Patchway
Encyclopedia
Patchway is a town in South Gloucestershire
, England
, situated 10 km (6.2 mi) northwest of central Bristol
. The town is a housing overflow for Bristol being contiguous to Bristol's urban area, and is often regarded as a large outer suburb. Nearby are the other Bristol satellite towns of Filton
and Bradley Stoke
. Patchway is twinned
with Clermont l'Herault, France
, and Gauting
, Germany
. It was established as a civil parish in 1953, becoming separate from the parish of nearby Almondsbury
.
, BAE Systems
and Airbus UK
are major aerospace
employers. The town comprises three areas: Patchway Estate, Stoke Lodge
and Aztec West
.
Housing in Patchway Estate lies southwest of the main London-South Wales railway line. Coniston Road circles the estate, where many of the streets are named after birds and trees. Patchway Trading Estate is adjacent to the dual carriageway linking the A38 and M5. The mall
and two retail parks at Cribbs Causeway
, just north of Filton airfield, form the largest shopping centre in South West England
.
On the opposite side of the railway track is the Stoke Lodge housing estate. The A38
trunk road, upgraded to a dual carriageway in the mid-1970s, separates the two housing estates.
Aztec West, an office and warehouse park, is situated on the northern fringes of the town, sandwiched between Patchway Estate and Stoke Lodge. The CEGB
Pension Fund started the park in the early 1980s and it is now owned by Arlington. New phases of this development are being built.
A major four-level motorway interchange (M4
/M5
) is close to Aztec West. Called the Almondsbury Interchange
, it was completed in the early 1970s.
Patchway Greenway is a semi-rural footpath which leads from Patchway Common eastwards to Bradley Stoke. On the north-west fringe of Patchway Estate, a footbridge (known locally as the Banana Bridge) passes over the M5 motorway,and leads to a footpath that passes down over the steep Severn Escarpment into the village of Over.
Patchway railway station
is on the mainline South Wales-London railway line.
line from Bristol to South Wales. Patchway Tunnel was nearby.
Industrialization started when a flying school at Filton Aerodrome was converted into an aeroengine factory, when the Bristol Aeroplane Company
(BAC) acquired Cosmos Engineering
in 1920.
During the 1930s, new housing was built on Patchway Estate, just north of Filton Aerodrome
, and bungalows were built on Stoke Lane.
BAC started the development of East Works on Gypsy Patch Lane during the re-armament programme of the 1930s. Engine component testing facilities were built alongside the main railway line during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.
A dual carriageway, known as the Filton Bypass, was constructed through Patchway Estate in the late 1930s, to divert A38 road traffic away from Filton. During World War 2, the US Army had a tented encampment along the wide verges of the bypass. In the late 1940s the bypass was severed by the extension of the main runway at Filton aerodrome to accommodate the Bristol Brabazon
airliner. This project also required the demolition of the nearby hamlet of Charlton
, many of whose residents were rehoused on Patchway Estate.
In the 1950s and early 1960s a large bungalow estate was built at Stoke Lodge, adjacent to Patchway Common. A huge overspill estate
was built at the back of Patchway Estate in the mid-1960s.
Also in the mid-1960s, the New Filton Bypass (now part of the M5 motorway) was constructed, on the north-west fringe of Patchway Estate, along the upper edge of the Severn Escarpment. This road forms the boundary between the town of Patchway and the adjacent Green Belt
.
Rolls-Royce have built new production facilities on the Gypsy Patch test site, close to the A38 and have completely demolished the old East Works, for redevelopment. All the Rolls-Royce Bristol facilities are now north of Gypsy Patch Lane, the former West Works site on the airfield having been redeveloped by the Post Office in the late 1980s.
. Amenities include a fire station, library, doctor's clinic and schools. There is a Day Centre for the elderly and a children's play area. Sports facilities include cricket and football pitches and a sports hall.
Early in 2009, the post office located at Patchway roundabout closed. A plan to reopen a Post Office at the Parade shops on Coniston Road was developed but this was cancelled in September 2009, with the local council stating that plans were in hand to reopen at an undisclosed site. In June 2010 it was disclosed that the Spar convenience store on Rodway Road was developing the rear of the store (currently used for goods storage) to accommodate a Post Office facility. The Post Office facility finally opened on Friday May 6th 2011, following building work and installation of security features at the rear of the store.
The Britannia public house was demolished in March 2010. It was put on the market with a view to attracting buyers for £275,000 but, no buyers were found.
