The Chew Valley is a river valley in north Somerset, England, named after the River Chew, which rises at Chewton Mendip, and joins the River Avon at Keynsham. Technically, the area of the valley is bounded by the water catchment area of the Chew and its tributaries; however, the name Chew Valley is often used less formally to cover other nearby areas, for example, Blagdon Lake and its environs, which by a stricter definition are part of the Yeo Valley. The valley is an area of rich arable and dairy farmland, interspersed with a number of villages.
The landscape consists of the valley of the River Chew and is generally low-lying and undulating. It is bounded by higher ground ranging from Dundry Down and the south western boundary of Keynsham town to the north, the Lulsgate Plateau to the west, the Mendip Hills to the south and the Hinton Blewett, Temple Cloud, Clutton and Marksbury plateau areas to the east. The valley's boundary generally follows the top of scarp slopes except at the southwestern and southeastern boundaries where flat upper areas of the Chew Valley grade gently into the Yeo Valley and eastern Mendip Hills respectively. The River Chew was dammed in the 1950s to create Chew Valley Lake, which provides drinking water for the nearby city of Bristol and surrounding areas. The lake is a prominent landscape feature of the valley, a focus for recreation, and is internationally recognised for its nature conservation interest, because of the bird species, plants and insects.
The area falls into the domains of councils including Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and Somerset Council. Part of the area falls within the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Most of the undeveloped area is within the Bristol/Bath Green Belt. Many of the villages date back to the time of the Domesday Book and there is evidence of human occupation since the Stone Age. There are hundreds of listed buildings with the churches being Grade I listed. The main commercial centre is Chew Magna.
Etymology
There is no clear origin for the name "Chew", found scarcely anywhere else; however, there have been differing explanations of the etymology, including "winding water", the 'ew' being a variant of the French eau, meaning water. The word chewer is a western dialect for a narrow passage, and chare is Old English for turning. One explanation is that the name Chew began in Normandy as Cheux, and came to England with the Norman Conquest during the eleventh century. However, others agree with Ekwall's interpretation that it is derived from the Welsh cyw meaning "the young of an animal, or chicken", so that afon Cyw would have been "the river of the chickens". Other possible explanations suggest it comes from the Old English word ceo, 'fish gill'.
Government and politics
The villages in the valley have their own parish councils which have responsibility for local issues. They also elect councillors to unitary authorities e.g. Bath & North East Somerset, North Somerset, and Somerset Councils, which have wider responsibilities for services such as education, refuse and tourism. The Bath & North East Somerset Council ward of Chew Valley is not contigious with the entire valley, but only the villages within the valley that fall under that authority.
Each of the villages is also part of a constituency, either North East Somerset and Hanham or North Somerset. Avon and Somerset Constabulary provides police services to the area.
History Geology
The western end of the area (around Nempnett Thrubwell) consists of the Harptree Beds which incorporate silicified clay, shale and Lias Limestone. Clifton Down Limestone, which includes calcite and dolomitic mudstones of the Carboniferous period, is found in the adjoining central band and dolomitic conglomerate of the Triassic period. There are two main soil types, both generally well-drained. The mudstones around the lakes give rise to fertile silty clay soils that are a dull dusky red colour because of their high iron content. The clay content means that where unimproved they easily become waterlogged when wet, and hard with cracks and fissures during dry periods. The main geological outcrops around the lake are mudstone, largely consisting of red Siltstone resulting in the underlying characteristic of the gently rolling valley landscape. Bands of Sandstone of the Triassic period contribute to the undulating character of the area. There are also more recent alluvial deposits beside the course of the River Chew. The transition between the gently sloping landscape of the Upper Chew and Yeo Valleys and the open landscape of the Mendip Hills plateau is a scarp slope of 75 to 235 metres (250–770 ft). The predominant formation is Dolomitic Conglomerate of the Triassic period. It formed as a result of desert erosion and weathering of the scarp slopes. It takes the form of rock fragments mainly derived from older Carboniferous Limestone cemented together by lime and sand which hardened to give the appearance of concrete. The northern boundary is formed by the sides of the Dundry Plateau where the most significant geological formation is the Inferior Oolite of the Jurassic period found on the higher ground around Maes Knoll. This overlays the Lower Lias Clay found on the adjoining slopes. The clays make a poor foundation and landslips are characteristic on the slopes. This area was once connected to the Cotswolds. The intervening land has subsequently been eroded leaving this outlier with the characteristics of the Cotswold Plateau. The unusual geological features have been recognised as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for their geological interest including Barns Batch Spinney, Hartcliff Rocks Quarry and Dundry Main Road South Quarry.
