Portishead, Somerset
Encyclopedia
Portishead is a coastal town on the Severn Estuary
within the unitary authority
of North Somerset
, which falls within the ceremonial county
of Somerset
England. It has a population of 22,000, an increase of over 3,000 since the 2001 census
, with a growth rate of 40 per cent, considerably in excess of surrounding towns.
Portishead has a long history as a fishing port. It expanded rapidly during the early 19th century around the docks, with supporting transport infrastructure. A power station
and chemical works were added in the 20th century, but the dock and industrial facilities have since declined, redeveloped into a marina and residential areas. Portishead was also the telephone control centre used by British Telecom (BT) for non-direct dialled calls to maritime vessels, a service known as Portishead Radio
.
The town's population is expanding, served by several retail outlets, religious, educational and sporting venues. Portishead is now primarily a dormitory town for Bristol
and its environs, although a range of services industries has grown up. The headquarters of Avon and Somerset Constabulary
are based in Portishead.
, and was locally known as Posset.
The town’s recorded history dates back to Roman
times, although there is also evidence of prehistoric settlement, including polished Flint axe
heads. There were also Iron Age settlements in the area of which Cadbury Camp
was the largest. Other sites that have been identified include a 1200 by site which was successively occupied by the Romans, Britons
and Danes. There is some evidence that it may have been the western end of the Wansdyke
an early medieval
or possibly Roman
boundary with a series of defensive linear earthwork
s extending to the Savernake Forest
near Marlborough in Wiltshire
.
After the Norman Conquest the manor was held by the Bishop of Coutances and later reverted to the crown, after which William II
gave it to a merchant from Bristol known as Harding and then to his son Robert Fitzharding
who became Lord of Berkeley
. The Berkeley family held it for generations until it passed by marriage to the Cokes of Holkham
in Norfolk
. In the 14th century it belonged to Everard le Frenshe. In 1621 the Bristol Corporation purchased large portions of land in Portishead and revived the Manor Court. The rights of the corporation over the manor was disputed but they held it until 1836 when they sold it for £8,050. The parish of Portishead was part of the Portbury
Hundred.
The town was built on the mouth of a small tributary of the Severn Estuary
near the mouth of the River Avon. The old pill or jetty
provided protection for craft against the Bristol Channel
's large tidal range, and iron
rings can be seen in the high street at which fishing boats used to moor. Its position meant Portishead was used to guard the "King Road", as the waters around the headland are called. In 1497 it was the departure point for John Cabot
on the Matthew
. A fort was built on Battery Point, and was used during the English Civil War
when the town supported the Royalists, but surrendered to Fairfax
in 1645. Guns were also placed at Battery Point during World War II
. The Kingroad was the site of a naval action when HMS Antelope captured HMS Belliqueux
one of a French squadron returning from Quebec
.
A mill was built on Welhay stream but this was replaced by tidal mills. In the 17th century the City of Bristol bought the manors of North Weston
and Portishead for access to the channel and as a place to stay outside of the city and, in the 19th century, as a seaside resort. An outer sea wall was built allowing the local marshes to be drained and increased the land available for farming. The dominant architecture is early Victorian
, with some buildings maintaining their original features. The expansion in residential property coincided with the construction of the dock, pier and the rail link to Bristol. The Royal Hotel by the pier was built in a Tudor Gothic style in 1830, to provide accommodation and catering for travellers on the steamers from Bristol, Wales
and Ireland
.
of 1331. Around the 1860s, at the height of the iron and steel era, a pier
and a deep-water dock
were built by the Bristol & Portishead Pier and Railway
to accommodate the large ships that had difficulty in reaching Bristol Harbour
. They brought valuable cargoes from across the globe and exported local products overseas. Ships carrying coal
were commonplace in Portishead Docks.
In the 1880s Portishead Dock was acquired by Bristol Corporation, and was subsequently managed as part of the Port of Bristol
until its closure.
The Portishead power station
s were coal-fed power station
s built next to the dock. Construction work started on Portishead "A" power station in 1926. It began generating electricity in 1929 for the Bristol Corporation's
Electricity Department. In 1937 its original six short chimney stacks were replaced by a 350 ft (106.7 m) high stack. A second 350 ft (106.7 m) stack was added when the power station was expanded in 1948.
Construction of Portishead "B" power station began in 1949; it became operational in 1955. The power stations became part of the nationalised electricity industry after 1949, and were operated in turn by the British Electricity Authority
, the Central Electricity Authority
and the CEGB
. They used some local coal produced in the Somerset coalfield
, which was delivered by train along the Portishead branch
of the Great Western Railway
(GWR). The line had opened on 12 April 1867 as the Bristol and Portishead Pier and Railway Company; it opened to the dock on 5 July 1879. The main supply of coal was imported from South Wales
, from Newport
and Ely
, by boat into the dock; it was carried by Osborn & Wallis of Bristol.
Portishead had two passenger stations on the GWR's Portishead branch line
. The main station was near the centre of the village of Portishead, as it was then; the other was at the Pier. The construction of Portishead "B" power station caused the original railway station to be demolished and a replacement station was opened in the High Street on 2 January 1954. The new station
closed on 7 September 1964.
The majority of the line was reopened in 2002, to transport freight from the Royal Portbury Dock
. A new junction was created, 3 miles (4.8 km) from Portishead station, and a new freight line built from there to the Royal Portbury Dock. There is a campaign group aimed at reopening the station and the short stretch of unopened line.
Portishead also had a second, short-lived, railway line: the Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Railway
. It ran between Weston-super-Mare
and Clevedon
as a standard railway line, and between Clevedon and Portishead as a light railway
. The Clevedon to Portishead extension opened on 7 August 1907. The line closed on 19 May 1940 and was then dismantled by the GWR.
built a chemical works on the opposite side of the dock from the power stations. The chemical works produced white phosphorus
from phosphate
rock imported, through the docks, into the UK. Phosphate rock was stored in concrete
silos
on the dockside until it was required. Electricity provided by the local power stations was used to run six 7.5 megawatt electric arc furnace
s (45 MW total) that reduced the phosphate rock. The phosphorus was then moved in sealed railway tanks to Oldbury
and to Kirkby
. After the closure of the factory the decontamination included the removal of yellow (spontaneously combustible) and red allotropes of phosphorus. The site is now home to Portishead volunteer coastguard.
(oil-fired) and Didcot
(coal-fired) in the mid-1970s brought about the closure of the older, less efficient "A" Station. One generator (500 MW) of four at each of the new power stations had almost the same output of both Portishead Stations combined ("A" Station 200 MW, "B" Station 360 MW).
The newer of the two power stations ("B" Station) was converted to burn oil
when the Somerset coalfields closed. The two Radstock
pits ceased production in September 1973 and the last train load of coal departed on 16 November 1973. The price of oil rose steeply in the 1970s (see 1973 oil crisis
and 1979 oil crisis) and the two power stations were little used after these events.
Portishead "A" power station was closed in 1976; and the first of its two chimney stacks, a landmark, was demolished in September 1981, followed by the second in August 1982. Portishead "B" power station closed in 1982 and both of its 383 feet (116.7 m) stacks were demolished in October 1992.
Industrial activities ceased in the dock with the closure of the power stations. The Port of Bristol Authority finally closed the dock in 1992.
. The area of the town formerly occupied by the two power stations has also been redeveloped to provide a wide range of housing, from social housing to grand apartments. Development is also underway on the Portbury Ashlands
to the east of the harbour (so-called because they were the dumping ground for power station waste) extending the area of the town further towards Portbury.
One of the major changes that has helped to shape the town's rapid development is the conversion of a traditional deep-water dock in to a new marina housing some 245 yachts and cabin cruisers. The original dock enabled ships to supply coal to the two adjacent power stations. Since then the marina has become a waterfront development known as Port Marine, incorporating a fishing village modelled on the Cornish
seaside town of Polperro
with narrow streets and multi-coloured houses. New waterside bars and restaurants have opened, and further shops, pubs and restaurants are scheduled to open in the future.
which permits directly dialled calls made from any BT landline in the UK. The radio station had separate transmitting and receiving stations. They were constructed by the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company and operated by the General Post Office
(GPO). By 1936, the station had a staff of 60 radio officers who handled over 3 million words of radio traffic per year. Following the privatisation of the GPO's telephone network in 1981, the station was operated by British Telecommunications PLC (now known as BT Group PLC). The main transmitting station, which was remotely operated, originally consisted of a large array of radio masts at nearby Portishead Downs; it was replaced by a single radio mast at Clevedon
. It was used until 1970s. The receiving station's control centre and radio masts were located at Highbridge
, near Burnham-on-Sea
.
The radio station played a vital role during World War II
in maintaining communications with the British merchant navy
and with patrol aircraft in the North Atlantic. During the war, all communications with ships were one-way in order to avoid revealing the ships' locations to the enemy. The station was short-staffed because many were on secondments to various government services, such as operating other radio stations and training new radio officers to work in naval convoys. In 1943, the workload was so great that a Royal Navy
officer and 18 telegraphists were brought in from HMS Flowerdown, a Naval Shore Wireless Service station near Winchester
.
By the end of the 1980s, satellite communications had started to take an increasing share of the station's business, and a programme of severe rationalisation was started, leading to the closure of two transmitting sites at Leafield and Ongar. In the radio station's penultimate year to March 1999, there were on average per month 571 radio telegrams, 533 radio telephone calls, and 4,001 radio telex calls. In 1998, British Telecom Maritime Radio Services announced its planned closure of Portishead Radio. The long-range services (HF bands 3–30 MHz) ceased at midnight on 31 August 1999. The short-range VHF maritime band services (156–174 MHz) closed at 12:00 on Sunday 30 April 2000, and the medium-range services (MF maritime band 1.6–3.0 MHz) at 12:00 on Friday 30 June. The station closed in April 2000. The Highbridge station has been demolished. Sedgemoor
District Council adopted a local development plan in September 2004 that included the site of the receiving station for future housing development. Planning permission was granted in October 2007 for a development of 190 houses and flats on the site and shortly afterwards the old radio station buildings were demolished.
