Portishead, Somerset

Portishead railway station served the town of Portishead, Somerset, England from 1907 to 1940 on the Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Railway.

Portishead Radio (callsign GKA) was a radio station in England that provided worldwide maritime communications and long-range aeronautical communications from 1928 until 2000. It was the world's largest and busiest long-distance HF maritime radio station. In 1974, the station employed 154 radio operators who handled over 20 million words per year. It was originally operated by the General Post Office (GPO), then the Post Office (1969–1981) and subsequently by British Telecom, which was privatised in 1984.

Portishead South railway station served the town of Portishead, Somerset, England from 1907 to 1940 on the Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Railway.

Portishead Town Football Club, formerly Portishead A.F.C., are a football club based in Portishead, North Somerset, England founded in 1912. The men's first team are currently members of the Western League Division One and the Ladies first team are members of the FA Women's National League South West Division 1. The club is also home to nearly 900 Junior players aged between 5-16 as part of a merger between other Portishead junior football teams. The club is affiliated to the Somerset County FA.

Portishead Power Station refers to a series of two coal and oil-fired power stations which operated in the dock area of Portishead in Somerset, South West England, between 1929 and 1982. The original coal-fired Portishead power station was built by Bristol Corporation's Electricity Department and started generating in 1929. It was later expanded, and renamed Portishead A Power Station after Portishead B Power Station opened in the early 1950s. The newer station had one-third of its boilers oil-fired and two-thirds coal-fired. Both power stations were later converted to fully oil-fired operation. They closed in the late 1970s and early 1980s respectively, and the buildings and dock area were demolished and cleared. The site of the two power stations is now occupied by housing and the dock has become a marina.

Portishead Lifeboat Station (based in Portishead, Somerset) opened in 1995 as Portishead Lifeboat Trust, an independent lifeboat operating from Sugar Loaf Bay. It was adopted by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in 2015 when a new lifeboat station was opened adjacent to Portishead Pier. The station currently (2019) operates a B-class (Atlantic 85) RNLB My Lady Anne (B-884) with around 40 volunteer crew.

Gordano School () is a comprehensive school with academy status located in Portishead, North Somerset, England. In 1999, the school was awarded Specialist schools Technology College status. Gordano School has 2,100 pupils aged 11 to 18 as of March 2022 with an Ofsted rating of outstanding.

Clapton Road railway station served the town of Clapton in Gordano, Somerset, England from 1907 to 1940 on the Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Railway.

Portishead Pier to Black Nore SSSI (grid reference ST474778) is a 71.8 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near the town of Portishead in North Somerset, notified in 1952. The Portishead Pier Section is made up of alluvial sandstones which represents the best exposure of Upper Carboniferous rocks in the Avonmouth Coalfield. The cliff and foreshore exposures around Portishead Point provide important exposures of geological structures form during the Variscan mountain building episode (orogeny) in the Carboniferous Period of geological history. Also included are areas which show important exposures of the Devonian sequence and yields several species of fossil fishes. Holoptychius scales are the most abundant fossils, but teeth scales of other species are also relatively common. Notably amongst the collection from this bed are plates of arthrodires, including Groenlandaspis.

Portishead Point Lighthouse, which is more commonly known as Battery Point Lighthouse, in Portishead, Somerset, England was built in 1931.

North Weston is a village in the North Somerset district of Somerset, England. It lies between Portishead and Weston-in-Gordano, within the parish of Portishead. In the 2001 census the North Weston ward (which includes the Redcliffe Bay area of Portishead) had a population of 3,890.At the north end of the village is Gordano School. To the west of the village lies Weston Big Wood. North Weston was historically a hamlet in the parish of Portishead. It was created a separate civil parish in 1894. In 1993 the parish was reunited with Portishead. The name of the parish was then "Portishead and North Weston" from 1993 to 2011 when the name was changed to just Portishead.

Portbury Ashlands which is now known as Portbury Wharf Nature Reserve is a nature reserve between Portishead and the Royal Portbury Dock in Somerset, England. It was formed from the redevelopment of the area of Portishead formerly occupied by two power stations. To the east of the harbour, an area known as "the Ashlands" was used for over 50 years to get rid of power station waste which was dumped into lagoons on the site.The Portishead power stations were coal-fed electric power stations. Construction work started on Portishead "A" power station in 1926. It began generating electricity in 1929 for the Bristol Corporation's Electricity Department. Construction of Portishead "B" power station began in 1949; it became operational in 1955. The stations used some local coal produced in the Somerset coalfield, which was delivered by train along the Portishead branch of the Great Western Railway (GWR). The main supply of coal was brought from South Wales, from Newport and Ely, Cardiff by boat into the dock; it was carried by Osborn & Wallis of Bristol.Avon Wildlife Trust have taken over management of the area, which covers around 100 acres (40 ha), from the developers Persimmon plc. It was implemented as ecological mitigation for the housing development and included the introduction of a public access network. In 2015 the North Somerset council decided to take over management of the reserve and that residents of the housing development would no longer need to pay the £50 per annum levy for the upkeep. Some local residents are worried that the council does not have the expertise required to take over from the wildlife trust and for the longer term implications for the site.The site includes two large pools, several ponds, rhynes, grazing marsh, hay meadows and hedgerows. It provides a habitat for a wide range of plants and animals. Great crested newts (Triturus cristatus), water voles (Arvicola amphibius), grass snakes (Natrix natrix) and brown hares (Lepus europaeus) have been seen and there is evidence that otters (Lutra lutra) are moving in. A wide variety of birds are making their homes on the site, including barn owls (Tyto alba), and it is visited by large number of migratory birds which use the Severn Estuary on their journeys. These include: curlew (Numenius arquatus), dunlin (Calidris alpina), redshank (Tringa totanus) and shelduck (Tadorna tadorna). The tidal range results in the estuary having one of the most extensive intertidal wildlife habitats in the UK, comprising mudflats, sandflats, rocky platforms and islands. These form a basis for plant and animal communities typical of extreme physical conditions of liquid mud and tide-swept sand and rock. The estuary is recognised as a wetland area of international importance and is designated as a Ramsar site. Parts of the estuary have also been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The SSSI includes most of the foreshore upstream from Cardiff and Brean Down and most of the upper estuary as far as Sharpness. The Ashlands also provides a green link between the estuary and the Gordano Valley which has been designated as a national nature reserve.