Severn Beach
Encyclopedia
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
on the mouth of the river Severn in South Gloucestershire
South Gloucestershire
South Gloucestershire is a unitary district in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, in South West England.-History:The district was created in 1996, when the county of Avon was abolished, by the merger of former area of the districts of Kingswood and Northavon...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. A riverside footpath, which is part of the Severn Way
Severn Way
The Severn Way is a waymarked long-distance footpath in the United Kingdom following the course of the River Severn in the West Country of England and Mid Wales.-Distance:...
, leads beneath the Second Severn Crossing
Second Severn Crossing
The Second Severn Crossing is a bridge which carries the M4 motorway over the River Severn between England and Wales, inaugurated on 5 June 1996 by HRH The Prince of Wales to augment the traffic capacity of the original Severn Bridge built in 1966...
bridge. The eastern portal of the Severn Tunnel
Severn Tunnel
The Severn Tunnel is a railway tunnel in the United Kingdom, linking South Gloucestershire in the west of England to Monmouthshire in south Wales under the estuary of the River Severn....
lies on the outskirts of the village.
Severn Beach used to have a popular swimming pool which has been demolished in favour of an open space and some housing.
The BBC1 TV drama Shoestring once filmed at the Blue Lagoon Swimming Pool.
Despite being next to the motorway
M4 motorway
The M4 motorway links London with South Wales. It is part of the unsigned European route E30. Other major places directly accessible from M4 junctions are Reading, Swindon, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea...
, residents have to travel several miles before they can access either bridge. Since there is no motorway junction at the village, Severn Beach remains free of heavy traffic.
Severn Beach only existed as a farm until Great Western Railway decided to link Pilning and Avonmouth in 1900. The railway saw the possibilities of development now that trains passed through the area and in 1922 the village was created as a seaside resort
Seaside resort
A seaside resort is a resort, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- Overview :...
with a swimming pool called the "Blue Lagoon", a boating lake and the Beach Comber Strip Club mostly by local entrepreneur Robert Stride. Many people came from nearby Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
because Severn Beach had less strict licensing laws.
Much has changed in Severn Beach in recent years. Many of the shops have closed. However, the Post Office, Convenience Store and Bakery still trade. The village pub was demolished to make way for housing, and the village, like most villages around Bristol, is moving towards "commuter town
Commuter town
A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commutes out to earn their livelihood. Many commuter towns act as suburbs of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns...
" status, with many people using its rail and road links to work elsewhere.
Adge Cutler
Adge Cutler
Alan John 'Adge' Cutler was an English singer who had as his backing band the country and Western folk group The Wurzels. Cutler was known for his songs, but also his dry, West Country humour, and gained the unofficial title of "The Bard Of Avonmouth".-Early life:Alan John Cutler was born in...
of The Wurzels
The Wurzels
The Wurzels are a British Scrumpy and Western band...
wrote a song called "Aloha Severn Beach".
Transport
The village is at the end of the Severn Beach LineSevern Beach Line
The Severn Beach Line is a local railway in Bristol, UK. It runs from Narroways Hill Junction to Severn Beach, and is the successor to the Bristol Port Railway and Pier, which ran from a Bristol terminus in the Avon Gorge to a station and pier on the Severn Estuary.Passenger trains run from Bristol...
railway, with a small unstaffed station
Severn Beach railway station
Severn Beach railway station serves the village of Severn Beach, England. This is the terminus of the Severn Beach Line.This station is north west from Bristol Temple Meads on the Severn Beach Line...
. The line used to loop northwards to join the main Cardiff-Bristol line at Pilning
Pilning railway station
Pilning railway station is a small railway station at Pilning, South Gloucestershire, England. It is the last station on the English side before the Severn Tunnel through to Wales....
in the direction of Bristol, but this section was closed in 1964 and the trackbed has been built over.
The village is also served by buses of Wessex Connect
Wessex Connect
Wessex Connect was founded in Bristol by Rotala, through its subsidiary company Flights Hallmark, to provide Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire Council with an alternative to the near monopoly currently held in the city by FirstGroup....
.
Ecology
Severn Beach offers excellent congerConger
Conger is a genus of marine congrid eels. It includes some of the largest types of eels, ranging up to 3 m in length, in the case of the European conger...
fishing from the shore in the winter and views of the River Severn and the two bridges that cross it. The coastline is an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) and has a diverse range of wildlife, varying from seals
Earless seal
The true seals or earless seals are one of the three main groups of mammals within the seal superfamily, Pinnipedia. All true seals are members of the family Phocidae . They are sometimes called crawling seals to distinguish them from the fur seals and sea lions of the family Otariidae...
to Peregrine Falcon
Peregrine Falcon
The Peregrine Falcon , also known as the Peregrine, and historically as the Duck Hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and "moustache"...
s. There have been more than 251 species of bird recorded in the Severn Beach area and it is of international importance for migrating and wintering birds.
As of 1990, 28 species of seabird
Seabird
Seabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations...
had been recorded in the Severn Beach / New Passage
New Passage
New Passage is a small hamlet in South Gloucestershire, England located on the banks of the Severn estuary near the village of Pilning. It derives its name from the ferry service which operated between there and South Wales before the late 19th century, when it lost out in competition with the...
area, including Sooty
Sooty Shearwater
The Sooty Shearwater is a medium-large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. In New Zealand it is also known by its Māori name tītī and as "muttonbird", like its relatives the Wedge-tailed Shearwater and the Australian Short-tailed Shearwater The Sooty Shearwater (Puffinus griseus) is...
and Balearic shearwater
Balearic Shearwater
The Balearic Shearwater is a medium-sized shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It was long regarded a subspecies of the Manx Shearwater; see there for more on the Puffinus puffinus superspecies; following an initial split it was held to be a subspecies of the "Mediterranean Shearwater"...
s, all four Northern Hemisphere
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
skua
Skua
The skuas are a group of seabirds with about seven species forming the family Stercorariidae and the genus Stercorarius. The three smaller skuas are called jaegers in North America....
s, seven species of tern
Tern
Terns are seabirds in the family Sternidae, previously considered a subfamily of the gull family Laridae . They form a lineage with the gulls and skimmers which in turn is related to skuas and auks...
and four species of alcid.