Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Somerset/Archive 6

WP Somerset is four years old
It's now 4 years since WikiProject Somerset was created in September 2007 and, as project veterans will know, it has become my custom to do a review every 6 months. Previous reviews are available: 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36 and 42 months.

In the last six months we have gained several a few new members - welcome. Project members were interviewed for the WikiPorject report in Signpost appearing on 25 April 2011.

Over 70 new articles have been started, with a few of them including Jake Seamer, Beckington Castle, Land Yeo Gatcombe, Somerset, Open top buses in Weston-super-Mare and Somerset County Cricket Club in 1948 making it onto the front page in the Did You Know section.

Herbie Hewett, Somerset Levels and Kennet and Avon Canal have become a featured articles, while River Parrett and Somerset appeared on the front page as Today's featured article. Articles which achieved Good article status include: Glastonbury Abbey, Buro Happold, Farleigh Hungerford Castle Nailsea and Nunney Castle meaning we now have 55 GAs. Somerton is currently nominated for GA. Portal:Somerset has been maintained with the inclusion of the new FAs & GAs as selected settlements, selected biographies and selected articles.

There have been improvements to a range of other articles, including lots moving from stub to start (it would be nice to get the number of stubs down to 500) or from start to C, as shown in the table below:

Summary table, showing state at Sept 07, Feb 08, Sept 08, March 09, Sept 09, March 10, Sept 10, March 11 and Sept 11

(In the summary table above class C was only introduced in autumn 2008. Click on the column headers to see articles in each category.)

The bot which previously provided the cleanup listing ceased working early in 2010. When a new bot was introduced in November 2010, this project had approx 350 articles included. This has now been significantly reduced and now includes around 1.6% (41) of our articles. The cleanup list, which is updated weekly is available here.

Articles rated top importance eg Geology of Somerset, Economy of Somerset & Culture of Somerset still need improvement and expansion. There are 138 articles still needing photographs (shown at: Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in Somerset) so if anyone has a digital camera and time to visited these sites that would be useful.

A recent and ongoing collaborative effort is top create articles for all the Hundreds in the county. For the ones that still need creating see Somerset at the England & Wales list, Template:Hundreds of Somerset or the Project to do list.

I would welcome discussion of future priorities for the project and ideas for future collaborations.&mdash; Rod talk 15:17, 14 September 2011 (UTC)

Somerset cricketers
After a brief conversation between my and User:Rodw about inclusion of Somerset cricketers in this project, I'll bring the question here: What should be the inclusion criteria for Somerset cricketers in this project? At the moment I have limited it to players from Somerset who are made significant contributions to the club, plus a few notable additions. However, User:Redrose64 has suggested that all players could be included: Category:Somerset cricketers contains 648 pages, which includes the likes of Kieron Pollard and Kumar Narayan who have played for the club as overseas players. On the other hand, some players born in Somerset are currently not included, for example Mathew Dimond, born in Taunton, who made 14 appearances for the first-team. I would tend away from including everyone myself, but would love to hear some more opinions.  Harrias  talk 20:35, 5 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Ah, no, correction, I didn't suggest all players: I suggested that cricketers who have played in at least one first-class match for Somerset CCC would qualify for WP Somerset. This will disqualify those who have only taken part in one-day matches, and those who only appeared for the second XI. It does not debar those born outside Somerset, such as Ian Botham and Viv Richards. -- Red rose64 (talk) 20:56, 5 October 2011 (UTC)
 * I knew we had discussed this somewhere before but I've had to go back through the archives. In 2007 a discussion titled Article assessment & Bishops etc suggested cricketers needing to have "made some notable achievement whilst playing for Somerset, or were born here and went on to great career elsewhere". I think the cut off of "at least one first-class match for Somerset CCC" may be too low. Personally I would go for those born in the county and those having played at least 1 season for the county - but I would be guided by the cricket experts & would welcome comments from others.&mdash; Rod talk 21:12, 5 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Looking at it, I would definitely agree that those born in the county should be added; playing at least one season is a difficult criteria to apply as there are players who play bits of various seasons etc. I reckon all the captains should probably be added, and possibly those players who made international cricket appearances while at Somerset, or who were the leading run-scorer or wicket-taker for example. That will cover a fair number of players, and we could perhaps have a look at who is left after that and see what common-sense suggests, and if there is a "rule" that can mostly cover that?  Harrias  talk 15:41, 7 October 2011 (UTC)