The oldest geological formation in the valley is the Supra-Pennant Measures of the Carboniferous period. It is a significant feature towards the north-eastern part of the area and is represented by the Pensford Syncline coal basin, which formed part of the Somerset coalfield. It is a complex formation containing coal seams and is made up of clay and shales. The landscape is typically undulating and includes outcrops of sandstone. Most of the area around Stanton Drew have neutral to acid red loamy soils with slowly permeable subsoils. Soils to the eastern part of the area are slowly permeable clayey and fine silty soils. They are found on Carboniferous clay and shales typical of the Supra-Pennant Measures. They are frequently waterlogged where the topography dictates. They tend towards being acid and are brown to grey brown in colour. In the south and south east of the area there are coal measures which are sufficiently near the surface for coal mining to have taken place around Clutton and High Littleton. In the eastern area of the valley as the River Chew flows through Publow, Woollard and Compton Dando before joining the River Avon at Keynsham there are alluvial deposits of clay soils.
Natural history The valley has several areas designated as Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for biological interest, including Blagdon Lake, Burledge Hill, Chew Valley Lake, Compton Martin Ochre Mine, Harptree Combe and two sites at Folly Farm.
Flora The small and medium-sized fields of the valley are generally bounded by hedges and occasionally by tree belts and woodland, some of which date back to the most evident period of enclosure of earlier open fields which took place in the late medieval period. Hedgerows support the nationally rare Bithynian vetch (Vicia bithynica). Mature oak (Quercus) and ash (Fraxinus excelsior) trees are characteristic of the area with occasional groups of scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and chestnuts (Castanea sativa). Elm (Ulmus) trees have been lost in this area, and dead/dying elms are also evident in the surrounding landscape.
Fauna Wildlife abounds in the valley, particularly the water birds around the rivers and lakes, with Chew Valley Lake considered the third most important site in Britain for wintering wildfowl. In addition to the water birds including ducks, northern shoveler, gadwall and great crested grebes, a wide variety of other bird species can be seen. These range from small birds such as great tits and wrens to mistle thrush. Larger birds include great spotted woodpeckers and common buzzard.
The valley also has a wide variety of small mammals with larger species including Eurasian badger and deer. The valley is home to fifteen of the sixteen bats found in England including a roost, at Compton Martin Ochre Mine, for greater horseshoe bats. A rare and endangered species, the greater horseshoe bat is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and is listed in Annex II of the 1992 European Community Habitats Directive.
Human habitation
Archaeological excavations carried out before the flooding of Chew Valley Lake found evidence of people belonging to the consecutive periods known as Upper Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic (Old, Middle and New Stone Age), Bronze Age and Iron Age, comprising implements such as stone knives, flint blades and the head of a mace, along with buildings and graves. Other evidence of occupation from prehistoric times is provided by the henge monument at Stanton Drew, long barrow at Chewton Mendip, and Fairy Toot tumulus at Nempnett Thrubwell. Maes Knoll fort, on Dundry Down in the northern reaches of the valley, is a Scheduled Ancient Monument that dates from the Iron Age; it later served as a terminus for the early medieval Wansdyke earthworks.
There is evidence of Roman remains in particular a villa and burial pits. Artefacts from the valley were sent to the British Museum. Other Roman artefacts from the lake are on display at the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery. The Chew Valley Hoard consists of coins from the 11th century. There are historic parks and mansion houses, including The Court in Stanton Drew, Hunstrete House, Stowey House, Chew Court, Chew Magna Manor House and Sutton Court. Almost all of the villages have churches dating back to the fifteenth or sixteenth century.
The area around Pensford was an important coal mining area during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when it formed part of the Somerset Coalfield, although there are no working coal mines today. The line of the now disused Bristol and North Somerset Railway runs south from Bristol crossing over the River Chew on the surviving distinctive Pensford Viaduct and on to Midsomer Norton. The area suffered during the 1968 Chew Stoke flood, which prompted localised evacuation of populated valley areas in the lower parts of the valley around Pensford and Keynsham.
Field patterns The small fields in the western part of the area are particularly characteristic of the Chew Valley and date back to the most evident period of enclosure of earlier open fields which took place in the late medieval period. Fields of this category are generally small in size, regular in outline and often the boundaries preserve the outlines of the earlier strip field system. Regional variations in field size and pattern do occur. For example, there is evidence of medieval clearance of woodland on the slopes around Nempnett Thrubwell, south of Bishop Sutton and west and south of Chelwood.
Climate