| St Philip's Marsh | |
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St Philip's Marsh
St Philip's Marsh shown within Bristol |
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| Unitary authority | Bristol |
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| Ceremonial county | Bristol |
| Region | South West |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BRISTOL |
| Postcode district | BS |
| Dialling code | 0117 |
| Police | Avon and Somerset |
| Fire | Avon |
| Ambulance | Great Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| List of places: UK • England • Bristol | |
St Philip's Marsh is an industrial inner suburb of Bristol, England. It is bounded by River Avon and Harbour feeder canal making it an almost island area, unlike the other two areas surrounded by water, it was historically part of Gloucestershire. The site is home of Avonmeads Retail Park, a large retail and leisure park with Showcase Cinemas and a Hollywood Bowl ten-pin bowling centre among its tenants. It was extensively redeveloped in the 15 years to 2007. A bypass runs over the River Avon creating a major transport link from the A4 road in south east Bristol, to junction 3 of the M32 motorway near the city centre. In past years St Philip's marsh was a housing development for the workers of Bristol's market area (now known as Old Market). One of St Philip's' more influential residents during the early 1900s was George Townsend, a major property developer of the South Bristol area. His family home situated in the St Anne's area of Bristol is still standing today and a reminder of Bristol's history. Today there is very little housing in the area making it almost deserted at night, and other than the retail area it does contain one shop, pub, takeaway and Sparke Evans Park.
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Sparke Evans Park is situated on the riverside not far from the retail park. The land was donated by P.F. Sparke Evans and Jonathan Evans, local tannery owners, in 1902. It is a survivor from a time when the Marsh was a residential area. Since the area has become almost totally industrial it now gets very little use, what use it does get is by workers on breaks there and from the residents of Arno's Vale as there is a bridge linking the two areas. A shelter dating from 1925 is still extant on the far west of the park featuring wrought-iron pillars, with ornate and decorative brackets.[1][2]
St Philip's Marsh is located close to Bristol Temple Meads railway station, on the Great Western Main Line. St Philip's Marsh (Bristol) Traction and Rolling Stock Maintenance Depot or St Philip's Marsh T&RSMD is a traction and rolling stock maintenance depot located here.
St Philip's Marsh T&RSMD is owned by Network Rail and leased to major local operator First Great Western and is used entirely for the maintenance of First Great Western InterCity 125 trains operating between London, Bristol and South Wales. Both Class 43 power cars and Mark 3 coaching stock are serviced here.
Following the merger of the old First Great Western (FGW) and Wessex Trains operations into one new franchise, now entirely called First Great Western, a decision has been made to use an extended St Philip's Marsh depot to maintain FGW's fleet of diesel multiple units, previously maintained at Cardiff Canton TMD by Arriva Trains Wales on behalf of FGW.
This move will remove the need for trains to travel through the congested Severn Tunnel to reach the depot in south Wales from their operating area in the south west of England. This will free up capacity through the tunnel, but will ultimately lead to job losses at Canton due to the decreased workload.
The official depot code for St Philip's Marsh T&RSMD is PM.
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