WESTON-SUPER-MARE – information extracted from Kelly’s 1914 Directory of Somerset
WESTON-SUPER-MARE is a modern town and fashionable watering place, on the Bristol Channel, 139 miles from London, 20 south-west from Bristol, 32 from Bath, 20 from Bridgwater, 30 from Taunton and 20 from Wells, and is connected to the Bristol and Exeter section of the Great Western Railway, by a loop line, constructed from the main line at Worle, on the Bristol side, which after passing the town rejoins the main line near Uphill, so that passengers may come direct to Weston without changing carriages: there is also a light railway between Weston and Clevedon:
WESTON-SUPER-MARE is in the
- Wells division of the county [Somerset]
- Hundred of Winterstoke
- Poor Law Union of Axbridge
- Axbridge Petty Sessions
- Weston-super-Mare County Court District
- Rural Deanery of Axbridge (Locking Division)
- Arch-deaconry of Wells
- Diocese of Bath & Wells
WESTON is altogether a town of modern erection, as about the beginning of the last century [1800] it only contained 24 houses, inhabited by fishermen, scattered along the shore. In 1812, the number of inhabitants was 160, with a single public house; but in 1891 it had 2,801 houses, the greater portion being of a superior description; it is in 1913 the second largest town in the county and has an estimated population of 24,000.
This town is sheltered from the north winds by Worlebury Hill, and is the resort, in the season, of large numbers of visitors from Bath, Bristol, Cheltenham, Taunton, Oxford and South Wales, as well as from other parts of the kingdom. The climate is equable, with a mean temperature 10 degrees above that of London, and it has consequently found considerable favour as a winter residence, there being very little frost or snow, and the air is said to possess particularly invigorating qualities, from the large amount of iodine which it contains.
The town is well paved and lighted with gas, from works in the Uphill Drove, nearly a mile distant from the town and the property of a Company, and with electric light also by a company, and abundantly supplied with water from an extensive reservoir in the Bristol Road, and another of Worlebury Hill, constructed in 1866 to supply houses in the upper portion of the town.
In 1887, a new Sea Front was completed, forming a continuous broad promenade or esplanade, 2½ miles in length; wind shelters and seats are provided at regular intervals, with short flights of steps to the sands.
The Birnbeck Pier, a handsome structure of iron opened in 1867 starts from the mainland below Prince Consort Gardens and continues in a straight line to the island of Birnbeck, from where a newly constructed steel jetty well adapted to receive boats from the Welsh Coast. The Grand Pier which commences from the centre of the bay offers seasonal entertainment in its pavilion. |
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