During mid-2010 the current library premises were vacated with a small library being set up in the nearby Callicroft House (Patchway Town Council office building). The library premises were demolished and this site was incorporated with that of the former Britannia PH to facilitate the building of a new three storey construction on behalf of the local NHS Trust - The Hub. The building will include various social health and well-being amenities for use by all ages. The Hub will also include a new library. The majority of the structure for the first two storeys had taken shape by Christmas 2010. By Autumn 2011 the structure of the building was complete and the building was being fitted out. External groundwork and paving was mostly complete by now as well.
Patchway has had a long connection with the Scout Movement, with the Headquarters being located in buildings of Worthing Road - behind the Town Council offices. In June 2011 the Scout Movement are celebrating their 70th Anniversary and will be holding special events to commemorate this.
At the end of August 2011, work began to revise the road layout on Highwood Lane, which will see all through traffic eliminated, the road being closed to normal traffic between Coniston Road and Durban Road, apart from access to the local centre at the Durban Road end. The south side of the then current dual-carriageway becoming part of the internal roadway network for the Charlton Hayes development and the north side being restricted to buses only.
. Construction started in late 2009 and includes a new bypass road from the A38 to the bottom of the Cribbs Causeway Mall. Approximately 6000 new homes will be in the final development.
The new link road - Hayes Way - opened just before Christmas 2010, just in time to assist in relieving Highwood Lane of some of the serious road traffic pressure which have previously been experienced on Highwood Lane. The road provides a direct link from The Mall (Cribbs Causeway) to the main A38 heading north out of Bristol towards the M5/M4 junction at Almondsbury and also grants users a chance to glimpse the Concorde
216 currently stored at the airfield.
South Gloucestershire
South Gloucestershire is a unitary district in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, in South West England.-History:The district was created in 1996, when the county of Avon was abolished, by the merger of former area of the districts of Kingswood and Northavon...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, situated 10 km (6.2 mi) northwest of central Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. The town is a housing overflow for Bristol being contiguous to Bristol's urban area, and is often regarded as a large outer suburb. Nearby are the other Bristol satellite towns of Filton
Filton
Filton is a town in South Gloucestershire, England, situated on the northern outskirts of the city of Bristol, about from the city centre. Filton lies in Bristol postcode areas BS7 and BS34. The town centres upon Filton Church, which dates back to the 12th century and is a grade II listed building...
and Bradley Stoke
Bradley Stoke
Bradley Stoke is a dormitory town/suburb in South Gloucestershire, England, situated on the north side of the city of Bristol. Named after the local Bradley Brook and Stoke Brook streams, the town was planned in the 1970s and building began in 1987...
. Patchway is twinned
Town twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with Clermont l'Herault, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and Gauting
Gauting
Gauting is a municipality in the district of Starnberg, in Bavaria, Germany with a population of approximately 20,000. It is situated on the river Würm, southwest of Munich and is a part of the Munich metropolitan area.- Geography :...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It was established as a civil parish in 1953, becoming separate from the parish of nearby Almondsbury
Almondsbury
Almondsbury is a large village near junction 16 of the M5 motorway, in South Gloucestershire, England.-Description:The village is split by a steep hill, part of the escarpment overlooking the Severn floodplain. At the bottom of the hill is Lower Almondsbury where a pub and hotel, The Bowl Inn, is...
.
Locations and businesses
Patchway lies just north of Filton Airfield, where Rolls-RoyceRolls-Royce plc
Rolls-Royce Group plc is a global power systems company headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s second-largest maker of aircraft engines , and also has major businesses in the marine propulsion and energy sectors. Through its defence-related activities...
, BAE Systems
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc is a British multinational defence, security and aerospace company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that has global interests, particularly in North America through its subsidiary BAE Systems Inc. BAE is among the world's largest military contractors; in 2009 it was the...
and Airbus UK
Airbus UK
Airbus UK is a wholly owned subsidiary of Airbus SAS which produces wings for the Airbus aircraft family. When Airbus was incorporated as a joint stock company in 2001 BAE transferred its UK Airbus facilities in return for a 20% share of the new company. These facilities became Airbus UK...
are major aerospace
Aerospace
Aerospace comprises the atmosphere of Earth and surrounding space. Typically the term is used to refer to the industry that researches, designs, manufactures, operates, and maintains vehicles moving through air and space...
employers. The town comprises three areas: Patchway Estate, Stoke Lodge
Stoke Lodge
Stoke Lodge is a suburb of Bristol, England, developed in the 50s and early 60s on farmland to the south of Patchway Common, South Gloucestershire and east of the A38 trunk road. Although the busy London to South Wales railway forms the south-western boundary of the estate, the sound of the trains...
and Aztec West
Aztec West
Aztec West is a business park in South Gloucestershire, England, situated at the northern fringes of Greater Bristol, near Bradley Stoke and Patchway. It is close to the M4 and M5 motorways and the Almondsbury Interchange. Adjacent is the A38 trunk road....
