Yatton

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Yatton






Statistics
Population:
Ordnance Survey
OS grid reference:	ST425655
Administration
District:	North Somerset
Shire county:	Somerset
Region:	South West England
Constituent country:	England
Sovereign state:	United Kingdom
Other
Ceremonial county:	Somerset
Historic county:	Somerset
Services
Police force:	Avon and Somerset
Fire and rescue:	Avon
Ambulance:	South Western
Post office and telephone
Post town:
Postal district:
Dialling code:
Politics
UK Parliament:	Woodspring to become North Somerset at next general election
European Parliament:	South West England

St Mary's Church, Yatton.

See also: Yatton, Herefordshire

Yatton is a village in North Somerset, England. Nearby places include Backwell, Clevedon, Kenn, Congresbury and Nailsea; Bristol is located approximately 13 miles (20 km) away.

Yatton's geographic coordinates are 51°23′06″N, 2°49′07″W.

1 History
2 Yatton today
3 Public houses in Yatton
4 Restaurants and takeaways
5 External links

[edit] History

Situated on an area of slightly higher, drained ground surrounded by moorland (locally called a 'batch'), Yatton was a well established village by Norman times. The remains of an Iron Age hill fort at Cadbury Hill have been discovered, as well as a Roman villa, temple and horde of coins.

The origin of the name 'Yatton' is uncertain. It may come from the Anglo-Saxon 'gatton' meaning 'village on the track'; the track in question is a path of limestone leading from Cadbury Hill. It may also mean 'gateway to the hills' or the city or may be derived from its location near the river Yeo. The village has at one time or another been called Jatune, Eaton and Yatton Blewitt.

St Mary's Church, located in central Yatton, is often called the 'Cathedral of the Moors' due to its size and grandeur in relation to the village. While the current church was constructed in the 14th century, it is likely that a previous Christian church was located on the same site. Older Christian burial grounds have also been discovered on Cadbury Hill.

Yatton railway station.

In the 19th century, Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Great Western Railway was constructed through Yatton; lines branched off from Yatton to Cheddar, Clevedon and Blagdon. Although the branch line to Blagdon (Wrington Vale Light Railway) was closed to passengers in 1932, and the Clevedon and Cheddar/Wells lines were closed during the 1960s, the classically Victorian station designed by Brunel is still in use. It is now possible to walk or cycle along the former route of the 'Strawberry Line' from Yatton to Cheddar (so called because of the trade in Cheddar's strawberries), although not all of it is easily passable, especially by bicycle.

In 1922 the site formerly known as 'The Pound' was purchased and the Yatton Parish War Memorial was erected. The memorial is located at Top Scaur, at the Congresbury end of the High Street, and is inscribed with the names of Yatton villagers who died in the First World War and Second World War. Each year on Remembrance Sunday a march is held from St Mary's Church to the memorial, where wreaths are laid by villagers and local organisations.

After the Second World War the size and population of Yatton expanded dramatically. With a railway providing good access to Weston-super-Mare, Bristol and London, and similarly good access by road, the village saw large amounts of new housing development. Today the number of pre-war buildings is much smaller than the number of more recent residential and commercial constructions.

[edit] Yatton today

Page's Court, known locally as 'The Precinct'.

Today Yatton is a large village. Page's Court — the village's shopping precinct containing a bank, supermarket and several local shops — could now be thought of as Yatton's focal point, rather than St. Mary's Church.

As well as St. Mary's (Church of England), Yatton has Methodist, Catholic and independent places of worship. Yatton Methodist Church is situated on the High Street, opposite the main shopping precinct. Horsecastle Chapel, an independent evangelical church, is situated on Horsecastle Farm Road. Yatton Christian Fellowship, affiliated to the Assemblies of God, meets in Yatton Infant School. St. Dunstan's Roman Catholic place of worship is situated on Claverham Road.

Yatton has infant and junior schools, two parks ('Hangstones' and 'Rock Road') and a number of public houses. Secondary education is not available in the village, and so many of Yatton's children commute daily to the nearby village of Backwell in order to attend Backwell School. There are active football and rugby clubs, and many other leisure and sporting activities are listed on the Parish Council web site.

There are a number of thriving local businesses, including Stowell Concrete, Smart Systems, Oxford Instruments, Titan Ladders and Bob Martin. Farming remains an important activity in the area, although the number of farms is now much lower than it was before the war.

The village has continued to increase in size with several new developments planned or currently being constructed north of the railway station near North End Road and Arnold's Way. Development to the south and east of the village has made the villages of Yatton, Claverham and Cleeve almost continuous as far as the A370. Cadbury House Country Club is being developed to become a high quality 60-room hotel and state of the art leisure centre.

The hamlet of North End lies to the north of the Arnold's Way roundabout, just before the junction for Kingston Seymour, and contains between 15 and 20 properties including a number of farms and the Bridge Inn hotel.

[edit] Public houses in Yatton

Butcher's Arms
Market Inn
Prince Of Orange
Railway Inn
Bridge Inn (now a Hungry Horse)

[edit] Restaurants and takeaways

Cheungs Chinese Takeaway
Yatton Tandoori
Yatton Fish Bar

[edit] External links

The North Somerset Levels
The towns and villages: Congresbury \| Kingston Seymour \| Yatton
SSSIs: Biddle Street, Yatton \| Puxton Moor \| Tickenham, Nailsea and Kenn Moors \| Yanal Bog