Editing Combe Hay (section)

==History==
[[File:Fuller's Earth Works.JPG|thumb|left|The Fuller's Earth Works at Combe Hay in 2015]]
Combe Hay was known in the [[Domesday Book]] as Cumb. The parish of Combe Hay was part of the [[Wellow (hundred)|Wellow]] [[Hundred (county subdivision)|Hundred]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Somerset Hundreds|url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Miscellaneous/|publisher=GENUKI|accessdate=22 October 2011}}</ref>

The village includes a church with a 15th-century tower, the [[Georgian architecture|Georgian]] [[Combe Hay Manor]]<ref>{{cite web | title=Combe Hay Manor  | work=historicengland.org.uk | url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1115363 | accessdate=6 October 2006}}</ref> and Georgian rectory.<ref>{{cite web | title=The Old Rectory | work=historicengland.org.uk | url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1135965 | accessdate=6 October 2006}}</ref>

Combe Hay was the site of [[Combe Hay Locks|a series of locks]], dating from 1805 on the [[Somerset Coal Canal]] on which research and restoration is proposed.<ref>{{cite web | title=Grant unlocks Canal's secret history | work=BANES News Inform 32 | url=http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/media/news/2006/October/Pages/grantunlockscanalssecrethistory.aspx | accessdate=30 September 2010 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120720145425/http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/media/news/2006/October/Pages/grantunlockscanalssecrethistory.aspx | archivedate=20 July 2012 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> It is the site of one of the only [[caisson lock]]s ever built which was near the current Caisson House.<ref>{{cite web | title=Caisson House | work=historicengland.org.uk | url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1115371 | accessdate=6 October 2006}}</ref> Many of the locks and associated workings are [[listed buildings]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Flight of 10 locks | work=historicengland.org.uk | url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1115372 | accessdate=6 October 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Remains of the Basin at the bottom of the Inclined Plane | work=historicengland.org.uk | url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1320442 | accessdate=6 October 2006}}</ref> It was also served by the [[Bristol and North Somerset Railway|Camerton and Limpley Stoke Railway]].

From the 1880s until 1980 mines extracting [[fuller's earth]] were to be found in Combe Hay.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://claymin.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/21/3/293|title=Clay Mineralogy and Plasticity of the Fuller's Earth Formation Bath, UK|author=A. B. Hawkins, M. S. Lawrence and K. D. Privett|journal=Clay Minerals|date=September 1986|volume=21|issue=3|pages=293–310|doi=10.1180/claymin.1986.021.3.04|publisher=The Mineralogical Society|accessdate=30 September 2010|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Macmillen|first=Neil|title=A history of the Fuller's Earth mining industry around Bath|year=2009|publisher=Lightmoor Press|location=Lydney|isbn=978-1-899889-32-7|pages=54–57}}</ref> During [[World War II]] production expanded to supply foundries and in paint production. Work was scheduled under the Essential Works Order 1941 and new equipment installed. The site was bombed on the night of 25–26 April 1942 during the [[Baedeker Blitz]] raids on Bath, causing damage to some of the machines. The next night local residents sheltered in the mine. By the end of the war production was up to 250 tins a week. By 1949 the site had been electrified, therefore the Garrett steam engine was sold and the chimney demolished. The Fuller's Earth Union was taken over by [[Laporte plc]]. In 1978 a new extension was built making granules for [[Litter box|cat litter]], but in 1979 a major customer making cars in the West Midlands closed and production was wound down until closure in 1980.<ref>{{cite book|last=Macmillen|first=Neil|title=A history of the Fuller's Earth mining industry around Bath|year=2009|publisher=Lightmoor Press|location=Lydney|isbn=978-1-899889-32-7|pages=101–116}}</ref> 

The site of the former Fuller's earth works on the A367 was taken over by Bath Recycling Skips (see above image), in the distance is the Bath Odd Down Park & Ride at the end of Combe Hay Lane. Further development is planned just below this site with up to 171 new houses being developed, although with a great deal of opposition from the inhabitants of Southstoke and Combe Hay.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mills |first=Richard |date=2020-01-17 |title=171-homes plan for Bath could now more than double in size |url=https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/171-homes-plan-bath-could-3749195 |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=Somerset Live |language=en}}</ref>

The village appears in the [[Ealing comedies|Ealing comedy]] ''[[The Titfield Thunderbolt]]''.