.
Housing in Patchway Estate lies southwest of the main London-South Wales railway line. Coniston Road circles the estate, where many of the streets are named after birds and trees. Patchway Trading Estate is adjacent to the dual carriageway linking the A38 and M5. The mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
and two retail parks at Cribbs Causeway
Cribbs Causeway
Cribbs Causeway is a road in South Gloucestershire, England, just north of Bristol, which has given its name to a large out-of-town shopping centre, including retail parks and an enclosed shopping centre known as The Mall...
, just north of Filton airfield, form the largest shopping centre in South West England
South West England
South West England is one of the regions of England defined by the Government of the United Kingdom for statistical and other purposes. It is the largest such region in area, covering and comprising Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. ...
.
On the opposite side of the railway track is the Stoke Lodge housing estate. The A38
A38 road
The A38, part of which is also known as the Devon Expressway, is a major A-class trunk road in England.The road runs from Bodmin in Cornwall to Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. It is long, making it one of the longest A-roads in England. It was formerly known as the Leeds — Exeter Trunk Road,...
trunk road, upgraded to a dual carriageway in the mid-1970s, separates the two housing estates.
Aztec West, an office and warehouse park, is situated on the northern fringes of the town, sandwiched between Patchway Estate and Stoke Lodge. The CEGB
CEGB
The Central Electricity Generating Board was the cornerstone of the British electricity industry for almost 40 years; from 1957, to privatisation in the 1990s....
Pension Fund started the park in the early 1980s and it is now owned by Arlington. New phases of this development are being built.
A major four-level motorway interchange (M4
M4 motorway
The M4 motorway links London with South Wales. It is part of the unsigned European route E30. Other major places directly accessible from M4 junctions are Reading, Swindon, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea...
/M5
M5 motorway
The M5 is a motorway in England. It runs from a junction with the M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Bromwich and west of Birmingham through Sandwell Valley...
) is close to Aztec West. Called the Almondsbury Interchange
Almondsbury Interchange
The Almondsbury Interchange in South Gloucestershire, is one of the United Kingdom's largest motorway stack interchanges. The interchange is one of only three four-level stacks in the UK, spanning a range of 0.5 km by 0.5 km...
, it was completed in the early 1970s.
Patchway Greenway is a semi-rural footpath which leads from Patchway Common eastwards to Bradley Stoke. On the north-west fringe of Patchway Estate, a footbridge (known locally as the Banana Bridge) passes over the M5 motorway,and leads to a footpath that passes down over the steep Severn Escarpment into the village of Over.
Patchway railway station
Patchway railway station
Patchway railway station is a minor railway station located at street level of Station Road in Little Stoke village near the town of Patchway, South Gloucestershire, England...
is on the mainline South Wales-London railway line.
Recent history
At the start of the 20th Century, Patchway was a small village centered on Patchway Green, now known as Patchway Common. Part of the village straddled Gloucester Road, south of the bridge which passed over the Great Western RailwayGreat Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
line from Bristol to South Wales. Patchway Tunnel was nearby.
Industrialization started when a flying school at Filton Aerodrome was converted into an aeroengine factory, when the Bristol Aeroplane Company
Bristol Aeroplane Company
The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aero engines...
(BAC) acquired Cosmos Engineering
Cosmos Engineering
Cosmos Engineering was a company that manufactured aero-engines in a factory in Fishponds, Bristol during World War I. Sir Roy Fedden, the company's principal designer, developed the 14-cylinder radial Mercury engine during this period...
in 1920.
During the 1930s, new housing was built on Patchway Estate, just north of Filton Aerodrome
Filton Aerodrome
Bristol Filton Airport or Filton Aerodrome lies on the border between Filton and Patchway, within South Gloucestershire, north of Bristol, England. The airfield is bounded by the A38 trunk road to the east, the former London to Avonmouth railway line to the south and the Old Filton Bypass road to...
, and bungalows were built on Stoke Lane.
BAC started the development of East Works on Gypsy Patch Lane during the re-armament programme of the 1930s. Engine component testing facilities were built alongside the main railway line during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.