. The council is made up of 18 councillors representing six wards: Portishead Central, Portishead Coast, Portishead East, Portishead South & North Weston, Portishead Redcliffe Bay, and Portishead West. It 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 town 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 town council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, such as the village hall
or community centre
, playing field
s and playground
s, 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.
The town falls within the unitary authority
of North Somerset
, although the area below high water mark
, including the pier, is within Bristol
. Before 1974, the parish was part of the Long Ashton Rural District
. The police service is provided by Avon and Somerset Constabulary
. Avon Fire and Rescue Service
has a fire station in Portishead manned by retained firefighters, equipped with two water tenders each holding 1,800 litres. The Great Western Ambulance Service
has responsibility for the area.
The parish is part of the North Somerset
county constituency of the House of Commons. It has been represented since 1992 by Liam Fox
, a member of the Conservative Party
, who was Secretary of State for Defence
.
It is also part of the South West England constituency
of the European Parliament
.
. It lies north west of Clevedon
and immediately south west of Avonmouth
just across the River Avon
which forms the boundary between Somerset and Bristol
. The city of Bristol is 6 miles (9.7 km) to the east and Portishead is approximately 110 miles (177 km) west of London
.
The area immediately inland includes the Gordano Valley
which has been designated as a National Nature Reserve
. The valley runs roughly north-east to south-west, between Carboniferous Limestone ridges extending along the coastline between Clevedon and Portishead, and another ridge extending between Clevedon and Easton in Gordano
. The area includes the villages of Clapton in Gordano
, Weston in Gordano
, Easton in Gordano
, Walton in Gordano
, Portbury
and Sheepway. The M5 motorway
runs along the south side of the valley, splitting briefly into two levels – the south-west-bound level running above the north-east-bound carriageway. The Gordano motorway service station
is at the eastern end of the valley, near the Royal Portbury Dock
and the Avonmouth Bridge
. There is no river Gordano – much of the valley is reclaimed land barely above sea level, drained by ditches (known locally as "rhyne
s"). The rhynes previously managed by the now amalgamated Gordano Valley Internal Drainage Board
are now the responsibility of the North Somerset Internal Drainage Board. An area comprising a total of 161.68 hectare
s has been designated as a biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest, for ornithological, entomological and stratigraphic interest., notification originally having taken place in 1971. Several sites in the valley are managed by the Avon Wildlife Trust
as nature reserves. These include; Weston Big Wood
, Clapton Moor, Weston Moor and Walton Common
. The name Gordano comes from Old English and is descriptive of the triangular shape of the whole valley from Clevedon to Portishead, being the ablative singular of the Latinised
form of Gorden meaning muddy valley.
Denny Island
is a small rocky island of 0.6 acre (0.2428116 ha), with scrub vegetation, approximately three miles north of Portishead. Its rocky southern foreshore marks the boundary between England
and Wales
, but the island itself is reckoned administratively to Monmouthshire
, Wales. The tidal rise and fall in the Severn Estuary
and Bristol Channel
can be as great as 49 ft (15 m), second only to Bay of Fundy
in Eastern Canada
. There has been concern about pollution levels from industrial areas in Wales and at the eastern end of the Bristol Channel, however this tends to be diluted by the Atlantic waters. There are measurable levels of chemical pollutants, but little is known about their effects. Of particular concern are the levels of cadmium
and to a lesser degree residual pesticides and hydrocarbons.
Portishead Pier to Black Nore SSSI
is a 177 acres (71.6 ha) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1952. The Portishead Pier Section is made up of alluvial sandstones, the best exposure of Upper Carboniferous rocks in the Avonmouth Coalfield. The cliff and foreshore exposures around Portishead Point provide important exposures of geological structures form during the Variscan mountain building
episode in the Carboniferous Period of geological history. Also included are important exposures of the Devonian
sequence that yield several species of fossil fish. Holoptychius
scales are the most abundant fossils, but teeth scales of other species are also relatively common. Notably amongst the collection from this bed are plates of arthrodires, including Groenlandaspis
. Eastwood and Battery Point Local Nature Reserve
is a 9 hectares (22.2 acre) woodland containing Yew
, Maple
, Dogs mercury and beech
.
The Lake Grounds area, built in the early 20th century around an artificial lake, is the town's main park. Adjacent to the beach and esplanade is a 100 year old artificial lake, a cricket pitch surrounded by sloping lawns interspersed with specimen trees. One of the UK's few surviving outdoor swimming pools
is situated on the shore next to the Lake Grounds and is open during the summer months. In 2009, the outdoor pool was renovated by a team filming for American TV programme Ty's Great British Adventure
. Above the Lake grounds is Battery Point, where a gun battery
was sited to protect the Severn Estuary
from invasion fleets.
, Portishead has a temperate climate
generally wetter and milder than the rest of England. The annual mean temperature is about 10 °C (50 °F) with seasonal and diurnal
variations, but the modifying effect of the sea restricts the range to less than that in most other parts of the United Kingdom. January is the coldest month with mean minimum temperatures between 1 °C (34 °F) and 2 °C (36 °F). July and August are the warmest, with mean daily maxima around 21 °C (70 °F). In general, December is the dullest month and June the sunniest. The south-west of England enjoys a favoured location, particularly in summer, when the Azores High
extends its influence north-eastwards towards the UK.
Cloud
often forms inland, especially near hills, and reduces exposure to sunshine. The average annual sunshine is about 1,600 hours. Rainfall
tends to be associated with Atlantic depressions
or with convection. In summer, convection caused by solar surface heating sometimes forms shower cloud
s and a large proportion of the annual precipitation falls from showers and thunderstorms at this time of year. Average rainfall is around 800–900 mm (31–35 in). About 8–15 days of snowfall is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind
speeds, with June to August having the lightest; the prevailing wind direction is from the south-west.
, with a growth rate of 40 per cent, which is considerably in excess of surrounding towns. As the result of a house-building programme, a further 8,000 people are expected to settle in the area over the next few years, making Portishead one of the largest towns in North Somerset
.
, which has its headquarters on the western edge of the town, Gordano School
, and numerous care homes for the elderly, as well as a retail complex. The Victorian High Street has retained a "local shop identity" with shops such as Morgan-Westley, The Outlet, Juicy Jones and many shops such as Careys DIY and Zebra; despite some larger DIY chains and supermarkets being built—Homebase
, Argos
, Waitrose
, Dreams
, New Look, Peacocks and Pets at Home
. In January 2010, Sainsbury's applied for planning permission to build a new store, soon followed by Lidl
, Travelodge
and a Subway
.
The red brick Nautical National School was built by Edward Gabriel in 1905, at a cost of £30,000. Previously it had been based on the training ship HMS Formidable
and operated until 1983. It is now part of a private gated community known as Fedden Village.
The remains of a former windmill, built in 1832 but disused since 1846, were rebuilt into a two-storey house and then, in 1908, incorporated into a golf club house. The building has since been developed into a food orientated pub.
A 9 metres (29.5 ft) high lighthouse was built at Battery Point in March 1931 by the Chance Brothers
of Smethwick
. The lighthouse is currently maintained by the Bristol
Port Company.
line. The cost has been estimated at £28 million, and feasibility plans are being considered.
The main A369 road
, known after the historical name for the area as "The Portbury Hundred", which links the town to the nearby M5 motorway
, is often congested, especially during rush hours. Major traffic-flow modifications have caused much controversy because they are widely seen as having caused queuing where none existed before. More than 4,000 residents signed a petition
to North Somerset
Council expressing concern at the development.
In September 2009 a trial was undertaken to turn off Traffic light
s in Portishead. It was conducted in association with North Somerset Council, Martin Cassini
and Colin Buchanan
, it went permanent after some journey times reportedly fell by over 50% with no measured reduction in pedestrian safety, despite greater numbers now using the route (over 2000 vehicles and 300 pedestrians an hour).
Portishead is served by several Bus services, including the half hourly 358 and 359 services to Bristol Bus Station, The hourly 357 service also to Bristol Bus Station. It is also served by local buses such as the 660 to Congresbury and the 692 to Nailsea.
of North Somerset provides support for 78 schools, delivering education to approximately 28,000 pupils. Infant and primary schools in Portishead include: High Down Infant and Junior, Portishead Primary, St. Barnabas C of E Primary, St. Joseph's Catholic Primary, St. Peter's C of E Primary and Trinity Anglican Methodist Primary School. Secondary education is provided by Gordano School
. In 1999, the school was awarded Specialist Schools Technology College status (see awards). Gordano School enrolls approximately 1,500 students annually, ages 11–19. The official opening took place on 12 July 1957. The school had cost £146,000 and still needed work to the playing fields. By September of that year, pupil numbers had increased to 500 and councillors were demanding more classrooms. The increase was attributed to the "post-war bulge". In September 1975, £209,000 was allocated for new buildings. Gordano was named the "Big Experiment" as it became Somerset's first comprehensive school, with 900 students and 30 teachers. The education department forecast the school numbers would treble by 1975. In 1994, an astroturf
sports playing surface was laid at a cost of £260,000. Numbers had grown to 1,589 students and 88 teachers.
Church of St Peter
(shown right) was built in 1320 and rebuilt in the 14th and 15th centuries in the Perpendicular Gothic style. In 1952 it was made a Grade I listed building. The four-stage tower is a prominent landmark, with set back buttresses and a pierced parapet
. The church was altered in 1978–1979 and has a new garden developed for the Millennium
.
The Chapel of Portishead National Nautical School (now The Fedden Village) in Nore Road, dates from 1911. It is dedicated to St. Nicholas and is also a listed building.
There is also a thriving URC
church which dates from 6 March 1840. One of the early benefactors was Henry Overton Wills of the Wills tobacco family, who were staunch Congregationalists.
as well as funds from the Town Council and North Somerset Council. It houses a large swimming pool, leisure and play pools, indoor bowls, six badminton courts, a gymnasium, a fun room for toddlers, a cafeteria and a licensed bar. Other sporting facilities in the town include open-air tennis
courts, a large outdoor swimming-pool opened in 1962, a boating lake, cricket
grounds, football and hockey
pitches as well as many cycle lanes. The cricket club dates back to the 19th century.
Portishead Town F.C. played in small regional leagues for years until joining the Somerset County League
in 1975. They won the Premier Division title four times in five years between 1993–94 and 1997–98. After their fourth successive runner-up campaign in the 2004–05 season, Portishead successfully applied for promotion to the Western League
. In Portishead's first season of Western League football they finished in the top half of the table only to better their performance the following season. In 2006–07 Portishead achieved their highest ever finish in the history of the club, finishing runners-up to Truro City
.
group Portishead took their name from the town, despite describing it as their "dreary home-town". Chaos UK
is a punk band that was formed in Portishead in 1979. The town was also the birthplace of Scrumpy and Western
star Adge Cutler
.
There are various groups and societies in the town, including the Gordano society that is involved in history, conservation, environment, planning and wildlife issues, a horticultural society, and the Portishead Railway Group that is campaigning for the Portishead to Bristol railway line to be re-opened. There are also church and youth organisations such as the Portishead Youth Club, a choral society, which was formed in 1955, and an annual carnival.
A public art programme started in 1999 from the marina development, due to a planning agreement between the developers (Crest Nicholson
and Persimmon Homes) and North Somerset Council. An art trail takes in 28 public art works around the marina and Ashlands development.
a small town of approximately 6,000 inhabitants about 3 miles (4.8 km) from the city of 's-Hertogenbosch, capital of the Province of North Brabant
in the Netherlands. Den Dungen was a separate municipality until 1996, when it was merged with Sint-Michielsgestel
. Dating back to the 11th century, 'Den Bosch' is a bustling, modern city with an annual International Jazz Festival.
In 1992 a further twinning arrangement was made with Schweich
the principal town in a municipality of some 20,000 people 6 miles (9.7 km) from the Roman city of Trier. This municipality is in the Trier-Saarburg
district, in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany. It is situated on the river Moselle
, about 6 miles (9.7 km) northeast of Trier
. Schweich is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde
("collective municipality") Schweich an der Römischen Weinstraße
.
Severn Estuary
The Severn Estuary is the estuary of the River Severn, the longest river in Great Britain. Its high tidal range means it has been at the centre of discussions in the UK regarding renewable energy.-Geography:...
within the unitary authority
Unitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
of North Somerset
North Somerset
North Somerset is a unitary authority in England. Its area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset but it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters is in the town hall in Weston-super-Mare....
, which falls within the ceremonial county
Ceremonial counties of England
The ceremonial counties are areas of England to which are appointed a Lord Lieutenant, and are defined by the government as counties and areas for the purposes of the Lieutenancies Act 1997 with reference to the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England and Lieutenancies Act 1997...
of Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
England. It has a population of 22,000, an increase of over 3,000 since the 2001 census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, with a growth rate of 40 per cent, considerably in excess of surrounding towns.
Portishead has a long history as a fishing port. It expanded rapidly during the early 19th century around the docks, with supporting transport infrastructure. A power station
Portishead power station
Portishead Power Station refers to a series of two coal and oil-fired power stations. They were built in the dock area of Portishead in Somerset, South West England....
and chemical works were added in the 20th century, but the dock and industrial facilities have since declined, redeveloped into a marina and residential areas. Portishead was also the telephone control centre used by British Telecom (BT) for non-direct dialled calls to maritime vessels, a service known as Portishead Radio
Portishead Radio
Portishead Radio was a radio station in England that provided worldwide maritime communications and long-range aeronautical communications from 1928 until 2000. It was the world's largest and busiest radiotelephony station...
.
The town's population is expanding, served by several retail outlets, religious, educational and sporting venues. Portishead is now primarily a dormitory town for Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
and its environs, although a range of services industries has grown up. The headquarters of Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Avon & Somerset Constabulary is the territorial police force in England responsible for policing the non-metropolitan county of Somerset, the city & county of Bristol and the unitary authorities of South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset; before 1996 these districts...
are based in Portishead.
History
The name Portishead derives from the "port at the head of the river". It has been called Portshead and Portschute at times in its history and Portesheve in the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
, and was locally known as Posset.
The town’s recorded history dates back to Roman
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
times, although there is also evidence of prehistoric settlement, including polished Flint axe
Flint axe
A flint axe was a Flint tool used during prehistoric times to perform a variety of tasks. These were at first just a cut piece of flint stone used as a hand axe but later wooden handles were attached to these axe heads. The stone exhibits a glass-like fracture similar to obsidian, and can be...
heads. There were also Iron Age settlements in the area of which Cadbury Camp
Cadbury Camp
Cadbury Camp is an Iron Age hill fort in Somerset, England, near the village of Tickenham. Local legends associate it with Arthurian England and Camelot, though these may be due to confusion with the better-known Cadbury Castle, near South Cadbury some 50 miles to the south. The hill fort is well...
was the largest. Other sites that have been identified include a 1200 by site which was successively occupied by the Romans, Britons
Britons (historical)
The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...
and Danes. There is some evidence that it may have been the western end of the Wansdyke
Wansdyke (earthwork)
Wansdyke is a series of early medieval defensive linear earthworks in the West Country of England, consisting of a ditch and a running embankment from the ditch spoil, with the ditching facing north. It runs at least from Maes Knoll in historic Somerset, a hillfort at the east end of Dundry Hill...
an early medieval
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...
or possibly Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
boundary with a series of defensive linear earthwork
Earthworks (archaeology)
In archaeology, earthwork is a general term to describe artificial changes in land level. Earthworks are often known colloquially as 'lumps and bumps'. Earthworks can themselves be archaeological features or they can show features beneath the surface...
s extending to the Savernake Forest
Savernake Forest
Savernake Forest is on a Cretaceous chalk plateau between Marlborough and Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, England. Its area is approximately .It is privately owned by the Trustees of Savernake Estate, the Earl of Cardigan, and his family solicitor. Since 1939 the running of the forest has been...
near Marlborough in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
.
After the Norman Conquest the manor was held by the Bishop of Coutances and later reverted to the crown, after which William II
William II of England
William II , the third son of William I of England, was King of England from 1087 until 1100, with powers over Normandy, and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales...
gave it to a merchant from Bristol known as Harding and then to his son Robert Fitzharding
Robert Fitzharding
Robert Fitzharding was an Englishman from Bristol who rose to the feudal barony of Berkeley and founded the family which still holds Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, the castle whose construction he started...
who became Lord of Berkeley
Berkeley, Gloucestershire
Berkeley is a town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It lies in the Vale of Berkeley between the east bank of the River Severn and the M5 motorway within the Stroud administrative district. The town is noted for Berkeley Castle where the imprisoned Edward II was murdered.- Geography...
. The Berkeley family held it for generations until it passed by marriage to the Cokes of Holkham
Holkham
Holkham is a village and civil parish in the north-west of the county of Norfolk, England. Besides the small village, the parish includes the major stately home and estate of Holkham Hall, and an attractive beach at Holkham Gap...
in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
. In the 14th century it belonged to Everard le Frenshe. In 1621 the Bristol Corporation purchased large portions of land in Portishead and revived the Manor Court. The rights of the corporation over the manor was disputed but they held it until 1836 when they sold it for £8,050. The parish of Portishead was part of the Portbury
Portbury (hundred)
The Hundred of Portbury is one of the 40 historical Hundreds in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, dating from before the Norman conquest during the Anglo-Saxon era although exact dates are unknown. Each hundred had a 'fyrd', which acted as the local defence force and a court which was...
Hundred.
The town was built on the mouth of a small tributary of the Severn Estuary
Severn Estuary
The Severn Estuary is the estuary of the River Severn, the longest river in Great Britain. Its high tidal range means it has been at the centre of discussions in the UK regarding renewable energy.-Geography:...
near the mouth of the River Avon. The old pill or jetty
Jetty
A jetty is any of a variety of structures used in river, dock, and maritime works that are generally carried out in pairs from river banks, or in continuation of river channels at their outlets into deep water; or out into docks, and outside their entrances; or for forming basins along the...
provided protection for craft against the Bristol Channel
Bristol Channel
The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...
's large tidal range, and iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
rings can be seen in the high street at which fishing boats used to moor. Its position meant Portishead was used to guard the "King Road", as the waters around the headland are called. In 1497 it was the departure point for John Cabot
John Cabot
John Cabot was an Italian navigator and explorer whose 1497 discovery of parts of North America is commonly held to have been the first European encounter with the continent of North America since the Norse Vikings in the eleventh century...
on the Matthew
Matthew (ship)
The Matthew was a caravel sailed by John Cabot in 1497 from Bristol to North America, presumably Newfoundland. After a voyage which had got no further than Iceland, Cabot left again with only one vessel, the Matthew, a small ship , but fast and able. The crew consisted of only 18 people. The...
. A fort was built on Battery Point, and was used during the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
when the town supported the Royalists, but surrendered to Fairfax
Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron
Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron was a general and parliamentary commander-in-chief during the English Civil War...
in 1645. Guns were also placed at Battery Point during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The Kingroad was the site of a naval action when HMS Antelope captured HMS Belliqueux
HMS Belliqueux (1758)
Belliqueux was a 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1756.She was captured on 2 November 1758 by in the Irish Sea. She was taken into the Royal Navy and commissioned as the third rate HMS Belliqueux.The captains were:...
one of a French squadron returning from Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
.
A mill was built on Welhay stream but this was replaced by tidal mills. In the 17th century the City of Bristol bought the manors of North Weston
North Weston, Somerset
North Weston is a village in the North Somerset district of Somerset, England. It lies between Portishead and Weston-in-Gordano, within the town council area of Portishead and North Weston. In the 2001 census the North Weston ward had a population of 3,890.At the north end of the village is...
and Portishead for access to the channel and as a place to stay outside of the city and, in the 19th century, as a seaside resort. An outer sea wall was built allowing the local marshes to be drained and increased the land available for farming. The dominant architecture is early Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
, with some buildings maintaining their original features. The expansion in residential property coincided with the construction of the dock, pier and the rail link to Bristol. The Royal Hotel by the pier was built in a Tudor Gothic style in 1830, to provide accommodation and catering for travellers on the steamers from Bristol, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.
