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Portishead Past: A Brief History
Prehistory
The
wedge shaped Gordano Valley lies between two old red
sandstone ridges overlain with limestone.
The ridges converge at Clevedon and the marshy
valley, of blue lias clay with one or two red sandstone
“islands”, runs out at the sea between Portishead at the
end of the western seaward ridge and Pill at the foot of the
wider eastern ridge where it is cut through by the River
Avon to form the Avon Gorge.
The whole area has sunk in the last 5000 years before
which it and the Severn Basin, constituted a marshy plain
covered in forest and inhabited by hippopotamus, elephants
and the like, the bones and teeth of which are sometimes
excavated in the area.
The first inhabitants were probably nomadic crossing the marshes between Europe and England. They were followed by more sophisticated peoples who preferred to settle on hilltops and who brought with them art and religion. Polished flint axe heads have been found at the Lake Grounds. By 2000 BC they were established in England and built stone circles and altars and encampments. They were smelting tin and copper, lead and silver, which were present on the Mendips and some of the Gordano ridges. There are known to have been at least five camps around Gordano, the largest being Cadbury Camp on Tickenham Hill. The one on Eastwood at the seaward end of Broad Walk had steep slopes on three sides and so it only needed a dyke across the inner approach for security: traces of it can still just about be discerned. This camp was linked to the one on Walton Down by a track across the downs and parts of it still survive.
The
remains of a smelter have been found at Redcliffe Bay.
Is
it too fanciful to imagine that the local tribe felt the
same excitement when the stones for Stonehenge passed by
Battery Point as later Portishead “tribes” felt 600
years ago when the original Matthew sailed past, bound for
America? Or in
recent times (September 1998) when the “tribe” turned
out to see the Matthew replica return from Nova Scotia?
BC
ends and history begins with the Roman invasions by Julius
Caesar in 55 and 54 BC.
It is possible that our local tribe heard of the
events from passing packmen or pilgrims visiting Avebury and
Stonehenge, but it is most unlikely that they were in any
way affected.
The
First Millennium (0 - 1000)
The
second Roman invasion in AD 43 began the conquest of Britain
that ended in AD 84. 
The
nearest centre to Portishead would have been Bath (Aquae
Sulis) and the building of the baths began around AD 60/70.
The Romans withdrew from Britain in 410, but left
their mark on Portishead in many ways.
The “Port” part of our name derives from the
Latin and they probably used the pill below Eastwood for one
of their occupational ports, but the main port in the area
was at Seamills and that was linked by a road (Via Julia) to
Bath. In
Portishead a Romano-British site was discovered in the
grounds of Gordano School. It comprised three buildings of local
stone roofed with sandstone slates on three sides of a paved
courtyard; a stone watercourse crossed it into a stone
cistern. Evidence
of iron and lead working was found.
Coins and pottery on the site indicate use from
second century until after the Romans departure.
Further discoveries of coins and pottery have been
made at Station Road and northwards to Battery Point; at
North Weston; along the High Street and at Redcliffe Bay (a
well). Other
relics of the Roman occupation are three hoards of coins all
found near Cadbury Camp.
The
next period in our history is generally known as the Dark
Ages (because of scant written records) during which the
Angles, Saxons and Jutes colonised the tribal Britain left
by the Romans. In
this area a chieftain named Ambrosius Aurelianus (5th
Century) held sway from Silchester (Reading) to the Mendips.
He was probably the builder of the Wansdyke from
Portbury to the Southampton Vale. His campaign commander, the renowned
leader Arthur, was reported in the 7th Century to have won
twelve famous battles from Firth of Forth to Cornwall and by
his so doing checked the Anglo Saxons for 50 years.
Our Cadbury Camp may well have been one of the
Camelots (Courts) he visited.
His exploits were “embroidered” over later
centuries and he became the legendary perfect King Arthur
with his Knights of the Round Table.
During
this period British saints were wandering the area with
groups of followers. They
would settle and establish a church that was usually named
after them. Saint
Congar founded a monastery or school at Congresbury and
churches in other places including Wales.
