Kingswood is a town and

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Kingswood, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke. The southern p ...

district of the ceremonial county of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, England. The town is situated east-northeast of

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

. Broadly speaking, Kingswood spans the area from John Cabot Academy in the west to the

A4174 The A4174 is a major ring road in England which runs around the northern and eastern edge of Bristol, mainly in South Gloucestershire, and through the southern suburbs of the city. When it was first conceived it was planned to circle the whole ...

ring road in the east. Some areas which are in close proximity to Kingswood, such as Two Mile Hill and St George East (both located within the

City of Bristol Bristol () is a cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north ...

) and parts of

Hanham Hanham is in the unitary authority of South Gloucestershire, adjacent to, but not within the City of Bristol. It became a civil parish on 1 April 2003. The post code area of Hanham is BS15. The population of this civil parish taken at the 2 ...

and Warmley Hill are often considered to be part of Kingswood by locals. The border between South Gloucestershire and the City of Bristol is situated at the western end of Kingswood's High Street. Although anything beyond this point is technically no longer Kingswood 'proper', locals often consider the shops and residential areas that fringe the road named 'Two Mile Hill' (located within the area of the same name) to be a continuation of Kingswood. In 2023 it had a population of 48,474. Famous for: The Skins TV show (2007 Drama)

Governance

In 1894 Kingswood became an

urban district An urban district is a division generally managed by a local government. It may also refer to a city district, district, urban area or quarter Specific urban districts in some countries include: * Urban districts of Denmark * Districts of Germa ...

. On 1 April 1974 the urban district and civil parish were abolished, when the town became part of the Kingswood district of Avon. In 1996, Kingswood became part of the

district. The Kingswood civil parish was recreated on 1 April 2023.

Royal forest

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

times, The 'King's Wood' was a royal hunting estate which surrounded

, extending as far as

Filwood Filwood is an Wards of the United Kingdom, electoral ward of the city of Bristol, England. It lies in the south of the city and covers the suburbs of Filwood Park and Inns Court, and a large part of Knowle West. Filwood is represented by two ...

in South Bristol. "From early days the Constable of Bristol Castle, the king's officer in the area, was also the Chief Ranger of the Kingswood Forest and the first of these recorded is Ella who died in 920. At the edge of the forest, to the north of the

River Froom The Frome , historically the Froom, is a river that rises in Dodington Park, South Gloucestershire and flows southwesterly through Bristol to join the River Avon (Bristol), river Avon. It is approximately long, and the mean flow at Frenchay is ...

, lay the little hamlet of Stapleton, the name of which is Saxon in origin, being held to mean 'The farm, homestead or croft - by or near the Stapol, post or pillar.'"

Demography

Up to the 2011 Census, Kingswood was considered by ONS as part of Bristol, being within its urban subdivision. This meant that Kingswood wasn't recognised as an individual settlement either statistically or administratively. However, in the 2021 Census, Kingswood was separated out from the administrative area of Bristol and is now recognised as a settlement in its own right by the Office of National Statistics; this has resulted in Kingswood, when combined with Fishponds, becoming the largest built up area by population in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire. Kingswood is made up of three wards: Woodstock, New Cheltenham and Kingswood Wards. These wards had a combined population of 40,734 in 2011, with a largely white British population. Women in Kingswood had the fourth lowest life expectancy at birth, 74.3 years, of any ward in England and Wales in 2016.

Transport

Kingswood High Street is situated around 3 miles (5 km) south of the M4 and 2.5 miles (4 km) east of

Lawrence Hill railway station Lawrence Hill railway station is on the Severn Beach Line and Cross Country Route, serving the inner-city districts of Easton, Bristol, Easton and Lawrence Hill, Bristol, Lawrence Hill in Bristol, England. It is from . Its three letter station ...

. Buses connect the town to surrounding areas including the City Centre,

Southmead Hospital Southmead Hospital is a large public National Health Service hospital, situated in the area of Southmead, though in Horfield ward, in the northern suburbs of Bristol, England. It is part of the North Bristol NHS Trust. The 800-bed Brunel Buil ...

Keynsham Keynsham ( ) is a town and civil parish located on the outskirts of the city of Bristol on the A4 that links the cities of Bristol and Bath, Somerset, Bath in Somerset, England. It had a population of 19,603 at the 2021 Census. It was listed i ...

and Cribbs Causeway. Six national rail stations currently exist within South Gloucestershire. However, they are all concentrated around the highly developed North Fringe area which encompasses Filton and

Bradley Stoke Bradley Stoke is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, situated north-northeast of Bristol city centre.OS Explorer Map, Bristol and Bath, Keynsham & Marshfield. Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey B4 edition (2013). ...

. However, Bristol mayor Marvin Rees' proposals for a 'Bristol Underground' envisage a line serving the East Fringe of Bristol.

Coal mining

The Kingswood area first came into industrial prominence in the late 17th century, because of

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

. Typical of these were coal fields in the Easton and Coalpit Heath/Yate areas. The coal mining history still affects the town with gardens occasionally opening up. The local MP has petitioned in Parliament for full surveys of the coal mines under the town.

The Whit Walk

There is an annual procession held on the morning of the Whit Bank Holiday. Its origins are uncertain, but it appears to have taken place at least since 1939. The walk is the subject of an ethnographic study by the English anthropologist Timothy Jenkins.Timothy Jenkins, Religion in English Everyday Life: An Ethnographic Approach, Oxford: Berghan Books, 1999

References

External links

Kingswood Rugby Club - The Official Home of Kingswood RFC

Kingswood and Mangotsfield Archaeological Assessment Report 1997

Photographic Record of Kingswoods Past

Kingswood Ten Sing – Youth performing arts group

{{Authority control Towns in Gloucestershire Areas of Bristol Civil parishes in Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire District