|
The small
North Somerset town of Nailsea lies 7 miles south-west
of Bristol and 11 miles north-east of Weston-super-Mare.
To the
west of the town are Nailsea moors, for centuries drained
and farmed.
Nailsea
developed with the coal mining industry, which was established
here in the early 16th century.
By the
late 1700s there were many pits in the town and these attracted
the glass manufacturer John Robert Lucus. The glassworks
he set up in Nailsea (producing bottles and plate glass) later
became the 4th largest of its kind in the country. Although
the glassworks closed in 1873, Nailsea's 'end of shift' domestic
pieces and novelty ware are still highly sort after.
In the
1950s Nailsea was selected by Somerset County Council as the
site of a new town and conveniently located close to the major
business centres of Bristol, Bath and Weston-super-Mare, Nailsea
has developed as a commuter town.
|