Rowanfield is a

neighbourhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; American and British English spelling differences, see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community ...

in Cheltenham,

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 ...

. It consists primarily of a

social housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, d ...

estate of Wimpey no-fines houses and low-rise flats, built around 1953, with Rowanfield School and a

playing field Play is a range of intrinsically motivated activities done for recreational pleasure and enjoyment. Play is commonly associated with children and juvenile-level activities, but may be engaged in at any life stage, and among other higher-functio ...

to the West separating it from Hesters Way and also the older Rowanfield Road to the East. To the south-west Rowanfield borders the district of St Mark's. Rowanfield is located 1.5 miles west of the centre of Cheltenham.

History

Until the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

, the area between Brooklyn Road and Rowanfield Road was an

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of ...

primarily producing

cider apple Cider apples are a group of apple cultivars grown for their use in the production of cider (referred to as "hard cider" in the United States). Cider apples are distinguished from "cookers" and "eaters", or dessert apples, by their bitterness or ...

s. All the names of the avenues were named after the counties of England (except ''Cambridge Avenue'' and ''Bedford Avenue'', presumably since ''Cambridgeshire'' and ''Bedfordshire'' were considered too long). There is a grass square on Norfolk Avenue (at times known as ''Norfolk Square'' or the nickname of the "green") in the middle of the estate where the council put up swings and a roundabout. These were taken away sometime in the 1950s after complaints of misuse late at night. Cheltenham's King George the Fifth playing field is set to the west of the estate. The road layout has a geometric style typical of planned social housing.

Facilities

Rowanfield has a small collection of local shops known as Rowanfield Exchange, located near the northern end of Devon Avenue. It includes a

fish and chip shop A fish and chip shop, sometimes referred to as a chip shop, is a (often fast food) restaurant that specialises in selling fish and chips. Usually, fish and chip shops provide takeaway service, although some have seating facilities. Fish and c ...

newsagent A newsagent's shop or simply newsagent's or paper shop (British English), newsagency ( Australian English) or newsstand ( American and Canadian English) is a business that sells newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and often items of ...

Launderette A self-service laundry, coin laundry, laundromat, or coin wash is a facility where clothes are washed and dried without much personalized professional help. They are known in the United Kingdom as launderettes or laundrettes, and in the Uni ...

and

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795. Range of events Bookm ...

. The

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

opposite (at the time ''Cotterills Bar'', named after the manager of

Cheltenham Town Football Club Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league sy ...

and boldly decorated in the club's colours, previously ''The Golden Miller'') was demolished in 2004 and is now a foreign exchange shared house owned by Gloucestershire College

Political

Rowanfield falls within the Cheltenham parliamentary constituency and the local council ward of ''Rowanfield and St Marks''. Prior to

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...

in 2020, it was in the South West England European Parliament constituency.

Other information

Around half of the houses in Rowanfield are owner-occupied as of 2006; the remainder are owned by the

local authority Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

, Cheltenham Borough Council. Council-owned no-fines houses benefitted from the installation of clearly visible external insulation panelling and improved ventilation to address perceived disadvantages with the no-fines construction.

References

{{Coord, 51, 54, 10, N, 2, 6, 10, W, scale:10000, display=title Areas of Cheltenham Housing estates in Gloucestershire