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Weston-super-Mare

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Geography of Great
Britain

                Weston-super-Mare

   Image:dot4gb.svg
                    Statistics
   Population:          71,758
                 Ordnance Survey
   OS grid reference:   ST324615
                  Administration
   District:            North Somerset
   Region:              South West England
   Constituent country: England
   Sovereign state:     United Kingdom
                      Other
   Ceremonial county:   Somerset
   Historic county:     Somerset
                     Services
   Police force:        Avon and Somerset Police
   Fire and rescue:     Avon
   Ambulance:           South Western
            Post office and telephone
   Post town:           WESTON-SUPER-MARE
   Postal district:     BS22, BS23, BS24
   Dialling code:       01934
                     Politics
   UK Parliament:       Weston-super-Mare
   European Parliament: South West England

   Weston-super-Mare is an English seaside resort town in North Somerset,
   population 71,758 ( 2001 Census). It is situated on the Bristol Channel
   approximately 18 miles (28 km) south west of Bristol. The town has
   spread along the coast between the bounding high ground of Worlebury
   Hill and Brean Down. It is well known for its sandy beaches, although
   at low tide the sea can be over a mile from the beachfront, and a
   substantial trek across the mud is necessary in order to reach the
   "sea". However, attempting to reach the sea at these times is
   inadvisable as the sand gives way to mud which is very deep and has
   cost several people their lives over the years. Driving on the beach
   catches people out as they drive too close to the sea and break through
   the sand to the underlying mud and are then stuck. Several cars get
   washed out to the sea every year. Weston-super-Mare is the most
   populous civil parish in England.

   Weston comes from the Anglo-Saxon for the west tun or settlement. The
   descriptive part of its name is unusual because it is in medieval Latin
   and was first recorded by an unknown medieval church clerk, presumably
   to distinguish it from other Westons in the area. It is a popular myth
   that the description was a later Victorian invention. It means
   literally "on sea". It is pronounced mair rather than mahrey, however.

   Early in the nineteenth century, Weston was a small windswept village
   of about 30 houses, located behind a line of sand dunes fronting the
   sea. The Pigott family of Brockley, who were the local Lords of the
   Manor, had a summer residence at Grove House. Weston owes its growth
   and prosperity to the Victorian era boom in seaside holidays.
   Construction of the first hotel in the village started in 1808, it was
   called the Royal Hotel. Along with nearby Burnham-on-Sea, Weston
   benefited from proximity to Bristol, Bath and South Wales.

   Isambard Kingdom Brunel and his family lived in Weston, at Swiss Villa
   (eastern corner of Alexandra Parade and Swiss Road), for a number of
   months whilst he was supervising the construction of the Bristol &
   Exeter Railway in the area. With the opening of the railway, thousands
   of visitors came to the town from Bristol, The Midlands and further
   afield, on works outings and Bank Holidays. Also, many mining families
   came across the Bristol Channel from South Wales by paddle steamer. To
   cater for them, Birnbeck Pier was completed in 1867, offering in its
   heyday amusement arcades, tea rooms, funfair rides and a photographic
   studio. However, it now stands in a derelict state and is in danger of
   collapsing into the sea. It is still possible for visitors to marvel at
   the structure from behind the barbed wire.

   Large areas of land were released for development from the 1850s
   onwards. Large detached villas, for the middle classes, were built on
   the southern slopes of Worlebury Hill. Semi-detached and terraced
   housing were built on the low 'moorland', behind the sea front. Many of
   these houses have now been turned into bedsits by their owners.

   In 1885 the first transatlantic telegraph cable of the Commercial Cable
   Company was brought ashore and the company started a long association
   with the town, ending in 1962.
   The Grand Pier and beach at low tide.
   Enlarge
   The Grand Pier and beach at low tide.

   Local traders, unhappy that visitors were not coming as far as the
   centre of the town, began the construction of a new pier closer to the
   main streets. Opened in 1904, and known as the Grand Pier, it was
   originally planned to be 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long. It still stands in
   truncated form today, although amusements and cafes have replaced the
   original music-hall theatre it supported, with the present building
   dating from 1933. Further development occurred after World War I, with
   the Winter Gardens and Pavilion (1927), the Open Air Pool and an
   airfield all dating from the inter-war period. Art Deco influences can
   be seen in much of the town's architecture from this period.

   During World War II many evacuees were accommodated in the town. Weston
   suffered several bombing raids, damaging parts of the town centre,
   particularly Orchard Street and Boulevard. War industries, such as
   aircraft and pump manufacture, were dispersed to the town. Many US
   troops were billeted in Weston. They and their equipment vanished
   practically overnight, with the run-up to D-Day.
   The town hall.
   Enlarge
   The town hall.

   Since the 1970s Weston has suffered a large decline in popularity, like
   virtually all British seaside resorts. The advent of cheap foreign
   holidays and the break-up of large industries like mining contributed,
   as working communities became less likely to holiday together. The town
   had become a centre of industries such as helicopter production. Road
   transport links were improved with the M5 motorway running close by,
   and the town now supports several light industries and distribution
   depots, and functions partly as a dormitory town for Bristol. Philip
   Harris Ltd moved their production unit to the town in the 1970s to join
   their biological supplies division, which moved from Sheffield in 1965.
   Some biological supplies work still continues under different owners.
   It is worth noting, though, that the two largest employers are the
   luminaries of the local council and the academicians of Weston College.