Converting OSGB36 (OS grid refs) to coords on various lists
I have started a discussion about converting the OSGB36 (OS grid refs) on various lists including Grade I listed buildings in Taunton Deane, Grade I listed buildings in Bath and North East Somerset, Grade I listed buildings in Mendip, Grade I listed buildings in North Somerset, Grade I listed buildings in Sedgemoor, Grade I listed buildings in South Somerset, Grade I listed buildings in West Somerset, List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Avon, List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset and List of locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal to use Template:Coord, as I think this offers advantages for users worldwide (who may be unfamiliar with the OS system) and the use of Template:GeoGroupTemplate to enable mapping on googlemaps etc. I have been told that a bot could be tasked to do this, however this would be quite a significant change and would not want to do it without consensus. If anyone has any comments could they join the discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Geographical coordinates.&mdash; Rod talk 16:18, 18 December 2011 (UTC)

Education in Somerset
Is there a need to improve articles relating to education in Somerset, I am thinking of doing some reviews and trying to expand article in con-junction with a new Wikiproject I set up relating to education, If anyone else would be interest in helping please leave me a reply, or ideally a message on my talk page. Mark999 (talk) 21:43, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Mapping linear features
There is a rather nice new facility in Wikipedia to facilitate the mapping of linear features such as rivers, canals, railways, footpaths, etc. The idea is simple you attach a KML file to an article, add the AttachedKML template to the article and it presents you with a small infobox which when you click it shows you the route in Google Maps, Bing Maps, or allows you to download the KML file directly for use in Google Earth. See Bridgwater and Taunton Canal. The smaller of the two infoboxes is the one that you are interested in, so just click the "Display on Google Maps" button and see what happens!

Creating the KML file is really easy. You just use launch Google Earth, start and trace the route by clicking on the "Add path" button then click sufficient points along the route of the road/river/canal/etc. to give it good accuracy. When you are finished you set the line to 5px width and give it a decent colour e.g. bright red. Then you "Save as" and create a KML file. Using a text editor, copy/paste the content of the KML file across to WIkipedia and Robert is your mother's brother. There are more detailed instructions at WikiProject_U.S._Roads/Maps_task_force/Tutorial, but I can honestly say it is really simple. It took me less than 5 minutes to create the KML file tracing the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, then a couple of minutes to add it to Wikipedia and integrate it into the article.

The big question I guess is "Should I bother?" I really like it, but I'm a bit of a mapping/coordinates geek. Would you all find it useful to be able to visualise the exact route of the linear feature article that you are looking at, or working on? --Bob Re-born (talk) 21:26, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

Merger discussion - Agapemonites &
We have two articles Agapemonites and Agapemone which appear to be about the same topic. I have proposed a merger but the proposal has not received much comment. Contributions welcome.&mdash; Rod talk 17:21, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

Deletion discussion of Bristol/Bath to South Coast Study
You are invited to join the discussion at Articles for deletion/Bristol/Bath to South Coast Study. &mdash; Rod talk 15:21, 14 October 2012 (UTC)

Dispute about the need for citations of alumni on List of Old Gregorians
There is a dispute about the need for citations of the alumni at List of Old Gregorians taking place at Talk:List of Old Gregorians. I would be grateful if others would contribute their thoughts.&mdash; Rod talk 08:28, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

