Clevedon (St. Andrew)

CLEVEDON (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Bedminster, hundred of Portbury, E. division of Somerset, 12 miles (W. by S.) from Bristol; containing 1748 inhabitants. This parish is pleasingly situated on the shore of the Bristol Channel, at the influx of the river Yeo, and comprises 2986a. 1r. 20p., chiefly meadow and pasture land; the soil is various, consisting in nearly equal portions of sand, loam, and clay. From its favourable situation on the coast, the village has lately become a bathing-place; the climate is remarkably mild, and myrtles and other delicate shrubs flourish in the open air at all times of the year. Clevedon Court, the seat of Sir Abraham Elton, Bart., is a spacious mansion in the later English style, and one of the finest specimens of the domestic style; it was extensively repaired by Sir J. Wake, then proprietor, in the reign of Elizabeth, and is beautifully situated on the southern slope of a mountainous range, which bounds the greater part of the hundred. A spacious hotel and several houses have been erected near the shore, for the accommodation of visiters. In 1845 an act was passed for a branch to Clevedon from the Bristol and Exeter railway, 3¾ miles in length. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £15. 14. 4.; patron and appropriator, the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. The great tithes have been commuted for £120, and the vicarial for £500; the glebe comprises 10 acres, with a glebe-house. The church, an ancient cruciform structure with a central tower, is situated on a commanding eminence on the shore of the Channel, and at the western extremity of the village. A second church, called Christchurch, in the early English style, erected and endowed chiefly at the expense of G. W. Braikenridge, Esq., was consecrated in August, 1839: the living is in the gift of Trustees. There is a place of worship for Independents. On the summit of some of the hills are remains of ancient lead-mines, and lapis calaminaris has been found.