Weston-super-Mare ( ), also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in the North Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. Its population at the 2021 census was 82,418.
The area around the town has been occupied since the Iron Age. It was still a small village until the 19th century when it developed as a seaside resort. A railway station and two piers were built. In the second half of the 20th century it was connected to the M5 motorway but the number of people holidaying in the town declined and some local industries closed, although the number of day visitors has risen.
Attractions include the Grand Pier, Weston Museum and The Helicopter Museum. Cultural venues include The Playhouse, the Winter Gardens and the Blakehay Theatre.
The Bristol Channel has a large tidal range; the low tide mark in Weston Bay is about from the seafront. The beach is sandy but low tide reveals areas of thick mud which are dangerous to walk on. The mouth of the River Axe is at the south end of the beach. To the north of the town is Sand Point which marks the upper limit of the Bristol Channel and the lower limit of the Severn Estuary. In the centre of the town is Ellenborough Park, which is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to the range of plant species found there.
Toponymy
Weston comes from the Anglo-Saxon for the west tun or settlement; super mare is Latin for "above sea" and was added to distinguish it from the many other settlements named Weston in the Diocese of Bath and Wells.
Prior to 1348 it was known as Weston-juxta-Mare ("beside the sea"). The name was changed by Ralph of Shrewsbury, who was the Bishop of Bath and Wells. Between the 14th and 17th centuries the "super Mare" part of the name disappeared and it was just known as Weston, although in 1610 it was recorded as Weston on the More; môr being the Welsh word for sea.
History
Early history
Weston's oldest structure is Worlebury Camp, on Worlebury Hill, dating from the Iron Age. Castle Batch was a castle that once stood overlooking the town. The present site has an earthwork mound of in diameter which is believed to be the remains of a motte.
The parish was part of the Winterstoke Hundred.
The medieval church of St John was demolished in 1824 and rebuilt on the same site, though a stump of the medieval preaching cross survives by the exterior south wall. The former rectory is a 17th-century structure with later additions. Though it remains adjacent to the church, it has not been a parsonage house since the end of the 19th century. Today it is known as Glebe House and is divided into flats.
The Old Thatched Cottage restaurant on the seafront carries the date 1774; it is the surviving portion of a summer cottage built by the Revd. William Leeves of Wrington.
19th century
Early in the 19th century, Weston was a small village of about 30 houses, located behind a line of sand dunes fronting the sea, which had been created as an early sea wall after the Bristol Channel floods of 1607. The Pigott family of Brockley, who were the local Lords of the Manor, had a summer residence at Grove House. Weston owes its growth and prosperity to the Victorian era boom in seaside holidays. Construction of the first hotel in the village started in 1808; it was called "Reeves" (now the Royal Hotel). Along with nearby Burnham-on-Sea, Weston benefited from proximity to Bristol, Bath and South Wales. The first attempt at an artificial harbour was made in the late 1820s at the islet of Knightstone and a slipway built from Anchor Head towards Birnbeck Island.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel and his family lived in Weston, at Swiss Villa (towards the north end of Trevelyan road), while he was supervising the construction of the Bristol and Exeter Railway in the area. With the opening of the railway in 1841, thousands of visitors came to the town from Bristol, the Midlands and further afield, on works outings and bank holidays. Mining families also came across the Bristol Channel from South Wales by paddle steamer. To cater for them, Birnbeck Pier was completed in 1867, offering in its heyday amusement arcades, tea rooms, amusement rides and a photographic studio. It is now in a derelict state and has been added to English Heritage's Buildings at Risk Register, but visitors can still admire its structure from behind barbed wire. It was designed by Eugenius Birch with ironwork by the Isca Foundry of Newport, Monmouthshire. It is a grade II* listed building.