A dual carriageway, known as the Filton Bypass, was constructed through Patchway Estate in the late 1930s, to divert A38 road traffic away from Filton. During World War 2, the US Army had a tented encampment along the wide verges of the bypass. In the late 1940s the bypass was severed by the extension of the main runway at Filton aerodrome to accommodate the Bristol Brabazon
Bristol Brabazon
The Bristol Type 167 Brabazon was a large propeller-driven airliner, designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company to fly transatlantic routes from the United Kingdom to the United States. The prototype was delivered in 1949, only to prove a commercial failure when airlines felt the airliner was too...
airliner. This project also required the demolition of the nearby hamlet of Charlton
Charlton, Bristol
Charlton was the name of a small village in Gloucestershire, England, demolished in the late 1940s. It was located between Filton and Cribbs Causeway immediately north of Bristol.-History:...
, many of whose residents were rehoused on Patchway Estate.
In the 1950s and early 1960s a large bungalow estate was built at Stoke Lodge, adjacent to Patchway Common. A huge overspill estate
Overspill estate
An overspill estate is a housing estate planned and built for the rehousing of people from decaying inner city areas usually as part of the process of slum clearance....
was built at the back of Patchway Estate in the mid-1960s.
Also in the mid-1960s, the New Filton Bypass (now part of the M5 motorway) was constructed, on the north-west fringe of Patchway Estate, along the upper edge of the Severn Escarpment. This road forms the boundary between the town of Patchway and the adjacent Green Belt
Green belt
A green belt or greenbelt is a policy and land use designation used in land use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighbouring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges which have a linear character and may run through an...
.
Rolls-Royce have built new production facilities on the Gypsy Patch test site, close to the A38 and have completely demolished the old East Works, for redevelopment. All the Rolls-Royce Bristol facilities are now north of Gypsy Patch Lane, the former West Works site on the airfield having been redeveloped by the Post Office in the late 1980s.
Modern Patchway
Patchway is one of the 44 Parish and Town Councils in South GloucestershireGloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
. Amenities include a fire station, library, doctor's clinic and schools. There is a Day Centre for the elderly and a children's play area. Sports facilities include cricket and football pitches and a sports hall.
Early in 2009, the post office located at Patchway roundabout closed. A plan to reopen a Post Office at the Parade shops on Coniston Road was developed but this was cancelled in September 2009, with the local council stating that plans were in hand to reopen at an undisclosed site. In June 2010 it was disclosed that the Spar convenience store on Rodway Road was developing the rear of the store (currently used for goods storage) to accommodate a Post Office facility. The Post Office facility finally opened on Friday May 6th 2011, following building work and installation of security features at the rear of the store.
The Britannia public house was demolished in March 2010. It was put on the market with a view to attracting buyers for £275,000 but, no buyers were found.
During mid-2010 the current library premises were vacated with a small library being set up in the nearby Callicroft House (Patchway Town Council office building). The library premises were demolished and this site was incorporated with that of the former Britannia PH to facilitate the building of a new three storey construction on behalf of the local NHS Trust - The Hub. The building will include various social health and well-being amenities for use by all ages. The Hub will also include a new library. The majority of the structure for the first two storeys had taken shape by Christmas 2010. By Autumn 2011 the structure of the building was complete and the building was being fitted out. External groundwork and paving was mostly complete by now as well.
Patchway has had a long connection with the Scout Movement, with the Headquarters being located in buildings of Worthing Road - behind the Town Council offices. In June 2011 the Scout Movement are celebrating their 70th Anniversary and will be holding special events to commemorate this.
At the end of August 2011, work began to revise the road layout on Highwood Lane, which will see all through traffic eliminated, the road being closed to normal traffic between Coniston Road and Durban Road, apart from access to the local centre at the Durban Road end. The south side of the then current dual-carriageway becoming part of the internal roadway network for the Charlton Hayes development and the north side being restricted to buses only.
Charlton Hayes
Charlton Hayes is a new extension to Patchway to the south, named after the demolished village of CharltonCharlton, Bristol
Charlton was the name of a small village in Gloucestershire, England, demolished in the late 1940s. It was located between Filton and Cribbs Causeway immediately north of Bristol.-History:...
. Construction started in late 2009 and includes a new bypass road from the A38 to the bottom of the Cribbs Causeway Mall. Approximately 6000 new homes will be in the final development.
The new link road - Hayes Way - opened just before Christmas 2010, just in time to assist in relieving Highwood Lane of some of the serious road traffic pressure which have previously been experienced on Highwood Lane. The road provides a direct link from The Mall (Cribbs Causeway) to the main A38 heading north out of Bristol towards the M5/M4 junction at Almondsbury and also grants users a chance to glimpse the Concorde
Concorde
Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport . It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation...
216 currently stored at the airfield.