Campbell's Steamers History 

During the end of the 19th century, Portishead was a thriving commercial port and an embarkation point for leisure trips up and down the Severn Estuary. P and A Campbell Ltd owned several ships that plied the Channel carrying pleasure-seeking pasengers to ports up and down the English and Welsh coasts.

Here's a small selection of them. Click on the small thumbnails (below) to change the main picture. Clockwise from top left:

1. PS Waverley postcard, happy passengers in the Bristol Channel
2. SS Balmoral arrives at Clevedon pier, August 1997
3. SS Balmoral passing Battery Point 1997
4. PS Waverley in Portishead Dock 1983
5. PS Waverley passesngers embarking at Portishead Dock Entrance
6. PS Waverley in Portishead Dock, pre Bristol Channel sailings
7. PS Waverley in Portishead Docks, Easter 1987
8. PS Ravenswood leaving Portishead Pier on a cruise, C1900
9. PS Ravenswood at Chepstow Landing Stage
10. PS Waverley Steaming Down the Bristol Channel
11. SS Britannia in Portishead, 1938
12. Cutting from the Bristol Evening World. 1 July, 1954 (Bristol boasted two evening papers in those days)

Click here to read about the history of Campbell's Steamers in Portishead.

And here's an old list of sailings from 1958.

Credits

The information and photographs on this page were provided by Nigel Coombes, of Portishead.