Jessie Stephen
You are invited to join the discussion at Talk:Jessie Stephen. -- Trevj (talk) 01:40, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

Robert Sanders, James Sanders
You are invited to join the discussion at Talk:Robert Sanders, 1st Baron Bayford. -- Trevj (talk) 09:41, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

Proposed reinstatement of article on Bristol/Bath to South Coast Study
You are invited to join the discussion at Talk:Bristol/Bath to South Coast Study. -- Trevj (talk) 10:00, 30 May 2013 (UTC)

Wiki Loves Monuments and Somerset
The UK will be taking part in Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM) for the first time this year. The challenge will be to upload photographs of listed buildings during September. In preparation for this lists of eligible sites (buildings and other structures Graded I or II*) are being prepared. All Grade I in Somerset are listed at Grade I listed buildings in Somerset and its seven sub pages, however there are over 1,000 Grade II* and I would appreciate some help. If you look at Grade II* listed buildings in Somerset I have started lists using the relevant template for each of the districts and unitary authorities in the county and done one or two entries to show what is needed. The relevant sites can be found by going to The National heritage list for England, selecting "Advanced Search" and then clicking on "Location". If you click on the drop down list next to "District/Unitary Authority/Borough:" you can scroll to the area required. If you then click on "Grade" in the left hand menu & select II* from the drop down menu, & then "search" you should get a list of all the relevant sites. If anyone would be willing to add any of these to the tables concerned that would be really helpful. (NB if you do take any good photos of the sites and want them to be included in WLM don't upload them till Sept).&mdash; Rod talk 16:42, 21 June 2013 (UTC)

Bristol Wiki Meetup
You are invited to the Bristol Wiki Meetup which will take place at The Commercial Rooms, 43-45 Corn Street, Bristol BS1 1HT on Sunday 28 July 2013 from 1.00 pm. If you have never been to one, this is an opportunity to meet other Wikipedians in an informal atmosphere for Wiki and non-Wiki related chat and for beer or food if you like. Experienced and new contributors are all welcome. This event is definitely not restricted just to discussion of Bristol topics. Bring your laptop if you like and use the free Wifi or just bring yourself. Even better, bring a friend! Click the link for full details. Looking forward to seeing you. Philafrenzy (talk) 22:33, 1 July 2013 (UTC)

Help request re Trendle Ring article, it's status and categories
Novice Editor, have been writng an article on the Trendle Ring Does it need review? Is it still a stub? Should it still be part of all those Military History categories? Unsure what to do with those issues. Thanks Timbow001 (talk) 22:09, 1 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Well done for your edits. I've changed it to start for WP Somerset & done a few minor tweaks. Someone from WP MilHist will check it at some point - but that project has tens of thousands of articles. I will look at some of my books etc when I get some time.&mdash; Rod talk 07:08, 2 July 2013 (UTC)

