Greenbank is a small informal district in the city 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 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

nestling between Easton to the west, Eastville to the north-east, Clay Bottom and Rose Green to the east, and

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main ...

to the south. The area is mainly one of 1890s terraced housing with some present millennium housing on the north eastern edge of the cemetery. Nearly all of the housing is in the north-east of Easton

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

, though the road Greenbank View and the cemetery are in Eastville electoral ward.

Bristol & Bath Railway Path

The

Bristol & Bath Railway Path The Bristol and Bath Railway Path is a off-road cycleway, part of National Cycle Network National Cycle Route 4. It has a wide tarmacked surface, and was used for 2.4 million trips in 2007, increasing by 10% per year. It was built by the cyc ...

forms the north eastern boundary of Greenbank and provides a traffic free route not only the two miles into Bristol but also 13 miles to

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

along one of the most scenic non-traffic cycle routes in the country. The Path is seen as being a valuable public asset by the people of Greenbank and other adjoining areas, with a 2008 campaign to stop it being used as a bus route garnering much local support. The Path also provides a valuable green haven in the form of a linear park in what is a very densely populated part of Bristol.

Schools

The area is well served with primary schools with

and May Park both being contiguous to Greenbank proper. The City Academy Bristol is within a few hundred meters down the Railway Path towards

Lawrence Hill Lawrence Hill (born January 24, 1957) is a Canadian novelist, essayist, and memoirist. He is known for his 2007 novel '' The Book of Negroes,'' inspired by the Black Loyalists given freedom and resettled in Nova Scotia by the British after the A ...

and Bristol Metropolitan College is only a mile toward

Fishponds Fishponds is a large suburb in the north-east of the English city of Bristol, about from the city centre. It has two large Victorian-era parks: Eastville Park and Vassall's Park (once the Vassall Family estate, also known as Oldbury Court). T ...

Greenbank Cemetery

In the far eastern corner of the cemetery are the memorials to the civilian dead of the

Bristol Blitz The Bristol Blitz was the heavy bombing of Bristol, England by the Nazi German ''Luftwaffe'' during the Second World War. Due to the presence of Bristol Harbour and the Bristol Aeroplane Company, the city was a target for bombing and was easi ...

of 1941. The area is very moving with some graves containing the remains of three generations of Bristolians. Nearby lies a separate military cemetery with graves from British and Commonwealth servicemen as well as the graves of German Luftwaffe crew killed during the Bristol Blitz as well as Italian Mariners killed in action.

Buildings

There are a few distinctive buildings within the area: * The Elizabeth Shaw chocolate factory (famous for its 'Famous Names' and 'Chocolate Crisp' brands) * Chapel in Greenbank Cemetery * Greenbank Masjid, occupying a church building formerly used by the Castle Green United Reformed Church. Informally known as the "Lego Church", it was designed by Sir Frank Wills and built in 1902.

Development of Greenbank Chocolate Factory

The factory ceased chocolate production in 2006 since when various attempts have been made to secure planning permission and develop the site. In 2013 the factory passed into the hands of the Generator Group. The local community has always been actively interested in any proposals, and began to object in force when they discovered that a plan had been submitted to Bristol City Council on Christmas Eve 2014.

Gallery

File:Elizabeth Shaw Chocolate Factory.jpg, Elizabeth Shaw chocolate factory File:Greenbank Cemetery, Greenbank Road entrance.jpg, Greenbank Road entrance of Greenbank Cemetery File:2011-08-12 Baloon over Greenbank.jpg, Balloon over Co-operation Road, Greenbank

References

External links

St. Anne's Church, GreenbankA Short History of the Greenbank Chocolate Factory
John Penny (archived 2016)
Chocbox2.0 - information compiled by local people about the Chocolate Factory and its futureAerial Shot of Greenbank, c. 1930
Map Your Bristol {{Districts of Bristol Areas of Bristol