   The tourist traffic has never completely vanished and Weston nowadays
   could be considered to be weathering hard times moderately well. It has
   a shopping centre, helicopter museum, a sea-life centre (currently
   called the SeaQuarium) and miniature railway. There is also a derelict
   pier to the north of the town, a derelict theatre, swimming pool and
   sauna on Knightstone Island, although this island is now under
   development as a luxury housing and cultural complex with many of the
   existing buildings being retained due to their listed status. There is
   also the derelict "Tropicana" leisure complex approximately halfway
   down the sea front. However this to will be subject to regeneration -
   with a private developer having been selected to take forward the
   re-development of the Tropicana. The new development entitled 'Life
   Station@Tropicana' will include a covered swimming pool, cinema and
   bowling complex.

   The town as a whole has expanded its size considerably and at one time
   in the eighties was the fastest growing municipality in Europe.
   Building continues apace, though notably the fashionable South side of
   town towards Bleadon has avoided this. In times past, motorists have
   been prevented from driving through Bleadon by security men, was due to
   a bridge being replaced and to stop through traffic going down narrow
   roads .

   A large "carrot" shaped sculpture entitled 'The Silica' has been
   installed in the town centre recently to symbolise man's harmony with
   the sea. This was part of North Somerset Council's ongoing civic pride
   initiative that has sought to revitalise Weston-super-Mare's public
   spaces - which had suffered a period of decline. Other public space
   improvments have been made throughout the town such as improvements to
   the street scene in Grove Park Village. There has been some controversy
   in the town over whether the silica enhanced the town or was a waste of
   money. However, this debate centred round a misunderstanding of the
   government funds used to pay for the sculpture. Many local residents
   did not realise that the money came from central government and had to
   be used on public art/improvements to the street scene environment.
   Consequently there calls for the money to be re-directed to other
   public services could not be acted upon by North Somerset Council
   without the funding being withdrawn by central government.
   Deutsche Marine Sea King 41 from MFG5 in "30 years of the Sea King"
   special paint scheme at the Beach Gardens during 2005 International
   HeliDays
   Enlarge
   Deutsche Marine Sea King 41 from MFG5 in "30 years of the Sea King"
   special paint scheme at the Beach Gardens during 2005 International
   HeliDays

   The T4 on the beach music event is a recent addition, where well known
   bands and singers perform up to three of their hits, all aspects bar
   the vocals being mimed. International HeliDays is usually staged at the
   Beach Gardens over a long weekend around the end of July, where
   helicopters from around the world are displayed, in association with
   the Helicopter Museum. It is essential not to forget the Enduro, which
   attracts thousands of bikes, nor the Carnival, whose brightly
   illuminated floats light up the streets as winter approaches.

   Residential areas include Oldmixon and the Bourneville estate, which
   exhibit many fine examples of post war and late twentieth century
   architecture. The Coronation Estate, with its streets imaginatively
   named after places the royal couple visited following the coronation,
   continues to earn its soubriquet, the 'Nowa Huta' of the West.
   Antisocial behaviour on this estate and on the Bovril, as it is locally
   known, is generally ignored by the town fathers. The indiscriminate
   placing of pylons is sometimes blamed for the physical peculiarities of
   people from this area.

   Made an urban district in 1894, Weston-super-Mare became a municipal
   borough in 1937. In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, it was
   merged into the Woodspring district of the County of Avon, and became a
   Charter Trustees town. When Avon was split up in 1996, it became the
   administrative headquarters of North Somerset, one of the successor
   authorities. Weston-super-Mare regained a town council in 2000,
   becoming a civil parish. Politics is dominated by small cliques of
   ambitious activists, and carpetbaggers are occasionally parachuted in
   by the main parties. Local political life languishes, though, and
   public opinion is represented by the serried trivialities of the Weston
   Mercury, based on the Boulevard. There are those who maintain that
   Weston should be categorised as an anarcho-syndicalist commune, in the
   light of the paucity of policing.

   Well-known former residents of the town include author, politician and
   supporter of women's rights Jeffrey Archer, guitarist Ritchie
   Blackmore, actor John Cleese, actress Mandy Miller, author Roald Dahl,
   journalist Jill Dando and actor Rupert Graves. The writer Bill Bryson
   had a wet time visiting, recounted in Notes from a Small Island. Arthur
   Stanley Eddington, one of the foremost astrophysicists of the early
   twentieth century grew up in the town. Attlee's Minister of Defence,
   A.V. Alexander was also raised in Weston-super-Mare. All of these pale
   into othing in comparison with Jill Dando.

   In the Little Britain television series, the character Vicky Pollard
   claims to have seen the pop group Blazin' Squad in Weston-super-Mare.

   The town's motto is "Ever Forward". It is twinned with Hildesheim which
   is in Germany. As the vast majority of inhabitants of Weston are old
   enough to remember the Blitz, the cordiality of relations is not
   without its limits.

   The upper part of the beach is sandy but, as the sea retreats a long
   way with the tide exposing mud flats, the town is sometimes unkindly
   known as "Weston-super-Mud". The tidal range in this part of the Severn
   Estuary is one of the largest in the world and the beach / mud flats
   are on a gentle slope. Consequently it is only at the part of the tide
   cycle where high tide is in the early morning and late afternoon that
   the sea comes well up the beach. Many day visitors see little of the
   sea because of this and also must be confused to see a long pier with
   little or no water under it.

   The tidal rise and fall is often said to be the second largest in the
   world after the Bay of Fundy in Canada and can be as great as 13 m (42
   feet). ( Ungava Bay has recently been found to have a tidal range
   greater than the Severn.) This tidal movement contributes to the
   deposition of mud from the River Severn in bays such as the one at
   Weston. Chemically the channel is reasonably clean.

   The town's local football team is Weston Super Mare Football Club.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weston-super-Mare"
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