Twerton
Encyclopedia
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, 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 to the west of the city, and home to the city's football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
club, Bath City
Bath City F.C.
Bath City Football Club are a semi-professional football club based in Bath, Somerset. They play in the Conference National league after gaining promotion from the Conference South via the play-offs in May 2010...
.
Twerton is serviced by bus route 5, operated by First buses in the Bath area and now also by Wessex Connect, operating under the name Royal Bath. Wessex Connect also operates the circular route 20A/C (the suffixes denoting anticlockwise and clockwise services respectively), a route previously operated by First.
Twerton high street houses pubs, a minimarket, Blockbuster, a bakery and two hairdressing salons.
The Whiteway
Whiteway, Bath
Whiteway is the name given to a housing estate contained within the Southdown and Twerton electoral wards of Bath, Somerset, England. The construction of the estate began shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. Whiteway falls within the parish of St Barnabas Church at Mount Road,...
housing estate is located in the south of the Twerton electoral ward.
History
The Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
of 1086 records that Twerton was held by Nigel de Gournay, who would have won his lands in Englishcombe
Englishcombe
Englishcombe is a village and civil parish in Bath and North East Somerset just outside Bath, England. The parish, which also includes the hamlets of Inglesbatch, Nailwell and Wilmington, has a population of 332.-History:...
, Twerton, Swainswick
Swainswick
Swainswick is a small village and civil parish, north east of Bath, on the A46 in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority, Somerset, England. The parish has a population of 284...
and Barrow Gurney
Barrow Gurney
Barrow Gurney is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated in the Unitary Authority of North Somerset on the B3130, midway between the A38 and A370 near the Long Ashton bypass and Bristol Airport, south west of Bristol city centre...
by fighting for William I of England
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
. His original home must have been Gournay, which was half-way between Dieppe
Dieppe, Seine-Maritime
Dieppe is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in France. In 1999, the population of the whole Dieppe urban area was 81,419.A port on the English Channel, famous for its scallops, and with a regular ferry service from the Gare Maritime to Newhaven in England, Dieppe also has a popular pebbled...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. The parish of Twerton was part of the Wellow
Wellow (hundred)
The Hundred of Wellow is one of the 40 historical Hundreds in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, dating from before the Norman conquest during the Anglo-Saxon era although exact dates are unknown. Each hundred had a 'fyrd', which acted as the local defence force and a court which was...
Hundred.
Thomas de Gournay was involved with the murder of Edward II
Edward II of England
Edward II , called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed by his wife Isabella in January 1327. He was the sixth Plantagenet king, in a line that began with the reign of Henry II...
at Berkeley Castle
Berkeley Castle
Berkeley Castle is a castle in the town of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, UK . The castle's origins date back to the 11th century and it has been designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building.The castle has remained within the Berkeley family since they reconstructed it in the...
in 1327.
At the time when Brunel was designing the Great Western Railway
Great 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...
, his plan was for the line from Bath to Bristol to go through the centre of Twerton. The landowner, named Wilkins, was so enthusiastic about the railway that he paid for the village to be demolished to make room, then rebuilt it next to the line. The railway station on the main line, called Twerton-on-Avon
Twerton-on-Avon railway station
Twerton on Avon railway station is a former railway station in Bath, Somerset.-Architecture and Opening:Twerton was named after village that it served though at the time it was also called Twiverton. The station was built in Gothic style variously called Tudor or Jacobethan...
, survived until 1917. Twerton was also the terminus of one line of the Bath tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
way system until that closed in 1939.
St Michael's church was enlarged in 1824 by local architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
John Pinch the elder and rebuilt in 1839 by the city architect George Phillips Manners
George Phillips Manners
George Phillips Manners was an English architect, City Architect and →to the city of Bath from 1823 to 1862.In his early career he worked with Charles Harcourt Masters and after about 1845 was in partnership with C.E. Gill...
.
Twerton Gaol was built by Manners in 1840 and closed in 1878. Only the governor's house survives, now converted into apartments.
The author Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones....
who wrote Tom Jones
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, often known simply as Tom Jones, is a comic novel by the English playwright and novelist Henry Fielding. First published on 28 February 1749, Tom Jones is among the earliest English prose works describable as a novel...
lived in Twerton and is believed to have written most of the novel while living there. His house was demolished for road improvements by Bath City Council in the 1960s.