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Portishead
Portishead viewed from Naish Hill
Portishead  Portishead shown within Somerset
Population	22,000 [1]
OS grid reference	ST470764
Parish	Portishead and North Weston
Unitary authority	North Somerset
Ceremonial county	Somerset
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BRISTOL
Postcode district	BS20
Dialling code	01275
Police	Avon and Somerset
Fire	Avon
Ambulance	Great Western
EU Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	Woodspring
List of places: UKʉۢ Englandʉۢ Somerset

Portishead, Somerset

Portishead has a long history as a fishing port and expanded rapidly during the early 19th century around the docks. A power station and chemical works were added in the 20th century, but the dock and industrial facilities have since declined, being redeveloped into a marina and residential areas. The population is now expanding and it is primarily a dormitory town for Bristol and its environs.

Portishead’s history dates back to Roman times.^[1] Its name derives from the ‘port at the head of the river’, having been called Portshead and Portschute at times in its history and Portesheve in the Domesday Book, and was locally known as Posset.^[3] The town was built on the mouth of a small tributary of the Severn Estuary near the mouth of the River Avon. There is still evidence of iron rings in the high street at which old fishing boats used to moor.^[1]

In the neighbourhood are the traces of a camp 1,200 feet by 600, successively occupied by the Romans, Britons and Danes, and which Fairfax took from the Royalists in 1645.^[4]

The dominant architecture is early Victorian with some buildings maintaining their original features.^[1]

The act governing the enclosure of Portishead was passed in 1814 and stipulated the right to a public wharf, although there is historical evidence of the nautical connections dating back to The Patent Rolls of 1331.^[3] 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.^[5][6] They brought valuable cargoes from across the globe and exported local products overseas. Ships carrying coal were commonplace in Portishead Docks.^[7]

In the 1880s Portishead Dock was acquired by Bristol Corporation, and was managed as part of the Port of Bristol until it closed.

The Portishead power stations were coal-fed power stations built adjacent 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.^[7][8] In 1937 its original six short chimney stacks were replaced by a 350 ft (110 m) high stack.^[8] A second 350 ft stack was added when this power station was expanded in 1948.^[7]

Portishead "B" power station was started in 1949 and began generating in 1955.^[7][8] After 1949, the power stations became part of the nationalised electricity industry; 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.^[5] 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 Ltd of Bristol.^[7]

Portishead had two passenger stations on the GWR's Portishead branch line. The main station was sited near the centre of the village of Portishead, as it was then; and the other sited at the Pier.^[9] 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.^[9] 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 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.^[10]

Portishead also had a second, short-lived, railway line: the Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Railway.^[11][12] It ran between Weston-super-Mare and Clevedon as a standard railway line; and between Clevedon and Portishead as a light railway.^[12] The Clevedon to Portishead extension opened on 7 August 1907.^[12] The line closed on 19 May 1940; and was then dismantled by the GWR.^[11][12]

In 1951 Albright and Wilson 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.^[13] Phosphate rock was stored in concrete silos on the dockside until it was required. The chemical works used electricity, provided by the power stations, to power six 7.5 megawatt electric arc furnaces (45 MW total), to reduce the phosphate rock. The phosphorus was then moved by sealed railway tanks to Oldbury and to Kirkby. After the closure of the factory the deconatmination included the removal of yellow (spontaneously combustible) and the red allotropes of phosphorus.^[14] The site is now home to Portishead volunteer coastguard.^[15]

The onset of new generating capacity at Pembroke (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.^[8] 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.^[8] Portishead B power station closed in 1982 and both of its 383 feet (117 m) stacks were demolished in October 1992.^[8]

Industrial activities ceased in the dock with the closure of the power stations. The Port of Bristol Authority finally closed the dock in 1992.^[16]

The harbour area has been developed to provide a marina. 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 under way on the 'ashlands' to the east of the harbour, so-called because they were the dumping ground for power station waste, extending further the area of the town 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 from across the world to supply coal to 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, with further shops, pubs and restaurants are scheduled to open in the future.

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 INMARSAT which permits directly dialled calls made from any BT landline in the UK. The radio station had separate transmitting and receiving stations.^[17] 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.^[18] 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.^[17] The receiving station's control centre and radio masts were located at Highbridge, near Burnham on Sea.^[17]

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 staff were away 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.^[18]

By the end of the 1980s, satellite communications had started to take an increasingly large 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 4001 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 (156-174 MHz) services closed at 12:00 on Sunday 30 April 2000, and the medium-range services (MF maritime band 1.6-3.0 MHz) services at 12:00 on Friday 30 June. The station closed in April 2000.^[18] 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.^[19]

The town council is made up of 18 councillors representing six wards, namely: Portishead Central, Portishead Coast, Portishead East, Portishead South & North Weston, Portishead Redcliffe Bay and Portishead West.^[20] 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 fields and playgrounds, 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.

Portishead Fire Station

The town falls within the unitary authority of North Somerset which was created in 1996, as established by the Local Government Act 1992. It provides a single tier of local government with responsibility for almost all local government functions within their area including local planning and building control, local roads, council housing, environmental health, markets and fairs, refuse collection, recycling, cemeteries, crematoria, leisure services, parks, and tourism. They are also responsible for education, social services, libraries, main roads, public transport, trading standards, waste disposal and strategic planning, although fire, police and ambulance services are provided jointly with other authorities through the Avon Fire and Rescue Service, Avon and Somerset Constabulary and the Great Western Ambulance Service.

