Goblin Combe

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Goblin Combe
Area of Search	Avon
Grid Reference	ST473652
Interest	Biological
Area	51.87 hectare
Notification	1999
Location Map	English Nature

Goblin Combe is a valley in North Somerset which stretches from Redhill, near Bristol International Airport on the A38 through to Cleeve on the A370. The combe is located at (grid reference ST473652), and is a 51.87 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) originally notified in 1999. "Combe" is the same as the Welsh word "cwm" which means valley

Goblin Combe has a folk tale involving primroses:^[1][2]

“There was a parcel of children and they was a-picking primroses, see, and one poor little dear her wandered away on her lone self right down into Goblin Combe. She were only a little trot, see, and didn't know no better. Well, when she do find she's a lost she cries, and the tears do run down her dear little face, and dap on her pinafore like summer rain, and she do throw her self against a rock. Then the rock opens and there's the fairies all come to comfort her tears. They do give her a gold ball and they lead the dear little soul safe home - on account she was carrying primroses, see. Well, twas the wonder of the village and the conjuror he gets the notion he'd aget his fists on more than one gold ball when next the fairies opened the hill. So he do pick a bunch of primroses and he go on up Goblin Combe, and he was glad enough to get in to the rock after all he see and hear on the way up. Well, twasn't the right day, nor the right number of primroses, and he wasn't no dear little soul - so they took him!“

A populations of the nationally scarce plant Stinking Hellebore (Helleborus foetidus) grows on scree slopes in the combe, near Cleeve Toot; it is native at this site. ^[3] Limestone Fern (Gymnocarpum robertianum), another nationally scarce plant, is also found here on limestone scree. ^[3]

[edit] Source

• English Nature citation sheet for the site (accessed on 16 July 2006)

[edit] References

1. ^ Goblin Combe. The Antiquarian. Retrieved on December 31, 2006.
2. ^ Folktales of England” by Briggs and Tongue, 1965.
3. ^ ^{a b} Myles, Sarah (2000) The Flora of the Bristol Region ISBN 1-874357-18-8

Biological Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Avon

Ashton Court • Avon Gorge • Banwell Caves • Biddle Street, Yatton • Bishop's Hill Wood • Blagdon Lake • Bodkin Hazel Wood • Brockley Hall Stables • Brown's Folly • Burledge Sidelands and Meadows • Burrington Combe • Chew Valley Lake • Cleaves Wood • Cleeve Wood, Hanham • Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines • Compton Martin Ochre Mine • Congrove Field and The Tumps • Dolebury Warren • Ellenborough Park West • Folly Farm • Goblin Combe • Gordano Valley • Harptree Combe • Hawkesbury Meadow • Hinton Charterhouse Field • Horseshoe Bend, Shirehampton • Iford Manor • King's Wood and Urchin Wood • Long Dole Wood and Meadows • Lower Woods • Max Bog • Middle Hope • Midger • Monkswood Valley • Plaster's Green Meadows • Purn Hill • Puxton Moor • Severn Estuary • Shiplate Slait • St. Catherine's Valley • Steep Holm • Tickenham, Nailsea and Kenn Moors • Uphill Cliff • Upton Coombe • Walton Common • Weston Big Wood  • Yanal Bog Neighbouring areas: Gloucestershire • Somerset • Wiltshire

Coordinates: 51.38339° N 2.75867° W