Pill

Pill is a village on the southern bank of the Avon, about 4 miles (6 km) north-west of Bristol city centre. It is the largest settlement in the civil parish of Pill and Easton-in-Gordano, and North Somerset is the unitary authority. The electoral ward of the same name had 3,525 residents at the 2011 census.

The village was traditionally the home of river pilots, who guided boats up the Avon Gorge between the Bristol Channel and the Port of Bristol. A small ferry once ran from Pill to Shirehampton but closed because of loss of trade after the Avonmouth Bridge opened in 1974. The parish extends north-west beyond the M5 motorway to include the Royal Portbury Dock.

Ham Green, next to Pill, has its own history. A medieval pottery kiln was excavated there in 1959, and the Ham Green pottery it produced dates from roughly 1100 to 1250. Bristol Council bought Ham Green House in 1894, and an isolation hospital with 76 beds opened there in 1899.

Pill suits visitors who want to be close to Bristol without staying in the city: the village sits on the river, about 4 miles from the city centre, with the Avon Gorge upriver. It is an edge-of-city place rather than a rural retreat.