Westhay
Encyclopedia
Westhay is a village in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, England. It is situated in the parish of Meare
Meare
Meare is a village and civil parish north west of Glastonbury on the Somerset Levels, in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. The parish includes the village of Westhay.-History:...

, 4 miles (6.4 km) north west of Glastonbury
Glastonbury
Glastonbury is a small town in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,784 in the 2001 census...

 on the Somerset Levels
Somerset Levels
The Somerset Levels, or the Somerset Levels and Moors as they are less commonly but more correctly known, is a sparsely populated coastal plain and wetland area of central Somerset, South West England, between the Quantock and Mendip Hills...

, in the Mendip
Mendip
Mendip is a local government district of Somerset in England. The Mendip district covers a largely rural area of ranging from the Mendip Hills through on to the Somerset Levels. It has a population of approximately 110,000...

 district.

The name means 'The west field that is enclosed by hedges' from the Old English west and haga. The 'g' in haga is silent.

Westhay is a marshland village on the River Brue
River Brue
The River Brue originates in the parish of Brewham in Somerset, England, and reaches the sea some 50 km west at Burnham-on-Sea. It originally took a different route from Glastonbury to the sea, but this was changed by the monastery in the twelfth century....

 in typical Somerset rhyne
Rhyne
A rhyne , rhine/rhyne , or reen is a drainage ditch, or canal, used to turn areas of wetland at around sea level into useful pasture....

 country, standing on the site of pre-historic lake dwellings. The site of the lake-village is marked by groups of mounds. Nearby is the Peat Moors Centre
Peat Moors Centre
The Peat Moors Centre lies on the road between Shapwick and Westhay in Somerset, England. The centre was run by the Somerset Historic Environment Service, but Somerset County Council closed it in October 2009 in the course of budget cuts....

 which has been earmarked to close down in the autumn of 2009.

Nearby are Westhay Moor
Westhay Moor
Westhay Moor is a 513.7 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest 2.5km north-east of Westhay village and 4km from Wedmore in Somerset, notified in 1971...

 and Westhay Heath
Westhay Heath
Westhay Heath is a 25.9 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest 2km west of Westhay village in Somerset, notified in 1990....

, which have both been designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

Westhay is serviced by one pub
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...

, plus the post office and village store.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK