.-.4 WESTON SUPER-MARE

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The age-old scene of wind-driven tides confronting great sand dunes was gradually subdued by improved sea walls as Weston grew into a popular seaside resort.

Use this Trail to find out why and how the early visitors came to a wild and beautiful place, and what facilities successive generations of Westonians provid- ed to augment the setting of hillside, bays and islands.

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lUeston Herituge Centre, 3-6 Watllton Stt?et, llestun super-M11rc BS23 IJY- '1el: (Al 931) 112 111 Weston-super-Mare faces down the and is open to the Atlantic Ocean. High tides, sometimes driven by strong westerlies, are funnelled up the estuary, producing the second highest tide rise in the world (well over 40 feet). This leads to the famous Severn Bore higher up. This extreme rise-and-fall is reflected at Weston in the wide expanse of mud flats revealed in the shallow bay.

The flat land in this part of was sometimes under the sea in prehistoric times. The present coastline stabilised about 6,000- 7,000 years ago. Great sand dunes or "tots" formed along Weston Bay, petering out at the north end where the tide eats into the shore. Weston villagers maintained a sea wall to guard against flooding, but over the centuries there were periodic inundations despite these precautions and the threat is ever present.

Early visitors in the 1Sth century sought medicinal benefit from "the cure" of sea bathing and followed the new fashion for going back to nature. ln 1826 the old sea wall was replaced by a simple esplanade running from Knightstone to the new Assembly Rooms at the end of Regent Street.

The small resorl of the upper classes gradually changed after the railway's arrival in 1841 into a watering place for the Victorian middle classes. The population rose from 2,015 in 1841 to 10,564 in 1871. The 1880s scheme that gave us the present sea wall, esplanade and beach lawns ushered in a third phase of greater crowds of working people.

Continues overleaf This trail includes features from all three chapters in the resort's story and the walk reveals the ever-changing views of hills, coast and islands that make Weston's setting one of the finest among English resorls.

The trail starts at the Heritage Centre in Wadham Street and takes about one and a half hours to complete.

Weston Bay with Royal Crescent in the middle distance From Wadham Street (1) turn right into West Street, which is one of the old village lanes. At the cross roads you see the Royal Hotel on your left, Weston's first hotel which opened in 1810 and was a landmark in the resort's growth. The stables and yard are closest to you (2),very important when all visitors relied on horses to bring them across muddy country lanes to this part of the coast. The hotel was enlarged in 1845.

Reaching the sea front you see the Thatched Cottage on your right (3), Weston's first holiday home. It was built by the Rev. William Leeves, Rector of Wrington, about 10 miles away. Perhaps he had become familiar with Weston through visiting the Rev. Wadham Piggot at The

The Rotal Hotel Grove. Only part of the cottage remains, but it was always a small building, no bigger than the homes of the villagers. The first visitors, although from the wealthy upper classes, were content to stay in quite modest holiday accommodation.

Because the seaside was the great attraction, many of the first lodgings were built close to the shore rather than in the hearl of the old village. The end of the Cabot Hotel contains an 1830s house (with an extra floor added), while to the right of the Thatched Cottage are two 1830s houses with pillared entrances. Turning up the seafront we see the end of Victoria Buildings, begun 1838, the year after Victoria became Queen: the whole row was once a charming terrace of seven two-storey houses like these, behind front gardens.

The walk continues on Card 2 Greenfield Place, Park Place and Royal Crescent Weston was still a village in this early phase of its resort history rural and romantic. The wide level beach was pa.rt of the countryside. A few bathing machines, owned by the Hotel, stood on the sands opposite West Street: wooden changing rooms on wheels, pulled into the sea by horses.

The coming of the railway in 1841 caused development to "change gear". Standing opposite the car park further up (4) we see the "New Town" built by Henry Davies, a lawyer, at the end of the 1840s: on the right is Royal Crescent; ahead the row of Park Villas; hidden on the left the terrace of Greenfield Place; together with other terraces and villas hidden from view. All The Royal Crescent were built very rapidly - bold speculation on a scale larger than ever seen here before. This is urban architecture in the tradition of Bath. Indeed Bath stone is used, brought in on the railway. The central open space was all landscaped garden for the use of the residents. The whole development signalled Weston's new pretensions as a town.

Davies's buildings commanded fine views of Knightstone, which you now reach after turning left along the Causeway. It was a real island before this road was built up, reached only at low tide by a path of shingle. No-one knows the origin of the name. Local legend says it is the burial place of a Roman knight. In fact the skeleton of a man nearly seven feet tall was dug up in the 1820s. Presumably this was a pre-Christian burial. Was he an important chieftain of the Iron Age Celts who occupied the massive fort on the hilltop?

A more prosaic explanation is that this is where boats tied up at night! There was much coastal

The walk continues overleaf and cross-Channel traffic, as well as local fishing in "flatners" (shallow-bottomed craft able to work in the bay): an example is preserved in Woodspring Museum. Pleasure trips were offered to the early visitors and the first steamers began calling in 1825.

Knightstone was the site of the main Baths \i and you can see the Bath House of 1831 (5), an ilr elegant Georgian building in a striking setting. {' Dr Fox, of Brislington near Bristol, developed

11 the island and sent many wealthy patients here. There was a lodging house for invalids on the island and a wide range of treatments was available: showers and plunge baths, hot and cold, sulphur, iodine or chlorine baths. The establishment consolidated the resort's medicinal appeal (over and above fresh air and a relaxing regime), and was a useful complement to sea bathing when the tide was out.