WLM, Grade II* listed buildings in Somerset & work needed.
In preparation for Wiki Loves Monuments, where the UK will be taking part in 2013 for the first time various lists of Grade I and Grade II* listed buildings are being created and revised. The competition runs in September, but in the meantime there is some preparatory work to do and I would appreciate your help with some Somerset ones: I have done a few examples on each list, but am worried that I will not be able to complete them all before the end of August (particularly as I will be away with no internet access for two weeks), therefore any help you could give would be really appreciated.&mdash; Rod talk 12:35, 15 July 2013 (UTC)
 * A special template is being used to make uploading easier, however all sub lists of Grade I listed buildings in Somerset are being left at present because they are already Featured Lists and the template may change the format.
 * Seven sub lists of Grade II* listed buildings in Somerset have been created using a semi automated script from data provided by English Heritage - however they contain some errors and need formatting by hand...
 * Grade II* listed buildings in North Somerset (79 entries) is largely formatted, but there are loads of redlinks which need articles & pictures needed (if you want your pics to be in the competition, don't upload them till Sept)
 * Grade II* listed buildings in Sedgemoor (88 entries) is largely formatted, but there are loads of redlinks which need articles & pictures needed (if you want your pics to be in the competition, don't upload them till Sept)
 * Grade II* listed buildings in Bath and North East Somerset (212 entries) - I've done a few entries, however it needs wikilinking of article names (whether we currently have articles or not). If there are several buildings in one street all of the wikilinks point at an article about the street rather than individual entries. The location column looks and sorts better if just the parish or town is included (& wikilinked). The date completed column sometimes has C19 for 19th century and C1850 for c. 1850 meaning circa when date is not sure - these need sorting. The grid ref & lat & long (occasionally missing) is given to 8 characters - I think only 6 (grid ref) or 5 for lat & long is really needed. If you click on the list entry number this takes you to the data sheet for that entry on the National Heritage List for England which can be checked if needed for details. The image column needs a picture adding if we already have a suitable image on wiki commons. References need adding.
 * Grade II* listed buildings in Mendip (210 entries) - similar to BANES above
 * Grade II* listed buildings in South Somerset (266 entries) - similar to BANES above
 * Grade II* listed buildings in Taunton Deane (118 entries) - similar to BANES above (User:Harrias may be able to help with this one)
 * Grade II* listed buildings in West Somerset (100 entries) - similar to BANES above
 * Some of the columns should "sort" automatically, however some have to be tagged manually, particularly the dates, but this is complex and I don't think is vital at this stage.
 * Rod, I've had an initial run through Grade II* listed buildings in Taunton Deane and tidied up the obvious bits. Would you be able to have a glance over it when you can, just to check I've done it right. I'm sure there are a few little typos and the such in there, such is the nature of repetitive work; I'm only really bothered about knowing I've done it broadly right, so that I can continue to fine-tune it without worry it is all going to be reverted!  Harrias  talk 16:44, 15 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Looks brilliant to me (and very quick). I reckon there are less typos than in the ones I've been doing. I certainly will not be reverting & if anyone else does they better have a v good reason (& whatever it is probably applies to all the others).&mdash; Rod talk 17:08, 15 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks (and for the Barnstar too!) I'll crack on with the fine-tuning later, and then either look at another list, or at the small matter of those red links...  Harrias  talk 17:34, 15 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Great - I suspect there are quite a few pics on commons which could be added - I've just fallen over one which I will add.&mdash; Rod talk 17:39, 15 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Pretty much done with the Taunton Deane list itself. There are probably more pictures about, but if there are, they certainly don't appear to be obvious ones. Obviously there are lots of redlinks, but I think getting the lists tidy is probably the first priority. I've put in a sort code for the dating: it's significantly different to how you've done other lists: essentially I've used the year as the sort key, and for "Mid 15th century" (for example) I've used 1450 as the sort key. For things like "Norman", "Saxon", "Medieval", I've guessed somewhat, using the list entry where possible to refine it. Perhaps have a sort back and forth and see if it seems a logical ordering, and tweak as necessary? I might move onto the beast that is South Somerset next; let me know any thoughts on the TD list, so I can rectify mistakes before I make them on SS!  Harrias  talk 17:10, 16 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Looks like you have been doing great things while I've had a long day at work. I've added a date for the one which was missing - but not done the date sorting. On a quick scan & using a couple of check tools I can't see any problems apart from the two cloth finishing works entries which may or may not be the same place (I think it is one site which covers 2 parishes) & are described as "Reservoir" under type. Your date sorting system is more logical than mine & I will use on the others when I get to them. The Taunton Deane Council web site seems to be having problems at present, so showing I broken ref link but probably temporary. We could probably expand the lead to say something about the buildings eg there are X churches, the oldest building is..., the newest is... - but that can all come later. If you were brave enough to do the same job on South Somerset (or any of the others that would be wonderful.&mdash; Rod talk 17:54, 16 July 2013 (UTC)
 * I was lucky enough to have most of the day at home, but still officially be working today, as I had to wait around to take delivery of my new company car (which was exciting enough on its own!) I agree with the lead expansion, but I figured that work like that was more superficial, and would probably be part of a later FL push once a good number of the red links had been killed off. Thanks for your tweaks and further image discoveries, I suspect you know your way around the various Somerset related categories far better than I.  Harrias  talk 19:43, 16 July 2013 (UTC)

