Charlton was the name of a small village or large hamlet in
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
, England with a Bethel Chapel and Sunday School. It was demolished in the late 1940s. Its site is (in 2020) occupied by part of the derelict runway and safety margins of the former
Bristol Filton Airport. The village was located between
Filton and what is today the
Cribbs Causeway out-of-town commercial and retail area immediately north of
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
. To the north of the village lay fields and
Over Court Deer Park. which is today Bristol Golf Club.
History
Charlton was a
tything
A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or s ...
in the ancient parish, and later
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
, of
Henbury
Henbury is a suburb of Bristol, England, approximately north west of the city centre. It was formerly a village in Gloucestershire and is now bordered by Westbury-on-Trym to the south; Brentry to the east and the Blaise Castle Estate, Blaise Ha ...
which still ecclesiastically covers more than . In 1870 Charlton had a population of 425, living in 88 houses. From 1910 to 1915 the place was served by
Charlton Halt, on the
Henbury Loop
The Henbury Loop Line, also known as the Filton to Avonmouth Line, is a railway line following the boundary between Bristol and South Gloucestershire between the Severn Beach Line at Hallen Marsh Junction, Avonmouth and the Cross Country Rout ...
railway just south of the village. In 1935 the civil parish of Henbury was abolished, and Charlton was transferred to the civil parish of
Almondsbury.
The
B4057 road ran through the village. Charlton had farm houses, a public house called the
Carpenters Arms
Carpenters Arms is a common British pub name.
The Carpenters Arms are today an unrelated series of public houses informally referred to as "Pubs" within the United Kingdom. Historically the first such named "Carpenter Arms" was based on a forfeit ...
, a post office, large houses and a few cottages.
In the late 1940s most of the village was demolished to make way for an extension of the main runway at
Filton Airfield
Filton Airport or Filton Aerodrome was a private airport in Filton and Patchway, within South Gloucestershire, north of Bristol, England.
Description
The airfield was bounded by the A38 road to the east, and the former London to Avonmouth ...
to accommodate the take-off and landing requirements of the
Bristol Brabazon
The Bristol Type 167 Brabazon was a large British piston-engined propeller-driven airliner designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company to fly transatlantic routes between the UK and the United States. The type was named ''Brabazon'' after th ...
propeller-driven airliner. Through
compulsory purchase
Compulsion may refer to:
* Compulsive behavior, a psychological condition in which a person does a behavior compulsively, having an overwhelming feeling that they must do so.
* Obsessive–compulsive disorder, a mental disorder characterized by i ...
, the government offered residents a market price for their homes and offered rehousing in council housing in
Patchway, which many took up to retain community links.
Subsequent use of the site
Filton Airfield, later
Bristol Filton Airport, operated until the end of 2012. Although the Brabazon project was cancelled in 1953, the extended runway allowed Britannia production at Filton,
Vulcan
Vulcan may refer to:
Mythology
* Vulcan (mythology), the god of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, and the forge in Roman mythology
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* Vulcan (''Star Trek''), name of a fictional race and their home p ...
V bomber
The "V bombers" were the Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft during the 1950s and 1960s that comprised the United Kingdom's strategic nuclear strike force known officially as the V force or Bomber Command Main Force. The three models of strategic ...
s to be dispersed to Filton during the
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...
and
Concorde
The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC).
Studies started in 1954, and France an ...
supersonic airliners to take off after being assembled at Filton. It also enabled flight testing from the Bristol Siddeley and Rolls-Royce flight-test centres. It allowed major overhaul and conversion programmes to be done at Filton on
General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark and
Vickers VC10 aircraft.
A mixed use development, to be known as New Charlton, has been proposed between
Patchway and Cribbs Causeway, on the site of the runway extension over the village.
Survival of the name
The name survives in Charlton Common – a public recreation area, to the south of the original settlement – Charlton Road, which led from Passage Road,
Westbury on Trym, to the village, and Charlton Lane, which led from
Henbury
Henbury is a suburb of Bristol, England, approximately north west of the city centre. It was formerly a village in Gloucestershire and is now bordered by Westbury-on-Trym to the south; Brentry to the east and the Blaise Castle Estate, Blaise Ha ...
and
Brentry
Brentry is a suburb of north Bristol, England, between Henbury and Southmead which is spread along the southern edge of the Filton to Avonmouth railway line.
Description
The boundaries of Brentry are not well defined. The settlement grew around ...
.
In the 1970s the name was resurrected for the new development of Charlton Mead, on the south side of Filton Airfield near
Southmead
Southmead is a northern suburb and council ward of Bristol, in the south west of England, bordered by Filton in South Gloucestershire and Monks Park, Horfield, Henleaze and Westbury on Trym.
The River Trym rises in Southmead and flows south we ...
, and in 2009 it was used again for the new development of
Charlton Hayes, on the north side of Filton Airfield at
Patchway.
See also
*
Heathrow (hamlet)
Heathrow or Heath Row was a wayside hamlet along a minor country lane called Heathrow Road in the ancient parish of Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, on the outskirts of what is now Greater London. Its buildings and all associated holdings wer ...
, a less populous hamlet demolished similarly
References
External links
*
Google Earth view of Bristol Filton Airport and the site of CharltonCloser Google Earth view of the site of Charlton(north of "Charlton Common")
{{South Gloucestershire
Villages in South Gloucestershire District
Former populated places in Gloucestershire
Settlements demolished to make room for airports
Forcibly depopulated communities in the United Kingdom