Weston-super-Mare History
-15000000000 | Start of the Universe |
-4500000000 | Formation of Planet Earth |
-4000000000 | Start Life on Earth (disputed date) |
-2400000000 to -2100000000 | Huronian Ice Age |
-800000000 to -635000000 | Cryogenian Ice Age |
-450000000 to -420000000 | Andean-Saharan Ice Age |
-360000000 to -260000000 | Karoo Ice Age |
-2580000 | Current Ice Age (Quaternary) |
-10000 | Warm period in current ice age |
-8200 to -4200 | Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) |
-6500 | Britain cut off from mainland by rising sea level |
-4200 to -2200 | Neolithic (New Stone Age) |
-2200 to -1500 | Bronze Age (no agreement on dates) |
-1500 to -1000 | The Dark Ages (no agreement on dates) |
-850 to 43 | Iron Age (no agreement on start date) |
43 to 410 | Roman Occupation |
410 to 1000 | Post Roman |
1000 to 1500 | Gothic Art (no agreement on dates) |
1000 to 1500 | Medieval (Middle Ages) (no agreement on dates) |
1042 to 1066 | King Edward (the Confessor) of England |
1066 to 1066 | King Harold of England |
1066 to 1087 | King William I (The Conqueror) of England |
1067 | Aproximate date for building St Nicholas Church, Uphill |
1080 | Approximate date of earliest remaining parts of Uphill Church |
1086 | Doomsday Book documents Uphill as having 80 inhabitants |
1087 to 1100 | King William II (Rufus) of England |
1100 to 1135 | King Henry I of England |
1129 | Consecration of Uphill Church |
1135 to 1154 | King Stephen of England |
1154 to 1189 | King Henry II of England |
1189 to 1199 | King Richard I (The Lion Heart) of England |
1199 to 1216 | King John of England |
1210 | Approximate date for founding of Woodspring Priory |
1216 to 1272 | King Henry III of England |
1272 to 1307 | King Edward I (Hammer of the Scots) of England |
1307 to 1327 | Edward II |
1327 to 1377 | Edward III |
1348 | First known written record of the name Weston-super-Mare |
1377 to 1399 | King Richard II of England and Wales |
1399 to 1413 | King Henry IV of England and Wales |
1399 to 1461 | House of Lancaster of England and Wales |
1413 to 1422 | King Henry V (The Warrior King) of England and Wales |
1422 to 1461 | King Henry VI of England and Wales |
1461 to 1483 | King Edward IV of England and Wales |
1483 to 1483 | King Edward V of England and Wales |
1483 to 1485 | King Richard III of England and Wales |
1485 to 1509 | King Henry VII of England and Wales |
1500 to 1600 | Renaissance Art |
1509 to 1547 | King Henry VIII of England and Wales |
1547 to 1553 | King Edward VI of England and Wales |
1553 to 1553 | Queen Jane of England and Wales |
1553 to 1558 | Queen Mary I of England and Wales |
1558 to 1603 | Queen Elizabeth I of England and Wales |
1568 | Calemine (used for making brass) discovered on Worle Hill. |
1603 to 1625 | King James I of England (James VI of Scotland) |
1603 to 1714 | House of Stuart |
1607 | Massive flooding along banks of Bristol Channel |
1625 to 1649 | King Charles I of England Wales and Scotland |
1649 to 1659 | Commonwealth (No monarch) |
1653 to 1658 | Oliver Cromwell (Lord Protector) |
1658 to 1659 | Richard Cromwell (Lord Protector) |
1659 to 1685 | King Charles II of England Wales and Scotland |
1685 to 1688 | James II of England and Wales (James VII of Scotland) |
1688 to 1689 | King William III and Queen Mary II (Joint rule) |
1689 to 1702 | King William III |
1702 to 1714 | Queen Anne |
1714 to 1727 | King George I |
1727 to 1760 | King George II |
1760 to 1820 | King George III |
1791 | Thatched Cottage was built |
1805 | Building of the School House in Uphill (became known as Uphill Castle) |
1812 | Westons first hotel (The Royal) opens (Date uncertain probably between 1808 and 1812) |
1820 | Howes Baths opens at Knightstone |
1820 to 1830 | King George IV |
1822 | First guide book for Weston-super-Mare published |
1825 | First pleasure steamer to arrive in Weston docks at Knightstone |
1826 | Planting of trees starts in Weston Woods |
1828 | West wall of Uphill Church painted white to help ships navigate |
1830 to 1837 | King William IV |
1833 | Uphill village officially became part of Weston-super-Mare |
1833 to 1834 | Height of knightstone Causeway increased |
1834 | Marine lake formed by buiding the pedestrian causeway |
1837 to 1901 | Queen Victoria |
1841 | Gas arrives in Weston |
1841 | Westons first Railway Station opens |
1843 | First edition of the Weston Mercury (originally called The Westonian) |
1843 | Weston gets its first sewers |
