Wookey railway station facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Wookey
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The railway station before closure
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| Location | Wells, Mendip England |
| Coordinates | 51°12′51″N 2°40′22″W / 51.2142°N 2.6728°W |
| Other information | |
| Status | Disused |
| History | |
| Original company | Bristol and Exeter Railway |
| Pre-grouping | Great Western Railway |
| Post-grouping | Great Western Railway |
| Key dates | |
| 1 August 1871 | Station opened |
| 9 September 1963 | Station closed |
| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
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| Area of Search | Somerset |
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| Interest | Geological |
| Area | 0.04 hectares (0.00040 km2; 0.00015 sq mi) |
| Notification | 1997 |
Wookey railway station was a train station in Somerset, England. It was located on the Bristol and Exeter Railway's Cheddar Valley line. Today, the area where the station once stood is a special place for studying rocks. It is known as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) because of its unique geological features.
A Look Back at Wookey Station
The Wookey station first opened its doors on 1 August 1871. This was about a year after the railway line from Cheddar was extended to Wells.
When the line first opened, it used a wider track called "broad gauge". However, in the mid-1870s, the tracks were changed to the "standard gauge" that most trains use today. This change allowed the line to connect with the East Somerset Railway. Soon, trains could travel all the way from Yatton to Witham starting in 1878.
All the railway companies involved eventually became part of the Great Western Railway (GWR) during the 1870s. The GWR was a very important railway company in Britain.
From 1935 to 1939, Wookey station even had a special camping coach. This was like a small holiday home on wheels where people could stay.
The railway line from Yatton to Witham stopped carrying passengers in 1963. Wookey station closed on 9 September 1963. However, trains continued to carry goods, like paper, to the mills in Wookey until 1965.
Unlike some other stations on the line that had big stone buildings, Wookey station had a smaller wooden building. After it closed, the station site was cleared away.
| Preceding station | Disused railways | Following station | ||
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| Lodge Hill Line and station closed |
Cheddar Valley Railway Great Western Railway |
Wells (Tucker Street) Line and station closed |
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Why This Place is Special for Science
The area around the former Wookey station is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). This means it's a protected area because it has something very important for science. In this case, it's important for geology, which is the study of Earth's rocks and how they were formed.
Scientists are interested in this site because it shows a 3-meter (about 10-foot) thick layer of gravels from the Pleistocene period. This was a time when much of the Earth was covered in ice. These gravels show signs of "cryoturbation," which means the ground was churned up by freezing and thawing cycles. You can also see "scour-and-fill" patterns, which are marks left by water flowing and depositing sediment.
There's also a small channel filled with silty material. Inside this, scientists found tiny plant spores called "palynomorphs." These spores tell us about the plants that grew there during the last ice age, known as the Devensian glacial period. Studying these features helps scientists understand what the environment was like thousands of years ago.
