Old Cleeve

The name Cleeve, first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Clive, comes from the dative singular form of the Old English word clif ('cliff, bank, steep hill').A. D. Mills, A Dictionary of English Place Names (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), s.v. Cleeve. It became known as Old Cleeve to distinguish the principal village north of the main A39 road from the later site of Cleeve Abbey to the south.{{cite book|last=Bush|first=Robin|author-link=Robin Bush (historian)|title=Somerset: The complete guide|publisher=The Dovecote Press Ltd|location=Wimborne|year=1994|pages=[https://archive.org/details/somersetcomplete0000bush/page/161 161–163]|isbn=1-874336-26-1|url=https://archive.org/details/somersetcomplete0000bush/page/161}}

The hamlet of Golsoncott takes its name from the Old English words goldsmið ('goldsmith') and cott ('cottage').Smith, A. H., English Place-Name Elements, 2 vols, English Place-Name Society, 25–26 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1956), s.v. goldsmið.

The parish of Old Cleeve was part of the Williton and Freemanners Hundred.{{cite web|title=Somerset Hundreds|url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Miscellaneous/|publisher=GENUKI|access-date=23 October 2011}}

Black Monkey Bridge, which was built around 1860, carries the West Somerset Railway, a steam operated heritage railway over a stream and footpath.{{NHLE|num=1174213|desc=Black Monkey Bridge |access-date=1 February 2009}}

Old Cleeve was also near the route of the West Somerset Mineral Railway which ran from the ironstone mines in the Brendon Hills to the port of Watchet on the Bristol Channel.{{cite web |url=http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/w/watchet/index.shtml |title=Station Name: WATCHET |access-date=19 November 2007 |work=Subterranea Britannica }} The old Mineral line railway station which was built in 1861 is now a store,{{NHLE|num=1057540|desc=Brendon Hill Mineral Railway Station, at NGR ST 0225 3435|access-date=1 February 2009}} and there is also a bridge remaining from this line.{{NHLE|num=1174003|desc=Railway Bridge at NGR ST 0379 3625|access-date=1 February 2009}}

• The pioneering geneticist Reginald Punnett (1875–1967) died in Bilbrook

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, 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 the responsibility of the council.

For local government purposes, since 1 April 2023, the parish comes under the unitary authority of Somerset Council. Prior to this, it was part of the non-metropolitan district of Somerset West and Taunton (formed on 1 April 2019) and, before this, the district of West Somerset (established under the Local Government Act 1972). It was part of Williton Rural District before 1974.{{cite web|title=Williton RD|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10042021|work=A vision of Britain Through Time|publisher=University of Portsmouth|access-date=5 January 2014}}

An electoral ward of the same name exists. The ward stretches from the Bristol Channel south via Washford to Luxborough. The total ward population at the 2011 Census was 2,196.{{cite web|url=http://www.ukcensusdata.com/old-cleeve-e05008926#sthash.2aOang4l.dpbs|title=Ward 2011|publisher=UK Census Data|access-date=2 March 2015}}

It is also part of the Tiverton and Minehead county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

File:Poppies in a field - geograph.org.uk - 2505069.jpg

Between Old Cleeve and Watchet is Cleeve Hill a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest which covers a moderate to steeply sloping south face of the Washford River Valley. It supports a rich and diverse calcareous grassland community with associated mixed woodland and scrub. The site contains two species of plant which are nationally rare in Great Britain, Nit-grass (Gastridium ventricosum) and Rough Marsh-mallow (Althaea hirsuta).{{cite web | title=Cleeve Hill | work=English Nature | url=http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1005755.pdf | access-date=9 September 2006}}

The parish extends to the coast of Bridgwater Bay between Blue Anchor and Watchet, in an area previously known as Cleeve Bay, on the Blue Anchor to Lilstock Coast SSSI a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest. It provides an outstanding series of sections through the Early Jurassic Lower Lias, spanning the Hettangian and Pliensbachian Stages and named the "Lilstock Formation". The Triassic cliffs have geological interest for the variety of fossils and is on the South West Coast Path. There is the remains of a Lime Kiln complex which was used in the 18th century.{{NHLE|num=1295986|desc=Limekiln Complex at NGR ST 0567 4328|access-date=1 February 2009}} Bridgwater Bay consists of large areas of mud flats, saltmarsh, sandflats and shingle ridges, some of which are vegetated. It has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest,{{cite web|url=http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1001145.pdf |title=SSSI citation sheet for Bridgwater Bay |access-date=12 November 2008 |work=Sites of Special Scientific Interest |publisher=English Nature |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080910045332/http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1001145.pdf |archive-date=10 September 2008 }} and is designated as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.{{cite web |url=http://www.english-nature.org.uk/special/nnr/nnr_details.asp?NNR_ID=28 |title=Bridgwater Bay NNR |access-date=13 November 2008 |work=National Nature Reserves |publisher=Natural England }}

The parish church of St Andrew dates from the 12th century and has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building.{{NHLE | desc=Church of St Andrew | num=1295868 | access-date=11 February 2007}} The floor of the porch was cobbled with alabaster stones from the beach below the village and set in the shape of a heart during the 17th century.{{cite news |first=Rod |last=Morris |title=I Love Somerset |work=Somerset Times |date=February 2008 }}

In Leighland Chapel is the church of St Giles which was built in 1861 by Charles Edmund Giles on the site of a previous building.{{NHLE|num=1174203|desc=Church of St Giles|access-date=1 February 2009}}

Cleeve Abbey in Washford village, is a medieval monastery founded in the late twelfth century as a house for monks of the austere Cistercian order. In 1536 Cleeve Abbey was closed by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the abbey was converted into a country house. Subsequently, the status of the site declined and the abbey was used as farm buildings until the latter half of the nineteenth century when steps were taken to conserve the remains. In the twentieth century Cleeve Abbey was taken into state care; it is now looked after by English Heritage and is open to the public. Today Cleeve Abbey is one of the best-preserved medieval Cistercian monastic sites in Britain. While the church is no longer standing, the conventual buildings are still roofed and habitable and contain many features of particular interest including the 'angel' roof in the refectory and the wall paintings in the painted chamber.

Binham Farmhouse was built in the 15th century as the grange to the abbey.{{NHLE|num=1345628|desc=Binham Farmhouse|access-date=1 February 2009}}

Chapel Cleeve Manor, which dates from 1452, is the remains of a pilgrim's hospice attached to the chapel, which was enlarged as a country house, has been a hotel and is now a private house.{{NHLE|num=1057541|desc=Chapel Cleeve Hotel, balustrade flanking entrance steps and East wall terminating terrace marked by 2 steps fronting facade|access-date=1 February 2009}}

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Parish of Old Cleeve.

{{Expand list|date=May 2024}}

• Timothy Webb: 16 May 2024.{{cite web |url=https://www.wsfp.co.uk/news/tim-webb-becomes-first-freeman-of-old-cleeve-after-58-years-on-parish-council-689112 |title=Tim Webb becomes first 'Freeman of Old Cleeve' after 58 years on parish council |last=Thorne |first=John |date=16 May 2024 |website=The West Somerset Free Press |access-date=16 May 2024 }}

{{reflist|2}}

{{Commons category-inline|Old Cleeve}}

{{West Somerset}}

Category:Villages in West Somerset

Category:Civil parishes in Somerset

Category:Populated coastal places in Somerset