Westerleigh
Encyclopedia
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...
near the edge of the Cotswold hills
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds are a range of hills in west-central England, sometimes called the Heart of England, an area across and long. The area has been designated as the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
. The village is located between Yate
Yate
Yate is a town in South Gloucestershire, England, at the southwest extremity of the Cotswold Hills, 12 miles northeast of the city of Bristol. At the 2001 census the population was 21,789. The town of Chipping Sodbury is continuous with Yate to the east...
and 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...
, nearby villages include Nibley, Wapley
Wapley
Wapley is a rural village in South Gloucestershire, England....
, Iron Acton
Iron Acton
Iron Acton is a village and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England. The village is about west of Yate and about northeast of the centre of Bristol. The B4058 road used to pass through the village but now by-passes it just to the north....
, Coalpit Heath
Coalpit Heath
Coalpit Heath is a small village in the parish of Westerleigh, South Gloucestershire, England, south of Yate and east of Frampton Cotterell in South Gloucestershire.-Background:...
and Codrington
Codrington
Codrington is a town located on the island of Barbuda, which is part of the country of Antigua and Barbuda.Codrington was founded by the family of Christopher Codrington and John Codrington in 1685, to be the main residential centre on the island...
.
Background
The village is first mentioned in a SaxonAnglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
document of 887AD. At that time it was probably just a clearing in the woods with possibly a wooden church. Westerleigh is mentioned in the Domesday Book
Domesday 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.
In medieval times the village would probably have been a green with the houses and church around it, and prosperous. The northern wall and porch of St James church is from the 13th century, as is the carved stone pulpit
Pulpit
Pulpit is a speakers' stand in a church. In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left is called the pulpit...
. The church was rebuilt in the perpendicular
Perpendicular
In geometry, two lines or planes are considered perpendicular to each other if they form congruent adjacent angles . The term may be used as a noun or adjective...
style, with the tower (once used as the village lock up) added at a later date. The 700th anniversary was celebrated in 2004.
By 1600 the village supported a shoemaker, a blacksmith , a sawyer, a flour mill, a malt house and two public houses. In 1617, John Crandall was baptised to James and Eleanor Crandall at St. James the Great church, and became one of the founders of Westerly, Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
, USA.
The discovery of coal in 1660 provided employment for the villagers, with further finds at Coalpit Heath
Coalpit Heath
Coalpit Heath is a small village in the parish of Westerleigh, South Gloucestershire, England, south of Yate and east of Frampton Cotterell in South Gloucestershire.-Background:...
and Parkfield providing more employment. The mines closed in the last century, when the coal was exhausted.
By 1876 occupations in the village included farmers, a bootmaker, shopkeepers, innkeepers, butchers, a plasterer, a blacksmith, a wheelwright
Wheelwright
A wheelwright is a person who builds or repairs wheels. The word is the combination of "wheel" and the archaic word "wright", which comes from the Old English word "wryhta", meaning a worker or maker...
, a market gardener and a carrier
Common carrier
A common carrier in common-law countries is a person or company that transports goods or people for any person or company and that is responsible for any possible loss of the goods during transport...
. At the end of the 19th century many of the old houses were demolished. At the beginning of the 20th century, the railway and mining provided most of the work. Now residents find work in nearby Yate
Yate
Yate is a town in South Gloucestershire, England, at the southwest extremity of the Cotswold Hills, 12 miles northeast of the city of Bristol. At the 2001 census the population was 21,789. The town of Chipping Sodbury is continuous with Yate to the east...
, Chipping Sodbury
Chipping Sodbury
Chipping Sodbury is a market town in the county of South Gloucestershire, south-west England, founded in the 12th century by William Crassus . The villages of Old Sodbury and Little Sodbury are nearby...
and 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...
, and in the village itself.
Amenities
The village has two public houses, the New Inn and Ye Olde Inn. Wot Not second-hand shop and two garages are the only shops in the village.Transport
In the late 18th century roads were built to DownendDownend, South Gloucestershire
Downend is a suburb of Bristol in South Gloucestershire, England. It is located to the North East of Bristol and bordered by the Bristol City suburb of Fishponds to its south west and the South Gloucestershire suburbs of Staple Hill to the south, Frenchay to the west and Mangotsfield to the East...
. The Great Western
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...
and Midland railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
s were constructed in the 19th century. Westerleigh Junction
Westerleigh Junction
Westerleigh Junction is a railway junction in Gloucestershire, England, where the Cross Country Route from to Bristol meets the South Wales Main Line from London to , near the village of Westerleigh....
was a crossing point of east-west and north-south main lines. In particular it is considered to be the present end of the line from milepost zero at Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
. Westerleigh formerly had a goods depot on the Bristol and Gloucester Railway
Bristol and Gloucester Railway
The Bristol and Gloucester Railway opened in 1844 between Bristol and Gloucester, meeting the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway. It is now part of the main line from the North-East of England through Derby and Birmingham to the South-West.-History:...
. Demolished in the 1960s as part of the Beeching Axe
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
cuts, the site is now the home of one of Murco Petroleum Ltd
Murco Petroleum Ltd
Murco Petroleum Ltd is a UK-based oil company, with headquarters in St. Albans, Hertfordshire. It refines oil and also has a network of petrol stations. It was founded in 1960 and is a subsidiary of the USA-based Murphy Oil Corporation. The company owns a chain of Costcutter convenience stores...
's oil storage terminals.