Pill, Somerset

Pill is a village in North Somerset, England, situated on the southern bank of the Avon, about 4 miles (6 km) north-west of Bristol city centre.

The later name Crockerne Pill (literally 'pottery wharf') arose from the fact that an industrial-scale pottery thrived nearby.

Pill was once home to 21 public houses and was known as being a rough place, to the extent that the founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley, says in an entry in his journals for 3 October 1755: I rode over to Pill, a place famous from generation to generation, even as Kingswood itself, for stupid, brutal, abandoned wickedness.The 1860s saw the building of the Portishead Railway line between Bristol Temple Meads and Portishead.

The line, which was opened to passengers in 1863, passed right through the village of Pill, with the result that a large number of buildings had to be demolished to allow its necessary straight and level passage.

The small ferry from Pill to Shirehampton closed because of loss of trade once the opening of the Avonmouth Bridge in 1974 enabled pedestrians to walk over the Avon.

So a transport link to and from the parish of Easton-in-Gordano, one that had survived since Medieval times, was closed and the river mud has swallowed up most of the now unattended slipways.

Pill has several shops in the centre for day-to-day needs, including two Southern Co-operative food stores, pharmacy, Post Office, vets and hair salon.

Pill marks the start of the National Cycle Network 33 (the Wessex Cycleway), which also takes in Clevedon, Weston-super-Mare, Bridgwater, Chard and Seaton.

As of December 2023, Pill is served by the First West of England route X4, which operates between Bristol bus station and Portishead.

The Portishead Railway viaduct in Pill.