The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland published in 1868 records that Nailsea is a parish in the hundred of Portbury and includes the tythings of East, West and Middle Nailsea.

There were numerous collieries and stone quarries, employing about half the population, also a tannery, brewery, corn and saw mills, and an extensive glassworks.

In fact the coal mining industry in the Nailsea area flourished for some 400 years with seams, some 30 feet thick, sweeping under the town. The earliest date for surface mining was 1507, but by the mid 19th century the Golden Valley pit operated at a depth of 620 feet. The last pit closed in 1882.

Nailsea has benefited over the years from its broad industrial base, with companies such as Vetco Gray (formally ABB Offshore Systems) and Brabantia committed to the town. Vetco Gray has expanded tenfold over the last decade.

As well as this, Tesco has developed an area of 2.2 hectares providing a supermarket totalling 20,063 square feet, which employs over 100 people.

The town also has a modern comprehensive school, which at the beginning of 2007 provided education for 1,365 pupils including a sixth form college. The school has recorded better results at GCSE level than the UK average