Since the name Congar also attaches to other parts of
Gordano, did he found the church in Portishead and was his
name so indecipherable to the Norman chroniclers that they
left our church without a name until the nineteenth century?
There
followed battles with the Vikings in 878 and the emergence
of Alfred the Great who united all the Celtic and Anglo
Saxon kingdoms with those Danes who sued for peace, and so
formed the English Kingdom of Wessex.
The Britons who had made settlements on the hilltops
were now succeeded by the Anglo Saxons who preferred their
homes (hams) and settlements (tuns) in valleys by streams.
We thus have West-ton, East-ton, Clap-ton and
possibly Wal-ton (from Weal meaning Welsh) in the Gordano
Valley. The
Latin “port” in our name may have combined with the
Celtic hafa (a summer encampment) or the Anglo Saxon hafod
(head) to give us Portishead.
The name Gordano might well have arisen from the
Anglo Saxon “gar” or “gare” (spearhead or triangle)
and “dene” (a flat place or valley) since gore-dene
exactly describes its shape.
The
Second Millennium: Medieval England
Cnut
(Canute), King of England, and son of the Danish royal
family, made Harold Godwine the Earl of Wessex. Harold married a Danish princess and they
had a daughter, Edith, and a son, Harold.
When Cnut died his eldest son, then his other son and
finally his daughter’s husband, became successive Kings
and on the son-in-law’s death his grandson became King
Edward the Confessor, who married Edith but had no children. Edith’s brother Harold succeeded as
Earl of Wessex on his father’s death and became King of
England on Edward’s death.
King Harold’s extensive estates included the
Portbury Hundred which was part of his demesne (private
estate) and in all probability he would have visited the
Great Hall at Portbury annually for much of his life.
However, his rule was to be short lived - crowned on
6th January, 1066; killed at Hastings 14th October 1066.
William
(The Conqueror) was anointed and crowned on Christmas Day.
He soon returned to France and appointed two
oppressive regents to rule England.
Within five years the ruthless military machine had
made the conquest irreversible.
Harold’s young sons attacked Bristol in 1068 and
the Normans took heavy vengeance.
Most English thanes in Somerset lost their lands and
Portbury Hundred was allocated to Geoffrey, Bishop of
Coutances and a favourite of King William. He kept Portbury as his own demesne and
gave the rest to his followers.
William de Moncels had Portesheved plus five other
manors.
King
William required money and land was taxed at six shillings a
hide (about 120 acres).
A preparatory document, the Exon Domesday (kept at
Exeter), holds the first recorded entry of the Portbury
Hundred “In the Hundred of Portherie are eighty six and a
half hides. Thence
the King has nineteen pounds, less sixpence for 63 hides and
1 virgate (a quarter hide).
And his Barons
have
in demesne 13 hides and 3 virgates; of these the Bishop of
Countances has 8 hides and William de Ou 5 hides”.
It also has these entries: “Weston - worth £3;“
Portesheve
(Portishead): William de Moncels holds Portesheve of the
Bishop. Aluric
Cild held it in the time of King Edward and paid geld for 8
hides. There is land for 8 ploughs.
In demesne are 6 hides and 2 ploughs with 1 serf (a
bondman), and there are 9 villeins (a bondman with some
land) and 4 bordars (between a serf and villein) with 5
ploughs and 2 hides”.
“There are 8 beasts and 10 swine and 60 goats. There is a mill paying 8 shillings and 20
acres of meadow and 100 acres of pasture.
Underwood 12 furlongs long and 3 furlongs broad”.
“It was and is worth seventy shillings”;
“Clapton - It was worth 40 shillings, now worth 70
shillings. Walton
- It was worth 50 shillings now worth 70 shillings”.
By
1086 the Domesday Book was complete.
It lists all the taxable land and taxpayers in the
realm.
Listing
our local areas in value we have: Portbury - worth £15;
Easton worth £10, now £7; Weston worth £4.10s. The Portishead entry is: “William holds
of the Bishop Portishead.
