Highbridge

Highbridge sits in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset on the River Brue at the western edge of the Somerset Levels. The town occupies low-lying ground where drainage channels and the Brue meet the estuarine area, and the King’s Sedgemoor Drain runs close by. The place name reflects a crossing over the Brue that helped shape local routes. Rail remains visible in daily life: the station is officially called Highbridge and Burnham and serves the Bristol–Taunton line, linking the town with the regional rail network.

The town grew in the 19th century around canal and rail connections that moved agricultural produce and goods from the Levels. Today Highbridge provides local shops, light industry and community facilities for surrounding villages, with a street pattern that still shows older trade routes. Open ground and drainage channels lie close to housing, and local planning continues to balance land use with flood risk and water management inherited from the engineering works that reclaimed and maintained the Levels.