Yatton
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Yatton is a village in North Somerset, England. Nearby places include Backwell, Clevedon, Congresbury and Nailsea—Bristol is located approximately 15 km away.
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History
Situated on an area of higher, drained ground surrounded by moorland, Yatton was a well established village by Norman times. The remains of an Iron Age hill fort at Cadbury Hill have been discovered, as well as a Roman villa, temple and horde of coins.
St Mary's Church, located in central Yatton, is often called the 'Cathedral of the Moors' due to its size and grandeur in relation to the village. While the current church was constructed in the 14th century, it is likely that a previous Christian church was located on the same site. Older Christian burial grounds have also been discovered on Cadbury Hill.
In the 19th century, Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Great Western Railway was constructed through Yatton; a second line running from Cheddar to Clevedon also visited Yatton. Although the Clevedon and Cheddar routes were closed during the 1960s, the classically Victorian station designed by Brunel is still in use. It is now possible to walk/cycle along the former route of the 'Strawberry line' from Yatton to Cheddar.
After the Second World War the size and population of Yatton expanded dramatically. With a railway providing good access to Weston-Super-Mare and Bristol, and similarly good access by road, the village saw large amounts of new housing development. Today the number of pre-War buildings is much smaller than the numbers of newly constructed residential areas and commercial services.
Yatton Today
Today Yatton is a large village. Page's Court—the village's shopping precinct containing a bank, supermarket and several local shops—could now be thought of as Yatton's focal point, rather than St Mary's Church. As well as St Mary's (Church of England), Yatton has Methodist, Catholic and independent places of worship.
Yatton also has two schools, two parks ('Hangstones' and 'Rock Road') and a number of public houses. Secondary education is not available in the village, and so many of the Yatton's children must commute to the nearby village of Backwell daily.