Portishead dock
The Act of Parliament governing the enclosure of Portishead was passed in 1814, and stipulated the right to a public wharf, although there is historical evidence of nautical connections dating back to the Patent RollsPatent Rolls
The Patent Rolls are primary sources for English history, a record of the King of England's correspondence, starting in 1202....
of 1331. Around the 1860s, at the height of the iron and steel era, a pier
Pier
A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...
and a deep-water dock
Dock (maritime)
A dock is a human-made structure or group of structures involved in the handling of boats or ships, usually on or close to a shore.However, the exact meaning varies among different variants of the English language...
were built by the Bristol & Portishead Pier and Railway
Portishead Railway
The Portishead Railway was a branch line railway running from Portishead in Somerset to the Great Western Main Line in Bristol, England. It was constructed in the 1860s by the Bristol & Portishead Pier and Railway, which was incorporated to build a pier and a broad gauge link to the Bristol and...
to accommodate the large ships that had difficulty in reaching Bristol Harbour
Bristol Harbour
Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of . It has existed since the 13th century but was developed into its current form in the early 19th century by installing lock gates on a tidal stretch of the River Avon in the centre of the city and...
. They brought valuable cargoes from across the globe and exported local products overseas. Ships carrying coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
were commonplace in Portishead Docks.
In the 1880s Portishead Dock was acquired by Bristol Corporation, and was subsequently managed as part of the Port of Bristol
Port of Bristol
The Port of Bristol comprises the commercial, and former commercial, docks situated in and near the city of Bristol in England. The Port of Bristol Authority was the commercial title of the Bristol City, Avonmouth, Portishead and Royal Portbury Docks when they were operated by Bristol City Council,...
until its closure.
Portishead power stations
Portishead power station
Portishead Power Station refers to a series of two coal and oil-fired power stations. They were built in the dock area of Portishead in Somerset, South West England....
s were coal-fed power station
Power station
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
s built next to the dock. Construction work started on Portishead "A" power station in 1926. It began generating electricity in 1929 for the Bristol Corporation's
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
Electricity Department. In 1937 its original six short chimney stacks were replaced by a 350 ft (106.7 m) high stack. A second 350 ft (106.7 m) stack was added when the power station was expanded in 1948.
Construction of Portishead "B" power station began in 1949; it became operational in 1955. The power stations became part of the nationalised electricity industry after 1949, and were operated in turn by the British Electricity Authority
British Electricity Authority
The British Electricity Authority was established in 1948 with the nationalisation of the Great Britain's electricity supply industry. It was created by means of the Electricity Act 1947...
, the Central Electricity Authority
Central Electricity Authority (UK)
The Central Electricity Authority was a body that ran the electricity supply industry in England and Wales between 1954 and 1957. The CEA replaced the earlier British Electricity Authority as a result of the Electricity Reorganisation Act 1954, which moved responsibility for Scottish electricity...
and the CEGB
CEGB
The Central Electricity Generating Board was the cornerstone of the British electricity industry for almost 40 years; from 1957, to privatisation in the 1990s....
. They used some local coal produced in the Somerset coalfield
Somerset coalfield
The Somerset Coalfield included pits in the North Somerset, England, area where coal was mined from the 15th century until 1973.It is part of a wider coalfield which covered northern Somerset and southern Gloucestershire. It stretched from Cromhall in the north to the Mendip Hills in the south, and...
, which was delivered by train along the Portishead branch
Portishead Railway
The Portishead Railway was a branch line railway running from Portishead in Somerset to the Great Western Main Line in Bristol, England. It was constructed in the 1860s by the Bristol & Portishead Pier and Railway, which was incorporated to build a pier and a broad gauge link to the Bristol and...
of the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
(GWR). The line had opened on 12 April 1867 as the Bristol and Portishead Pier and Railway Company; it opened to the dock on 5 July 1879. The main supply of coal was imported from South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
, from Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
and Ely
Ely, Cardiff
Ely is a community primarily dominated by council housing in western Cardiff, capital of Wales.-The Roman era:In Roman times, Ely was the site of a Roman villa, near the old racecourse...
, by boat into the dock; it was carried by Osborn & Wallis of Bristol.
Railways
Portishead Railway
The Portishead Railway was a branch line railway running from Portishead in Somerset to the Great Western Main Line in Bristol, England. It was constructed in the 1860s by the Bristol & Portishead Pier and Railway, which was incorporated to build a pier and a broad gauge link to the Bristol and...
. The main station was near the centre of the village of Portishead, as it was then; the other was at the Pier. The construction of Portishead "B" power station caused the original railway station to be demolished and a replacement station was opened in the High Street on 2 January 1954. The new station
Portishead railway station
Portishead railway station was opened by the Bristol and Portishead Pier and Railway in 1867; it was approximately from the village of Portishead. After the opening of the Pier in 1870, the line was extended with an additional railway station opened by the pier...
closed on 7 September 1964.
The majority of the line was reopened in 2002, to transport freight from the Royal Portbury Dock
Royal Portbury Dock
The Royal Portbury Dock is part of the Port of Bristol, in England. It is situated near the village of Portbury on the southern side of the mouth of the Avon, where the river joins the Severn estuary — the Avonmouth Docks are on the opposite side of the Avon, within Avonmouth...
. A new junction was created, 3 miles (4.8 km) from Portishead station, and a new freight line built from there to the Royal Portbury Dock. There is a campaign group aimed at reopening the station and the short stretch of unopened line.
Portishead also had a second, short-lived, railway line: the Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Railway
Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Railway
The Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Light Railway was conceived and built initially as a tramway to link the three small North Somerset coastal towns of Weston-super-Mare, Clevedon and Portishead in the 1880s.-Overview:...
. It ran between Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare is a seaside resort, town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which is within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located on the Bristol Channel coast, south west of Bristol, spanning the coast between the bounding high ground of Worlebury...
and Clevedon
Clevedon
Clevedon is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset, England...
as a standard railway line, and between Clevedon and Portishead as a light railway
Light railway
Light railway refers to a railway built at lower costs and to lower standards than typical "heavy rail". This usually means the railway uses lighter weight track, and is more steeply graded and tightly curved to avoid civil engineering costs...
. The Clevedon to Portishead extension opened on 7 August 1907. The line closed on 19 May 1940 and was then dismantled by the GWR.
Albright and Wilson
In 1951, Albright and WilsonAlbright and Wilson
Albright and Wilson was founded in 1856 as a United Kingdom manufacturer of potassium chlorate and white phosphorus for the match industry. For much of its first 100 years of existence, phosphorus-derived chemicals formed the majority of its products....
built a chemical works on the opposite side of the dock from the power stations. The chemical works produced white phosphorus
Phosphorus
Phosphorus is the chemical element that has the symbol P and atomic number 15. A multivalent nonmetal of the nitrogen group, phosphorus as a mineral is almost always present in its maximally oxidized state, as inorganic phosphate rocks...
from phosphate
Phosphate
A phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in...
rock imported, through the docks, into the UK. Phosphate rock was stored in concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
silos
Storage silo
A silo is a structure for storing bulk materials. Silos are used in agriculture to store grain or fermented feed known as silage. Silos are more commonly used for bulk storage of grain, coal, cement, carbon black, woodchips, food products and sawdust. Three types of silos are in widespread use...
on the dockside until it was required. Electricity provided by the local power stations was used to run six 7.5 megawatt electric arc furnace
Electric arc furnace
An electric arc furnace is a furnace that heats charged material by means of an electric arc.Arc furnaces range in size from small units of approximately one ton capacity up to about 400 ton units used for secondary steelmaking...
s (45 MW total) that reduced the phosphate rock. The phosphorus was then moved in sealed railway tanks to Oldbury
Oldbury, West Midlands
Oldbury is a town in the West Midlands in England. It is a part of the Black Country and the administrative centre of the borough of Sandwell.-Local government:...
and to Kirkby
Kirkby
Kirkby is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in the metropolitan county of Merseyside in England. The town was developed from the 1950s through 1970s as a means to house the overspill of Liverpool. It is situated roughly north of Huyton, the administrative HQ of the borough and about...
. After the closure of the factory the decontamination included the removal of yellow (spontaneously combustible) and red allotropes of phosphorus. The site is now home to Portishead volunteer coastguard.
Closure of the dock and associated facilities
The onset of new generating capacity at PembrokePembroke Power Station
Pembroke B Power Station is a 2,000 MWe natural gas-fired power station currently under construction near Pembroke in Wales. The new power station is being built on the site of the former oil-fired power station which closed in 1997 and demolished in 2000....
(oil-fired) and Didcot
Didcot Power Station
Didcot Power Station refers to a combined coal and oil power plant and a natural-gas power plant that supply the National Grid. They are situated immediately adjoining one another in the civil parish of Sutton Courtenay, next to the town of Didcot in Oxfordshire , in the UK...
(coal-fired) in the mid-1970s brought about the closure of the older, less efficient "A" Station. One generator (500 MW) of four at each of the new power stations had almost the same output of both Portishead Stations combined ("A" Station 200 MW, "B" Station 360 MW).
The newer of the two power stations ("B" Station) was converted to burn oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
when the Somerset coalfields closed. The two Radstock
Radstock
Radstock is a town in Somerset, England, south west of Bath, and north west of Frome. It is within the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset and had a population of 5,275 according to the 2001 Census...
pits ceased production in September 1973 and the last train load of coal departed on 16 November 1973. The price of oil rose steeply in the 1970s (see 1973 oil crisis
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...
and 1979 oil crisis) and the two power stations were little used after these events.
