Fabulous Fish

These are the artistic representations of fish that I have found on my travels around Somerset.

Kneeler in Exford Church

Fish bike racks at RSPB Ham Wall

Kneeler at St Andrew's Church, Old Cleeve

The apostle St Andrew and his brother, Simon Peter, were both fishermen.  

Altar front, St Andrew's Church, Old Cleeve

Stained glass window, St Andrew's Church, Old Cleeve

River Tone, Taunton

Stained glass window in Winsford Church

Chiselborough Bus Stop

St Andrew's Church, Mells

This window is in memory of Sir John Francis Fortescue Horner (1842-1927).  He was a barrister and he lived in Mells Manor.  The window was designed by Sir William Nicholson and depicts St Francis of Assisi preaching to the fish and birds.

Church of St Mary and St Andrew, Pitminster

"I will make you fishers of men" Matthew Ch.4 v.19

Seals & goldfish by Curtis Hylton, Oxford Corner, Weston-super-Mare

This was painted for Weston Wallz Project 2022.  I think the seals look more like sea lions.

Fish and a sheep on a bench end, Church of All Saints, Monksilver

Fisherman Metal Head, Minehead Harbour

Altar rail, St Peter's on the Quay, Minehead

Hedgehog and fish on the west doors of St Mary's Church, Norton-sub-Hamdon

Seats painted with fish, an octopus, a turtle, a jellyfish and a shark

High Street, Taunton

These concrete seats were painted by GoCreate and Rights Community Action in 2023 to raise awareness of climate change.

Seats painted with lots of fish, a jellyfish, a hermit crab, two sea anenomes and a starfish, High Street, Taunton

Weston, Clevedon & Portishead Railway

The Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Railway ran from Ashcombe Road in Weston-super-Mare to Portishead via Worle, Wick St Lawrence, Clevedon and Walton-in-Gordano.  

A single track branch line from the Great Western Railway at Weston Junction to Weston-super-Mare opened in June 1841 and another from the GWR at Yatton to Clevedon opened in July 1847.  A branch line from Bedminster to Portishead opened in 1867.  A loop line from the main GWR line opened in March 1884 to serve Weston-super-Mare.  However there was no direct link between the growing towns of Weston-super-Mare, Clevedon and Portishead.  

A railway line from Portishead to Clevedon was first proposed in 1865.  In 1884 the Weston-super-Mare, Clevedon & Portishead Tramways Company proposed building a standard gauge tramway to link the three towns.   The Weston-super-Mare, Clevedon & Portishead Tramways Act was passed in August 1885, but work on the Weston-super-Mare to Clevedon section didn't begin until 1887, due to financial and legal problems.  

The original plan was to run from Weston-super-Mare town centre on the street along the Boulevard.   However the track along the Boulevard was taken up before the line opened, due to complaints from the local council and the terminus station in Weston-super-Mare was at Ashcombe Road.  

The 5 years allowed by the 1885 act for the completion of the line expired in 1890 and another act had to be passed to allow a time extension.  The line finally opened from Ashcombe Road to Clevedon on 1st December 1897.  In 1899 the tramway was designated a light railway and the name of the company was changed to the Weston, Clevedon & Portishead Light Railway Company.

The extension to Portishead was delayed due to financial constraints and finally opened on 7th August 1907.  There were objections to the extension because the line had to run through the streets in Clevedon.

The 14 mile long line was a standard gauge light railway.  It had 19 stations, but most of them were only halts, with no platforms and only a hut for shelter.  

There was no connection with the main railway line at Weston-super-Mare.  It did connect to the Bristol to Portishead branch via a siding at Portishead and it was also connected to the Great Western Railway's Yatton to Clevedon branch at Clevedon for a few years by a very sharp radius link. 

The WC&PR served Conygar, Nightingale and Black Rock Quarries in the Gordano valley and they each had their own sidings. The gasworks at Clevedon and a nail factory in Portishead also had their own sidings off the WC&PR.  In about 1913 a short branch line was constructed to a wharf on the River Yeo at Wick St Lawrence.

Colonel Holman Frederick Stephens managed the WC&PR from 1911 until his death in 1931.  He was based at Tonbridge in Kent and was known as the Light Railway King, because he also ran several other similar railways.  William Henry Austen was the manager from 1931 until 1940.

In 1919 the WC&PR started to manufacture and use concrete sleepers to replace worn out wooden ones. Concrete sleepers were not widely used by other British railway companies until after the Second World War.  In 1921 the company bought its first petrol railcar.

The WC&PR operated on a shoestring and was rarely profitable.  Most of the engines and carriages used on the line were bought second-hand from other railways.  Only two engines were bought new.

The increasing importance of road transport in the 1930s and the decrease in output from Black Rock Quarry made the line even less profitable and it finally closed on 18th May 1940.  The track was taken up between October 1942 and the end of 1943.

Map of the Weston, Clevedon & Portishead Railway

Archway that linked the High Street to the station in Portishead

Former railway offices on Ashcombe Road, Weston-super-Mare

Former trackbed of the railway at Weston-in-Gordano

Colonel Stephens Way, Weston-super-Mare

WC&PR steam engine mural, Salthouse Fields, Clevedon

This mural was painted by local artist Damien Jeffrey.

