Clevedon (/ˈkliːvdən/, KLEEV-dən) is a seaside town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, England.

The rocky beach has been designated as the Clevedon Shore Geological Site of Special Scientific Interest.

[4] The 1086 Domesday Book mentions Clevedon as a holding of a tenant-in-chief by the name of Mathew of Mortaigne,[5] with eight villagers and ten smallholders.

It was run by nuns of the Community of the Sisters of the Church, an international body in the Anglican Communion living according to the Gospel values of poverty, chastity and obedience.

[18] Its trains crossed the road in the town centre, known as The Triangle, preceded by a man with red and green flags.

[5] In 1938 Howard Florey was working at Lincoln College, Oxford University with Ernst Boris Chain and Norman Heatley when he read Alexander Fleming's paper on the antibacterial effects of Penicillium notatum mould.

He arranged for this to be grown in deep culture tanks at the Medical Research Council's Antibiotic Research Station in Clevedon, enabling mass production of the mould for a medicine injected into forthcoming World War II soldiers suffering from infections.

The tidal rise and fall in the Severn Estuary and Bristol Channel can be as great as 14.5 m (48 ft),[25] second only to Bay of Fundy in Eastern Canada.

[26][27] The seafront runs about half a mile from the pier to Salthouse Field, with ornamental gardens, a Victorian bandstand, a bowling green, tennis courts, crazy golf and other amusements.

Marine Lake, once a Victorian swimming pool, is used for boating and for a small festival once a year where people can try out new sports.

[28] The shore at Clevedon marries pebbled beaches and low rocky cliffs, with the old harbour at the western edge of the town, at the mouth of the Land Yeo river.

[29] The rocky beach has been designated as Clevedon Shore geological Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Minerals identified include haematite, chalcopyrite, tennantite, galena, tetrahedrite, bornite, pyrite, marcasite, enargite and sphalerite.

[32] In the summer, the Azores high pressure affects the south-west of England, but convective cloud sometimes forms inland, reducing the number of hours of sunshine.

The Clerical Medical pensions and investments group, part of HBOS, was based in the town on the former site of the Hales Cakes factory, but after its closure, North Somerset Council began talks on taking over the lease.

The English Civil War saw the decline of Poulett's fortunes, and by 1791 the castle was derelict and being used as a dairy by a local farmer.

After a set of legs collapsed during an insurance load check on 17 October 1970, it fell into disrepair until 1985, when it was dismantled, taken to Portishead dock for restoration, and rebuilt in 1986.

In 2001, it was upgraded to a Grade I listed building,[44][45][46] The paddle steamer Waverley and motor vessel Balmoral offer day trips by sea from Clevedon Pier to points along the Bristol Channel and Severn estuary.

[60] St John's the Evangelist Primary School was formerly based on the current site of Clevedon Library.

It is the burial place of Arthur Hallam, subject of the poem In Memoriam A. H. H. by his friend Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

[71] The tower of Christ Church, on Chapel Hill, is an important landmark in Clevedon, erected in 1838–1839 to designs by Thomas Rickman, in an early 14th-century style.

As the population increased, the water works proved inadequate and a new pumping station was created on Tickenham Road in 1901, some 1.2 miles (2 km) to the north-east.

The new site could be seen from Clevedon Court, and the 8th Baronet, Sir Edmund Elton, took exception to the designs of the engineer James Mansergh.

The Waterworks Company employed the architect Henry Dare Bryan to improve the appearance of the buildings, which included the pumping station, a coal shed and store, a lodge for the foreman, and the boundary wall and gates.

The new pumping station contained a vertical triple-expansion engine manufactured by the Scottish company Glenfield and Kennedy.

The boiler house, engine house and chimney are grade II listed, as largely unaltered buildings in Domestic Revival style, with the interior retaining its glazed tiling and elaborate roof trusses, although the machinery has been replaced by modern equipment, and the site is still operational.

Clevedon Canoe Club at the marine lake facilitates sea paddling trips along the North Somerset coast on the Severn Estuary,[79] and to other sites such as Wye Valley and Woolacombe.

[92] Writers linked with the town include Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who spent some months in a cottage in Clevedon, after his marriage to Sara Fricker,[93] William Makepeace Thackeray, a frequent guest of the Elton family at Clevedon Court,[93] and George Gissing (The Odd Women is set here).

[94] The final scene of a 1993 movie, The Remains of the Day, starring Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson and Christopher Reeve, refers to Clevedon, where it was filmed.

[99] Clevedon, in particular St Andrew's Church, was one of the settings for the town Broadchurch, a detective drama first aired on ITV on 4 March 2013.