Avonmouth is a port and outer suburb of
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, facing two rivers: the reinforced north bank of the final stage of the
Avon which rises at sources in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
,
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
and
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
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, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
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, preceded_by =
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, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
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; and the eastern shore of the
Severn Estuary
The Severn Estuary ( cy, Aber Hafren) is the estuary of the River Severn, flowing into the Bristol Channel between South West England and South Wales. Its high tidal range, approximately , means that it has been at the centre of discussions in t ...
. Strategically the area has been and remains an important part of the region's maritime economy particularly for larger vessels for the unloading and exporting of heavier goods as well as in industry including warehousing, light industry, electrical power and sanitation. The area contains a junction of and is connected to the south by the
M5 motorway
The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...
and other roads, railway tracks and paths to the north, south-east and east.
The
council ward
A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...
of Avonmouth and Lawrence Weston is as drawn a simplified name as it includes
Shirehampton
Shirehampton is a district of Bristol in England, near Avonmouth, at the northwestern edge of the city.
It originated as a separate village, retains a High Street with a parish church and shops, and is still thought of as a village by many of it ...
and the western end of
Lawrence Weston
Lawrence Weston is a post-war housing estate in northwest Bristol, England, between Henbury and Shirehampton.
The estate is bounded in the east by the Blaise Castle estate and woods. It is at the edge of the Severn flood plain, directly be ...
.
Geography
Avonmouth is approximately rectangular, its length favouring the Severn shore and sits on the same bank as the city centre from which it lies west-north-west — at the mouth of the
River Avon and on the eastern shore of the dredged, at this point highly saline
Severn Estuary
The Severn Estuary ( cy, Aber Hafren) is the estuary of the River Severn, flowing into the Bristol Channel between South West England and South Wales. Its high tidal range, approximately , means that it has been at the centre of discussions in t ...
. Both rivers in shallow valleys by this stage have been defensively embanked primarily to allow the construction of the large port
Avonmouth Docks
The Avonmouth Docks are part of the Port of Bristol, in England. They are situated on the northern side of the mouth of the River Avon, opposite the Royal Portbury Dock on the southern side, where the river joins the Severn estuary, within Avo ...
which occupies most of the western part. The related
Royal Portbury Dock is across the Avon (in
Easton-in-Gordano
Easton in Gordano () is a village in Somerset, England, about northwest of Bristol city centre. It is part of the civil parish of Pill and Easton-in-Gordano and within the unitary authority of North Somerset. In 2011 the population of the par ...
). Avonmouth is home to chemical manufacturing plants, and north of the Avonmouth Docks is the gas-fired
Seabank Power Station
Seabank Power Station is a 1,140 MW gas-fired power station at Hallen Marsh in Bristol, England. It is situated beside the A403 road and Severn Estuary, just north of Avonmouth and south of Severn Beach, close to the boundary with South Gl ...
. Its light industrial and warehouse companies include
Nisbets
Nisbets is a British multi-channel retailer of catering equipment and supplies. It develops, retails and distributes commercial kitchen equipment, catering supplies and other hospitality products to hotels, restaurants, bars, cafes, schoo ...
.
Its long-established residential area in Avonmouth is between the industrialised zone and the M5 motorway, uniquely for Bristol west of the M5 motorway.
Avonmouth Bridge
The Avonmouth Bridge is a road bridge that carries the M5 motorway over the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon into Somerset near Bristol, England. The main span is long, and the bridge is long, with an air draught above mean high water level o ...
of the M5 motorway forms the connection with
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
, specifically with
Easton-in-Gordano
Easton in Gordano () is a village in Somerset, England, about northwest of Bristol city centre. It is part of the civil parish of Pill and Easton-in-Gordano and within the unitary authority of North Somerset. In 2011 the population of the par ...
. The
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
-connecting
M49 motorway
The M49 motorway is just long and forms a link between the M5 motorway west of Bristol at junction 18A and the M4 motorway at junction 22 before the Second Severn Crossing (now officially renamed the Prince of Wales Bridge). It was constructe ...
runs between the M5 near Avonmouth and the
M4 motorway at the
Second Severn Crossing
or cy, Pont Tywysog Cymru, label=none, italic=unset
, carries = M4 motorway (6 lanes)
, crosses = River Severn
, locale = South West England / South East Wales
, maint = National Highways
, architect ...
. The old
Severn Bridge
The Severn Bridge ( cy, Pont Hafren) is a motorway suspension bridge that spans the River Severn between South Gloucestershire in England and Monmouthshire in South East Wales. It is the original Severn road crossing between England and Wale ...
and the
M48 motorway
The M48 is a long motorway in Great Britain, which crosses the Severn near Chepstow, Monmouthshire, linking England with Wales via the Severn Bridge. This road used to be the M4, and as a result is anomalously numbered: as it lies to the ...
are linked to Avonmouth by the
A403. The Welsh cities of
Newport and
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
are both clearly visible from Avonmouth's coastline.
