•  Clevedon, Somerset

          Click on the map for other historical maps of this place

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Clevedon like this:

CLEVEDON, a village and a parish in Bedminster district, Somerset. The village stands on the coast, under a rocky height called Dial-Hill, at the terminus of a branch railway, 12½ miles by road WSW of Bristol. It dates from remote times; but now consists chiefly of a collection of villas built since 1828. ...

---

It enjoys a moist mild air; is a favourite summer resort for sea-bathing; and has a head post office, ‡ a railway station with telegraph, two chief inns, marine baths, and a pier 800 feet long, constructed at a cost of £12, 000, and completed in 1869. Dial-Hill commands a magnificent view; and fine walks and rides are in the neighbourhood. Myrtle Cottage here was for some time the residence of the poet S. T. Coleridge; and Clevedon Court, in the vicinity, a noble Tudor mansion amid beautiful grounds, now the seat of Sir Arthur H. Elton, Bart., is associated with the memory of the historian Hallam, whose wife was a daughter of Sir Abraham Elton. Coleridge sang the praises of his cottage in his "Sibylline Leaves;" and the poet Tennyson, in his "In Memoriam" on Arthur Henry Hallam, sings as follows the praises of the village, -

There twice a-day the Severn fills;
The salt sea-water passes by,
And brushes half the babbling Wye,
And makes a silence in the hills.

The parish comprises 2, 987 acres of land and 1, 080 of water. Real property, £16, 674. Pop., 2, 941. Houses, 463. The property is subdivided. Much of the surface is picturesque. Lead ore was formerly mined. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bath and Wells; and there are also the p. curacy of Christchurch and the vicarage of East Clevedon. Value of Clevedon, £420; * of Christchurch, not reported; of East Clevedon, £127. Patron of Clevedon, the Bishop of Worcester; of Christchurch, Trustees; of East Clevedon, Sir A. H. Elton, Bart. The old church belonged to St. Augustine abbey in Bristol; is partly Norman, and partly decorated and perpendicular English; and contains the ancient burying-place of the Clevedons, once lords of the manor, and monuments of the Wakes and the Hallams. Christ-church church is a modern edifice in the early English style; and East Clevedon church is in the decorated English style. There are a handsome Independent chapel, Quakers' and Brethren's chapels, national and British schools, and charities £21.

Clevedon through time

Clevedon is now part of North Somerset district. Click here for graphs and data of how North Somerset has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Clevedon itself, go to Units and Statistics.

---

Not where you were looking for?

Click here for more detailed advice on finding places within A Vision of Britain through Time, and maybe some references to other places called "Clevedon".