Logo for Cleveland Pools, Bath
You are invited to join the discussion at Talk:Cleveland Pools. -- Trevj (talk · contribs) 13:19, 29 January 2014 (UTC) -- Trevj (talk · contribs) 13:19, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

In the news
A little off-topic maybe, but |this article in yesterdays The Guardian website links to three of our Wells related Wikipedia articles. --Derek Andrews (talk) 23:05, 1 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks but I think the externallink was mal formed - I think you meant this one.&mdash; Rod talk 19:27, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

Popular pages tool update
As of January, the popular pages tool has moved from the Toolserver to Wikimedia Tool Labs. The code has changed significantly from the Toolserver version, but users should notice few differences. Please take a moment to look over your project's list for any anomalies, such as pages that you expect to see that are missing or pages that seem to have more views than expected. Note that unlike other tools, this tool aggregates all views from redirects, which means it will typically have higher numbers. (For January 2014 specifically, 35 hours of data is missing from the WMF data, which was approximated from other dates. For most articles, this should yield a more accurate number. However, a few articles, like ones featured on the Main Page, may be off).

Web tools, to replace the ones at ~alexz/pop, will become available over the next few weeks at popularpages. All of the historical data (back to July 2009 for some projects) has been copied over. The tool to view historical data is currently partially available (assessment data and a few projects may not be available at the moment). The tool to add new projects to the bot's list is also available now (editing the configuration of current projects coming soon). Unlike the previous tool, all changes will be effective immediately. OAuth is used to authenticate users, allowing only regular users to make changes to prevent abuse. A visible history of configuration additions and changes is coming soon. Once tools become fully available, their toolserver versions will redirect to Labs.

If you have any questions, want to report any bugs, or there are any features you would like to see that aren't currently available on the Toolserver tools, see the updated FAQ or contact me on my talk page. Mr.Z-bot (talk) (for Mr.Z-man ) 05:27, 23 February 2014 (UTC)


 * Our list appears to be working fine. Somerset Levels is higher than the figures a few months ago, but I suspect that is because of the flooding rather than any problem with the tool.&mdash; Rod talk 08:34, 23 February 2014 (UTC)

Request to move Cheddar article
A request at Talk:Cheddar proposes moving Cheddar and making a disambiguation page rather than the village the primary topic, with discussion about Cheddar cheese. Comments welcome.&mdash; Rod talk 20:04, 24 February 2014 (UTC)

Help with ONS census data for Taunton
Do we have anyone good at interpreting ONS census data who would be willing to join the discussion about the population figure for Taunton. Recently this was changed from 61,400 (2001 data) to 110,200 for 2011 but this figure is for the whole of Taunton Deane. I think the issue is about defining what are the "the suburbs" and have started a discussion at Talk:Taunton where input would be appreciated.&mdash; Rod talk 09:49, 17 March 2014 (UTC)

Comment on the WikiProject X proposal
Hello there! As you may already know, most WikiProjects here on Wikipedia struggle to stay active after they've been founded. I believe there is a lot of potential for WikiProjects to facilitate collaboration across subject areas, so I have submitted a grant proposal with the Wikimedia Foundation for the "WikiProject X" project. WikiProject X will study what makes WikiProjects succeed in retaining editors and then design a prototype WikiProject system that will recruit contributors to WikiProjects and help them run effectively. Please review the proposal here and leave feedback. If you have any questions, you can ask on the proposal page or leave a message on my talk page. Thank you for your time! (Also, sorry about the posting mistake earlier. If someone already moved my message to the talk page, feel free to remove this posting.) Harej (talk) 22:48, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

Old maps and views of Somerset and the West Country
As you might have seen in the Signpost this week, there's currently a drive to go through the million 19th century images released by the British Library last year, and identify all the maps, with a view to their being georeferenced by BL volunteers, and then uploaded to Commons early next year. As of Sunday night, over five thousand new maps have been identified, with 26.5% of the target books looked at -- but see the status page for the latest figures, and more information.

