Charlton was the name of a small village or large hamlet in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a Counties of England, 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 ...

, 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 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 ...

. The village was located between

Filton Filton is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, north of Bristol. Along with nearby Patchway and Bradley Stoke, Filton forms part of the Bristol urban area and has become an overflow settlement for the city. Filton Church ...

and what is today the

Cribbs Causeway Cribbs Causeway is both a road in South Gloucestershire, England, running north of the city of Bristol, and the adjacent area which is notable for its out-of-town shopping and leisure facilities. The retail and leisure complex takes its name f ...

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 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 authorit ...

, 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 ...

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 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 Almondsbury () is a large village near junction 16 of the M5 motorway, in South Gloucestershire, England, and a civil parish which also includes the villages of Hortham, Gaunt's Earthcott, Over, Easter Compton, Compton Greenfield, Hallen a ...

. 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 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 the ...

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 Obsessive–compulsive disord ...

, 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

, operated until the end of 2012. Although the Brabazon project was cancelled in 1953, the extended runway allowed Britannia production at Filton, Vulcan

V bomber The "V bombers" were the Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft during the 1950s and 1960s that comprised the Nuclear weapons and the United Kingdom, United Kingdom's strategic nuclear strike force known officially as the V force or Bomber Command Mai ...

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 ...

and Concorde 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 The General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark is a retired supersonic, medium-range, multirole combat aircraft. Production variants of the F-111 had roles that included ground attack (e.g. interdiction), strategic bombing (including nuclear weapons cap ...

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

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 aro ...

. 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 ...

, and in 2009 it was used again for the new development of Charlton Hayes, on the north side of Filton Airfield at Patchway.

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

History

Subsequent use of the site

Survival of the name

See also

References

External links