"incommoded the traffic", traffic has been and still is the bane of Banwell life and although a bypass was pegged out in the 1930's it has never been built.

Church Street goes North past the old 1874 Chapel of the free Methodist and later the Baptist, past the church entrance and the sites of the old, Mill and Brewery, Wagon works, the Gas Works of 1865-1926 and the Poor Houses then follows Banwell river to the Moor which contained many large farms with fine houses that brought prosperity in to the village but alas many now just private houses.

East Street, once called Gay Street starts at the Bell  and goes past the Old Non Conformist Chapel of the 1790's, the Vicarage, the old 1887 Fire Station, Banwell Abbey, the old village Pound and on to Towerhead where Bishop Godwin built a large house in the 16^th century, this house was rebuilt in the 19^th century and called Towerhead House.

Just over the parish boundary at Towerhead was Sandford and Banwell Railway Station, now Sandford Stone, built on the new railway line from Yatton to Shepton Mallet in 1869 called the Cheddar Valley line or locally known as the Strawberry Line, this line closed in the Beaching cuts of the 1964.

Up until 1967 East Street was very narrow will just enough room for a bus so to help the traffic flow, or so it was thought, the complete line of terrace cottages and shops on the south side of the road were pulled down, sadly this did not help the traffic that much. The pulling down of the butchers shop opposite the Bell Hotel in the early 1970s lost the shape of Banwell's Square which is now just a junction at the end of the road.

Southwards from the square is Banwell Rhoddy now called Castle Hill that leads of course past the Castle built in 1847 as a private residence and then on to Winscombe the next village. If you bear right before the Castle and right again you will go past the Roman/ Medieval site at Winthill.

To the West of the Square is High Street which confuses many visitors that venture up it hoping to find the main street but find a narrow winding hill with cottages either side. Until the 20^th century this road was called Harding's lane, for what reason is not known although a Harding's Barn is to be found in Harding's Lane on an 18^th century estate map. On the first steep part of High Street you pass two old pubs now closed, The George and The White Hart. Near the top of the hill you pass the old school of 1867, then two paths to Banwell Hill, Rock path and Hill path. Follow through the "narrows" with cottages on either side you find on the right hand site the Jubilee Well of 1887 which is a 76 feet deep.

High Street then follows the north side of Banwell hill past mainly modern buildings inter-dispersed with restored old cottages, at the west end of High street is situated the Caves house once the residence of Bishop Law, under this house are the Bone and Stalactite caves, further to the west is Hillend where a "shadow factory" was built during the war for aeroplane building, the factory site is now Elborough Village. 

The fifth street off the Square is West Street, the main street, it starts at what was once The Ship Hotel a Coaching Inn, past the War Memorial where the village Lock-up stood in the 1830's and where nearby a German bomb fell in 1940, pass the Methodist Chapel built in 1862 and "Pruens Lane" on the right the entrance to Ten Acres the field behind the shops that was used for Banwell Horse Show and where the remains of Roman buildings were found in 1967. A short lane next the last of the shops leads to the Malt House that once belonged to the Brewery. Here the flats next to the Malt House and the flats next to the car park are replacement for houses also bombed in 1940, opposite the car park the New School built in 1926. Next to the car park is the Grange one time home of the Emery family which in years gone by had a Tan Yard behind it.

Wolvershill road turns right off West Street and goes to Worle passing Stonebridge and Westwick on the way, West Street carries on pass the Wolvershill turning to the Recreation field where it becomes Knightcott Road.

Banwell from the mid 19^th century thrived with more than its share of shops and businesses, many gentry families resided here which gave trade and employment but with the rise of Weston Super Mare and the traffic problems Banwell has declined so that at the turn of the 20^th to 21^st century we are down to 8 shop from the 26 odd of the 1940/50's

Banwell had two fairs, January and July; the January has survived in a very very small way. This fair was for cattle and sheep; the whole of East Street where it was held was shuttered up from the Square to the Abbey gates. The fair had all the trappings with sideshow entertainers and traders selling all kind of wares. Also open on fair days was the fire station that adjoins the Abbey estate in East Street. We still open the Fire station on fair day but it is more a museum now as the county fire service was withdrawn from here in the 1980's.
The Fire station was the gift of Miss Fazakerley of Chorley in Lancashire in who came to the abbey in 1883 for her health, in 1887 she supplied an up to date fire engine for the fire station with equipment and uniforms for the crew. Miss Fazakerley also supplied instruments and uniforms for a village band.

There has been a Wesleyan church in Banwell since the 1790's the first just off the Square in East Street two doors from the vicarage which I believed caused some problems, it is said their windows were broken by the church people, this chapel was replace by one in West Street in 1862 The old chapel became for want of a word a village hall called the Literary Institute where most village functions were held, it later became a builder and undertakers workshop and is now a private residence. There is also an old chapel in church street started by the free Methodist in 1872 the chapel was eventually sold to the Baptist church in the 1940's, then became the church hall in the 1950's and is now a private business premises. 

There are now only three public houses in Banwell village and one at St Georges