A part that may specifically interest this project is
 * c:Commons:British Library/Mechanical Curator collection/Synoptic index/England - South West

which currently shows pink templated links for 237 Flickr book pages still to be looked at. (Though there are lots of other parts of England, and indeed of the world, still to be looked through as well).

Any help looking through these would be very much appreciated -- as well as the maps (and ground plans) for tagging, you may well also find other interesting or useful non-map views that may be worth considering or uploading for articles on Somerset and the West Country.

Thanks, Jheald (talk) 01:03, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

Question about entry for The Tribunal, Glastonbury
The_Tribunal,_Glastonbury

"In the 16th century a new facade was added to the original building.[3] The door is original and above it are a Tudor rose[2] and the arms of Richard Beere who was Abbot of Glastonbury from 1493 to 1524.[5]"

The arms above the door appear to be the arms adopted by Lady Margaret Beaufort as the "King's mother" after Bosworth, being the Royal Coat of arms supported by a pair of Beaufort Yales. I believe the work done for Richard Beere is inside the building?

Tbirduk (talk) 01:35, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your comment. It might be best to discuss on the talk page of the specific article but anyway, this source from English Heritage says "The Tudor rose and the badge of Abbot Beer (died 1524) have been reset over the entrance to the passage." this one says "Panels above the doorway have Tudor Rose and Tudor Royal Arms." There is a photo of the arms here. The origin of the arms is further discussed in this book. I can't find anything definative about whose arms they are, do you have any sources which would help clarify?&mdash; Rod talk 08:15, 12 November 2014 (UTC)

Hi

Not the first time I have disagreed with the what the folk at English Heritage put on their web site, I have some contact with them and will see if they can clarify. Margaret's fixation with her Arms is well documented and she was furious when one artisan sculpted pure Antelopes rather than Yales!

As "source" all I can offer is images of a rather more detailed version is on St John's college, Cambridge which her estate caused to be created The article on St John's College has a wide shot Great Gate Arms

This photograph on this page is one of the better defined ones Telegraph letter

Away to annoy EH ;-)

Tbirduk (talk) 10:20, 12 November 2014 (UTC)

Inclusion criteria
As some may have seen, I've started doing a bit of work on Taunton MPs in the last few days. I'm not sure whether all Taunton MPs should be added to this WikiProject, or whether individual judgements need to be made. Looking back, some were certainly locals who are deserving of inclusion here, but others, such as Thomas Cromwell and Francis Bacon, I'm not really convinced of how much impact they had locally, and therefore, whether they should be added. The problem is, sometimes, without trawling Hansard, it is difficult to tell. Any thoughts? Harrias talk 17:03, 10 January 2015 (UTC)
 * I think this is always a judgement call (and I seem to remember a similar discussion about cricketers who had played for Somerset but otherwise were not otherwise relevant). If they were born locally or lived a substantial part of their lives in the county then I would say they should be included, but if they just held the seat they wouldn't be.&mdash; Rod talk 17:21, 10 January 2015 (UTC)
 * I think that makes sense: I will probably err against inclusion for those that seem "career politicians", unless there is evidence that they established a strong link with the area. Harrias talk 17:30, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

WikiProject X is live!


Hello everyone!

