Portishead, Somerset

Portishead (IPA: /pɔːtɪsˈhɛd/) is a coastal town in North Somerset, England. Its population is 18,000, with a further 8,000 expected as people move into new developments in the town over the next few years.

Portishead’s history dates back to Roman times. Its name derives from the ‘port at the head of the river’. The town was built on the mouth of a small tributary; indeed the High Street once met the water at the top of the river. Iron rings, evidence of where the old fishing boats used to moor can still be seen today on the street’s stone walls.

The dominant architecture is early Victorian with many buildings maintaining their original features.

1 Portishead's dock and railway lines
2 The run-down
3 Portishead today
4 References

[edit] Portishead's dock and railway lines

Around the 1860s at the height of the iron and steel era, a Pier and a deep-water dock were built 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.

Two major coal-fed power stations, operated by the CEGB after 1949, were built adjacent to the dock. Construction work started on Portishead "A" power station in 1926 ; and it began generating electricity in 1929. In 1937 its original six short chimney stacks were replaced by two 350 ft high stacks. Portishead "B" power station was started in 1949 and it began generating in 1955. Both power stations used local coal produced in the Somerset coalfield; after 1966, only Lower Writhlington and Kilmersdon pits, in Radstock, remained and Portishead power station was their main customer. Coal was delivered by train along the Portishead branch of the Great Western Railway (GWR). It originally opened on 12 April 1867 as the Bristol and Portishead Pier and Railway Company and opened to the dock on 5 July 1879.

Portishead had two passenger stations on the GWR branch line, the main station was sited near to the centre of the village of Portishead, as it was then; and the other sited at the Pier. The construction of Portishead "B" power station caused the original railway station to be demolished and a new replacement station was opened in the High Street on 2 January 1954.

Portishead also had a second, short-lived, railway line: the Weston-Super-Mare, 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 whole of the line closed on 19 May 1940; and was then dismantled by the GWR.

In 1951 Albright and Wilson set up 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. The chemical works used electricity, provided by the power stations, to power six 7.5 Megawatt electric arc furnaces (45 Megawatt, total), to reduce the phosphate rock. The phosphorus was then moved by sealed railway tanks to Oldbury and to Kirkby.

[edit] The run-down

The two power stations were 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 16th 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 was closed in 1976; and the first of its two chimney stacks, a prominent local landmark, was demolished in September 1981, followed by the second in August 1982. Portishead B closed in 1982 and both of its 383 ft stacks were demolished in October 1992.

Industrial activities ceased in the dock with the closure of the Power Stations.

In the last few years the harbour area has been developed to provide a marina for pleasure. 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, as well as a fake 'fishing village' complete with cottages and a 'barbican' tower. 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 (still called the village) towards Portbury.

[edit] Portishead today

Portishead is primarily a dormitory town for Bristol and its environs, but 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 more recently a major retail outlet, a DIY store, and a McDonalds. The town can also boast several supermarkets, around a dozen hairdressers but no butcher.

Poor transportation links are a preoccupation for some residents of the town. Despite representations from town groups and local politicians, plans to reopen a disused train line to Bristol have been dismissed as uneconomical. The main A369 road (known as The Portbury Hundred) to the nearby M5 motorway is regularly congested during rush hours.

The centre of the town has recently experienced major traffic-flow modifications which have caused much controversy because they are widely seen as having caused extensive queuing where none existed before. More than 2,000 residents signed a petition to North Somerset Council expressing outrage concerning the development, and in early 2006, more than 1,000 residents joined a protest march through the town centre calling for the development to be scrapped. The organiser of the petition and march was subsequently elected to the District Council as a Conservative member in the local elections of 2006.

The Portishead coastline is stony and muddy and of environmental and geological interest, but is not particularly sandy. The Lake Grounds area, built in the early 20th century around an artificial lake, is the town's main park area. One of the UK's last surviving outdoor swimming pools is situated on the shore next to the Lake Grounds and is open during the summer months. Above the Lake grounds is Battery Point, where guns were placed to protect the Severn Estuary from invasion fleets.

The Bristol-based trip hop group Portishead are named after the town, despite claiming to hate the place.[1]

[edit] References

Crowhurst, Ken, (2001). Images of England: Portishead, Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2240-5.
Smith, Martin, (1992). The Railways of Bristol & Somerset, Sherton: Ian Allan Ltd. ISBN 0-7110-2063-9.

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Categories: Coastal towns | North Somerset | Ports and harbours of Somerset | Towns in Somerset | Ports and harbours of the Bristol Channel