Clevedon History

About Clevedon......

This charming Victorian coastal resort dates back to the 11th century.

Originally a hillside settlement, Clevedon's name derives from the Saxon 'cleve'. meaning cleft and 'don', meaning hill.

Clevedon remained a small farming community until the 1820s, when the Elton family of Clevedon Court realised its potential as a select coastal resort. Families from nearby Bristol soon came here to enjoy the sea air.

A new development of substantial middle-class housing spread out over the Hill, while the old village along the base grew to provide the town with domestic servants and commercial facilities.

Clevedon has retained its fine Victorian architecture including its elegant pier. Completed in 1869, and now restored, the pier is one of the oldest in the country and considered to be a national monument.

Clevedon's long seafront, stretching for about half a mile from the pier to Salthouse Fields, has many genteel attractions. These include a Victorian bandstand, a tidal lake and ornamental gardens.

A light railway takes visitors round the perimeter of Salthouse Fields, which still offers donkey rides at weekends.

Clevedon's shoreline is a mixture of pebbled beaches and low rocky cliffs. In the mid-20th century the lack of sandy beaches meant that Clevedon lost its appeal for residential family holidays but the resort is still very popular with day-trippers.

Today Clevedon is also a dormitory town for Bristol. Set on and round seven hills, the town offers far-reaching views across the Severn Estuary to Wales. On a clear day Lundy Island can be seen in the Bristol Channel.

Poet's Walk, with its fine views of Clevedon and the Severn Estuary, is named after the many poets associated with Clevedon. In 1795 the Romantic poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, stayed here several months after his marriage to Sarah Fricker.

William Makepeace Thackeray (author of Vanity Fair) was a frequent guest of the Elton family at Clevedon Court in the mid-19th century.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, also stayed Clevedon Court in 1850. In 1909 the young poet Rupert Brooke came to Clevedon to recover from an in illness.

More about Clevedon.....

The National Trust now own Clevedon Court. Since 1709 the home of the Elton family. It is one of the oldest manor houses in England, the tower to the east dating from the thirteenth century.

The Elton's played a large part in the responsible development of Clevedon from a small farming community to a select Victorian resort.

They also provided sites for the hospital, schools and churches and campaigned vigorously for improvements to sanitation and drainage.

Through Sir Charles Elton, Tennyson and Thackeray came to know Clevedon. His grandson, Sir Edmund, was the maker and esigner of Elton Ware pottery. Elton Ware decorates the Clock Tower in the Triangle, given to the town to commemorate the Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

Clevedon View
A wide angled view over Clevedon, towards Poets Walk upon Wains Hill above the Salthouse Fields. This photo was probably taken from the top of the Zig-zag path that leads from Hill Road to the Dial Hill area.
In the distance are seen Brean Down and the islands of Flatholm and Steepholm.