Bleadon

Coordinates: 51°18′30″N 2°56′41″W / 51.3082°N 2.9448°W / 51.3082; -2.9448

Bleadon is a village and civil parish in the historic county of Somerset, England. It is about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Weston-super-Mare and, according to the 2011 census, has a population of 1,079.

History

Bleadon was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Bledone, meaning 'The coloured hill' from the Old English bleo 'coloured' and dun. The parish was part of the Winterstoke Hundred.

Just to the north of the village is Bleadon Hill, a 13.52 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest.

There is evidence or agricultural use of the land in the medieval period and possibly from Roman times.

The village cross and well are listed buildings.

Bleadon lies on the River Axe and had been a small port, sometimes known as Lympsham Wharf, for many years, with the arrival of the railway in 1841 making this the furthest navigable point. It was last used, by the ketch Democrat, in 1942. An Act of 1915 authorised the drainage of the river and installation of a flood gate at Bleadon, although attempts to control the water had occurred on Bleadon Level since medieval times, including an early windmill, in 1613, to pump water into the sea from behind a sea wall.