North Somerset's area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset but it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters are in the town hall in Weston-super-Mare. Between April 1, 1974 and April 1, 1996, it was the Woodspring district of the county of Avon.^[21] Before 1974 that the parish was part of the Long Ashton Rural District.^[22]

The parish is represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom as part of the Woodspring county constituency which is to become North Somerset at next general election. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It is also part of the South West England constituency of the European Parliament which elects six MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.^[23]

Portishead Pier to Black Nore SSSI is a 71.8 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1952. The Portishead Pier Section is made up of alluvial sandstones which represents 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 (orogeny) in the Carboniferous Period of geological history. Also included are areas which show important exposures of the Devonian sequence and yields several species of fossil fishes. 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.^[24] Eastwood and Battery Point Local Nature Reserve is a 9 hectare woodland containing Yew, Maple, Dogs mercury and beech.^[25]

The Lake Grounds area, built in the early 20th century around an artificial lake, is the town's main park area. Adjacent to the beach and esplanade is a 100 year old man-made lake,^[26] 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.^[27] Above the Lake grounds is Battery Point, where a gun battery was sited to protect the Severn Estuary from invasion fleets.^[28]

The current population of Portishead is approximately 22,000.^[1] Due to the new house-building programme in the area 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.^[1]

Local employers include the Avon and Somerset Constabulary, 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 town has retained a 'local shop identity', despite some larger DIY chains and supermarkets being built, for example Homebase, Argos (retailer) and Waitrose.^{[citation needed]}

The red brick Nautical National School was built by Edward Gabriel in 1905,^[29] at a cost of £30,000.^[30] Previously it had been based on the Training Ship Formidable and operated until 1983.^[31] It is now part of a private gated community known as Fedden Village.^[32]

The remains of a former windmill which was built in 1832, but fell into disuse in 1846 was rebuilt into a two storey house and then, in 1908, incorporated into the golf club house.^[33]

A 9 metres (30 ft) high lighthouse was built at Battery Point in 1930.^[34]

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 railway line.^[35] The cost has been estimated at £28million,^[36] and feasibility plans are being considered.^[37]

The main A369 road, known after the historical name for the area, as "The Portbury Hundred",^[38] 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.^[39]

The Unitary Authority of North Somerset, provides support for 78 schools, delivering education to approximately 28,000 pupils.^[40] 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 1500 students annually, ages 11–19. The official opening took place on July 12, 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.^{[citation needed]}

The Norman Church of St Peter 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.^[41] The four-stage tower is a prominent landmark, with set back buttresses and a pierced parapet.^[41] The church was altered in 1978-1979 and also has a new garden developed for the Millennium.^[42]

The Chapel of Portishead National Nautical School (now The Fedden Village) in Nore Road, dates from 1911. It is dedicted to St. Nicholas and is also a listed building.^[43]

There is also a thriving URC church^[44] which dates from 6 March 1840. One of the early benefactors was Henry Overton Wills of the Wills tobacco family, who were staunch Congregationalists.

Portishead has a brand new sports and leisure complex which was partly funded by the National Lottery as well as funds from the Town Council and North Somerset Council.^[1] 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, a boating lake, cricket[ grounds, football and hockey pitches as well as many cycle lanes.

Portishead Town F.C. has 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.^[45] After their fourth successive runner-up campaign in the 2004-05 season, Portishead successfully applied for promotion to the Western League.^[45] 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.^[46] Although Portishead finished as runners-up they were unable to be promoted to the Western League Premier Division as their ground was not suitable, lacking (at that time) floodlights.^{[citation needed]}

The Bristol-based trip hop group Portishead took their name from the town, despite describing it as their "dreary home-town".^[47] They were initially known for their use of jazz samples and some hip hop beats along with various synth sounds and the vocals of singer Beth Gibbons. Their current sound drops the samples in favour of a harder, more abrasive edge, but retains Gibbons’ vocals. The band was formed in 1991, by keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Geoff Barrow and singer Beth Gibbons. Barrow had previously worked with Massive Attack and Tricky whilst tape operator at Coach House Studios in Clifton.^{[citation needed]} He was often referred to as “that bloke from Portishead� and so decided to name his new musical endeavour after his hometown. Portishead signed a record deal with Go! Beat and their first album, Dummy, was released in 1994. It featured heavy contributions from guitarist Adrian Utley. In spite of the band’s media-shyness, the album gained universal critical acclaim and was successful on both sides of the Atlantic, spawning two hit singles, “Glory Box� and “Sour Times�. The album won the Mercury Prize in 1995.^[48]

The town was the birthplace of Scrumpy and Western star Adge Cutler.^[49]

Schweich, Germany

Den Dungen, Netherlands.

George Wightwick, Architect^[51]

Adge Cutler, Popular Singer^[49]

Eddie Large, Comedian^[52]

Gary Johnson, Football manager

Marvin Elliott, Footballer

Bradley Orr, Footballer^[53]

Liam Fontaine, Footballer

Lee Trundle, Footballer

Nicky Maynard, Footballer

Carol Vorderman, TV Presenter^[54]

Johnny Briggs, Actor

Chris Harris, pantomime dame, director and writer.