You may have received a message from me earlier asking you to comment on my WikiProject X proposal. The good news is that WikiProject X is now live! In our first phase, we are focusing on research. At this time, we are looking for people to share their experiences with WikiProjects: good, bad, or neutral. We are also looking for WikiProjects that may be interested in trying out new tools and layouts that will make participating easier and projects easier to maintain. If you or your WikiProject are interested, check us out! Note that this is an opt-in program; no WikiProject will be required to change anything against its wishes. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!

Note: To receive additional notifications about WikiProject X on this talk page, please add this page to WikiProject X/Newsletter. Otherwise, this will be the last notification sent about WikiProject X.

Harej (talk) 16:57, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

District maps of Somerset
There has been discussion about the possible use of the maps shown in Category:Somerset location map templates for buildings etc within the county. I have suggested they might be more appropriate for articles about districts but would welcome the thoughts of others. The main discussion about these is at: Wikipedia talk:WikiProject UK geography.&mdash; Rod talk 18:00, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

Old FAs review
There is a massive initiative going on to review "old" Featured articles. I have received a request to review several that I nominated years ago. They need checking for deadlinks etc and updating to ensure they meet current standards and are up to date (eg updating population data from the 2001 census to 2011) As several of these are related to this wikiproject I wondered if anyone would be willing to help? The Somerset ones are: Any help would be appreciated.&mdash; Rod talk 09:33, 3 May 2015 (UTC)
 * 1) Mendip Hills
 * 2) Bath, Somerset
 * 3) Exmoor
 * 4) River Parrett
 * 5) Somerset
 * 6) Sweet Track

Update list of articles
Is it possible to update the current list of articles requiring clarification or urgent work please?.Billy from Bath (talk) 10:48, 2 June 2015 (UTC)


 * I'm not quite sure what you mean. Is it the Open Tasks/To do list? If so try WikiProject Somerset/to do (you can also click the edit button on the box on the main project page . If it was something else you meant, let me know.&mdash; Rod talk 10:56, 2 June 2015 (UTC)


 * Is it possible to update the current list of articles requiring clarificatione?. Billy from Bath (talk) 11:57, 2 June 2015 (UTC)
 * "Clarify" doesn't seem to be recognised by the template which creates sections in the "to do" box, but if you look at the cleanup list for this project it does include a section "Wikipedia articles needing clarification" is that what you mean? Otherwise you could just list them here and see if anyone responds.&mdash; Rod talk 12:09, 2 June 2015 (UTC)


 * Yes Rod, "articles that require clarification" is the section of the "to do" list I have been working on for a few days, I seem to have done all those on that list with some sucess. I was wondering is there any more work like that I could focus on in Wikipedia Somerset. I have some spare time available to me at the moment. Thamks.Billy from Bath (talk) 15:24, 2 June 2015 (UTC)
 * The cleanup list gets updated weekly (ish) and there are always new one appearing. If you fancy looking at some of the old FAs which need reviewing and updating - see the section above this. As you have "from Bath" in your username there are lots of articles in Category:Geography of Bath, Somerset which would benefit from a bit of work. Recent work (by User:Cassyput) on Combe Down seems to be ongoing. If you fancy looking a little further a field Somerset Coal Canal needs some work on the restoration section. The categories Category:Stub-Class Somerset articles and Category:Start-Class Somerset articles have the articles which need most work. There is always plenty to do.&mdash; Rod talk 16:09, 2 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Took your advice Rod and clarified Somerset Coal Canal article today. Will look into a few more tomorrow.Billy from Bath (talk) 20:19, 4 June 2015 (UTC)

Hydrology/water chemistry on the River Tone
Can anyone help? The River Tone article is currently on GA review at Talk:River Tone/GA1. Although many of the reviewers comments have been dealt with, I have been unable to find any reliable sources with information about the hydrology/water chemistry of the river, which the reviewer sees as essential. Can anyone help?&mdash; Rod talk 16:57, 16 June 2015 (UTC)
 * If you Google "river tone" water chemistry somerset there are a few different Environment Agency reports that might be useful, but to be honest, they are all double dutch to me. I would be inclined to add what you can, but remind the reviewer that although he is a relative expert in the field, the GA criteria do not require the article to be comprehensive, and while it would be nice to have that information, I don't think it is important to the general encyclopaedia user. Harrias talk 17:42, 16 June 2015 (UTC)

