Portbury

Coordinates: 51°28′12″N 2°42′59″W / 51.4699°N 2.7163°W / 51.4699; -2.7163
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Portbury
Avon and Somerset
FireAvon
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Somerset
51°28′12″N 2°42′59″W / 51.4699°N 2.7163°W / 51.4699; -2.7163

Portbury is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, within the unitary authority of North Somerset. The parish includes the hamlet Sheepway, which is situated on moorland at the northern edge of the Gordano valley, between the Gordano services on the M5 motorway and Portishead, near the Royal Portbury Dock. The parish has a population of 827.[1]

History

The Romans are known to have had a wharf or hard at Portbury, probably for shipbuilding, as the commander of the logistics port of Ad Sabrinam at Seamills was charged with supplying ships to carry troops and supplies to the legions across the Severn in South Wales. It was used for the export of lead and tin from mines on the Mendip Hills.[2] Sheepway (Old English schip weg) - the port of Portbury - was probably in use in later, Saxon, times. The Marina dock in Portishead had a right-angled southern dogleg navigable down to Sheepway, giving the town its name - the "Port's headland".

Portbury is mentioned in the Exeter Domesday Book (

Portbury, a sub-division of the shire of Somerset.[3] The Domesday Book states, "Godwin held it from the King": Godwin was Harold II's eldest son and also held the title of Sheriff of Somerset. From the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
for 1068 we know that Godwin returned from exile in Ireland with a small force "at the mouth of the River Avon", probably intent on recapture of the former manor, but was routed by Aolnoth, his father's 'Staller' (an adjutant position - now in Willam's employ). Aolnoth was killed in the confrontation, but his surviving family become the Berkeley dynasty - see below. There would have existed in Portbury itself a substantial manor house within defensive boundaries that would have held the court and storehouses for grain and weaponry. The village itself is small but in former times ruled over most of the Gordano valley and the remote satellite enclave of Hamgreen.

In later Norman times

Earl of Berkeley. It is said that his wife Eva never left Portbury after moving there, and subsequent Berkeley heirs were brought up there before Berkeley Castle was made a comfortable home. She founded the 'Whiteladies' convent of St. Mary Magdalene, hence giving Bristol two of its street names. He founded St. Augustine's Abbey, now the Bristol Cathedral. It is recorded that the Berkeley family preferred to spend Christmas at Portbury. There is a Berkeley Chantry chapel with early Berkeley family burials in St Mary's Church dating from around 1190.[4]

Descendants of the Berkeley family married into the family of Coke of Holcombe, Norfolk who held the manor until 1784, when it was sold to James Gordon and inherited by William Abdy. On his death in 1870 it was sold to Sir Greville Smyth of Long Ashton.[2]

Portbury had its own railway station on the Portishead line until the Beeching axe fell. The village main street was cut through by the M5 motorway opened in February 1973. Although the M5 is close, it has actually made the village much less busy as it was previously on the main through route from Bristol to Portishead, from St. Georges, Easton in Gordano and on through Sheepway to Old Bristol Road in Portishead. The Rudgleigh — Easton Bypass and the Portbury Hundred either side of the motorway junction isolated Portbury from through traffic.

Governance

The

playing fields and playgrounds
, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also of interest to the council.

The parish falls within the

Avon and Somerset Constabulary and the South Western Ambulance Service
.

North Somerset's area covers part of the

county of Avon.[5] Before 1974 that the parish was part of the Long Ashton Rural District.[6]

The parish is represented in the

first past the post system of election, currently Liam Fox of the Conservative Party. It was also part of the South West England constituency of the European Parliament prior to Britain leaving the European Union
in January 2020.

Transport

The disused railway station at Portbury

Portbury is well served by roads given the nearby M5 and

A369 which links to Bristol and Portishead. Part of Royal Portbury Dock
is within the parish.

The parish used to have a railway station on the Portishead Railway. The station was closed with the line in 1964. Reopening to Portishead is scheduled for 2026, with an intermediate station at Pill but not at Portbury.

Religious sites

There was a small Augustinian Priory founded in Portbury on land donated by Isabella, Countess of Albemarle in the twelfth century, of which there is still a substantial part remaining in the centre of the village.

The

Anglican parish St Mary's Church dates from the 12th century, with alteration and extension in the 13th and restoration between 1870 and 1875. It has a Norman doorway and a grand fifteenth-century porch. Inside there are early Berkeley burials. It is a Grade I listed building.[7]

Local Newspapers

The local Clevedon Mercury and Portishead Times newspapers are delivered to residents free of charge usually by Saturday morning.

Schools

St. Mary's primary school a small school of just over 105 and also has transport to Gordano school in Portishead.

References

  1. ^ a b "2011 Census Profile". North Somerset Council. Archived from the original (Excel) on 4 January 2014. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  2. ^ a b c Robinson, W.J. (1915). West Country Churches. Bristol: Bristol Times and Mirror Ltd. pp. 125–131.
  3. ^ "Somerset Hundreds". GENUKI. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  4. ^ Collinson, John (1791). The History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset. Cruttevell. pp. 281. Berkeley Chantry chapel Portbury.
  5. ^ "The Avon (Structural Change) Order 1995". HMSO. Archived from the original on 30 January 2008. Retrieved 9 December 2007.
  6. ^ "Long Ashton RD". A vision of Britain Through Time. University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  7. ^ Historic England. "St. Mary's Church (1311826)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 8 March 2009.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Portbury.
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