Falfield

Coordinates: 51°38′13″N 2°27′32″W / 51.637°N 2.459°W / 51.637; -2.459
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Falfield
Avon and Somerset
FireAvon
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Gloucestershire
51°38′13″N 2°27′32″W / 51.637°N 2.459°W / 51.637; -2.459

Falfield is a village, located near the northern border of the

Stroud district
of Gloucestershire. Falfield is one of the longest villages in England, alongside local village Cromhall.[citation needed]

There are approximately 200 houses in the village with a population of some 500, increasing to 762 at the

2011 census
.

The nearest town to the village is

Thornbury approximately 4 miles to the southwest. The nearest major cities are Bristol 16 miles to the south and Gloucester
18 miles to the north, and is often referred to as the midpoint between the two.

Falfield is clustered mainly along the A38 road. It is also the first stop from Junction 14 of the M5. The shape of the parish is long in its length and narrow in its width. Both the A38 and M5 run through the village from north to south. It has a large garden centre, and two prisons (Eastwood Park and Leyhill) nearby. The village also includes St George's Church, The Huntsman Inn, a village hall, a small shop, a car dealership and several farms as well as 1st Falfield Scout Association who celebrated their 40th anniversary in 2013 and 1st Falfield & Stone Brownies part of Girlguiding who celebrated their 20th anniversary in 2016.[citation needed]

Falfield St George's Church is famous for being the burial place of Conservative politician Sir George Jenkinson, who died in 1892.[citation needed]

Politically, Falfield comes under the constituency of Thornbury & Yate, which is currently a Conservative Party seat held by Luke Hall.[citation needed]

Sport

Falfield was once home to successful

Bristol R.F.C.[citation needed
]

Falfield Church, near the A38

History

A

Chapel of Ease, which was recorded as being dilapidated during the 18th century. In 1860 the present St George's Church was built a short distance from where the Chapel of Ease stood. The organist Charles Harford Lloyd
served in the village in his youth. Registers containing marriages, baptisms and burials at Falfield Parish Church are in existence from 1860. Prior to this date they are included under Thornbury Parish records.

Anciently a settlement called "Mars" was associated with Falfield. However it has not been determined where this settlement existed, despite research.

A large part of the village is Eastwood Park, anciently a deer park belonging to Thornbury Castle in the 16th century. Later names associated with owners of Eastwood were Tyndale, Ashfield, Rogers, Jenkinson and Watts. More recently it came into the ownership of the Ministry of Defence followed by the Department of Health and is now run as a Conference and Training Centre.

Other older constructions in the village are: Green Farm whose origins are

Elizabethan building with ball finials. In what is known as Mill Lane is a mill
which has been on the present site for four or five hundred years, probably longer.

A women's prison, HM Prison Eastwood Park, is located in the Falfield area.

The village appears to lack a manor house, possibly Heneage Court could have been such, but little of its history is known. Cannonballs found in the roof suggest its existence in the 16th century. Names connected with Heneage Court are: Skey, Hale, Montague Williams and Russell Thomas. Edward Warren laid out the gardens, pleasure grounds and woodland for Russell Thomas in 1913.

References

  1. ^ "Parish population 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2015". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015.

External links