1844 | New Uphill Church (in the village) consecrated |
1846 | Westons first Voluntary Fire Brigade Formed |
1848 | Kewstoke Toll Road opens |
1853 | Opening of the towns first Water Works |
1857 | Dispensary built in Alfred Street |
1866 | Opening of Westons second railway station |
1867 | Attempt to build international harbour at Brean Down |
1867 | Opening of Birnbeck Pier |
1868 | Sanatorium opens at the end of the Promenade |
1882 | Weston gets a Lifeboat Station |
1885 | Towns only Fire Service closed when Volunteers Disbanded |
1886 | Construction of the see front completed |
1886 | Volunteer Fire Brigade reformed with new HQ behind original Town Hall |
1890 to 1939 | Machine Age |
1897 | 2nd railway from Weston to Clevedon opens(closed 1940) |
1898 | Birnbeck Pier devastated in major fire |
1900 | Soldier blows up Brean Down Fort by firing gun into the Armoury |
1901 | Fire Station in Oxford Street Completed |
1901 | Weston gets mains electricity |
1901 to 1910 | King Edward VII |
1902 | Electric Trams arrive in Weston |
1902 | Swimming pool and pavillion open at Knightsone |
1903 | Construction starts on the Grand Pier |
1904 | First section of Grand Pier opens |
1907 | Grand Pier extended to allow ships to land passengers |
1907 | Weston to Clevedon railway exteded to Portishead |
1910 to 1936 | King George V |
1914 to 1918 | World War I |
1916 | Grand Pier shortened to present length |
1926 | Light Amusements appear on the Grand Pier |
1927 | Winter Gardens Open |
1928 | Openning of Queen Alexandra Hospital (on theBoulevard) |
1930 | Grand Pier Pavilion destroyed in great fire |
1933 | Grand Pavilion reopens after being rebuilt following the fire |
1933 | Opening of Weston Milton Station |
1934 | Founding of Weston Bay Yacht Club |
1935 | Construction of the Floral Clock |
1935 | Opening of the Odeon Cinema |
1936 | Opening of Hutton Moor Airfield |
1936 to 1936 | King Edward VIII |
1936 to 1952 | King George VI |
1937 | Swimming pool built (renamed Tropicana in 1983) |
1937 | Tram service closes |
1939 | Weston gets first Professional Fire Fighter (previously it relied on Volunteers) |
1939 to 1945 | World War II (Birnbeck Pier used for weapons testing) |
1940 | First bombing of Weston during World War II |
1940 | Weston to Portishead railway closes |
1945 to 1980 | Atomic Age |
1946 | Opeining of the Playhouse Theatre |
1947 | Pontins open holiday camp at Sand Bay |
1948 | Old Sanatorium converted for use by NHS as the Royal Hospital |
1952 | Queen Elizabeth II |
1954 | National Trust acquire Brean Down |
1968 | National Trust acquire Woodspring Priory |
1969 | Weston carnival resumes (after closing for World War II) |
1970 | M5 Motorway construction reaches St. Georges |
1974 | Grand Pier Listed by Department of Environment as Historic Monument |
1974 | Opening of the Helicopter Museum |
1974 | Weston becomes part of the new county of Avon |
1979 | Opening of the West Mendip Way |
1980 | Computer Age |
1981 | Uphill and parts of Weston-super-Mare devestaeted by great flood |
1982 | First Weston-super-Mare Beach Race |
1983 | Completion of the new Uphill Flood Defences |
1983 | The swimming pool complex is renamed Tropicana |
1986 | Opening of teh current hospital in Uphill |
1987 | Closure of Westland Helicopters |
1989 | Helicopter museum opens |
1990 | Birnbeck Pier damaged by storm, it later closed in 1994 |
1992 | Birmbeck Pier closes as unsafe but remains open to RNLI |
1995 | Locking Castle Church opens in a porta-cabin |
1996 | Weston becomes part of North Somerset |
1999 | Pontins leave Sand Bay and site becomes Sand Bay Holiday Village |
2000 | Closure of RAF Locking |
2000 | Tropicana closes |
2001 | Jills garden opens in Grove Park |
2006 | Silica (spire shaped monument) installed |
2008 | Grand Pier Completely destroyed in a fire |
2010 | The new Grand Pier opens after rising from the ashes of the old pier |
2015 | Opening of the extension to Weston Bay Yacht Club |
2015 | Part of Birnbeck Pier collapses into the sea |
2015 | RNLI leaves Birnbeck Pier because structure too dangerous to use |
2015 | RNLI using temporary boathouse at Anchor Head |
2015 | Artist Banksy holds "Dismaland" exhibition in the derelict Tropicana |
2016 | Uphill Manor Fire |
2016 | Severe flooding in Weston-super-Mare caused by 36 hours of continuous reain |
2016 | Bridge at Moor Lane (Worle) was closed because repairs were uneconomic |
2020 | Covid 19 pandemic results in widespread lockdowns |