currently form the tidal limit . In the Middle Ages, Rackley was an exit port for overseas trade. Today the village is north of the river after the river's course changed. Rackley is just one farm below Crook Peak west of Axbridge , where there used to be shipyards. A French ship was still sailing up the river in the 14th century and in 1388 Thomas Tanner from Wells von Rackley exported linen and grain to Portugal in exchange for iron and table salt. Slate was later imported to Bleadon was a small port also known as Lympsham Wharf . Until the construction of the railway in 1841, this was the outermost navigable place. The Ketch Democrat last docked there in 1942.

Eleven watermills were powered by the river, of which only one remains at Burcott today.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Irwin 1977. p. 162; Barrington, Stanton 1977. p. 179.
  2. ↑ Drew 1975. p. 200
  3. ↑ Drew 1975. p. 191.
  4. ↑ River Axe's main source discovered through mining . In: Weston, Worle & Somerset Mercury , November 2, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2014. 
  5. ↑ Waltham 1997. p. 199; Drew 1975. p. 209.
  6. ↑ Drew 1975. p. 209.
  7. ^ Witcombe 2009. p. 202.
  8. ↑ Toulson 1984th
  9. ↑ Farr 1954. p. 65.

literature

  • Nicholas Barrington, William Stanton: Mendip: The Complete Caves and a View of the Hills . Cheddar Valley Press, Cheddar 1977, ISBN 0-9501459-2-0 .
  • Dave Irwin: Mendip Underground. A Caver's Guide . Mendip Publishing, Wells 1977, ISBN 0-905903-08-0 .
  • Dave Drew: DI Smith (Ed.): Limestone and Caves of the Mendip Hills . David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1975, ISBN 978-0-7153-6572-4 .
  • Grahame Farr: Somerset Harbors . Christopher Johnson, London 1954.
  • Shirley Toulson: The Mendip Hills: A Threatened Landscape . Victor Gollancz, London 1984, ISBN 0-575-03453-X .
  • AC Waltham: Karst and Caves of Great Britain . Chapman & Hall, 1997, ISBN 0-412-78860-8 .
  • Richard Witcombe: Who Was Aveline Anyway ?: Mendip's Cave Names Explained , 2nd. Edition, Wessex Cave Club, Priddy 2009, ISBN 978-0-9500433-6-4 .

Web links