Further Reading: 

Maggs, Colin G: The Weston, Clevedon & Portishead Light Railway. The Oakwood Press, 1990

Millennium Commemorations

Communities in Somerset chose to mark the year 2000 in a number of ways, including seats, monuments, village signs, sculptures, stained glass windows, sundials, standing stones, woods and even a stone circle.  A quarter of a century later, most of the millennium commemorative items are still extant.

Millennium Window, St Peter & St Paul's Church, South Petherton

Millennium Window, St Martin's Church, Worle

Millennium Window, St Andrew's Church, Old Cleeve

Millennium Window, Church of St John the Evangelist, Staplegrove, Taunton

This window was designed by Henry Haig (1930-2007).

Millennium Window, St Mary's Church, Stoke St Mary

The window was commissioned by Stoke St Mary Church Committee and Stoke St Mary Millennium Committee and was dedicated on 10th September 2000.  It was made by Patrick Reyntiens (1925-2021), a leading British stained glass artist, who moved to Somerset in 1982. The window depicts the story of St Anne and her husband St Joachim, teaching the Virgin Mary to read.  It was chosen because the window formed part of St Anne's Chapel.  St Anne and Mary are linked by a scroll on which the following verse from Isaiah Ch9 v6 is written in Hebrew: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.

Millennium window, Church of St John the Baptist, Biddisham
On this window it says "Of his kingdom there shall be no end". This is a quotation from the Gospel of Luke Ch1 v33.  The window was made by Gilroy, Bristol Stained Glass.

St Mary's Church, Luxborough

I presume this is a millennium window, as it has the date 2000 on it.  It also says "All generations shall call me blessed.", which is what Mary, the mother of Jesus is quoted as saying in Luke Ch1 v48.  

Church of St Nicholas, Corfe

This millennium window was made by Roy Coomber.

Millennium seat, Chipstable

Millennium Bench, Kingston St Mary

Deer on the Kingston St Mary bench

Wool trade and dragon on the Kingston St Mary bench

Bishop's Hull Millennium Mosaic

Peace Stone, Oxhouse Wood, Winford

Oxhouse Wood is owned by the Woodland Trust.  They acquired it in 1998, as part of their Woodlands on your Doorstep millennium project.  The Peace Stone was designed by Winford Parish Council.  The stone was donated by a local quarry and carved by a local craftsman.

Spirit of Clevedon

This sculpture on the seafront at Clevedon was designed by the residents of Clevedon in 2000.  According to the plaque on it, the forward pointing sail shape, port hole rings, plaques and panels represent the pioneering and community spirit of the town and highlights the links with Clevedon's European twin towns of Ettlingen, Middelkerke and Epernay.

Lady Smith Memorial Institute/Parish Rooms, Somerton

This vertical sundial was commissioned by Somerton U3A to mark the new millennium and was unveiled on 8th July 2000.  It was made by Peter Walker and features a dragon at the centre. It shows the hours from 7am to 5pm in hours and half hours.

Ham Hill Stone Circle

This modern stone circle consists of 15 standing stones made of the local Hamstone.  It was erected as a Millennium project to commemorate the many centuries of quarrying that have gone on at Ham Hill and all the men who have worked there.   Pieces of shell and other small fossils can be seen in the stones.  Grid reference: ST 478 171.

Othery's millennium village sign

Millennium Glass Doors, The Minster, Ilminster

Angel Gabriel and Mary on the Millennium Doors

Village sign, Shapwick

Burrington Millennium Stone

This stone has the latitude and longitude of the village (51° 19.8 North, 02° 44.9 West), its altitude (68 metres) and population (448) carved on it.

Millennium stones in the Old Station Millennium Garden, Winscombe

Standing stones, Millennium Green, Congresbury

There is an inscription on one of the standing stones, which says "Forever Green, Sue Grant, Her Vision".  The late Sue Grant was Clerk to Congresbury Parish Council in the 1990s and she was instrumental in making the millennium green project happen.  The two halves of the village are now joined by the Millennium Bridge over the River Yeo.

Footbridge, Millennium Green, Congresbury

Millennium Sculpture, Yatton

This 6 metre high metal arch sculpture is located at the start of the Strawberry Line next to Yatton Station. It depicts a cyclist, a rambler, a dragonfly, a fox, a rabbit, a cow, a squirrel, a heron, a frog, a butterfly, a woodpecker, some flowers, a tree (possibly an apple tree) and of course some strawberries.  It was made by blacksmith Alan Cooper of Engine Forge, Winscombe.  It was funded by grants from North Somerset Council, the Countryside Agency and the Forest of Avon.

Ash Millennium Wood

This wood is owned by Ash Parish Council.  It was established as a community wood to mark the Millennium.  Local parishioners planted 150 trees (including ash trees!).  Volunteers have planted many more trees since then and also set up a wildflower plot.

Millennium Garden, Higher Road, Woolavington

The Parish Council has gone for a "natural" look in 2025.