Patchway

File:Mall.bristol.arp.750pix.jpg

The Mall, an out-of-town shopping centre at Patchway. Escalators connect the upper and lower shopping levels.

Patchway is a town on the northern outskirts of Bristol, England. Nearby are the towns of Filton and Bradley Stoke. Patchway is twinned with Clermont l'Herault, France and Gauting, Germany. The parish was founded in 1953 becoming seperate from the parish of nearby Almondsbury.

Patchway lies to the north of Filton Airfield, where Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems and Airbus UK are major aerospace employers.

Aztec West, an office and warehouse park, is situated on the northern fringes of the town, adjacent to the A38 trunk road. A major motorway interchange(M4/M5) is close to Aztec West. There is also major warehousing adjacent to a dual carriageway linking the A38 and M5.

The main road that surrounds the town is known as Coniston road. Many of the streets in the town are named after birds and trees. The Patchway area has many footpaths. This includes the common east which leads to Bradley Stoke and in the north of the town, a footpath that goes over a motorway bridge (on the M5) to the village of Over.

The Mall and two retail parks at Cribbs Causeway just north of Filton airfield form the largest shopping centre in southwest England. Patchway railway station is on the mainline South Wales-London railway that passes through the town.

Recent History

At the start of the 20th Century, Patchway was a small village centered on Patchway Green, now known as Patchway Common. Part of the village straddled Gloucester Road, south of the bridge which passed over the GWR line from London to South Wales. Patchway Tunnel was nearby.

Industrialization started when a flying school, located on the north side of Filton Aerodrome, was converted into an aeroengine factory, when the Bristol Aeroplane Company (BAC) acquired Cosmos Engineering in 1920.

During the 1930's, new housing was built on Patchway Estate, just north of Filton Aerodrome. Bungalows were also built on Stoke Lane.

BAC started the development of East Works on Gypsy Patch Lane during the Re-armament programme of the 1930's. Engine component testing facilities were built alongside the main railway line during the 30', 40's and 50's.

A dual carriageway, known as Filton Bypass, was constructed through Patchway Estate in the late 30's, to divert A38 traffic away from Filton. However, during the late 1940's the bypass was severed in two by the extension of the main runway at Filton aerodrome, to accommodate the giant Bristol Brabazon prototype airliner. This project also caused the hamlet of Charlton to be demolished. Many of the former residents were rehoused on Patchway Estate.

In the 50's and early 60's a large bungalow estate was built at Stoke Lodge, adjacent to Patchway Common. A huge overspill estate was built at the back of Patchway Estate in the mid-60's.

Also in the mid-60's, the New Filton Bypass (now part of the M5 motorway) was constructed, on the north-west fringe of Patchway Estate, along the upper edge of the Severn Escarpement. This road forms the boundary between the town of Patchway and the adjacent Green Belt.

A major motorway junction, known as the Almondsbury Interchange, to the north of Patchway Common was completed in the early 70's. The A38 trunk road from Filton to Almondsbury was upgraded to a dual carriageway in the mid-70's.

The CEGB Pension Fund started the upmarket Aztec West business park in the early 80's. New phases of this development are still being built from time to time.

Work on the huge Bradley Stoke estate, now a separate town to the east of Patchway, started in the late 1980's. Large business parks to the south of the M4/M5 motorway complex were also started in this period.

See also

• Aztec West
• Cribbs Causeway

External links

• Patchway Council
• Patchway Highschool