Along the coast, settlements such as Berrow are built on the line of sand dunes separating the low-lying marshes from the Bristol Channel. At the northern end Bleadon lies on the River Axe; and there was for many years a small harbour, sometimes known as Lympsham Wharf.[24] The arrival of the Bristol and Exeter Railway in 1841, which crossed the Axe on a bridge, obstructed river traffic beyond the wharf, making it the limit of navigation for coastal vessels.[24] An Act of 1915 authorised the drainage of the river and installation of a flood gate at Bleadon,[25] although attempts to control the water had occurred on Bleadon Level since medieval times, including an early windmill, in 1613, to pump water into the sea from behind a sea wall.[26] Burnham-on-Sea (population 18,401[27]) is at the mouth of the River Parrett where it enters Bridgwater Bay.[28] The position of the town on the edge of the Somerset Levels has resulted in a history dominated by land reclamation and sea defences since Roman times.[29] Burnham was seriously affected by the Bristol Channel floods of 1607, and various flood defences have been installed since then.[30] A concrete sea wall was built in 1911, and after the Second World War further additions to the defences were made, using the remains of a Mulberry harbour; the present curved concrete wall was completed in 1988.[31] Highbridge, which neighbours Burnham, is near the mouth of the River Brue and the villages of East and West Huntspill.[28
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