Portishead "A" power station was closed in 1976; and the first of its two chimney stacks, a landmark, was demolished in September 1981, followed by the second in August 1982. Portishead "B" power station closed in 1982 and both of its 383 feet (116.7 m) stacks were demolished in October 1992.
Industrial activities ceased in the dock with the closure of the power stations. The Port of Bristol Authority finally closed the dock in 1992.
Redevelopment of the docks
The harbour area has been developed to provide a marinaMarina
A marina is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo from freighters....
. The area of the town formerly occupied by the two power stations has also been redeveloped to provide a wide range of housing, from social housing to grand apartments. Development is also underway on the Portbury Ashlands
Portbury Ashlands
Portbury Ashlands which is now known as Portbury Wharf Nature Reserve is a nature reserve between Portishead and the Royal Portbury Dock in Somerset, England. It was formed from the redevelopment of the area of Portishead formerly occupied by two power stations...
to the east of the harbour (so-called because they were the dumping ground for power station waste) extending the area of the town further towards Portbury.
One of the major changes that has helped to shape the town's rapid development is the conversion of a traditional deep-water dock in to a new marina housing some 245 yachts and cabin cruisers. The original dock enabled ships to supply coal to the two adjacent power stations. Since then the marina has become a waterfront development known as Port Marine, incorporating a fishing village modelled on the Cornish
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
seaside town of Polperro
Polperro
Polperro is a village and fishing harbour on the south-east Cornwall coast in South West England, UK, within the civil parish of Lansallos. Situated on the River Pol, 4 miles west of the neighbouring town of Looe and west of the major city and naval port of Plymouth, it is well-known for...
with narrow streets and multi-coloured houses. New waterside bars and restaurants have opened, and further shops, pubs and restaurants are scheduled to open in the future.
Portishead Radio
Portishead was previously the telephone control centre used by British Telecom (BT) for non-direct dialled calls to maritime vessels, a service known as "Portishead Radio". This has now been largely replaced by INMARSATInmarsat
Inmarsat plc is a British satellite telecommunications company, offering global, mobile services. It provides telephony and data services to users worldwide, via portable or mobile terminals which communicate to ground stations through eleven geostationary telecommunications satellites...
which permits directly dialled calls made from any BT landline in the UK. The radio station had separate transmitting and receiving stations. They were constructed by the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company and operated by the General Post Office
General Post Office
General Post Office is the name of the British postal system from 1660 until 1969.General Post Office may also refer to:* General Post Office, Perth* General Post Office, Sydney* General Post Office, Melbourne* General Post Office, Brisbane...
(GPO). By 1936, the station had a staff of 60 radio officers who handled over 3 million words of radio traffic per year. Following the privatisation of the GPO's telephone network in 1981, the station was operated by British Telecommunications PLC (now known as BT Group PLC). The main transmitting station, which was remotely operated, originally consisted of a large array of radio masts at nearby Portishead Downs; it was replaced by a single radio mast at Clevedon
Clevedon
Clevedon is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset, England...
. It was used until 1970s. The receiving station's control centre and radio masts were located at Highbridge
Highbridge, Somerset
Highbridge is a small market town situated on the edge of the Somerset Levels near the mouth of the River Brue. It is in the County of Somerset, and is approximately north west of Taunton, the county town of Somerset. Highbridge is in the District of Sedgemoor, being situated approximately north...
, near Burnham-on-Sea
Burnham-on-Sea
Burnham-on-Sea is a town in Somerset, England, at the mouth of the River Parrett and Bridgwater Bay. Burnham was a small village until the late 18th century, when it began to grow because of its popularity as a seaside resort. It forms part of the parish of Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge...
.
The radio station played a vital role during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in maintaining communications with the British merchant navy
Merchant Navy
The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom, and describes the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency...
and with patrol aircraft in the North Atlantic. During the war, all communications with ships were one-way in order to avoid revealing the ships' locations to the enemy. The station was short-staffed because many were on secondments to various government services, such as operating other radio stations and training new radio officers to work in naval convoys. In 1943, the workload was so great that a Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
officer and 18 telegraphists were brought in from HMS Flowerdown, a Naval Shore Wireless Service station near Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
.
By the end of the 1980s, satellite communications had started to take an increasing share of the station's business, and a programme of severe rationalisation was started, leading to the closure of two transmitting sites at Leafield and Ongar. In the radio station's penultimate year to March 1999, there were on average per month 571 radio telegrams, 533 radio telephone calls, and 4,001 radio telex calls. In 1998, British Telecom Maritime Radio Services announced its planned closure of Portishead Radio. The long-range services (HF bands 3–30 MHz) ceased at midnight on 31 August 1999. The short-range VHF maritime band services (156–174 MHz) closed at 12:00 on Sunday 30 April 2000, and the medium-range services (MF maritime band 1.6–3.0 MHz) at 12:00 on Friday 30 June. The station closed in April 2000. The Highbridge station has been demolished. Sedgemoor
Sedgemoor
Sedgemoor is a low lying area of land in Somerset, England. It lies close to sea level south of the Polden Hills, historically largely marsh . The eastern part is known as King's Sedgemoor, and the western part West Sedgemoor. Sedgemoor is part of the area now known as the Somerset Levels...
District Council adopted a local development plan in September 2004 that included the site of the receiving station for future housing development. Planning permission was granted in October 2007 for a development of 190 houses and flats on the site and shortly afterwards the old radio station buildings were demolished.
Governance
The town is the larger area served by the town council of Portishead and North WestonPortishead and North Weston
Portishead and North Weston is a civil parish with a Town Council in North Somerset, England. The parish includes the coastal town of Portishead along with the village of North Weston...
. The council is made up of 18 councillors representing six wards: Portishead Central, Portishead Coast, Portishead East, Portishead South & North Weston, Portishead Redcliffe Bay, and Portishead West. It 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 town council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch
Neighbourhood Watch (UK)
The Neighbourhood Watch scheme in the United Kingdom is a partnership where people come together to make their communities safer. It involves the Police, Community Safety departments of local authorities, other voluntary organisations and, above all, individuals and families who want to make their...
groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The town council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, such as the village hall
Village hall
In the United States, a village hall is the seat of government for villages. It functions much as a city hall does within cities.In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building within a village which contains at least one large room, usually owned by and run for the benefit of the local...
or community centre
Community centre
Community centres or community centers or jumping recreation centers are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole community or for a specialised group within...
, playing field
Playing field
A playing field is a field used for playing sports or games. They are generally outdoors, but many large structures exist to enclose playing fields from bad weather. Generally, playing fields are wide expanses of grass, dirt or sand without many obstructions...
s and playground
Playground
A playground or play area is a place with a specific design for children be able to play there. It may be indoors but is typically outdoors...
s, 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.
The town falls within the unitary authority
Unitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
of North Somerset
North Somerset
North Somerset is a unitary authority in England. Its area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset but it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters is in the town hall in Weston-super-Mare....
, although the area below high water mark
Ordinary high water mark
Ordinary high water mark refers to the highest level reached by a body of water that has been maintained for a sufficient period of time to leave evidence on the landscape. It may be indicated by destruction of terrestrial vegetation, the presence of marks on trees or debris deposits...
, including the pier, is within Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. Before 1974, the parish was part of the Long Ashton Rural District
Long Ashton Rural District
Long Ashton was a rural district in Somerset, England, from 1894 to 1974.It was created in 1894 under the Local Government Act 1894.In 1974 it was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972 to become part of North Somerset....
. The police service is provided by Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Avon & Somerset Constabulary is the territorial police force in England responsible for policing the non-metropolitan county of Somerset, the city & county of Bristol and the unitary authorities of South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset; before 1996 these districts...
. Avon Fire and Rescue Service
Avon Fire and Rescue Service
Avon Fire & Rescue Service is the fire and rescue service covering the unitary authorities of Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire in South West England.-History:...
has a fire station in Portishead manned by retained firefighters, equipped with two water tenders each holding 1,800 litres. The Great Western Ambulance Service
Great Western Ambulance Service
The Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust is a UK National Health Service trust providing emergency and non emergency patient transport services to Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire in the South West England region...
has responsibility for the area.
The parish is part of the North Somerset
North Somerset (UK Parliament constituency)
North Somerset is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
county constituency of the House of Commons. It has been represented since 1992 by Liam Fox
Liam Fox
Liam Fox MP is a British Conservative politician, Member of Parliament for North Somerset, and former Secretary of State for Defence....
, a member of the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
, who was Secretary of State for Defence
Secretary of State for Defence
The Secretary of State for Defence, popularly known as the Defence Secretary, is the senior Government of the United Kingdom minister in charge of the Ministry of Defence, chairing the Defence Council. It is a Cabinet position...
.
It is also part of the South West England constituency
South West England (European Parliament constituency)
South West England is a constituency of the European Parliament. For 2009 it elects 6 MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation, reduced from 7 in 2004.-Boundaries:...
of the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
.
Physical geography
Portishead is a coastal town on Severn EstuarySevern Estuary
The Severn Estuary is the estuary of the River Severn, the longest river in Great Britain. Its high tidal range means it has been at the centre of discussions in the UK regarding renewable energy.-Geography:...
. It lies north west of Clevedon
Clevedon
Clevedon is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset, England...
and immediately south west of Avonmouth
Avonmouth
Avonmouth is a port and suburb of Bristol, England, located on the Severn Estuary, at the mouth of the River Avon.The council ward of Avonmouth also includes Shirehampton and the western end of Lawrence Weston.- Geography :...
just across the River Avon
River Avon, Bristol
The River Avon is an English river in the south west of the country. To distinguish it from a number of other River Avons in Britain, this river is often also known as the Lower Avon or Bristol Avon...
which forms the boundary between Somerset and Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. The city of Bristol is 6 miles (9.7 km) to the east and Portishead is approximately 110 miles (177 km) west of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
The area immediately inland includes the Gordano Valley
Gordano Valley
Gordano is an area of North Somerset, in England. It has been designated as a National Nature Reserve.The name Gordano comes from Old English and is descriptive of the triangular shape of the whole valley from Clevedon to Portishead, being the ablative singular of the Latinised form of Gorden...
which has been designated as a National Nature Reserve
National Nature Reserve
For details of National nature reserves in the United Kingdom see:*National Nature Reserves in England*National Nature Reserves in Northern Ireland*National Nature Reserves in Scotland*National Nature Reserves in Wales...
