Talk:Quantock Hills

GA review

This article is well done and nearly to good article status, but a few things should be fixed. I'm putting the article on hold, and that will give you seven days for the fixes. Most should be relatively easy and quick. I'll check back in two days to see how things are going, and I'll be glad to answer any questions you have about my comments. You can ask here or on my talk page. Good job so far. Finetooth (talk) 00:38, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

1. The article is generally well-written and generally follows Manual of Style guidelines. During my review, I made some minor copyediting changes, and I prepared the following list of suggestions for further improvements:

Lede

• Geology and ecology are branches of science. I'd be more comfortable if the sentence that says, "The environment is influenced by the geology and weather, which combine to support the plant and animal ecology" said something like, "Soil types and weather combine to support the plants and animals."

Etymology

• 880 needs AD for clarity.

Geology

• Hangman Grits, Ilfracombe beds, and Morte Slates are wonderful terms. Where do they come from? How do you know them?
• The meaning of "worked on the foreshore at Watchet," is a bit unclear. I assume you mean worked by humans, but you might mean worked by wave action. If it was worked by humans, what for?
• Who says the SSSI is "considered to be of international geological importance"?
• "Dr Forbes-Leslie" should be written instead in first name, last name format without "Dr". See the honorific prefixes section of the Manual of Style for details about how to handle academic titles.
• I wikilinked "retort", and you might consider wikilinking "alabaster" and "kiln" as well.
• What is "a small culm landing"? "Culm" should be wikilinked or explained.
• The photo caption would be better if the first two sentence fragments were combined to form a single complete sentence.

Climate

• I'm not sure about "dullest" month. I think "most cloudy" or "most overcast" may be closer to what you intend.
• "The south west of England has a favoured location with respect to the Azores high pressure when it extends its influence north-eastwards towards the UK, particularly in summer." I'd suggest something more direct. "High pressure over the Azores often brings clear skies to south-west England, particularly in summer" might work.

Ecology

• This section starts with an orphan sentence. I see the logic of doing it this way, but I'd suggest adding a brief (one- or two-sentence) explanation of Biological SSSI. What is it? Who makes the designation? The wikilink leads to a further explanation, but a brief explanation in the text would solve the orphan problem.

History

• This section begins with an orphan sentence. Two solutions come to mind. Either meld the orphan with another paragraph or add a bit to the orphan. You might add a one- or two-sentence description of the flints, for example, and what they were used for.
• The second paragraph needs a source if only because the "probably" in "probably originated as ancient ridgeways" raises doubt. Who says they are ancient ridgeways?
• You'll need to respond in some way to another editor's "citation needed" tag in this section. I think that the "it is possible" language raises questions. What expert has made a logical connection between the town names and the Roman roads?
• The phrase, "who passed the manor down through descendants into the 20th century, also becoming the Earl of Carhampton", seems to have a singular-plural problem. "Descendants" is plural, but "Earl" is singular.
• The Stowey Castle sentence is an orphan and could be improved by adding a sentence or two describing the castle.
• "During the English Civil War Dunster was a Royalist stronghold under the command of Colonel Wyndham, with Sir Francis Dodington of Dodington being a local commander." I recommend against using "with" as this kind of connector. One solution would be to make two sentences: "During the English Civil War, Dunster was a Royalist stronghold under the command of Colonel Wyndham. Sir Francis Dodington of Dodington was a local commander."
• The orphan sentence, "Following the Monmouth rebellion traitors were hanged in Nether Stowey and at Cothelstone" needs a sibling sentence or two. A brief explanation of the Monmouth rebellion would do. Most readers outside the UK know nothing about it.
• I see a bit of overlinking in this section. Crowcombe, for example, is wikilinked three times. A maximum of once per section is the usual recommendation.

Governance

• The claim that the Quantock Hills AONB was the "first such designation in England under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949" needs a citation.

Cultural references

• Who is Lord Coleridge?
• Rather than saying, "There is a wonderful description of the inn in Leonard Woolf's diary," which is POV and an interpretation, I'd suggest including that description or part of it in quotes.
• I'd suggest combining the last four short paragraphs in this section into one paragraph. It's hard to know how to handle these short things that sometimes appear at the ends of articles. Expanding each one would not be a good solution. I recommend scrunching.

Places of interest

• This claim needs a citation: "At 23 miles (37 km), it is the longest privately owned passenger rail line in the UK."
• In this section, "0.08-hectare (0.20-acre)" SSSI puts metric first, but "17-acre (7 ha) pleasure garden" puts imperial first. Noticing this difference led me to re-check some of the other conversions, and I see that they are not internally consistent. For example, I see feet first in the first paragraph of the lede but metres first in the History section. The MOS says, "For UK-related [articles], the main units are either metric or imperial (consistently within an article)." You need to choose which system you want to be primary and which secondary and then stick with the choice throughout, including the infobox.

