Patchway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Patchway is a town on the northern outskirts of Bristol, England. Nearby are the towns of Filton and Bradley Stoke. Patchway is twinned with Clermont l'Herault, France and Gauting, Germany. It was established as a civil parish in 1953, becoming separate from the parish of nearby Almondsbury.
Patchway lies just north of Filton Airfield, where Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems and Airbus UK are major aerospace employers. The town comprises three areas: Patchway Estate, Stoke Lodge and Aztec West.
Housing in Patchway Estate lies northwest of the main London-South Wales railway line. Coniston Road circles the estate, where many of the streets are named after birds and trees. Patchway Trading Estate is adjacent to the dual carriageway linking the A38 and M5. The mall and two retail parks at Cribbs Causeway, just north of Filton airfield, form the largest shopping centre in South West England.
On the opposite side of the railway track is the Stoke Lodge housing estate. The A38 trunk road, upgraded to a dual carriageway in the mid-1970s, separates the two housing estates.
Aztec West, an office and warehouse park, is situated on the northern fringes of the town, sandwiched between Patchway Estate and Stoke Lodge. Although the CEGB Pension Fund started the park in the early 1980s, it is now owned by Arlington. New phases of this development are still being built.
A major four-level motorway interchange (M4/M5) is close to Aztec West. Called the Almondsbury Interchange, it was completed in the early 1970s.
Patchway Greenway is a semi-rural footpath which leads from Patchway Common eastwards to Bradley Stoke. On the north-west fringe of Patchway Estate, a footpath passes over the M5 motorway, down over the Severn Escarpment and into the village of Over.
Patchway railway station is on the mainline South Wales-London railwayline.
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[edit] Recent history
At the start of the 20th Century, Patchway was a small village centered on Patchway Green, now known as Patchway Common. Part of the village straddled Gloucester Road, south of the bridge which passed over the Great Western Railway line from London to South Wales. Patchway Tunnel was nearby.
Industrialization started when a flying school at Filton Aerodrome was converted into an aeroengine factory, when the Bristol Aeroplane Company (BAC) acquired Cosmos Engineering in 1920.
During the 1930s, new housing was built on Patchway Estate, just north of Filton Aerodrome. Bungalows were also built on Stoke Lane.
BAC started the development of East Works on Gypsy Patch Lane during the re-armament programme of the 1930s. Engine component testing facilities were built alongside the main railway line during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.
A dual carriageway, known as the Filton Bypass, was constructed through Patchway Estate in the late 1930s, to divert A38 traffic away from Filton. However, during the late 1940s the bypass was severed by the extension of the main runway at Filton aerodrome to accommodate the giant Bristol Brabazon airliner. This project also caused the hamlet of Charlton to be demolished. Many of the former residents were rehoused on Patchway Estate.
In the 1950s and early 1960s a large bungalow estate was built at Stoke Lodge, adjacent to Patchway Common. A huge overspill estate was built at the back of Patchway Estate in the mid-1960s.
Also in the mid-1960s, the New Filton Bypass (now part of the M5 motorway) was constructed, on the north-west fringe of Patchway Estate, along the upper edge of the Severn Escarpment. This road forms the boundary between the town of Patchway and the adjacent Green Belt.
Work on the huge Bradley Stoke estate, now a separate town to the east of Patchway, started in the late 1980s. Large business parks to the south of the M4/M5 motorway complex were also started in this period.
Rolls-Royce are building new production facilities on the Gypsy Patch test site, close to the A38. The intention is to eventually sell the old East Works for redevelopment. All the Rolls-Royce Bristol facilities will then be north of Gypsy Patch Lane, the former West Works site on the airfield having been sold to the Post Office in the late 1980s.
[edit] Current Patchway
Patchway is one of the 44 Parish and Town Councils in South Gloucestershire. Amenities include a fire station, library, doctor's clinic and schools. There is a Day Centre for the elderly and a children's play area. Sports facilities include cricket and football pitches and a sports hall.