Aelfric held at TRE (time of Rex Edward) and it paid
geld for 8 hides. There
is land for 8 ploughs.
In demesne are 2 ploughs with one serf; and 9
villeins and 4 bordars with 5 ploughs.
There is a mill rendering 8 shillings and 20 acres of
meadow and 100 acres of pasture land [and] scrubland 12
furlongs long and 3 furlongs broad.
It was and is worth 70 shillings.”
Portishead
was the third largest in acreage, but lacked animals or men
to tend them. Its
chief asset was the mill, the only one on the coastal hill
range. It
probably stood near the site of the White Lion which was
built on the shell of the last mill. 
Later
mills relied on the tide (and strong seawalls) to turn the
wheels, but the first relied on the Welhay stream.
This was later dammed and channelled round the base
of Dry Hill to bring fresh water to the church and dwellings
clustered around it - the hub of the community of fishermen,
ploughmen and goatherds.
In
the country at large the greatest change was destruction of
the aristocracy and creation of a new ruling class of
Normans, French and Flemmings.
The existing inhabitants of England were a subject
people, subdued by strategically placed castles that needed
5000 knights to man them.
William granted land to 170 of his followers, who in
turn granted small parts (manors) to their supporters
(knights). These
were the new ruling class.
At the other end of the social scale about half the
population were serfs who normally held land in return for
rent and labour. The
remainder were cottagers, smallholders and freemen.
Almost all were engaged in agriculture, cultivating
strips on which they paid rent (as labour). The English
language was made subordinate to French and Latin.
Women’s status, which had hitherto been equal to
men’s, was replaced by the attitude of St. Paul and they
became regarded as inferior.
They were subject to their fathers before marriage
and to their husbands after marriage.
The
Norman kings gave jurisdiction over civil courts as a reward
for services. The
Lordship of the Hundred of Portbury passed to the Earls of
Gloucester and Robert of Gloucester granted parts of
Bedminster and Hareclive to Robert Fitzharding, a merchant
of Bristol, who founded the house of Berkeley following the
royal gift of the Honour of Berkeley in 1154.
For ten more generations the Berkeleys were Lords of
the Manor of Portbury and used it as a base.
During these centuries their fortunes and those of
the manors they owned fluctuated.
The importance of Portbury probably reached a peak as
a medieval palace in the 1330’s.
One description of a train (visiting retinue)
includes 12 knights, 24 esquires and at least 300 mouths to
feed. It must
have been a magnificent sight as they processed down the
lanes from the great house on the Windmill Hill on Xmas Eve
to the midnight mass in the candlelit church of St Mary’s.
The Knights were all cloaked in “cloth of ray
(gold)” and a “bastard scarlet furred with miniver of
the best”, Esquires, Clarks, officers and waiting women
were similarly attired with a “courser sort of myniver”
and servants in livery of cloth “furred with coney,
lambskinne and bridge (badger?)”.
This was only the retinue - imagine the splendour of
the Lord and his family.
In 1368 Thomas the Magnificent assigned for dower all
the Berkeley lands in Portbury and Portishead to his mother.
This was the end of Portbury’s splendour.
The
only source of information about people of early times is a
mention in documents and the manor of Portishead is
mentioned in the Curia Regis during the first year of the
reign of King
John (1199 -1216). It
states that Walter de Tilli claimed from William le Bret the
advowson (right to appoint the priest) of the church of
Portishead which had no patron saint.
This church stood on the site of the vestry of the
present church, but its the font survives. Walter held a quarter fee (share) in
Portishead that might have been in North Weston.
William held the larger manor in Portishead.
He is difficult to trace, le Bret (or le Bretun)
implies Breton or
British
descent, one possible clue is he also held 32 acres of
(from) Jordan de Marisco and they were freebooters with
headquarters on Lundy.
The
next Portishead reference in 1228 is a record of the
division of part of the manor between William le Bret (a
son?) and Agnes, wife of Rober de Kalmundesden (a
daughter?). The
deed shows that the land occupied the eastern half of
Portishead (Eastwood, Woodhill and the creek). In1300 the le
Bret’s manor house is sold to William de la Salle of
Bradford-on-Avon and that family were the owners of
Portishead’s largest manor for the next 500 years.
