Weston, Bath

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Weston is a suburb of Bath in England, located in the north west of the city. Originally a separate village, Weston has become part of Bath as the city has grown, first through the development of Lower Weston in Victorian times and then by the incorporation of the village itself – also called Upper Weston – into the city with the siting of much local authority housing there in the period after World War Two.

Weston is the birthplace of Saint Alphege. The village parish church is All Saints, originally founded no later than 1156. The current church dates from 1832 and was designed by the local architect John Pinch junior. The Lower Weston parish church is St John's, barely a mile from Bath's city centre. There is also a Moravian church sited at the bottom of Lansdown Road and the nearest Catholic church is St. Mary's on Julian Road.

Bath's main hospital, the Royal United Hospital, is on one of the roads from central Bath into Weston, and is generally considered to be in Weston. Strictly however, the hospital is in the neighbouring ward of Newbridge, which covers the Lower Weston area.

Weston has two primary schools, Weston All Saints C.E. V.C Primary School, and St Mary's Roman Catholic. Lower Weston is served by Newbridge School; an earlier primary school called Weston St John's closed when the primary departments at Newbridge expanded in the 1970s.

The Weston (Bath) railway station was at Lower Weston and closed in 1953, although the platform building and the stationmaster's house still exist. The station was on the Midland Railway line from Bath to Bristol and to the north, which itself closed in 1966.

Weston boasts some of the best transportation connections with the centre of Bath in the city. There are 4 bus services that go to Weston. Firstly the service 14, which runs at a frequency of 7-8 minutes during weekdays and is operated by First and also Faresaver. First use flat floor buses on this route, which is a necessity for this suburb, with its high numbers of young and old who depend on this bus service. Other services include the 20A/C and the 17 which run at half hour intervals.

Weston has a large amount of local amenities, including a recreation ground, and youth club [Centre 69] and large amount of shops and services including a bakery, butcher, supermarket, post office, pet shop, 2 takeaways and 2 newsagents. There is also a greengrocers and 3 hair salons.

[edit] Crime

Weston has a relatively low crime rate although there have been known to be some issues with local youths in the past. On any given day, a quick drive around the suburb will find youths who are seemingly absconding from school. As a result of disorderly youth behaviour, a CCTV camera was installed on the High Street during the latter half of 2006, although its effectiveness is yet to be measured.

Many suspicious looking youths who can be classified as chavs sit at bus stops late at night, as a short drive will find.