Newtown is a neighbourhood within the

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 ...

ward of the city 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 ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and is adjacent to Old Market and The Dings. It is bounded by 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 c ...

to the south, the A420 (

) to the north, Trinity Road to the west, and St Philip's Causeway and Barton Hill to the east. The current community was rebuilt following the construction of the Outer Circuit Road in Easton.

History

Pre-war community (1838–1945)

Until the 1830s the site was

glebe A glebe (, also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s)) is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved to the church. ...

attached to the

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

of St Philip & Jacob. The arrival of the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

in 1838 and the Great Western Cotton Factory in 1839 triggered speculative building in the Barton Hill area; by 1860 a tight grid of terraces housed the families and workers in local industries. Local social life revolved around a cluster of small beerhouses, including the Freemasons Arms, Engineers Tavern, and the Millwrights Arms on Barrow Road, the Foresters Arms on Clarence Street and the Dove Inn on Trinity Street, all established by the early 20th century. In 1855, the

United Methodist Free Church United Methodist Free Churches, sometimes called Free Methodists, was an English Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist denomination in the last half of the 19th century. It was formed in 1857 by the amalgamation of the Wesleyan Association (w ...

established a chapel within its Bristol circuit on Trinity Road. Wesley Hall, a Wesleyan chapel dating from 1888 on the corner of Barrow Road and Morley Terrace, hosted a thriving Boys’ and Girls’ Brigade and organised annual coach outings to

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the North Somerset unitary district, in the county of Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. Its population ...

in the 1950s.

The Newtown Estate (1952–present)

Newtown was the first district earmarked in Bristol’s 1952 Development Plan for total demolition, despite the region largely avoiding 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 ea ...

. Victorian courts west of Barrow Road disappeared in phases (1953–70); many residents were rehoused in tower blocks such as Barton House. Bristol Corporation used a

wrecking ball A wrecking ball is a heavy steel ball, usually hung from a Crane (machine), crane, that is used for Demolition, demolishing large buildings. It was most commonly in use during the 1940s and 1950s. Several wrecking companies claim to have inve ...

demolition method, flattening whole rows such as Regent Terrace during 1967–69. Seeking a low-rise alternative, the city laid out the Newtown Estate in the Radburn design, which opened in 1971. The period also brought major road construction in the immediate vicinity, including Lawrence Hill roundabout and St Philip’s Causeway in 1973, erasing shops and pubs on Lawrence Hill and cutting pedestrian links to Old Market as part of the Outer Circuit Road scheme. The

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...

locomotive shed on Barrow Road, opened in 1873 for St Philip's railway station, was closed in 1965 and was demolished two years later. The former trackbed now forms part of the

Bristol and Bath Railway Path The Bristol and Bath Railway Path is a off-road cycleway, part of National Cycle Network NCR 4, 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 ...

. Post-industrial population losses were offset by immigrant families arriving from

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and elsewhere. In 2024, Newtown Park was refurbished and reopened with a new childrens playground. Local community group Newtown Network campaigned for the installation of additional street lighting in the area amid safety fears following the fatal stabbing of a 19-year-old male on Hayes Close in October 2021. In May 2025 a 20-year-old male was attacked and stabbed by three men on bicycles in Newtown Park.

Community

Newtown is part of the Lawrence Hill ward, which lies within the Bristol East

parliamentary constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

. It is locally represented in the Ashley, Easton and Lawrence Hill Neighbourhood Partnership operated by

Bristol City Council Bristol City Council is the local authority for the city of Bristol, in South West England. Bristol has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1996 the council has been a unitary authority, being ...

. Community development support is provided by Eastside Community Trust, which also runs Easton Community Centre and Felix Road Adventure Playground. Grass-roots organisations such as the Newtown Network and Newtown Nature Club promote environmental projects in the community.

Infrastructure and amenities

The_Bristol_and_Bath_Railway_Path_through_a_park_in_Newtown_-_geograph

Newtown can only be entered by road from the east at the junction of Hassell Drive and St Philip's Causeway, while

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 ...

lies about ten minutes away on foot. At the west, Hayes Close and Trinity Street used to form an intersection but this has since been turned into a cul-de-sac only accessible for pedestrians. Alternatively, various footpaths run between the various green areas and terraces, providing a wide range of access on foot. The principal public open space is Newtown Park, which offers a fenced playground, multi-use games area and community food beds. A 2019 UWE Bristol design workshop set out options for richer biodiversity planting and upgraded play equipment. The park is bisected by the

. A 2020 study by

Sustrans Sustrans ( ) is a United Kingdom-based walking, wheeling and cycling charity, and the custodian of the National Cycle Network. Its flagship project is the National Cycle Network, which has created of signed cycle routes throughout the United ...

suggested a widening the path through Newtown Park, adding cycle–pedestrian segregation and creating ramps at Trinity Street. The Trinity Tabernacle Hall (

Assemblies of God The World Assemblies of God Fellowship (WAGF), commonly known as the Assemblies of God (AG), is a global cooperative body or communion of over 170 Pentecostal denominations that was established on August 15, 1989. The WAGF was created to provi ...

) and the

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

Easton citadel opposite both host weekly activities, while the residents' common-room in Rosevear House is used for meetings, craft sessions and after-school clubs. Trinity Tabernacle was first licensed for marriages at 109–111 Lawrence Hill in 1957; following clearance for Easton Way, a new hall opened on Hassell Drive in 1974. The Lawrence Hill Health Centre is also within the neighbourhood, having opened in 1977 on the site of a former doctors' office. The health centre contains a pharmacy and offers community outreach through the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

"Forest" gardening programme.

References

Bibliography

* Stephenson, David; Jones, Andy; Cheesley, David; Haste, Ernie (2002). ''Old Market, Newtown, Lawrence Hill and Moorfields''. Images of England. Stroud: Tempus. .

External links

Eastside Community Trust

Barton Hill History Group
{{Districts of Bristol Areas of Bristol Places formerly in Gloucestershire