| Yatton proposed housing: aerial photo of the Yatton - Witham line Posted by Mark A at 13:33, 27th September 2026 |     |
The old railway line conspicuous in the middle distance. The land proposed for housing there is named on old maps as 'The Batch', meaning "a brook, stream, or a valley through which a stream flows", so that's ok then**.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/27/high-court-floodplains-development-safety-test-north-somerset-yatton
** Not ok.
| Re: Yatton proposed housing: aerial photo of the Yatton - Witham line Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 15:40, 27th September 2026 | |
I have to disagree with you here, Mark.
In the local Somerset dialect, 'batch' means a hill, hillock or mound of earth. See a Google search, at 'meaning of batch in somerset' .
We have many of them, in and around Nailsea: Bucklands Batch, Cambridge Batch, Stony Batch, etc.
Chris from Nailsea.
| Re: Yatton proposed housing: aerial photo of the Yatton - Witham line Posted by Mark A at 15:53, 27th September 2026 | |
No problemo, perhaps it can have either meaning: that's a very, er, actively drained piece of land, and subtly slightly lower than its surroundings.
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.0&lat=51.38715&lon=-2.82812&layers=178&b=GoogleSat&o=100
| Re: Yatton proposed housing: aerial photo of the Yatton - Witham line Posted by Mark A at 16:09, 27th September 2026 | |
By the way, are the 'Batch' names in Nailsea related to mining activity?
| Re: Yatton proposed housing: aerial photo of the Yatton - Witham line Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 16:24, 27th September 2026 | |
A good question, Mark, but in a word: No.
The historic coal mining activity in and around Nailsea was on the more level ground. There was, for example, a mine within yards of Nailsea & Backwell Station, nowhere near the nearest 'batch', at Bucklands Batch. Cambridge Batch, at Flax Bourton, is actually the hilly outcrop which Brunel had to tunnel under for his Bristol to Exeter railway line.
CfN.
