Failand is a village in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, England. It lies within the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Wraxall and Failand Wraxall and Failand, formerly just Wraxall is a civil parish in the North Somerset district, in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It includes the villages of Wraxall, Somerset, Wraxall and Failand. In 2011 it had a population of 2,302. ...

and the

unitary authority area A unitary authority is a type of local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed ...

North Somerset North Somerset is a unitary authorities of England, unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. The council is based in Weston-super-Mare, the area's largest town. The district also contains the towns of Clevedon, Nailsea ...

. The village has two separate parts. Failand itself is on the B3128

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

Clevedon Clevedon (, ) is a seaside town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, England. It recorded a parish population of 21,281 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, estimated at 21,442 in 2019. It lies ...

road, and is the newer and larger part. Lower Failand, a mile away, is the original village (shown as Fayland on old maps). Lower Failand can be reached by single track lanes only. Failand is home to a general store, a

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

(The Failand Inn), an

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

, a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

and a well used village hall.

Landmarks

Tyntesfield Tyntesfield () is a Victorian Gothic Revival country house and estate near Wraxall, North Somerset, England. The house is a Grade I listed building named after the Tynte baronets, who had owned estates in the area since about 1500. The locati ...

is a gothic house and estate acquired by the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

in 2002 after a national fund-raising campaign. It has now been restored, and is open to visitors. It has been designated as a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The entrance is just west of Failand on the B3128. The

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

parish church of St Bartholomew in Lower Failand was built in 1883-1887 by E. W. Barnes of

Art

Richard Long, the

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award). ...

winning

Land Art Land art, variously known as Earth art, environmental art, and Earthworks, is an art movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, largely associated with Great Britain and the United StatesArt in the modern era: A guide to styles, schools, & mo ...

ist, is a longtime resident of Lower Failand.

Roger Fry Roger Eliot Fry (14 December 1866 – 9 September 1934) was an English painter and art critic, critic, and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Establishing his reputation as a scholar of the Old Masters, he became an advocate of more recent ...

, a prominent member of the

Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group was a group of associated British writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the early 20th century. Among the people involved in the group were Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster, Vanessa Bell, a ...

, grew up in Lower Failand.

Social

Failand has a very active village social life. The Failand Society (link below) meets regularly for talks and social events. There is a very active drama group who perform regularly at the village hall. The Failanders Club puts on events for older residents. There are also two active supper clubs where residents meet up.

Transport

Despite being a rural village, Failand is very close to Bristol, and Clifton in particular. Clifton village is only 5 minutes' drive from Failand, via

Clifton Suspension Bridge The Clifton Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Avon Gorge and the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, linking Clifton, Bristol, Clifton in Bristol to Leigh Woods, Somerset, Leigh Woods in North Somerset. Since opening in 1864, ...

. The X6 bus runs to Bristol city centre about once per hour, via Clarken Combe, Bower Ashton and Hotwells. Lower Failand is on the National Cycle Network. Route 334 provides links to Clifton in one direction, and

Portbury Portbury is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, within the unitary authority of North Somerset. The parish includes the hamlet Sheepway, which is situated on moorland at the northern edge of the Gordano valley, between the Gordano ...

and Portishead in the other, linking to routes North and South.

Sport

Failand is home to the playing fields of several

schools, most notably

Bristol Grammar School Bristol Grammar School (BGS) is a 4–18 Mixed-sex education, mixed, Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Bristol, England. It was founded in 1532 by Royal Charter for the teaching of 'good manners and literature', endowe ...

Bristol Cathedral School Bristol Cathedral Choir School is a mixed gender non-selective musical Secondary Academy, located in the Cabot area of Bristol, England. Until 2008 it was Bristol Cathedral School, part of Bristol Cathedral, in the centre of the city. The chor ...

Clifton College Clifton College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the city of Bristol in South West England, founded in 1862 and offering both boarding school, boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18. In its early years, unlike mo ...

, and

Queen Elizabeth's Hospital Queen Elizabeth's Hospital (also known as QEH) is a 7–18 private boys' day school in Clifton, Bristol, England, founded in 1586. QEH is named after its original patron, Queen Elizabeth I. Known traditionally as "The City School", Queen Eliz ...

(QEH), whose facilities were previously used by

Bristol City F.C. Bristol City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern ...

as their training ground. Their purpose-built training facility, the Robins High Performance Centre, opened on land adjacent to QEH in 2021 and also hosts regular U18, U21 (and some

Bristol City Women Bristol City Women's Football Club is a women's association football team from the city of Bristol. Formed in 1998 as Bristol Rovers W.F.C., they were renamed Bristol Academy W.F.C. in 2005 following the withdraw of support from Bristol Rovers ...

) fixtures. It is also home to the playing fields of the Old Bristolians Society. Failand has its own cricket club, Failand and Portbury Cricket Club, who play on Horse Race Lane in Lower Failand. Failand has a long-establishe
Table Tennis Club
which provides opportunities to play and receive coaching for social and competitive members of all ages and skill levels.

Golf

There are two

golf clubs A golf club is a club used to hit a golf ball in a game of golf. Each club is composed of a shaft with a grip and a club head. Wood (golf), Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; iron (golf), irons, the most versatile class, ...

in Failand, namely Bristol & Clifton Golf Club and Long Ashton Golf Club. The courses have played host to numerous elite tournaments, including the

Martini International The Martini International was a men's professional golf tournament that was held from 1961 to 1983. It was hosted by several different golf clubs in England, Scotland and Wales. It was part of the British PGA tournament circuit, which evolved int ...

, the

Coca-Cola Young Professionals' Championship The Coca-Cola Young Professionals' Championship was a golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. G ...

, the

Bristol Evening World Tournament The Bristol Evening World Tournament was a professional golf tournament played at Long Ashton Golf Club near Bristol, England, in May 1932 and sponsored by the '' Bristol Evening World'' newspaper. The event was held just once and was the first i ...

. Long Ashton Golf Club was opened in 1893 as a nine-hole course before being expanded to 18 holes in 1905. Several members have gone on to have successful careers as

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

s, including Chris Wood,

Andrew Sherborne Andrew Sherborne (born 11 March 1961) is an England, English professional golfer. Sherborne was born in Bristol. He was the leading amateur at The Open Championship in 1984 and turned professional later that year. He played on the European Tour ...

and

Kitrina Douglas Kitrina Douglas (born 6 September 1960) is an English ex- professional golfer who played on the Ladies European Tour. Douglas won the British Ladies Amateur in 1982 and played in the 1982 Great Britain & Ireland Curtis Cup team. She played pr ...

. Bristol & Clifton Golf Club was founded in 1891 with the intention of building a course on

Purdown Purdown (sometimes spelt Pur Down) is a hill in the north east of Bristol, England. The suburb of Lockleaze lies on its western flanks, while its south-eastern slopes reach into Eastville and include a Priory Group hospital, Fairfield High School ...

before opting for Failand when their preferred land became unavailable. Like Long Ashton, the course had only nine holes before being extended to 18 in 1895. Further redesign took place when part of the course was taken over during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

for use as a

POW Camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, an ...

. File:Manor farm, Failand - geograph.org.uk - 329002.jpg, Manor farm, Failand

References

External links

{{Commons category, Failand
Failand Society

Parish Council Website with much local information
Villages in North Somerset