Churchdown, Gloucestershire

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Churchdown is a village in Gloucestershire, England.

St Bartholemew's Church, on top of Churchdown Hill in Gloucestershire

The Village is unusual in having two centres. The old centre is near St Andrew's Church; the new centre is near St John's Church. Churchdown is quite large for a village, with a population of 11,261 (2001).

1 Location
- 1.1 Administrative
2 Transport & Travel
- 2.1 Rail
- 2.2 Air
3 Publications
4 Education
5 Churches
6 Historic Buildings
7 Other Information
8 References
9 External links

[edit] Location

It is in a semi-rural environment; so close to the city of Gloucester as to be treated by many as a suburb, but surrounded on three sides by open countryside. The local landmark is Churchdown Hill (also known as Chosen Hill), which rises above the Vale of Severn and has views over to the Cotswolds, Gloucester, Cheltenham, the Malverns and Wales. Churchdown borders RAF Innsworth to the North and the district of Innsworth to the North West.

[edit] Administrative

Churchdown is within the parliamentary constituency of Tewkesbury. At a local government level, Churchdown is represented as two wards - Churchdown Brookfield (the southern half of Churchdown also known locally as Churchdown Village) and Churchdown St John's (the northern half near St John's church). For European Parliament purposes, it lies within the South West Region.

[edit] Transport & Travel

Churchdown has long benefited from a convenient location along routes between larger settlements. The Gloucester and Cheltenham Tramroad brought prosperity to the northern (St John's) end of the village. This was succeeded by a road between Cheltenham and Gloucester along a similar route (called Cheltenham Road East as it traverses Churchdown). This road now provides access to Cheltenham and Gloucester, and also to the M5 via the Golden Valley Bypass section of the A40.

[edit] Rail

From 1874 until 1964 Churchdown was served by a railway station on the main line between Birmingham and Bristol. Little remains of the station itself next to what is now Station Close, but through traffic continues.

[edit] Air

Churchdown is adjacent to Gloucestershire Airport (still known locally as Staverton) and light aircraft are a regular feature in the skies above the village.

[edit] Publications

Residents enjoy the Churchdown Magazine, which is produced bimonthly and is delivered free of charge to 5100 households. It includes articles of local interest, advertisements and details of local events, and has been in print since 1974.

[edit] Education

Churchdown has six schools, including two high schools - Churchdown School and Chosen Hill School. There are also two junior schools called Churchdown Village and Parton Manor and two infants schools.

[edit] Churches

St Andrew's Church, in Churchdown Village in Gloucestershire

Churchdown has three Church of England Churches: St John's, St Andrew's and St Bartholemew's. There are also the Catholic Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour on Cheltenham Road East and Churchdown Methodist Church on Chapel Hay Lane. St Bartholemew's is on the top of Churchdown Hill, built upon the site of a pre-Christian, iron age settlement.

[edit] Historic Buildings

The Old School House building at The Green in Churchdown

In addition to its churches Churchdown has several interesting old structures including the Old School House on The Green, where the first village school was held, Ye Old House on Sandfield Road (thought to have been built in the 16th Century) and Dunstan Cottage in Chapel Hay Lane.

[edit] Other Information

The Village has two main rows of shops and two pubs - the Hare and Hounds near St John's, and the Bat and Ball near St Andrew's. There is also a Working Men's Club (Churchdown Social Club) located at the Community Centre where games of skittles sometimes take place.

Chosen Hill was made famous by composer Herbert Howells. His Piano Quartet is dedicated "to the hill at Chosen and Ivor Gurney who knows it".

In common with other large villages, some claim Churchdown is the Largest village in England.

[edit] References

"Churchdown Gloucester - Official Guide" 1 363642002X5 hardback, also paperback, 1975, "by order of the Parish Council", Forward Publicity Ltd, no author marked, copy held at Churchdown library