In
1327 Edward III was newly crowned and a tax of one twentieth
of all movables was levied.
The names for Portishead and Westone were recorded
together with the money due.
A total of 54 were listed in order of value and
starting with de Willelmo Capenor. The total charge was 79s.
(shillings) and 6d. (pence).
Some sample names are: De Willelmo Capenor 6s.8d;
Johanne de Ashton 3s.4d; Johanne
Champeneys 2s; Johanne le Smallfisch (caught sprats) 12d;
Johanne le Reve (good or dreamer) 12d; Davy le Walsch
(Welsh) 6d; Edytha le Mason 6d; Rogero le Sor (tawny) 6d;
Richardo Twychemreye (site of home) 6d; Johanne Wolly (his
job) 6d.
Life
in Portishead was occasionally enlivened with windfalls.
The Patent Rolls of Edward III list a complaint by
Robert Gyene, Bristol merchant. “The good ship La Mariote
of Hook freighted at Bordeaux by him ... with wines and
other merchandise was stranded at Goldcliffe (Monmouth) ....
the crew escaped alive to Clyevedon, Walton and Portesheved,
the cargo washed ashore at Asshe, Elmdon, Walton, Weston and
Portesheved was carried away by Philip prior of Goldclyve,
Thomas de Bek one of his monks, John Robyn, John le White
vicar of the Church of Asshe, Lady Katherine de Seymour,
Nicholas parson of the church of Portesheved, ....”.
With
a prior, a monk, two parsons and the Lady of the Manor
taking spoils from the wreck, it is unlikely that they were
denounced from the pulpit!
Middle
Years: a Time of Changes
Changes
in society came about in the wake of the Black Death (1348)
which particularly affected our area.
In Bristol three quarters of the population were
stricken. When
it abated many Lords of manors sold or leased their land;
many villeins left their service and found work in towns;
others bought land. One
example was John atte Chapelle of Capenor who had already
risen from villein to free tenant.
Starting at this point his family rose steadily to
the Lordship of Capenor Court over the next two centuries.
Capenor Court was sold in 1370 for 100 marks (mark =
13s.4d = £2/3) to Walton, son of Walter Laurence.
Later in the 1400’s a member of the Choke family
(sheep farmers) bought Capenor Court and probably made
improvements to it. Much
of the wealth from wool was spent putting up substantial
buildings including farms many of which survive today in
this area. Churches
also benefitted at this time and Portishead was no
exception. The
tower was one of the North Somerset group built of oolitic
limestone from Dundry and local stone.
It is one of the two highest, the other being Easton.
The two were possibly used as leading marks for
shipping and they may well have lit guide beacons on them.
The
Reformation was to usher in a further period of change and
unrest. It was
promoted in England by Henry VIII’s need for a divorce and
its effects were long lasting and profound.
The Reformation saw the dissolution of the priory at
Portbury and the site was granted by Henry VIII to the
Marquis of Exeter in 1536 but he was executed in 1539.
The priory was then sold to Robert Goodwin of
Portbury and passed by successive marriages of daughter and
granddaughter to the Earl of Bristol.
With
Elizabeth’s reign records began to be kept of baptisms,
marriages and burials.
They were required from 1538, but not many survive
before 1558. In Portishead a few survive from 1554,
but Clapton and Easton survive from 1558 - the latter being
a model of neatness. In
1567 Thomas Chappell a freeholder of Capenor Manor bought a
house and 20 acres of land in Portishead.
A description of the 20 acres gives us a good insight
on the strip farming system with bits of land in each of
many large joint ownership fields.
The deed reads: “1 acre and 1 yard of arable in the
West Field of Portishead in Chesselle near to the tenure of
Morgan Hiscocke - 1 acre of land lying in the Little Deane -
1 acre of pasture lying in the moot (raised island?) marsh
called Westmarsh - 4 acres of wood lying together in
the West Wood of Portishead - 11⁄2 acres of meadow
lying in the West Mead in a place called Gorse Croft - 3
yards of meadow lying in the Hard Mede” etc...” and the
rosydew lyethe in Sondermede” (Capennor deed 1567).
