Oldland Common is a village in the far south region 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, on the outskirts 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 ...

. It is in the

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 ...

of Bitton, approximately 8 miles between the centres of cities

and

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 ...

. Oldland Common is the birthplace of the famous astronomer Sir Bernard Lovell, and is home to the Sir Bernard Lovell secondary school, a designated language college opened by Lovell himself in 1972, once attended by England cricketer

Marcus Trescothick Marcus Edward Trescothick (born 25 December 1975) is an English former cricketer who played first-class cricket for Somerset County Cricket Club, and represented England cricket team, England in 76 Test cricket, Test matches and 123 One Day In ...

and Millwall FC manager, and former Bristol Rovers FC player, Ian Holloway. Other schools in the village are St. Anne's Church of England Primary School (built in 1837 & initially called Oldland National School) and Redfield Edge Primary School. The village lies on the Avon Valley Railway, a three-mile long heritage railway, where it is served by

Oldland Common railway station Oldland Common Halt is a railway station on the Avon Valley Railway. The station is on the same site as a previous station which was on the-then London Midland and Scottish Railway, LMS Mangotsfield and Bath Branch Line, Bath branch from Mang ...

. It is part of the civil parish of Bitton which has a population of approx. 9,000 (according to the 2011 Census). The village is adjacent to the villages of Bitton and Bridgeyate. Oldland Common was first mentioned in the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

'' of 1086. As was common in the surrounding area, the village was involved in the

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 ...

industry and had its own pit on Cowhorn Hill during the 1800s. The largest employment in the late C18 and early C19 was felt hat-making - half the working population at the time of the 1841 census. The largest place of worship in the village is St Anne's

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

church. Its grounds contain a separate social area, the Orchard Rooms. Other local churches include the Oldland Methodist Church (shown in photograph above) and the small United Reformed Church. The village is home to the 54th Kingswood (St Anne's) Scout Group. On 30 October 2012, mobile phone operator EE launched their 4G signal for superfast internet in Bristol, meaning the village of Oldland Common is now connected to 4G. The 4G signal mast is situated at Redfield Hill in the village. 4G from Three, Vodafone and O2 is also now available in Oldland Common.

Transport

Oldland Common is served by bus company First West of England, which operates the following services through the village; *19 between

and

Cribbs Causeway Cribbs Causeway is both a road in South Gloucestershire, England, running north of the city of Bristol, and the adjacent area which is notable for its Out-of-town shopping centres in the United Kingdom, out-of-town shopping and leisure facilitie ...

via Kelston, Swineford, Bitton, Kingswood, Staple Hill, Downend, Bristol Parkway railway station and UWE *19A between

and

via Saltford, Keynsham, Kingswood, Staple Hill, Downend, Bristol Parkway railway station and UWE *42 between Bitton and Bristol City Centre via North Common, Kingswood and Lawrence Hill. The nearest rail station is

Keynsham railway station Keynsham railway station is on the Great Western Main Line in South West England, serving the town of Keynsham, Somerset. It is down the line from and is situated between and stations. It is managed by Great Western Railway, which also ope ...

, which is 2.5 miles from the village. Direct services are available to

Bath Spa railway station Bath Spa railway station is the principal station serving the city of Bath, Somerset, Bath in Somerset, England. It is on the Great Western Main Line, down the line from the zero point at between to the east and to the west. It is the busies ...

, allowing connections to the South and London, and Bristol Temple Meads railway station, allowing connections to the South West, London, the South Coast, Wales, the Midlands, Northern England, and Scotland.

Governance

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 t ...

in the name ‘Bitton and Oldland common’ exists. This stretches north from Oldland Common to Bitton and had a population of 7685 at the time of the 2011 census.

Sport and leisure

Oldland is home to the

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

clubs Oldland Abbotonians F.C. in the Western Football League and Crown & Horseshoe F.C. in the Bath and District League.

Food, Public Houses & Shopping

The village has two

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

s: ''The Crown and Horseshoe'', and ''The Dolphin''. The village previously had three, the third being ''The Cherry Tree'', which is now being converted into flats. Oldland Common also has a Village Club. Shops in Oldland Common include a newsagent, a post office and several takeaways.

References

External links