. The valley runs roughly north-east to south-west, between Carboniferous Limestone ridges extending along the coastline between Clevedon and Portishead, and another ridge extending between Clevedon and Easton in Gordano
Easton in Gordano
Easton in Gordano sometimes shortened to "E-I-G" is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is within the District of North Somerset and in 2001 the population was 4,719....
. The area includes the villages of Clapton in Gordano
Clapton in Gordano
Clapton in Gordano is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is situated within the Unitary authority of North Somerset on the southern side of the Gordano Valley, immediately adjacent to the M5 motorway...
, Weston in Gordano
Weston in Gordano
Weston in Gordano is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is situated in the middle of the Gordano valley on the north side, and in the Unitary Authority of North Somerset, on the road between Clevedon and Portishead...
, Easton in Gordano
Easton in Gordano
Easton in Gordano sometimes shortened to "E-I-G" is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is within the District of North Somerset and in 2001 the population was 4,719....
, Walton in Gordano
Walton in Gordano
Walton in Gordano is a village and civil parish in North Somerset, England. It is situated in a small valley at the side of the south-western end of the Gordano Valley, about a mile from Clevedon...
, Portbury
Portbury
Portbury is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England within the Unitary Authority of North Somerset.The parish includes the hamlet of Sheepway which is situated on the moorland at the northern edge of the Gordano valley, between the Gordano services on the M5 motorway and Portishead, near...
and Sheepway. The M5 motorway
M5 motorway
The M5 is a motorway in England. It runs from a junction with the M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Bromwich and west of Birmingham through Sandwell Valley...
runs along the south side of the valley, splitting briefly into two levels – the south-west-bound level running above the north-east-bound carriageway. The Gordano motorway service station
Gordano services
Gordano services is a motorway service station located at junction 19 of the M5 motorway south of Bristol, England. It is owned by Welcome Break. It offers KFC and Burger King food outlets, a general shop, a cafe, toilets and shower facilities....
is at the eastern end of the valley, near the Royal Portbury Dock
Royal Portbury Dock
The Royal Portbury Dock is part of the Port of Bristol, in England. It is situated near the village of Portbury on the southern side of the mouth of the Avon, where the river joins the Severn estuary — the Avonmouth Docks are on the opposite side of the Avon, within Avonmouth...
and the Avonmouth Bridge
Avonmouth Bridge
The Avonmouth Bridge is a road bridge that carries the M5 motorway over the River Avon into Somerset near Bristol, England. The main span is long, and the bridge is long, with an air draught above mean high water level of . It also contains a separate footpath and cycleway.The bridge was built...
. There is no river Gordano – much of the valley is reclaimed land barely above sea level, drained by ditches (known locally as "rhyne
Rhyne
A rhyne , rhine/rhyne , or reen is a drainage ditch, or canal, used to turn areas of wetland at around sea level into useful pasture....
s"). The rhynes previously managed by the now amalgamated Gordano Valley Internal Drainage Board
Internal Drainage Board
An internal drainage board is a type of operating authority which is established in areas of special drainage need in England and Wales with permissive powers to undertake work to secure clean water drainage and water level management within drainage districts...
are now the responsibility of the North Somerset Internal Drainage Board. An area comprising a total of 161.68 hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
s has been designated as a biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest, for ornithological, entomological and stratigraphic interest., notification originally having taken place in 1971. Several sites in the valley are managed by the Avon Wildlife Trust
Avon Wildlife Trust
The Avon Wildlife Trust aims to protect and promote wildlife in the area of the former county of Avon — now Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, in England...
as nature reserves. These include; Weston Big Wood
Weston Big Wood
Weston Big Wood is a 37.48 hectare woodland west of the town of Portishead, North Somerset, England. It is a nature reserve and biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, notified in 1971...
, Clapton Moor, Weston Moor and Walton Common
Walton Common
Walton Common is a 25.5 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near the village of Walton in Gordano, North Somerset, notified in 1991....
. The name Gordano comes from Old English and is descriptive of the triangular shape of the whole valley from Clevedon to Portishead, being the ablative singular of the Latinised
Latinisation (literature)
Latinisation is the practice of rendering a non-Latin name in a Latin style. It is commonly met with for historical personal names, with toponyms, or for the standard binomial nomenclature of the life sciences. It goes further than Romanisation, which is the writing of a word in the Latin alphabet...
form of Gorden meaning muddy valley.
Denny Island
Denny Island
Denny Island is a small rocky island of , with scrub vegetation, in the Severn Estuary. Its rocky southern foreshore marks the boundary between England and Wales. Above high water mark, the island is reckoned administratively to Monmouthshire, South Wales...
is a small rocky island of 0.6 acre (0.2428116 ha), with scrub vegetation, approximately three miles north of Portishead. Its rocky southern foreshore marks the boundary between England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, but the island itself is reckoned administratively to Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire is a county in south east Wales. The name derives from the historic county of Monmouthshire which covered a much larger area. The largest town is Abergavenny. There are many castles in Monmouthshire .-Historic county:...
, Wales. The tidal rise and fall in the Severn Estuary
Severn Estuary
The Severn Estuary is the estuary of the River Severn, the longest river in Great Britain. Its high tidal range means it has been at the centre of discussions in the UK regarding renewable energy.-Geography:...
and Bristol Channel
Bristol Channel
The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...
can be as great as 49 ft (15 m), second only to Bay of Fundy
Bay of Fundy
The Bay of Fundy is a bay on the Atlantic coast of North America, on the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine...
in Eastern Canada
Eastern Canada
Eastern Canada is generally considered to be the region of Canada east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces:* New Brunswick* Newfoundland and Labrador* Nova Scotia* Ontario* Prince Edward Island* Quebec...
. There has been concern about pollution levels from industrial areas in Wales and at the eastern end of the Bristol Channel, however this tends to be diluted by the Atlantic waters. There are measurable levels of chemical pollutants, but little is known about their effects. Of particular concern are the levels of cadmium
Cadmium
Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, bluish-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Similar to zinc, it prefers oxidation state +2 in most of its compounds and similar to mercury it shows a low...
and to a lesser degree residual pesticides and hydrocarbons.
Portishead Pier to Black Nore SSSI
Portishead Pier to Black Nore SSSI
Portishead Pier to Black Nore SSSI is a 71.8 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near the town of Portishead in North Somerset, notified in 1952....
is a 177 acres (71.6 ha) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1952. The Portishead Pier Section is made up of alluvial sandstones, the best exposure of Upper Carboniferous rocks in the Avonmouth Coalfield. The cliff and foreshore exposures around Portishead Point provide important exposures of geological structures form during the Variscan mountain building
Orogeny
Orogeny refers to forces and events leading to a severe structural deformation of the Earth's crust due to the engagement of tectonic plates. Response to such engagement results in the formation of long tracts of highly deformed rock called orogens or orogenic belts...
episode in the Carboniferous Period of geological history. Also included are important exposures of the Devonian
Devonian
The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...
sequence that yield several species of fossil fish. Holoptychius
Holoptychius
Holoptychius is an extinct genus of porolepiform lobe-finned fish from the Devonian period. It is known from fossils worldwide.Holoptychius was streamlined predator about long, which fed on other bony fish. Its rounded scales and body form indicate that it could have swum quickly through the water...
scales are the most abundant fossils, but teeth scales of other species are also relatively common. Notably amongst the collection from this bed are plates of arthrodires, including Groenlandaspis
Groenlandaspis
Groenlandaspis is an extinct genus of armored placoderm.Groenlandaspis was a member of the Order Arthrodira, the most successful group of placoderms which also included the superpredator Dunkleosteus...
. Eastwood and Battery Point Local Nature Reserve
Local Nature Reserve
Local nature reserve or LNR is a designation for nature reserves in the United Kingdom. The designation has its origin in the recommendations of the Wild Life Conservation Special Committee which established the framework for nature conservation in the United Kingdom and suggested a national suite...
is a 9 hectares (22.2 acre) woodland containing Yew
Taxus baccata
Taxus baccata is a conifer native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia. It is the tree originally known as yew, though with other related trees becoming known, it may be now known as the English yew, or European yew.-Description:It is a small-...
, Maple
Maple
Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...
, Dogs mercury and beech
Beech
Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...
.
The Lake Grounds area, built in the early 20th century around an artificial lake, is the town's main park. Adjacent to the beach and esplanade is a 100 year old artificial lake, a cricket pitch surrounded by sloping lawns interspersed with specimen trees. One of the UK's few surviving outdoor swimming pools
Lido
The Lido is an 11 km long sandbar located in Venice, northern Italy, home to about 20,000 residents. The Venice Film Festival takes place at the Lido every September.-Geography:...
is situated on the shore next to the Lake Grounds and is open during the summer months. In 2009, the outdoor pool was renovated by a team filming for American TV programme Ty's Great British Adventure
Ty's Great British Adventure
Ty's Great British Adventure is a British television reality show on the Home channel featuring Ty Pennington of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition fame.-Series One:Portreath, Cornwall1 x 60mins and 4 x 30mins...
. Above the Lake grounds is Battery Point, where a gun battery
Artillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...
was sited to protect the Severn Estuary
Severn Estuary
The Severn Estuary is the estuary of the River Severn, the longest river in Great Britain. Its high tidal range means it has been at the centre of discussions in the UK regarding renewable energy.-Geography:...
from invasion fleets.
Climate
Along with the rest of South West EnglandClimate of south-west England
The climate of south-west England is classed as oceanic according to the Köppen climate classification. The oceanic climate is typified by cool winters with warmer summers and precipitation all year round, with more experienced in winter. Annual rainfall is about and up to on higher ground...
