Whitchurch is a village in north

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England and an adjoining suburb of southern

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 ...

, bounded by Hartcliffe to the west and Hengrove and Knowle to the north. The suburb was initially developed during the 1930s. The A37 road, which passes through Whitchurch, links Bristol with Dorchester. Within Bristol the A37 is known as Wells Road. It was one of the first dual carriageways to be built in Bristol.

History

The name means "the white church", and was first recorded in 1230. (Another source dated about 1500 may be a copy of a record dated to 1065). The village in its present location dates from about the 12th century, when the centre of population of an older village named Filton, Filwood or Felton, west of the present village, moved to the present site. The parish was still sometimes known as Felton as late as the 19th century. The parish of Whitchurch was part of the Keynsham

Hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

in Somerset. The parish became a civil parish in 1866. The northern parts of the civil parish were transferred to Bristol in the 1930s and 1951. From then Whitchurch was divided between a suburb of Bristol and a village outside the city in Somerset.

The suburb of Bristol

The suburb now lies in the council wards of Whitchurch Park and Hengrove. The suburb is one of only two parts of Bristol not to use the 0117 dialling code. Along with Stockwood, Whitchurch numbers use the 01275 of north Somerset instead. Facilities close by include the Hengrove Leisure Park which includes a

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Cinema, various restaurants/food retailers (Frankie & Benny's, McDonald's, KFC), a

Gala Bingo Gala Bingo is an online bingo and casino offering under the ownership of Entain. Gala Bingo was created in 1991 as a division of Bass plc. It later became an independent company, and then became the Gala Coral Group after acquiring Coral Eur ...

hall and a popular activities park including skateboard and climbing frame type facilities. Adjacent to the leisure park is Hawkfield Business Park, which is a significant source of commerce and employment for the suburb. The suburb is home to the Whitchurch Sports Centre, and used to be an occasional venue for pro-

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

bouts. It has a dilapidated Whitchurch athletics stadium. The sports centre is also earmarked for demolition, once the new sports centre and olympic sized swimming pool are finished as part of the expanded Hengrove Leisure Park redevelopment. In October 2006, Whitchurch Sports Centre was taken over by Action Sport UK, a South African company. Some of Whitchurch Sports Centre's activities are now based at Withywood Sports Centre and Ashton Park School Sports Centre. The suburb is also home to rugby union club Bristol Barbarians who reside in Norton lane. The club currently play in Somerset 1 and are coached by Steve Penfold. Whitchurch is also the birthplace of famous snooker player and world champion

Judd Trump Judd Trump (born 20 August 1989) is an English professional snooker player, a former world champion and former world number one. Widely regarded as one of the sport's most talented players, he is currently sixth on the list of all-time ranki ...

. On 2 August 2005 the beginnings of a

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

(a funnel) floated in the skies above South Bristol. As it did not touch it cannot be classed as a tornado but nevertheless it provided an unusual yet impressive sight for the residents of Whitchurch and surrounding parts of Bristol, such as Stockwood.

The village

The village of Whitchurch is a

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 ...

in the

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

of Bath and Northeast Somerset. In the 2001 census the civil parish had a population of 1,354. Between 1925 and 1959 the village was served by Whitchurch Halt, a station on the Bristol and North Somerset Railway.

Church

The

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

includes both the civil parish in Somerset and the suburb in Bristol. The parish church is in the village in Somerset, and is dedicated to St Nicholas. St. Augustine's Church on Whitchurch Lane was opened in 1972 but closed in 2007.

Airport

Whitchurch Airport was located on the land which is now home to the Hengrove Leisure Park. The airport was used before World War II by internal UK scheduled flights. During the war it was the base for various types of military aircraft (which flew from there on various missions) and civilian aircraft (which were moved there to avoid their destruction at more vulnerable airports such as Croydon). Whitchurch Airport and

Liverpool Airport Liverpool John Lennon Airport is an international airport in Liverpool, England, on the estuary of the River Mersey south-east of Liverpool city centre. Scheduled domestic, European, North African and Middle Eastern services are operated f ...

were the only civil airports in England to remain in use during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passengers ...

(later BOAC) flew to Lisbon in neutral

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

: at one time in 1941 there were 1200 people waiting for a flight to Lisbon.Bristol Record Office accession 44394: Doris Ogilvie diary There were also a large number of espionage flights to France and elsewhere in occupied Europe. When the war finished, Bristol needed a larger airport. Farm land in Lulsgate was purchased and Lulsgate Airport (later to be Bristol Airport) was opened. For a short time from 1959, the old airport was used as a motor racing circuit Whitchurch Circuit for

Formula Two Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009– 2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name ...

and

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races. The airport is also the home of st bernadettes rugby club currently playing in Somerset prem. Current club captain also plays international rugby for Jordan.

References

External links

* Map of Whitchurch circa 1900
west
{{Areas of Bristol Areas of Bristol Civil parishes in Somerset Villages in Bath and North East Somerset