Pill is a village in

North Somerset North Somerset is a unitary authorities of England, unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. The council is based in Weston-super-Mare, the area's largest town. The district also contains the towns of Clevedon, Nailsea ...

, England, situated on the southern bank of the Avon, about north-west of

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

city centre. The village is the largest settlement in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Pill and Easton-in-Gordano (until 2011 named Easton in Gordano). The former hamlets of Lodway and Ham Green are now contiguous with Pill, and the village of Easton in Gordano is nearby. The parish extends northwest beyond 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 ...

to include the Royal Portbury Dock.

History

The name "Pill" comes from the Welsh word '' Pîl'' which denotes a tidal inlet or harbour. The later name Crockerne Pill (literally 'pottery wharf') arose from the fact that an industrial-scale pottery thrived nearby. The Ham Green Pottery kiln was excavated in 1959 and is located in the fields above Chapel Pill. The pottery was made in the period from 1100 AD to 1250 AD and was exported from Pill by boat. The so-called 'Ham Green' pottery has been found and identified in archaeological digs from the

Algarve The Algarve (, , ) is the southernmost NUTS statistical regions of Portugal, NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities (concelho, ''concelhos'' or ''município ...

in Portugal to

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. It is an important archaeological 'dating tool' because the period of manufacture is so precise. Bristol City Museum has a good selection of pottery artefacts from the site and other locations showing the unique decoration and form of Ham Green pottery but the only item on display is a large jug at the M Shed. The town was traditionally the residence of pilots, who would guide boats up the

Avon Gorge The Avon Gorge () is a 1.5-mile (2.5-kilometre) long Canyon, gorge on the River Avon (Bristol), River Avon in Bristol, England. The gorge runs south to north through a limestone ridge west of Bristol city centre, and about 3 miles (5&nbs ...

, between the

Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel (, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales (from Pembrokeshire to the Vale of Glamorgan) and South West England (from Devon to North Somerset). It extends ...

and the Port of Bristol. The port moved in the 20th century to Avonmouth and the Royal Portbury Dock. Pill was once home to 21 public houses and was known as being a rough place, to the extent that the founder of the

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

, says in an entry in his journals for 3 October 1755: Pill MMB 02 Viaduct

The 1860s saw the building of the Portishead Railway line between Bristol Temple Meads and Portishead. The line, which was opened to passengers in 1863, passed right through the village of Pill, with the result that a large number of buildings had to be demolished to allow its necessary straight and level passage. The railway also consumed many acres of farm land during its construction. However, it brought new life to the area, not to mention new blood as many of the navvies working the line met and married local girls and stayed on to raise their families after the line was completed. They brought new names, some of which are still with us today, over 100 years on. The small ferry from Pill to Shirehampton closed because of loss of trade once the opening of the

Avonmouth Bridge The Avonmouth Bridge is a road bridge that carries the M5 motorway over the 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 of . It also has a s ...

in 1974 enabled pedestrians to walk over the Avon. So a transport link to and from the parish of Easton-in-Gordano, one that had survived since

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

times, was closed and the river mud has swallowed up most of the now unattended slipways. The village and its vanished ferry are commemorated in the Adge Cutler and The Wurzels song "Pill Pill". In 1971 the

Royal National Lifeboat Institution The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest of the lifeboat (rescue), lifeboat services operating around the coasts of the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on s ...

stationed an inshore lifeboat at Pill. It was withdrawn in 1974.

Amenities

The parish has four places of worship: St George's, Easton-in-Gordano; Christ Church, Pill;

The Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

and Pill Methodist Church. Pill has several shops in the centre for day-to-day needs, including two Southern Co-operative food stores, pharmacy, Post Office, vets and hair salon. Pill has several take-away restaurants; however, it can no longer boast 21 pubs and currently has only three: ''The Kings Head'', ''The Duke'' and the Pill Memorial Club, although this excludes the nearby pubs in Easton in Gordano. It is commonly used as a place for

commuting Commuting is periodically recurring travel between a place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regular o ...

as it has transport links, being close to the M5 and Bristol. Pill railway station, which closed in 1964, is due to reopen by 2024. Pill marks the start of the

National Cycle Network The National Cycle Network (NCN) was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout the United Kingdom, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the charity Sustrans who were aided by a £42.5 million N ...

33 (the Wessex Cycleway), which also takes in

Clevedon Clevedon (, ) is a seaside town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, England. It recorded a parish population of 21,281 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, estimated at 21,442 in 2019. It lies ...

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the North Somerset unitary district, in the county of Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. Its population ...

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. The town had a population of 41,276 at the 2021 census. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies along both sid ...

Chard Chard (; '' Beta vulgaris'' subsp. ''vulgaris'', Cicla Group and Flavescens Group) is a green leafy vegetable. In the cultivars of the Flavescens Group, or Swiss chard, the leaf stalks are large and often prepared separately from the leaf b ...

and Seaton. Clubs and Societies – Easton-in-Gordano Table-Tennis Club (meets Thursday nights) has been running since 1956 when the Church Memorial Hall was opened. The Luncheon Club provides a weekly get together for the elderly on Thursdays at the Community Centre. The village is proud of all its community activities full details of which are included in the Community Diary held at the Resource Centre (Precinct).

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

with the same name exists. It has the same area and the population taken at the 2011 census was 3,525.

Schools

* St Katherine's School, located at Ham Green within Abbots Leigh parish, not actually in Pill, with approximately 1,000 students aged 11–18. * Crockerne Primary School, which is located in the village and caters for Nursery to Year 6 pupils. The school has one of North Somerset's first children's centres, officially opened on 1 July 2006, as well as a small, indoor, heated swimming pool and an active PTA.

Transport

Road

Pill is situated on the A369 between

and Portishead, and is also near the M5, linking Pill with places such as

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Public Transport

As of December 2023, Pill is served by the First West of England route X4, which operates between Bristol bus station and Portishead. Pill used to have a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

, which was opened in April 1867, on the route between Bristol Temple Meads and Portishead, but this station was closed in September 1964 due to the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...

. However, the station is set to reopen alongside the route between Bristol and Portishead as part of the MetroWest plans.

Ham Green Hospital

In 1894 Bristol Council purchased Ham Green House, a large country house with land at Ham Green for use as an isolation hospital, to replace a hospital ship (Margareda) moored in the Port of Bristol. It opened as a hospital in 1899 with 76 beds and was periodically expanded, by 1950 it had 500 beds available for TB patients alone. In 1978 it was selected as the 'Regional Infectious & Exotic Diseases Unit', covering the whole of SW England and parts of S Wales.'The History of Ham Green Hospital', published by the Ham Green Action Committee It was largely closed in the 1990s. Bristol Archives holds records of Ham Green Hospital (and its predecessor institutions) including medical officers' records, letter books, patient lists and patient registers (Ref. 38224)
online catalogue
. The original Ham Green House is now the home o
Penny Brohn UK
much of the rest of the site was redeveloped for housing and the Eden Office Park.

Notable individuals

* Hicks Withers-Lancashire

References

External links

{{Commons category, Pill, Somerset
North Somerset CouncilSt Katherine's SchoolTabitha Miggins: Ship's Cat (On the Pill Ferry)
– Philippa Perry's recent book, which is based (mostly) in Pill Villages in North Somerset Ports and harbours of Somerset