2. Generally the article appears to be factually accurate and verifiable. I have noted a couple of exceptions above, and the links in citations 2, 12, and 30 are dead and should be fixed if possible.

3. The article is broad in its coverage, addresses the major aspects, and stays focused without unnecessary detail.

4. It is written from a neutral point of view except for the "wonderful" comment mentioned above.

5. It is stable.

6. It is illustrated with appropriate images and suitable captions. However, the copyright status is difficult to confirm in the case of Image:Quantocksbeach.jpg because the listed link to the photographer's page is dead. The same is true for Image:Quantockheather.jpg‎. It would be good if you could fix these two dead links or find substitutes. ‎

Response Thank you for your helpful comments (& edits). I believe that all the concerns have been addressed with the exception of the SSSI being of "international geological importance". The English Nature web site with the SSSI citation sheet is temporarily unavailable to I am unable to check this - but will keep trying.— Rod ^talk 13:52, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Further comments from reviewer

• Almost everything looks fine. I will wait a bit to see if the SSSI link recovers; it may be down because of a temporary server problem. In any case, this glitch will not prevent promotion.
• I have a remaining concern about Lord Coleridge. I know little about titles in the UK, and I want to be sure that Lord Coleridge is an acceptable way to refer to Baron Coleridge and that the name does not need something else added to distinguish him from ancestors who had the same title.
• I would recommend deleting the phrase "(often, rather incorrectly, said to be the last pitched battle on English soil)" from your otherwise clear explanation of the Monmouth rebellion. The phrase invites other questions and complications that could be avoided by remaining mum.
• The two phototographer page links are still dead. These won't prevent promotion, but it would be nice if they could be fixed.
• Finally, and I apologize for not recognizing this sooner, the lede gives short shrift to the later sections, particularly the History section, and could easily be improved. If you plan to take the article to FAC at some point, I'm sure you will need to expand the lede to better summarize the essence of the full article. What I would suggest is that you attach the two sentences beginning with "Soil types" to the bottom of the second paragraph of the lede and move the sentences, "They have been occupied since prehistoric times and fought over during the English Civil War and Monmouth rebellion but are now a peaceful area popular with tourists and walkers" down and use the first part of it as the beginning of paragraph three. You could flesh out the new paragraph three with the essence of the History section (not a great long addition but perhaps two new sentences) and could end this new paragraph three with a sentence that includes "now a peaceful area popular with tourists and walkers" and perhaps a nod toward the interesting places mentioned in the last section. Finetooth (talk) 19:34, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Response I have attempt to address all of your concerns above. If there are any further improvements please let me know.— Rod ^talk 20:51, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Congratulations on an excellent piece of work. Please consider supporting the GA program by reviewing another article. Finetooth (talk) 03:09, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

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What else is needed to get this article to FA

This article has now been a fairly stable Good Article for over a year and I am looking for ideas about what would be needed to get it to meet the Wikipedia:Featured article criteria? This is one part of the Featured topic about Physical geography of Somerset. The rules about FT's have changed and we need to get one of the GAs included in the topic up to FA status or the whole FT will be demoted to a Good topic. Any ideas appreciated.— Rod ^talk 21:01, 17 December 2009 (UTC)

85.205.122.153 (talk) 12:17, 18 April 2011 (UTC) The link to the somerset.gov pages does not work; perhaps this instead: http://www.somerset.gov.uk/irj/public/services/directory/service?rid=/guid/a04e51c3-5336-2c10-d3b9-ddca91367f35 85.205.122.153 (talk) 12:17, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for that - I've updated the link. If you spot any others please let us know - or you could always fix them yourself.— Rod ^talk 12:40, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

AONB boundary

For info: From studying the AONB map, the boundaries often follow roads, field boundaries and other convenient man-made features rather than the natural 'edges' of the hills formed by changes in geology. For example Hawkridge Reservoir is widely regarded as being in the Quantocks, but is the 'wrong' side of the boundary (in fact Wessex Water even claim it is within the AONB - it isn't). Similarly the boundary slices through Kings Cliffe (following an apparently arbitrary line) and through the middle of Kingston St Mary (following the road). Thurloxton is also regarded by locals as being within the Quantock Hills, as per the Thurloxton Wikipedia Article, but isn't in the AONB either. 85.210.195.10 (talk) 22:04, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

To be honest the point is rather pedantic as the bulk of the hills are contained within the AONB. You should read WP:OR because that is exactly what this statement is: "Thurloxton is also regarded by locals as being within the Quantock Hills". --Simple Bob ^{a.k.a. The Spaminator} (Talk) 07:16, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

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