East Clevedon – the early stirrings  

Part One Research by Jane Lilly 

In this, the first of two articles, local historian and Society member Jane Lilly takes us through the  history of East Clevedon. 

A lthough the market granted to Edmund de Clevedon in 1342 was held at The Triangle in the centre of the old Village, East Clevedon Triangle seems to have been the focus of a great  many of the main activities in the early days of the town’s development. 

Clevedon’s oldest pub is the Old Inn in Walton Road – the New Inn was nearby in  Old Street, only 10 years younger, being licensed in 1764. Here, those travelling through Clevedon via Walton Road, Old Street and Kenn Road would have had the chance of refreshment and respite  from the rough, dusty roads. There were also beer-houses, one being at 5 East Clevedon Triangle in the 1830s. Travel was largely by horse,and the oldest smithy was where the Health Centre now stands.As the population expanded and visitor numbers increased,another smithy was built on the junction of Old Street and The Triangle around 1800,as well as a third in the Walton Road in  the 1840s. Nowadays, main roads are punctuated with petrol stations, but in historical times, smithies were a reliable sign of plentiful traffic. 

In Old Street is our oldest house, dating from 1500, now numbers 136-8. There is still soot on the three old trusses that support the roof, evidence of the days when the fire was in the middle of the floor. Old Street is our only street due to the fact that it had the biggest concentration of houses  a road led somewhere, but a street had houses in it.