, Portishead has a temperate climate
Temperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
generally wetter and milder than the rest of England. The annual mean temperature is about 10 °C (50 °F) with seasonal and diurnal
Diurnal motion
Diurnal motion is an astronomical term referring to the apparent daily motion of stars around the Earth, or more precisely around the two celestial poles. It is caused by the Earth's rotation on its axis, so every star apparently moves on a circle, that is called the diurnal circle. The time for...
variations, but the modifying effect of the sea restricts the range to less than that in most other parts of the United Kingdom. January is the coldest month with mean minimum temperatures between 1 °C (34 °F) and 2 °C (36 °F). July and August are the warmest, with mean daily maxima around 21 °C (70 °F). In general, December is the dullest month and June the sunniest. The south-west of England enjoys a favoured location, particularly in summer, when the Azores High
Azores High
The Azores High is a large subtropical semi-permanent centre of high atmospheric pressure found near the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, at the Horse latitudes...
extends its influence north-eastwards towards the UK.
Cloud
Cumulus cloud
Cumulus clouds are a type of cloud with noticeable vertical development and clearly defined edges. Cumulus means "heap" or "pile" in Latin. They are often described as "puffy" or "cotton-like" in appearance. Cumulus clouds may appear alone, in lines, or in clusters...
often forms inland, especially near hills, and reduces exposure to sunshine. The average annual sunshine is about 1,600 hours. Rainfall
Precipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
tends to be associated with Atlantic depressions
Low pressure area
A low-pressure area, or "low", is a region where the atmospheric pressure at sea level is below that of surrounding locations. Low-pressure systems form under areas of wind divergence which occur in upper levels of the troposphere. The formation process of a low-pressure area is known as...
or with convection. In summer, convection caused by solar surface heating sometimes forms shower cloud
Cloud
A cloud is a visible mass of liquid droplets or frozen crystals made of water and/or various chemicals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of a planetary body. They are also known as aerosols. Clouds in Earth's atmosphere are studied in the cloud physics branch of meteorology...
s and a large proportion of the annual precipitation falls from showers and thunderstorms at this time of year. Average rainfall is around 800–900 mm (31–35 in). About 8–15 days of snowfall is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind
Wind
Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space...
speeds, with June to August having the lightest; the prevailing wind direction is from the south-west.
Demography
Portishead has a population of 22,000, an increase of over 3,000 since the figure of 17,130 recorded in the 2001 censusUnited Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, with a growth rate of 40 per cent, which is considerably in excess of surrounding towns. As the result of a house-building programme, a further 8,000 people are expected to settle in the area over the next few years, making Portishead one of the largest towns in North Somerset
North Somerset
North Somerset is a unitary authority in England. Its area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset but it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters is in the town hall in Weston-super-Mare....
.
Economy
Local employers include the Avon and Somerset ConstabularyAvon and Somerset Constabulary
Avon & Somerset Constabulary is the territorial police force in England responsible for policing the non-metropolitan county of Somerset, the city & county of Bristol and the unitary authorities of South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset; before 1996 these districts...
, which has its headquarters on the western edge of the town, Gordano School
Gordano School
Gordano School is a comprehensive secondary school with academy status located in Portishead, North Somerset, England. In 1999, the school was awarded Specialist Schools Technology College status. Gordano School has 1,860 students aged 11 to 18.-History:...
, and numerous care homes for the elderly, as well as a retail complex. The Victorian High Street has retained a "local shop identity" with shops such as Morgan-Westley, The Outlet, Juicy Jones and many shops such as Careys DIY and Zebra; despite some larger DIY chains and supermarkets being built—Homebase
Homebase
Homebase is a British home improvement store and garden centre, with 350 stores across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It is well known by its green and orange colour scheme. Together with its sister company Argos , it forms part of Home Retail Group. Homebase recorded sales figures...
, Argos
Argos (retailer)
Argos is the largest general-goods retailer in the United Kingdom and Ireland with over 800 stores. It is unique amongst major retailers in the UK in that it is a catalogue merchant...
, Waitrose
Waitrose
Waitrose Limited is an upmarket chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom and is the food division of the British retailer and worker co-operative the John Lewis Partnership. Its head office is in Bracknell, Berkshire, England...
, Dreams
Dreams (bed retailer)
Dreams is a UK bed retailer and manufacturer with over 200 stores throughout the United Kingdom. Its head office is located in Loudwater, High Wycombe.-1980s:In 1985 Mike Clare opened the 'Sofa-bed' shop in Uxbridge...
, New Look, Peacocks and Pets at Home
Pets at Home
Pets at Home is a large pet supplies retail chain in the United Kingdom. With 300 stores nationwide, it is the largest pet supplies retail chain in the United Kingdom Pets at home currently have over 5000 employees...
. In January 2010, Sainsbury's applied for planning permission to build a new store, soon followed by Lidl
Lidl
Lidl is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany that operates over 7,200 stores across Europe. The company's full name is Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG...
, Travelodge
Travelodge
Travelodge refers to several hotel chains around the world. Current operations include: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand and Australia...
and a Subway
Subway (restaurant)
Subway is an American restaurant franchise that primarily sells submarine sandwiches and salads. It is owned and operated by Doctor's Associates, Inc. . Subway is one of the fastest growing franchises in the world with 35,519 restaurants in 98 countries and territories as of October 25th, 2011...
.
Landmarks
Court House Farmhouse dates from the medieval period but was remodelled in the 17th and 19th centuries. The Grade II* listed building is owned by Bristol City Council and in 2010 protests from local residents attempted to stop its sale.The red brick Nautical National School was built by Edward Gabriel in 1905, at a cost of £30,000. Previously it had been based on the training ship HMS Formidable
HMS Formidable (1825)
HMS Formidable was an 84-gun second rate of the Royal Navy, launched on 19 May 1825 at Chatham Dockyard.In 1869 Formidable became a training ship, at the National Nautical School in Portishead, and she was sold out of the navy in 1906.-References:...
and operated until 1983. It is now part of a private gated community known as Fedden Village.
The remains of a former windmill, built in 1832 but disused since 1846, were rebuilt into a two-storey house and then, in 1908, incorporated into a golf club house. The building has since been developed into a food orientated pub.
A 9 metres (29.5 ft) high lighthouse was built at Battery Point in March 1931 by the Chance Brothers
Chance Brothers
Chance Brothers and Company was a glassworks originally based in Spon Lane, Smethwick, West Midlands , in England. It was a leading glass manufacturer and a pioneer of British glassmaking technology....
of Smethwick
Smethwick
Smethwick is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, in the West Midlands of England. It is situated on the edge of the city of Birmingham, within the historic boundaries of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire....
. The lighthouse is currently maintained by the Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
Port Company.
Transport
Transport links to Bristol and beyond have been a concern for some residents of the town and a group has been set up to campaign for the reopening of the Portishead to Bristol railwayPortishead Railway
The Portishead Railway was a branch line railway running from Portishead in Somerset to the Great Western Main Line in Bristol, England. It was constructed in the 1860s by the Bristol & Portishead Pier and Railway, which was incorporated to build a pier and a broad gauge link to the Bristol and...
line. The cost has been estimated at £28 million, and feasibility plans are being considered.
The main A369 road
A369 road
The A369 is an A road running from Bristol to Portishead in South West England. It passes Leigh Woods, Abbots Leigh, Easton in Gordano to Portishead....
, known after the historical name for the area as "The Portbury Hundred", which links the town to the nearby M5 motorway
M5 motorway
The M5 is a motorway in England. It runs from a junction with the M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Bromwich and west of Birmingham through Sandwell Valley...
, is often congested, especially during rush hours. Major traffic-flow modifications have caused much controversy because they are widely seen as having caused queuing where none existed before. More than 4,000 residents signed a petition
Petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
to North Somerset
North Somerset
North Somerset is a unitary authority in England. Its area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset but it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters is in the town hall in Weston-super-Mare....
Council expressing concern at the development.
In September 2009 a trial was undertaken to turn off Traffic light
Traffic light
Traffic lights, which may also be known as stoplights, traffic lamps, traffic signals, signal lights, robots or semaphore, are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings and other locations to control competing flows of traffic...
s in Portishead. It was conducted in association with North Somerset Council, Martin Cassini
Martin Cassini
Martin Cassini is a TV programme-maker and campaigner for traffic system reform. He advocates replacing priority with equality to provide a level playing-field on which all road-users can act sociably...
and Colin Buchanan
Colin Buchanan (town planner)
Professor Sir Colin D Buchanan was a British town planner. He became Britain's most famous planner following the publication ofTraffic in Towns in 1963, which presented a comprehensive view of the issues surrounding the growth of personal car ownership and urban traffic in the UK.-Life:Buchanan...
, it went permanent after some journey times reportedly fell by over 50% with no measured reduction in pedestrian safety, despite greater numbers now using the route (over 2000 vehicles and 300 pedestrians an hour).
Portishead is served by several Bus services, including the half hourly 358 and 359 services to Bristol Bus Station, The hourly 357 service also to Bristol Bus Station. It is also served by local buses such as the 660 to Congresbury and the 692 to Nailsea.
Education
The Unitary AuthorityUnitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
of North Somerset provides support for 78 schools, delivering education to approximately 28,000 pupils. Infant and primary schools in Portishead include: High Down Infant and Junior, Portishead Primary, St. Barnabas C of E Primary, St. Joseph's Catholic Primary, St. Peter's C of E Primary and Trinity Anglican Methodist Primary School. Secondary education is provided by Gordano School
Gordano School
Gordano School is a comprehensive secondary school with academy status located in Portishead, North Somerset, England. In 1999, the school was awarded Specialist Schools Technology College status. Gordano School has 1,860 students aged 11 to 18.-History:...