His great nephew Thomas had six children and needing
a larger house bought Capenor Court around 1612 and became
Lord of the Manor. This
completed the transition of the Chappells started by his
ancestor, who in the 1340’s was a lowly villein in
Portishead. They
continued as the squires for the next hundred years.
Where
was the country going while all these parochial affairs were
taking place? Henry
VIII enforced his new religion with himself at its head and
required everyone to take an oath recognising the King’s
first marriage as invalid, or face death.
Such intolerance was not the only problem, inflation
struck all and landowners cut labour costs by large scale
sheep farming. This
required an end to strip cultivation and the creation of
large areas of enclosed land.
Rents were raised and men lost their land when they
could not pay. Some
became tenant farmers but most became landless labourers or
vagabonds. These
changes continued over the next few hundred years until
mechanisation brought the next change.
Landowners with resources such as coal or minerals
exploited them and merchantmen created new markets for their
products. They
also wielded power through the House of Commons.
Edward VIII became King aged nine years and died six
years later. His
half sister Mary then became Queen with public support, but
that was soon dissipated by her marriage to Philip and later
turned to horror by her public burnings of heretics - about
300 - including
Archbishop Cranmer.
Elizabeth
I succeeded her and reigned for 45 years.
She was intelligent and astute and appointed capable
ministers who, over the years, restored stability and
prosperity to the country and at the end of her reign
England was regarded as a major power in the world.
At home cities and towns flourished, architecture
blossomed and a more enlightened and educated society
emerged. The
threat from Spain affected everyone and to meet the
emergency the old fyrd (militia) was revived.
The constables in each hundred brought in able-bodied
men between 18 and 46.
Porteshed and Weston could only produce 8 as their
share of the Hundred of Portbury’s 139, namely: 3 light
horsemen, 25 pikemen, 50 archers, 50 billmen, 15 gunners.
Perhaps, being fishermen, some men from Portishead may have
served afloat.
The
Hall (de la Salle) family of Bradford-on-Avon purchased the
Le Bret Manor in 1300, but never took a great interest in
their Portishead estate.
The manor house just below the church had been leased
or sold for centuries and Edward Morgan of Easton now bought
it and probably built the hexagonal tower. 
The
rest of the estate was leased, e.g., John Kympe mariner,
cottage 14s.10 per annum; Henry Morris - “grist mill and
millhouse with the watercourse and stream known as
Portishead Myll” - 40 shillings twice yearly.
Nearby,
the City of Bristol had become very prosperous on trade and
shipping and the safest haven for surplus wealth was land.
In 1616 they bought the whole of the manor of
“North Weston in Portishead” ... “and together with
the advowson gifte ... of the Rectorie and parishe churche
of Porteshed”, for the sum of £950.
In the same year they bought the “Mansion House”
situated in Portishead with cottage and 100 acres for £200.
This was probably the manor house of North Weston
(the Grange of today).
In
1619 the City of Bristol bought the farm with the Courthouse
for £500. They
thus had two of the three manor houses of Portishead and
held Manorial Courts in one or the other for 200 years, the
first being 28th August 1617.
A contemporary description of the Manor Court of
Portishead in 1624 reads: “The Mayor, Aldermen and
Councillors with their wives were rowed down the river to
disembark at the Pill, headed by the City Swordbearers the
Waits and whatnot”. The fifth Court in 1632 placed a
responsibility upon the tenants for the rebuilding of the
pound (compound for stray animals) on the village green
opposite The Anchor (now The Poacher),
this work to be carried out under penalty of 10
shillings. Also,
Thomas Harding was appointed as Hayward (responsible for
strays). This was harking back to the
ancient cooperative farming customs when the Court decided
which crops were to be sown in what fields (under the strip
farming system). The
manor of North Weston was bought by the City in 1637 for £1409.