The island also offered a superb vantage-point. There is a fine view back over the town, showing Knightstone Baths later Victorian houses in grey limestone rising above the earlier buildings along the seafront. At the south end of the bay is the Norman church of on the hilltop, close to the windmill tower. Across the mouth of the River Axe the beautiful headland of Down stretches into the Channel. It has a Victorian fort at the end; together with three others (on and islands and the Welsh coast) it com- manded the Channel with heavy guns, guarding the Bristol approaches. Beyond, on clear days, Exmoor appears, with Dunkery Beacon the highest point.

The walk continues on Card 3 The main Baths and the Pavilion (originally the Opera House) date from 1903 and 1904. By this time more and more people were crowding into the resort. On Bank Holidays the population was doubled. Annual holidays with pay spread down the social scale. People looked for amusements and attractions. Edwardian visitors found a wide range of live entertainments, including numerous bands, minstrel shows and concert parties at several different venues along the seafront.

The Grand Pier, in the middle of the bay, also dates from 1904. Although originally built The Grand Pier for steamer traffic, it too settled down as an amusement centre for new crowds. From Knightstone, you can survey the extent of the 1880s seafront scheme itself, the stone wall and esplanade 21lz mlles long, a massive civil engineering project which was done between high tides without the use of coffer dams. This allowed far more people to enjoy the sea front.

Walk round to the north of the island, where there are more fine views. The woods above the town were planted in the 1820s by the Lord of the Manor, and they hid the Iron Age hillfort, which is above the spire of Holy Trinity Church. The Marine Lake was created in the 1920s by damming Glentworth Bay with a new causeway.

Return down the Knightstone Causeway. Facing you is (6) Prince's Buildings. The Rev. Francis Kilvert, the famous diarist, stayed here. He was one of those who disliked the bathing machines and other strict regulations governing swimming in the sea. On the 4th September lSlZ he wrote: "I was out early before breakfast this morning

The walk continues overleaf 2ry A1! bathing from the sands. There was a delicious feeling of freedom in stripping in the open air and running down naked to the sea, where the waves were curling white with foam and the red morning sunshine glowing upon the naked limbs of the bathers." Not all the Victorians were prudes. Yet the machines remained in use until a great gale in 1903 smashed them to pieces.

Follow the esplanade around Glentworth Bay until it parts company with the road. As you begin to climb you pass a row of houses over- looking Madeira Cove, built mostly as rented accommodation in the 1840s and 1850s, now mostly hotels with various bits and pieces added. Turn right into Wellington Terrace (1849), a handsome early row (7), once quite remote from the town. It faces a triangular communal garden, which formerly had a drinking fountain in a niche in the wall at each corner.

Wellington Terrace

The walk continues on Card 4 At the top you reach Prince Consort Gardens, with magnificent views over , the Channel and the Welsh Mountains. This is the place to enjoy a fine summer sunset. It was formerly called Flagstaff Hill, when signals were sent to the revenue cutter that patrolled this coast looking for smugglers. During the ISth and early 19th centuries, when there were high import duties on luxury goods, much contraband cargo was landed along these quiet shores, quickly hidden in the sand dunes until it was safe to take it to Bristol or Bath. Many local people were involved and generally the smugglers got away with it, although there were some nalrow Birnbeck Pier escapes.

Birnbeck Pier (1867) built out into deep water for the steamers, is the only British pier leading to an island and consequently has substantial buildings on it, including two lifeboat stations (1881 and 1902). The main bridge is 1000 feet long. It was designed by Eugenius Birch, the doyen ofpier builders and is one of the least spoilt in Britain. Birch used a system of girders and struts between the uprights to harness the forces of tension and compression. The heyday of the steamers began in the 1890s and thousands of visitors reached Weston by water, especially from South Wales: another example of the common man starting to take over the seaside.

Walk down the steps from the Gardens to the Pier Approach. The Royal Pier Hotel (8) was originally built as a school in the 1850s and enlarged and converted once the pier was The Roval Pier Hotel established.

The walk continues overleaf 2 A1 Cross the sea wall. At low tide you can see the pebble causeway to the island, similar to the one by which Knightstone was reached. Birnbeck was one of the ancient fisheries, where nets were strung from rows of wooden stakes at high tide. To prevent the seagulls eating the catch before it could be collected "gull yellers" were left on the island to shout their loudest and frighten the birds away. Much of the catch was taken inland to market. You can still see the stakes between the island and the shore.

Walk down the steps below the hotel and follow the sea wall. This is the last section of the 1880s sea front scheme, rising sheer from the cliffs where samphire grows. You come to Anchor Head with its slipway, a tiny rocky inlet which was also an ancient fishing site. This was the ladies' exclusive bathing place in the early days of the resort.

Continue along the sea wall. You pass below (9) Claremont Crescent, a dramatic curved Bathstone row of 1865 enjoying magnificent views across the bay. This brings you back to the Marine Lake, with the option of crossing to Knightstone by the causeway. You leave the hillside coastline and return to the level esplanade of the main bay.

Claremont Crescent

The Weston-super-Mre Town Trails are published jointly by a-.4 Woodspring District Council and Weston-super-Mare Civic Society. The Town Trails series includes: WOODSPRING I Town Centre 2 Seafront 3 Hillside 4 Whitecross These ue available from the Heritage Centre, Wadham Street; Woodspring Museum, Burlington Street and the Tourist Information Centre, Beach Lawns 1483 2t95

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