Stanton Drew is a small village and civil parish within the Chew Valley in Somerset, England, lying north of the Mendip Hills, south of Bristol in the area of the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority.
Just outside the village are the prehistoric Stanton Drew stone circles. The largest of these, the Great Circle, is a henge monument and the second largest stone circle in Britain, after Avebury. The circle is 113 m in diameter and probably consisted of 30 stones, of which 27 survive today.
The village has a range of listed buildings, dating from the 13th to 15th centuries, including the church of St Mary the Virgin, the Round House (Old Toll House) and several farmhouses.
The parish of Stanton Drew, which includes the hamlet of Stanton Wick, had a population of 787 in 2011. Until 1947 the parish also included Belluton and part of Pensford. It has a primary school, pubs (the Druids Arms and the Carpenters Arms at Stanton Wick), a church and a village hall, which is the venue for various village activities. The area around the village has several dairy and arable farms on neutral to acid red loamy soils with slowly permeable subsoils. It is also a dormitory village for people working in Bath and Bristol.
History
Stanton Drew was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Stantone, meaning 'The stone enclosure with an oak tree', from the Old English stan and tun and from the Celtic deru.
After the Norman Conquest the Lords of the Manor took their name from the village. In the reign of Henry II Robert de Stanton was succeeded by Geoffrey de Stanton. One of the family Drogo or Drew gave his name to the place to distinguish it from Stanton Prior and Stanton Wick. It subsequently came into the possession of the Choke and then the Cooper and Coates families.
The parish of Stanton Drew was part of the Keynsham Hundred.
Coal mining
There is a long history of coal mining in the parish and the locations of many small pits are still visible in newly ploughed fields. For example the philosopher John Locke who grew up in Belluton owned land in the parish which was being exploited for coal in 1680.
During the 19th and 20th centuries there were three coal mines within the parish. The Rydons mine operated from 1808 until 1833, the Pensford Colliery operated from 1909 to 1955 and the Bromley Pit operated from 1860 - 1957. These mines formed part of the northern section of the Somerset coalfield.
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.
Along with Chelwood and Clutton, Stanton Drew is part of the Clutton Ward which is represented by one councillor on 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 its 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. It is 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 is in Bath. Between 1 April 1974 and 1 April 1996, it was the Wansdyke district and the City of Bath of the county of Avon. Before 1974 that the parish was part of the Clutton Rural District.
