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Coordinates: 51°20′20″N 2°22′52″W / 51.3389°N 2.3810°W / 51.3389; -2.3810

Combe Hay
Combe Hay Church
Combe Hay  Combe Hay shown within Somerset
Population	149 [1]
OS grid reference	ST735600
Unitary authority	Bath and North East Somerset
Ceremonial county	Somerset
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Bath
Postcode district	BA2
Police	Avon and Somerset
Fire	Avon
Ambulance	Great Western
EU Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	Wansdyke
	(North East Somerset from next general election)
List of places: UK • England • Somerset

Combe Hay is a village and civil parish in the English county of Somerset. It falls within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The parish has a population of 149.^[1]

History

Combe Hay was known in the Domesday Book as Cumb.

The village includes a church with a 15th century tower, the Georgian Combe Hay Manor^[2] and Georgian rectory.^[3]

Combe Hay was the site of a series of locks, dating from 1805 on the Somerset Coal Canal on which research and restoration is proposed.^[4] It is the site of one of the only Caisson locks ever built which was near the current Caisson House.^[5] Many of the locks and associated workings are listed buildings.^[6][7]

It was also served by the Camerton and Limpley Stoke Railway, and was the site of a Fuller's Earth mine until 1979.^[8]

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 Bath and North East 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 their 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. They are 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.

Bath and North East Somerset's area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset but it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters are in Bath. Between April 1 1974 and April 1 1996, it was the Wansdyke district and the City of Bath of the county of Avon.^[9] Before 1974 that the parish was part of the Bathavon Rural District.^[10]

The parish is represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom as part of the Wansdyke county constituency which is to become North East Somerset at next general election. 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.

Religious sites

The Anglican parish church has a 15th century tower but the body of the church was altered in the late 18th century and restored with the addition of a south aisle and porch in 1874, possibly by the Lord of the manor, George Smart.^[11]

References

See also

• "Area 12 Cam and Wellow Brook Valleys". BANES Rural Landscapes. http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/BathNES/environment/planningservices/Landscape/rlarea12.htm. Retrieved 2006-10-09. 

Gallery

Weir on Cam Brook at Combe Hay

Derelict lock on the Somerset Coal Canal next to Caisson House