After that the City held its Courts for North Weston
and Portishead on the same day in the same courthouse.
The
Civil War divided loyalties in the area as it did in many
other places. Bristol
was for Parliament and opened their gates to Colonel Essex
in 1642 and put up a strong fight, but surrendered to Prince
Rupert’s Royalists who dominated the south west.
Other towns suffered much worse, one
fifth
of Gloucester was demolished
and
two thirds of Taunton. The Portishead garrison defended
Portishead Fort (on Battery Point) which was recognised as
one of Bristol’s defences.
The Point had possessed a watchtower since
Elizabethan days. After
Cromwell’s victory at Naseby the end was in sight.
His forces swept into
Somerset
and met with little resistance, Bristol was besieged and it
was necessary
to
capture the strong garrison of Portishead Point that
controlled shipping on King
Road.
The report from Sir Thomas Fairfax (Commander) states
“ ... and when the enemy heard that a party was coming
to
besiege them (the defenders of the Point) they were much
perplexed; divers of
them
left the garrison and went home;
and
when they (his men) came before
it
they (the defenders) sent from the
fort
to parley, which was granted; and Wednesday 27th August,
1645 it was
agreed
....”: (1) to surrender the garrison within 48 hours; (2)
to take oath, never
to
fight against Parliament; (3) to leave
the
fort and armament intact. This was done. The armament
comprised: 6 guns,
200
arms, powder, match, ammunition, bag
and
baggage.
The
victorious Parliamentary forces needed money and imposed
fines (and other punishment).
Portishead seems to have escaped lightly as no record
exists
of
punishment to the Lord of the Manor, George Chappell, who
continued to live a comfortable and active life.
His wife Katherine died in 1700 and in her will
established the Chappell Charity known as the Portishead
Pancake Money, paid out on Shrove Tuesdays to the
church-going poor who were without parish relief.
The
Commonwealth period following the Civil War was another time
of change, dissolution, unrest and uncertainty. It ended with the restoration of the
monarchy in the person of Charles II following an impasse
between the army and the government.
During this period the gentry in Gordano fared badly,
the Percivals of Weston declined even though Thomas twice
entertained the King at “Weston Gordein”.
The Winters of Clapton also fell on hard times and
the manor of Clapton was sold to pay their debts.
In Portishead, Thomas Chappell’s grandson Arthur,
inherited Capenor, but gambled it away and it was purchased
by William Mohun
and then sold on to the Honeywills.
Also
at this time a commercial revolution was taking place and
Bristol was a major player.
Produce from India, North America and West Indies
came to England, goods went out to Africa and slaves went
across the Atlantic. Other
goods went to Europe. Fortunes
were made and England was the wealthiest nation in Europe
(and probably the world).
Agriculture improved to feed the growing cities
leading to a rise in the standard of living.
These changes affected this area; James Gordon who
made his fortune in Antigua purchased the manors of Portbury
and Portishead and later the manor of Exeter.
The family built the grey stone farmhouses in the
valley. They
also bought the advowson of Portishead, installed a kinsman
as rector and rebuilt the rectory.
James became the first resident Lord of Portbury for
two centuries. Also,
having purchased Portishead Mill, he was able to drain the
Gordano and in 1823 enclose it through an Act of Parliament,
the Portbury Award, which he promoted.
His son Enclosed Clapton in 1843.
The
Gordons tried to revive the old system of courts and a Court
Book for the Portbury Hundred dated 1779 survives as does a
proclamation by the Lord of the Manor James Gordon to
continue Hundred Courts every three weeks and a Court
Leet (selected) for the whole of the Hundred.
There also followed an “In Hundred” or parish
meeting and a meeting of the “Out Hundred” of Portbury
that included Portishead.
But their duties had already been taken over by the
Parish Vestry and Parish Council, who dealt with minor
matters such as misdemeanours and the state of the common
land, ditches etc. The
last Court Leet was held in 1832.
Its business was often dealing with attempts by
parishes to disown financial responsibility for poor or
homeless strangers.