The
Portway, part of the
A4, connects Avonmouth with the centre of Bristol. Avonmouth is also served by a usually hourly train service to central Bristol from
Avonmouth railway station
Avonmouth railway station is located on the Severn Beach Line and serves the district of Avonmouth in Bristol, England. It is from . Its three letter station code is AVN. The station has two platforms, on either side of two running lines. ...
on the
Severn Beach Line.
A new deep-sea container terminal is planned for Avonmouth.
History
The mouth of the Avon was recorded as ''Afenemuþan'' in the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...
under the years 915 or 918 and 1052, but it is clear from the context that the name does not refer to a settlement.
The area was historically part of the
chapelry
A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century.
Status
It had a similar status to a township but was so named as it had a chapel of ease (chapel) which was the communi ...
of Shirehampton, a detached part of the
ancient parish of
Westbury-on-Trym
Westbury on Trym is a suburb and council ward in the north of the City of Bristol, near the suburbs of Stoke Bishop, Westbury Park, Henleaze, Southmead and Henbury, in the southwest of England.
With a village atmosphere, the place is partly ...
in
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
.
Bewys Cross, a stone monument possibly dating from the 15th century, was located on the bank of the Severn close to the old mouth of the Avon. Early 19th-century maps show the area as farmland. At that time the deep water channel of the Avon ran through the present-day site of Avonmouth Docks and separated the mainland from a small island named Dumball Island.
The first development at Avonmouth was a landing stage built in 1860 by
Bristol Corporation at "Avon's Mouth". The first record of the modern name was in the title of the Port and Channel Docks (Avonmouth Dock) Bill debated in Parliament in early 1863.
When the
Bristol Port Railway and Pier
The Bristol Port Railway and Pier (occasionally referred to as the Bristol Port and Pier Railway) was a railway in Bristol, England.
Route
The Bristol Port Railway and Pier company (BPRP) ran from a main terminus at (originally called Clifton), ...
was built in 1865 the terminus station was named
Avonmouth
Avonmouth is a port and outer suburb of Bristol, England, facing two rivers: the reinforced north bank of the final stage of the Avon which rises at sources in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Somerset; and the eastern shore of the Severn Es ...
. A hotel, the Avonmouth Hotel, was opened at the same time. A small new village was built to serve the new docks, which were finally opened in 1877. Also in 1877, the BPRP line was connected to the main railway network by the
Clifton Extension Railway
The Clifton Extension Railway was a joint railway in Bristol, owned by the Great Western Railway (GWR) and the Midland Railway (MR) companies.
Description of line
The railway ran from a junction with the GWR at Narroways Hill, just north of Sta ...
, and a new railway station named
Avonmouth Dock was opened by the docks. Bricks for the docks were supplied by the Crown Brick Works in West Town, Shirehampton, visible on the 1879 Ordnance Survey map. The Crown Brick Works were owned by Edwin Stride, with his sons Jared and Jethro (who later developed Sneyd Park), together with George Davis and William and Jarman Peters. The Crown Brick Works company was dissolved in 1886
The new Avonmouth Dock and the original nucleus of the settlement were transferred from Gloucestershire to the City of Bristol in 1894, and the rest of the expanding settlement became part of the City in 1904.
![Avonmouth railway station MMB 03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Avonmouth_railway_station_MMB_03.jpg)
In 1902 work began on the Royal Edward Dock, a major expansion of the docks, completed in 1908. Land required for the expansion necessitated the closure of the original station, and from 1902 all trains terminated at Avonmouth Dock station (renamed "Avonmouth" in 1966). However, the Avonmouth Hotel adjacent to the original station remained open. It provided accommodation for many Europeans emigrating to the Americas via Avonmouth, and during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
it housed the
Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. It was finally demolished in 1926 when the Royal Edward Dock was expanded.
Between 1919 and 1926, the
Portway was built, providing more direct road access to Avonmouth from Bristol.
Shirehampton had become a separate parish in 1844, and a Church of England chapel was established in the new settlement of Avonmouth late in the nineteenth century. Avonmouth became a separate parish in 1917.
Avonmouth's first church, completed in 1934, was bombed in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
by the
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
in one of the six major raids of the
Bristol Blitz
The Bristol Blitz was the heavy bombing of Bristol, England by the Nazi German ''Luftwaffe'' during the Second World War. Due to the presence of Bristol Harbour and the Bristol Aeroplane Company, the city was a target for bombing and was easi ...
, in 1941.
In December 1971, the
M5 motorway
The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...
was opened to Avonmouth, and extended south into Somerset when the
Avonmouth Bridge
The Avonmouth Bridge is a road bridge that carries the M5 motorway over the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon into Somerset near Bristol, England. The main span is long, and the bridge is long, with an air draught above mean high water level o ...
was opened in May 1974.
On 3 December 2020, four people were killed in an
explosion at the water treatment plant.
Local places of interest
Avonmouth Sewage Works Nature Reserve
The Avonmouth Sewage Treatment Works is managed as a nature reserve by
Wessex Water
Wessex Water Services Limited, known as Wessex Water, is a water supply and sewerage utility company serving an area of South West England, covering 10,000 square kilometres including Bristol, most of Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire and parts o ...