. In 1999, the school was awarded Specialist Schools Technology College status (see awards). Gordano School enrolls approximately 1,500 students annually, ages 11–19. The official opening took place on 12 July 1957. The school had cost £146,000 and still needed work to the playing fields. By September of that year, pupil numbers had increased to 500 and councillors were demanding more classrooms. The increase was attributed to the "post-war bulge". In September 1975, £209,000 was allocated for new buildings. Gordano was named the "Big Experiment" as it became Somerset's first comprehensive school, with 900 students and 30 teachers. The education department forecast the school numbers would treble by 1975. In 1994, an astroturf
AstroTurf
AstroTurf is a brand of artificial turf. Although the term is a registered trademark, it is sometimes used as a generic description of any kind of artificial turf. The original AstroTurf product was a short pile synthetic turf while the current products incorporate modern features such as...
sports playing surface was laid at a cost of £260,000. Numbers had grown to 1,589 students and 88 teachers.
Religious sites
The NormanNorman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
Church of St Peter
Church of St Peter, Portishead
The Norman Church of St Peter in Portishead, Somerset, England was built in 1320, on the site of a previous church, and rebuilt in the 14th and 15th centuries in the Perpendicular Gothic style. In 1952 it was made a Grade I listed building....
(shown right) was built in 1320 and rebuilt in the 14th and 15th centuries in the Perpendicular Gothic style. In 1952 it was made a Grade I listed building. The four-stage tower is a prominent landmark, with set back buttresses and a pierced parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
. The church was altered in 1978–1979 and has a new garden developed for the Millennium
3rd millennium
In contemporary history, the third millennium is a period of time that commenced on January 1, 2001, and will end on December 31, 3000, of the Gregorian calendar. This is the third period of one thousand years in the Anno Domini...
.
The Chapel of Portishead National Nautical School (now The Fedden Village) in Nore Road, dates from 1911. It is dedicated to St. Nicholas and is also a listed building.
There is also a thriving URC
United Reformed Church
The United Reformed Church is a Christian church in the United Kingdom. It has approximately 68,000 members in 1,500 congregations with some 700 ministers.-Origins and history:...
church which dates from 6 March 1840. One of the early benefactors was Henry Overton Wills of the Wills tobacco family, who were staunch Congregationalists.
Sport
Portishead has a brand new sports and leisure complex which was partly funded by the National LotteryNational Lottery (United Kingdom)
The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...
as well as funds from the Town Council and North Somerset Council. It houses a large swimming pool, leisure and play pools, indoor bowls, six badminton courts, a gymnasium, a fun room for toddlers, a cafeteria and a licensed bar. Other sporting facilities in the town include open-air tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
courts, a large outdoor swimming-pool opened in 1962, a boating lake, cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
grounds, football and hockey
Hockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
pitches as well as many cycle lanes. The cricket club dates back to the 19th century.
Portishead Town F.C. played in small regional leagues for years until joining the Somerset County League
Somerset County Football League
The Somerset County Football League is a football competition based in England. It sits at step 7 of the National League System. It is a feeder to the Western League Division One and has promoted a club in five of the last seven seasons - Hengrove Athletic, Portishead, Radstock Town, Oldland...
in 1975. They won the Premier Division title four times in five years between 1993–94 and 1997–98. After their fourth successive runner-up campaign in the 2004–05 season, Portishead successfully applied for promotion to the Western League
Western Football League
The Western Football League is a football league in the south west of England, covering Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, western Dorset, parts of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire and parts of South Wales...
. In Portishead's first season of Western League football they finished in the top half of the table only to better their performance the following season. In 2006–07 Portishead achieved their highest ever finish in the history of the club, finishing runners-up to Truro City
Truro City F.C.
Truro City F.C. are an English professional football club based in Truro, Cornwall. They currently play in the Conference South following five promotions in six seasons. They were founding members of the South Western League in 1951 and won the title five times in their history...
.
Culture
The Bristol-based trip hopTrip hop
Trip hop is a music genre consisting of downtempo electronic music which originated in the early 1990s in England, especially Bristol. Deriving from "post"-acid house, the term was first used by the British music media and press as a way to describe the more experimental variant of breakbeat which...
group Portishead took their name from the town, despite describing it as their "dreary home-town". Chaos UK
Chaos UK
Chaos UK are an English hardcore punk band formed in 1979 in Portishead, near Bristol. They played fast aggressive hardcore punk rock initially. The original line up of Simon on vocals, Andy on guitar, Chaos on bass and Potts on drums recorded two EP's and a full LP for Riot City Record...
is a punk band that was formed in Portishead in 1979. The town was also the birthplace of Scrumpy and Western
Scrumpy and Western
Scrumpy and Western refers humorously to music from England's West Country that fuses comical folk-style songs, often full of double entendre, with affectionate parodies of more mainstream musical genres, all delivered in the local accent/dialect...
star Adge Cutler
Adge Cutler
Alan John 'Adge' Cutler was an English singer who had as his backing band the country and Western folk group The Wurzels. Cutler was known for his songs, but also his dry, West Country humour, and gained the unofficial title of "The Bard Of Avonmouth".-Early life:Alan John Cutler was born in...
.
There are various groups and societies in the town, including the Gordano society that is involved in history, conservation, environment, planning and wildlife issues, a horticultural society, and the Portishead Railway Group that is campaigning for the Portishead to Bristol railway line to be re-opened. There are also church and youth organisations such as the Portishead Youth Club, a choral society, which was formed in 1955, and an annual carnival.
A public art programme started in 1999 from the marina development, due to a planning agreement between the developers (Crest Nicholson
Crest Nicholson
Crest Nicholson is a British housebuilding company based in Chertsey, Surrey.-History:The Company was founded by Bryan Skinner in 1963 as Crest Homes and floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1968. One of the characteristics that differentiated Crest from most other housebuilders of the time was...
and Persimmon Homes) and North Somerset Council. An art trail takes in 28 public art works around the marina and Ashlands development.
Twinned Towns
In 1989 the town twinned with Den DungenDen Dungen
Den Dungen is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Sint-Michielsgestel next to the village Maaskantje.Den Dungen was a separate municipality until 1996, when it was merged with Sint-Michielsgestel....
a small town of approximately 6,000 inhabitants about 3 miles (4.8 km) from the city of 's-Hertogenbosch, capital of the Province of North Brabant
North Brabant
North Brabant , sometimes called Brabant, is a province of the Netherlands, located in the south of the country, bordered by Belgium in the south, the Meuse River in the north, Limburg in the east and Zeeland in the west.- History :...
in the Netherlands. Den Dungen was a separate municipality until 1996, when it was merged with Sint-Michielsgestel
Sint-Michielsgestel
Sint-Michielsgestel is a municipality and a town in the southern part of the Netherlands.Sint-Michielsgestel is located directly south of 's-Hertogenbosch, the capital of North Brabant province. Its name refers to archangel St...
. Dating back to the 11th century, 'Den Bosch' is a bustling, modern city with an annual International Jazz Festival.
In 1992 a further twinning arrangement was made with Schweich
Schweich
Schweich is a municipality in the Trier-Saarburg district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Moselle, approx. northeast of Trier....
the principal town in a municipality of some 20,000 people 6 miles (9.7 km) from the Roman city of Trier. This municipality is in the Trier-Saarburg
Trier-Saarburg
Trier-Saarburg is a district in the west of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Bitburg-Prüm, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Birkenfeld, Sankt Wendel , and Merzig-Wadern . To the west it borders Luxembourg...
district, in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
, Germany. It is situated on the river Moselle
Moselle River
The Moselle is a river flowing through France, Luxembourg, and Germany. It is a left tributary of the Rhine, joining the Rhine at Koblenz. A small part of Belgium is also drained by the Mosel through the Our....
, about 6 miles (9.7 km) northeast of Trier
Trier
Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....
. Schweich is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...
("collective municipality") Schweich an der Römischen Weinstraße
Schweich an der Römischen Weinstraße
Schweich an der Römischen Weinstraße is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Trier-Saarburg, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Schweich....
.
Notable people
- George WightwickGeorge WightwickGeorge Wightwick was an architect and possibly the first architectural journalist.In addition to his architectural practice, he developed his skills and the market for architectural journalism...
, architect - Adge CutlerAdge CutlerAlan John 'Adge' Cutler was an English singer who had as his backing band the country and Western folk group The Wurzels. Cutler was known for his songs, but also his dry, West Country humour, and gained the unofficial title of "The Bard Of Avonmouth".-Early life:Alan John Cutler was born in...
, popular singer - Eddie LargeEddie LargeEddie Large is the stage name of Edward Hugh McGinnis, a British comedian. He is best known as a partner in the double act Little and Large, with Syd Little....
, comedian - Bradley OrrBradley OrrBradley James Orr is an English defender currently playing for Queens Park Rangers. He has played for the club since July 2010, joining for an undisclosed fee from Bristol City....
, professional footballer - Carol VordermanCarol VordermanCarol Jean Vorderman MBE is a British media personality, best known for co-hosting the popular game show Countdown for 26 years from 1982 to 2008. In September 2011 she became a co-anchor of the ITV1 panel show Loose Women....
, TV presenter - Chris HarrisChris Harris (actor, director and writer)Chris Harris is an English actor, director and writer. He has appeared in several UK TV series including Into the Labyrinth and "Hey Look That's Me". More recently he has built a successful career in pantomime, acting as a pantomime dame, as well being a director and writer at the Bristol Old...
, pantomime dame, director and writer - Frederick WeatherlyFrederick WeatherlyFrederic Edward Weatherly was an English lawyer, author, lyricist and broadcaster. He is estimated to have written the lyrics to at least 3,000 popular songs, among the best-known of which are the sentimental ballad Danny Boy set to the tune Londonderry Air, the religious "The Holy City", and the...
, song lyricist who wrote the words to Danny BoyDanny Boy-Background:The words to "Danny Boy" were written by English lawyer and lyricist Frederic Weatherly in 1910. Although the lyrics were originally written for a different tune, Weatherly modified them to fit the "Londonderry Air" in 1913, after his sister-in-law in the U.S. sent him a copy. Ernestine...
and Roses of PicardyRoses of PicardyRoses of Picardy is a wartime ballad written by lyricist Frederick Weatherly while he was an army officer in 1916. Set to music by Haydn Wood, it was one of the most famous songs from World War I....