Charfield

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Map sources for Charfield at grid reference ST7292

Charfield is a village in South Gloucestershire, England lying near the Little Avon River and south-west of the town of Wotton-under-Edge.

It is a medium sized village of about 2500 residents (2001 census) with three pubs (Pear Tree, Railway Tavern and The Plough Inn), a few shops such as a hair dressers and a local store/newsagents called Steves Shop, two churches, a garage (not open Sundays) and a large Land Rover dealership (on the site of the former railway station). Near the north end of the town is the South Gloucestershire border with Gloucestershire, and the principal local employer, Renishaw.

The Bristol-Birmingham main railway line runs through the village (part of the so-called "Cross Country Route (MR)"). Charfield railway station is currently disused, although discussions continue about the viability of re-opening it. The costs of re-opening would be shared between Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire Councils since, although the station would be in South Gloucestershire, the nearby town of Wotton-under-Edge would be a principal beneficiary.

The railway line also marks the division of the village between two totally different telephone areas (01453-54x based on Wotton-under-Edge, and 01454-26x based on Falfield). The village is on the outer limits of both areas and so was only recently able to get broadband.

Charfield railway disaster was a fatal train crash which occurred on 13 October 1928. The Leeds to Bristol LMS night mail train crashed under a road bridge near Charfield railway station after colliding with a shunting freight train. Gas used to light the carriages ignited, and four carriages were burnt out. Intense fire made identification of the dead, and even a complete body count, difficult. It is believed that 15 people died, including two victims whose identity was never established. According to local accounts, from 1929 and for some 20 years, an unknown woman dressed in black used to regularly visit the memorial to the crash.