Pensford is the largest village in the civil parish of Publow in Somerset, England. It lies in the Chew Valley, approximately south of Bristol, west of Bath, and north of Wells. It is on the A37 road from Bristol to Shepton Mallet.
Pensford was identified as being of special architectural and historic interest and was designated as a Conservation Area in May 1988.
History
The name Pensford is in all likelihood derived from Brythonic Penffordd, meaning roughly 'top of the road' or 'the highest or furthest point of the road'. Alternatively, it may mean 'The animal pens by the ford' from the Old English pens and ford.
The parish of Pensford was part of the Keynsham Hundred,
During the 14th to 16th centuries Pensford was a cloth centre based on local wool.
On 24 June 1685 rebel forces camped at Pensford during the Monmouth Rebellion.
During the 19th and 20th centuries the main industry was coal mining, with Pensford and the surrounding area forming a major part of the Somerset coalfield. Pensford colliery opened in 1909 and closed in 1955.
The River Chew suffered a major flood in 1968 with serious damage to towns and villages along its route. The flood swept away the bridge over the A37 and damaged the railway viaduct so badly that it never reopened. On 10–11 July, a storm brought heavy rainfall to the valley, with falling in 18 hours on Chew Stoke, double the area's average rainfall for the whole of July.
In 2014 the Chew Valley Brewery, a microbrewery, was opened by local resident Dom Lowe and Matt Stalker, after training at Masters Brewery in Wellington. First sales of their Pagan bitter were at the Stoke Inn in Chew Stoke, and after a successful run with retirement looming, the owner closed it down in the summer of 2017.
Government and politics
Pensford and Publow has its own parish council which has some responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council's operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, such as the village hall or community centre, playing fields and playgrounds, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also of interest to the council.
It is part of the Publow and Whitchurch Ward which is represented by one councillor on the Bath and North East Somerset Unitary Authority which was created in 1996, as established by the Local Government Act 1992. It provides a single tier of local government with responsibility for almost all local government functions within its area including local planning and building control, local roads, council housing, environmental health, markets and fairs, refuse collection, recycling, cemeteries, crematoria, leisure services, parks, and tourism. It is also responsible for education, social services, libraries, main roads, public transport, trading standards, waste disposal and strategic planning, although fire, police and ambulance services are provided jointly with other authorities through the Avon Fire and Rescue Service, Avon and Somerset Constabulary, and the Great Western Ambulance Service.
Bath and North East Somerset's area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset but it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters is in Bath. Between 1 April 1974 and 1 April 1996, it was the Wansdyke district and the City of Bath of the county of Avon. Before 1974 that the parish was part of the Clutton Rural District.
The village falls within the Publow and Whitchurch electoral ward. From Pensford the ward strikes north to end at Whitchurch on the Bristol border. The total population of this ward taken from the 2011 census was 2,473.
The parish is represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom as part of North East Somerset. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.