GT nom English Heritage properties in Somerset and FT nom Scheduled monuments in Somerset
Would anyone be willing to review a couple of nominations which are relevant to this project? I nominated English Heritage properties in Somerset as a good topic back in April and it has only received 2 comments, while Scheduled monuments in Somerset has been almost a month without any comments on its featured topic nomination. Any comments would be very welcome.&mdash; Rod talk 20:03, 2 July 2015 (UTC)

List of public art in Somerset
Please populate List of public art in Somerset; see for a guide. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 11:01, 27 August 2015 (UTC)
 * Great list, I'll add to it, although with limited knowledge I won't be able to expand upon it to the length of the Wiltshire list. --TangoTizerWolfstone (talk) 22:02, 6 September 2015 (UTC)

National Trust properties in Somerset is a Good Topic nomination
Hi, I have nominated National Trust properties in Somerset for "Good Topic". The nomination is Featured topic candidates/National Trust properties in Somerset/archive1. It would be great if anyone could comment on whether it meets the "good topic" criteria which are set out under Featured topic criteria.&mdash; Rod talk 07:37, 15 October 2015 (UTC)

Valentine's Gas Lamp
Could someone perhaps make a page for the Valentine's Gas Lamp in Frome. http://valentinegaslamp.com/ --TangoTizerWolfstone (talk) 22:02, 6 September 2015 (UTC)
 * Beyond a few mentions in the local press I'm not finding any indication that this would meet WP:GNG. Derek Andrews (talk) 14:08, 19 October 2015 (UTC)

The West Country Challenge
We're planning on running WikiProject England/The West Country Challenge in the summer. It is based on the WikiProject Wales/Awaken the Dragon model, a very successful contest/editathon which saw the improvement and creation of over 1000 articles and 65 Good and Featrued articles. If you'd like to replicate this success for your county, please sign up at the contest page in the participants section. It is intended for both people who might compete in it and for those just interested in independently contributing.♦ Dr. Blofeld  15:16, 7 May 2016 (UTC)

The West Country Challenge
Would you like to win up to £250 in Amazon vouchers for participating in The West Country Challenge?

The The West Country Challenge will take place from 8 to 28 August 2016. The idea ito create and improve articles about Bristol, Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Dorset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.

The format will be based on Wales's successful Awaken the Dragon which saw over 1000 article improvements and creations and 65 GAs/FAs. As with the Dragon contest, the focus is more on improving core articles and breathing new life into those older stale articles and stubs which might otherwise not get edited in years. All contributions, including new articles, are welcome though.

Work on any of the items at: or other articles relating to the area.
 * Core articles
 * Missing article hotlist
 * Missing photograph hotlist

There will be sub contests focusing on particular areas:
 * Bristol (Day 1-3)
 * Cornwall and Scilly (Day 4-6)
 * Devon (Day 7-9)
 * Dorset (Day 10-12)
 * Gloucestershire (Day 13-15)
 * Somerset (Day 16-18)
 * Wiltshire (Day 19-21)

To sign up or get more information visit the contest pages at WikiProject England/The West Country Challenge.&mdash; Rod talk 15:47, 18 July 2016 (UTC)

9th birthday of this wikiproject
Happy birthday to WikiProject Somerset which was created 9 years ago today. I think quite a lot has been done in the last 10 years as shown by the table below.

There is still quite a lot to do to improve the articles and lists. In addition there are issues with the articles on the project cleanup list and

What would people like the project to achieve in the next year before the 10th birthday?&mdash; Rod talk 18:45, 16 September 2016 (UTC)