Information about Clevedon

Clevedon is a town in North Somerset, England. The name derives from the Saxon, 'Cleve' meaning Cleave or Cleft and 'don' meaning hill, the town being situated amongst a group of small hills alongside the River Severn estuary. On a clear evening, fantastic views can be seen across the estuary to Wales. When the visibility is particularly good the island of Lundy in the Bristol Channel can be seen.

During the Victorian era Clevedon became a popular seaside town. Clevedon Pier was opened on Easter Monday 1869, one of the earliest examples of a Victorian pier still in existence in England. The seafront stretches for approximately half a mile from the pier to Salthouse Field, and includes ornamental gardens, a Victorian bandstand, a bowling green, tennis courts, crazy golf and other amusements. An addition to this list is Marine Lake, which was once a Victorian swimming pool, is now used for boating activities, as well as a small festival once a year where people can try out new sports. The Salthouse Field has a light railway running round the perimeter and is still used for donkey rides during the summer. The shore at Clevedon is a mixture of pebbled beaches and low rocky cliffs, with the old harbour being at the western edge of the town at the mouth of the Land Yeo.

At the dawn of the twentieth century Clevedon was still a popular resort and the Curzon cinema was built, which is the oldest purpose-built, continuously operated cinema in the world. The rocky beach and the sedate nature of the amusements on offer meant that Clevedon lost almost all of its residential holiday trade by the middle of the twentieth century, though it is still a popular resort for day-trippers.

Clevedon Community School is a large secondary comprehensive school serving the whole town and the surrounding rural areas. There are also several primary schools in the town and outskirts.

Photographs of Clevedon