Piracy
was common. French
or Dutch privateers or Corsairs from Algiers plundered
ships. Smuggling
was a major business, large quantities of drink were
consumed and isolated farms near creeks - Black Nore Farm,
Redcliffe Bay Farm and Walton Bay cottages being survivors -
may have been convenient places having large cellars in
which to store contraband.
With such problems and the loss of rights with the
Enclosures, life was pretty tough around the end of the 18th
Century, but troubles were drowned in plentiful cheap beer
(and contraband?)
Other
changes were under way in Portishead. Some land was sold to
pay for Enclosures and Bristol City bought it.
Public rights were maintained and included: the
public wharf on the Pill with two roods of land; a public
washing pool above the windmill; public roads, bridleways
and footpaths. Mille
Streete became High Street necessitating the loss of the
Village Green opposite the Blew Anchor (Poacher).
The Village Cross was also moved to the churchyard
from the junction of Church Road South and High Street where
it had been the village focal point from prerecorded times.
Victorian
Times to the Present
Bristol
City bought Eastfield and Eastwood and built Woodhill and
Woodlands Roads in 1828.
In 1830 the Royal Hotel was built adjacent to the
Pier and other mansions were built nearby. At the town end
of Woodhill Road, Adelaide Terrace was built and No. 1 was
the home of a formidable lady, The Honourable Caroline
Boyle, formerly Lady in Waiting to Queen Adelaide. This latter information on Portishead
comes from Fardon’s New Portishead Guide of 1855, which
also tells us the population jumped from 369 in 1811 to 1000
in 1841 and then stabilised.
Portishead’s hopes of developing into a thriving
seaside resort were thwarted because Clevedon, on a branch
of the Bristol to Exeter Railway became more popular.
Portishead’s response was the development of a rail link
to a commercial dock.
The
advent of a rail link with Bristol in 1867 further enhanced
the popularity of the locality as a very desirable
residential area. Traces
of the railway platform, plus the steps up to the site of
the ticket office and the Royal Hotel, can still be seen.
This is all that remains of what was an important
embarkation point for emigrants to America.
The subsequent construction of Portishead Dock in the
Pill, and its associated Pier, in 1869 and onwards
encouraged more building and more residents in Portishead.
During its early commercial life, the Dock supported
the Granary, a flour mill and a timber wharf, and there was
a petroleum storage works located there.
In
1926 work commenced on a Power Station for the Bristol
Corporation Electricity Department on the eastern slope of
East Wood running down to the Dock, and overlooking the
granary and timber wharves.
The Station was commissioned in 1929, with coal for
the firing of its boilers arriving by sea. The Dock subsequently played its part in
the 1939-1945 World War II for incoming supplies from
various parts of the world.
It played an especial role in the Normandy landings
on D-Day and onwards, when large numbers of vessels loaded
with munitions and supplies set off down the Bristol Channel
for France.
Many
changes have taken place since those wartime years, the most
notable being the building of a second, much larger, Power
Station in 1959 together with the Albright & Wilson
phosphorus plant. These
were followed by the decommissioning and demolition of both
Power Stations in the late 1980’s.
Shipping stopped using the docks in 1992.
At around the same time there was an increase in the
number of housing developments which led to increases in the
number of residents to around 13,000.
This figure increased further to around 16,000 when
the Councils of Portishead and North Weston were amalgamated
in April 1993 under Local Government Reorganisation.
The amalgamation gave rise to an enlarged Portishead
& North Weston Town Council of 15 members (soon to be
18).
Portishead
has now lost most of its original industries together with
their prominent landmarks.
Gone are the two large Power Stations with their
group of four tall chimneys; gone is the Portishead Radio
Station that linked the UK to shipping around the world.
Its large array of radio masts on Portishead Downs
was very prominent and they were replaced by a single mast
at Clevedon even though the station is still called
Portishead Radio. The
final major industrial landmark is the group of concrete
silos, the last remaining part of the phosphorus plant.
The group are programmed to be demolished by the time
this WEB page is published.