. The man-made lagoons and a pool provide a feeding and resting area for many birds including ducks such as
pochard
Pochard is a common name used for several species of diving ducks:
*Four species in the genus ''Aythya'':
** Common pochard, ''Aythya ferina''
** Baer's pochard, ''Aythya baeri''
** Ferruginous pochard, ''Aythya nyroca''
** Madagascar pochard, '' ...
,
tufted duck
The tufted duck or tufted pochard (''Aythya fuligula'') is a small diving duck with a population of close to one million birds, found in northern Eurasia. The scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek '' aithuia'', an unidentified seabird ment ...
,
teal
alt=American teal duck (male), Green-winged teal (male)
Teal is a greenish-blue colour. Its name comes from that of a bird — the Eurasian teal (''Anas crecca'') — which presents a similarly coloured stripe on its head. The word is oft ...
and
shoveler
The shovelers or shovellers are four species of dabbling ducks with long, broad spatula-shaped beaks:
* Red shoveler, ''Anas platalea''
* Cape shoveler, ''Anas smithii''
* Australasian shoveler, ''Anas rhynchotis''
* Northern shoveler, ''Anas c ...
. The rough grassland provides a refuge for
voles
Voles are small rodents that are relatives of lemmings and hamsters, but with a stouter body; a longer, hairy tail; a slightly rounder head; smaller eyes and ears; and differently formed molars (high-crowned with angular cusps instead of lo ...
,
great crested newt
The northern crested newt, great crested newt or warty newt (''Triturus cristatus'') is a newt species native to Great Britain, northern and central continental Europe and parts of Western Siberia. It is a large newt, with females growing up to ...
and other small mammals, which are preyed upon by
kestrels
The term kestrel (from french: crécerelle, derivative from , i.e. ratchet) is the common name given to several species of predatory birds from the falcon genus ''Falco''. Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviou ...
and
barn owls
The barn owl (''Tyto alba'') is the most widely distributed species of owl in the world and one of the most widespread of all species of birds, being found almost everywhere except for the polar and desert regions, Asia north of the Himalay ...
.
The Range Distribution Centre
Avonmouth is home to the largest single footprint warehouse in the United Kingdom, a 1,250,000 sq ft
portal frame
Portal frame is a construction technique where vertical supports are connected to horizontal beams or trusses via fixed joints with designed-in moment-resisting capacity. The result is wide spans and open floors.
Portal frame structures can be ...
building operated by
The Range as a distribution centre. The enormous building occupies 55 acres of land and is part of the Central Park project located close to the Severn estuary shoreline. Previously, the largest single footprint warehouse in the United Kingdom was a building operated by
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
in Dunfermline, Scotland which covers 1,000,000 sq ft.
Governance
Avonmouth is part of the
Bristol North West
Bristol North West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Darren Jones of the Labour Party.
Constituency profile
The seat covers northwest parts of Bristol, extending to the Severn Estuary. ...
constituency, which elects a member of Parliament (MP).
As a ward of
Bristol City Council
Bristol City Council is the local authority of Bristol, England. The council is a unitary authority, and is unusual in the United Kingdom in that its executive function is controlled by a directly elected mayor of Bristol. Bristol has 34 ward ...
which has local elections in three of every four years, Avonmouth and Lawrence Weston June 2016 to May 2018 three councillors:
*Donald Alexander,
Lab
*Jo Sargeant,
Lab
*Matthew Melias,
Con
Apart from Avonmouth itself, the ward includes
Shirehampton
Shirehampton is a district of Bristol in England, near Avonmouth, at the northwestern edge of the city.
It originated as a separate village, retains a High Street with a parish church and shops, and is still thought of as a village by many of it ...
and part of
Lawrence Weston
Lawrence Weston is a post-war housing estate in northwest Bristol, England, between Henbury and Shirehampton.
The estate is bounded in the east by the Blaise Castle estate and woods. It is at the edge of the Severn flood plain, directly be ...
.
Shirehampton is a part of Bristol which has a medieval-founded village nucleus and contains buildings dating more than a century earlier than the earliest examples in Avonmouth. Today the pre-1893 mother parish of Shirehampton has definitive boundaries and 6,867 inhabitants.
[1991 census data; 2001 data not readily separable from Avonmouth.] Shirehampton railway station
Shirehampton railway station is on the Severn Beach Line and serves the district of Shirehampton in Bristol, England. It is from . Its three letter station code is SHH. The station has a single platform which serves trains in both directions. ...
provides travel to the city centre. The western end of the Lawrence Weston area crosses the boundary into the Avonmouth ward, however the majority of the area falls within the
Kingsweston ward. The combined area is separated from the rest of Bristol by a small amount of green land, see
buffer zone
A buffer zone is a neutral zonal area that lies between two or more bodies of land, usually pertaining to countries. Depending on the type of buffer zone, it may serve to separate regions or conjoin them.
Common types of buffer zones are demil ...
s.
Notes
References
External links
Map of Avonmouth circa 1900
{{authority control
Areas of Bristol
Ports and harbours of the Bristol Channel
Wards of Bristol
Port of Bristol
River Avon, Bristol
Populated places on the River Severn