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Top Attractions in South Gloucestershire

Second Severn Crossing

The Second Severn Crossing is the M4 motorway bridge over the River Severn between England and Wales, inaugurated on 5 June 1996 by HRH The Prince of Wales to augment the traffic capacity of the original Severn Bridge built in 1966. The bridge marks the lower limit of the River Severn and the start of the Severn Estuary. Its location is farther to the south than the old bridge and, being more in line with the landward sides of the M4 motorway, is a shorter journey when travelling between England and South Wales. The junctions at each end are designed for most traffic to use this crossing – to use the old Severn Bridge crossing one has to leave the M4 and join the M48 motorway either at Aust or near Magor. The new crossing carries more traffic than the Severn Bridge, which is still in use. It is wider than the Severn Bridge, having three lanes and narrow hard shoulder each way, compared to the two lanes, cycle path and footpath of the original crossing. The path taken by the bridge is close to that of the Severn Tunnel which has carried the railway line beneath the river bed since 1886. Much of the estuary is mudflats at low tide, but at high tide can be covered by up to 14 metres of water. This presented the engineers with a unique set of constraints with packets of work being scheduled at low tide and being completed with the short windows allowed by the tides. The concession given to the consortium which financed, built and operate the bridge required them to take over the outstanding debt on the original Severn Bridge and to operate the two bridges as a single entity. Tolls are set annually by the government based on the change in the previous years Retail Price Index. On the expiry of the concession the consortium is required to hand the bridge over into public ownership. It was reported in 2012, that the process of repayment was likely to continue until the early 2020s due to the introduction of a revised settlement to the operator in return for accepting payment by debit and credit cards. As part of the announcement, it was stated that even after repayment was complete the toll charge would likely remain at the same levels.

Kingswood

Kingswood is an urban area in South Gloucestershire, England, on the eastern border of the City of Bristol. It is located on both sides of the A420 road, which connects Bristol and Chippenham and which forms the high street through the principal retail zone. Bristol City Centre is located 4 miles to the west, and Chippenham is located 18 miles to the east, The A4174 Avon Ring Road also runs around the eastern edge of Kingswood. Bath is 12.5 miles away. Western Kingswood is contiguous with eastern Bristol, and although it does not lie within the city boundary, it acts in several capacities as a suburb of the city. In the 18th century it was a small coal mining village where George Whitefields open-air preaching greatly influenced John Wesley in the founding of Methodism. The construction of a number of chapels, Tabernacle and schools by Whitefield, Wesley, and their associates and followers is held to be one of the factors contributing to Kingswoods growth.

Tortworth

Tortworth is a hamlet, and civil parish, near Thornbury in South Gloucestershire, England. It has a population of 150, and is noted for a huge and ancient chestnut tree, believed to be over 1000 years old. The tree, in St. Leonard's churchyard, looks like a small wood because many branches of the main trunk have taken root. Boundary records compiled in the reign of John of England already shown the "Great Chestnut of Tortworth" in South Gloucestershire, as a landmark; and it was also known by the same name in the days of Stephen . This tree measured over 50 feet in circumference at 5 feet from the ground in 1720. The civil parish contains Leyhill prison, and Tortworth Court, former home of the Earl of Ducie but now a hotel. In the Domesday Book of 1086 the manor is recorded as held by Turstin FitzRolf.

Little Sodbury

Little Sodbury is an English village in South Gloucestershire, located between Chipping Sodbury, to the West, Old Sodbury to the South, Badminton, and the A46 road to the East and Horton and Hawkesbury Upton, to the north. The "manor of Sodbury" comprises the nearby Chipping Sodbury and Old Sodbury: it is distinct from that of Little Sodbury. St Adelines Church was built in 1859 by William James. Little Sodbury Manor is originally 15th century, the home of Sir John Walsh who employed William Tyndale as chaplain and tutor to his grandchildren in 1522-3; by tradition he began his translation of the Bible in his bedroom here. The manor retains the porch and Great Hall, with a timber roof resting on corbels carved as shield-bearing angels, of the fifteenth-century courtyard house. The house fell into disrepair in the nineteenth century, but was restored by architect Sir Harold Brakspear for Lord Grosvenor and later Baron de Tuyll. Little Sodburys Iron Age hill fort reshaped by the Romans is accessible from the village via the Cotswold Way at grid reference ST760826. There is a Royal Observer Corps post at grid reference ST766838. Little Sodbury is one of three Thankful Villages in Gloucestershire those rare places that suffered no fatalities during the Great War of 1914 to 1918.

Little Sodbury Manor

Little Sodbury is an English village in South Gloucestershire, located between Chipping Sodbury, to the West, Old Sodbury to the South, Badminton, and the A46 road to the East and Horton and Hawkesbury Upton, to the north. The "manor of Sodbury" comprises the nearby Chipping Sodbury and Old Sodbury: it is distinct from that of Little Sodbury. St Adeline's Church was built in 1859 by William James. Little Sodbury Manor is originally 15th century, the home of Sir John Walsh who employed William Tyndale as chaplain and tutor to his grandchildren in 1522-3; by tradition he began his translation of the Bible in his bedroom here. The manor retains the porch and Great Hall, with a timber roof resting on corbels carved as shield-bearing angels, of the fifteenth-century courtyard house. The house fell into disrepair in the nineteenth century, but was restored by architect Sir Harold Brakspear for Lord Grosvenor and later Baron de Tuyll. Little Sodbury's Iron Age hill fort reshaped by the Romans is accessible from the village via the Cotswold Way at grid reference ST760826. There is a Royal Observer Corps post at grid reference ST766838. Little Sodbury is one of three Thankful Villages in Gloucestershire - those rare places that suffered no fatalities during the Great War of 1914 to 1918.

Thornbury Castle

Thornbury Castle is a castle in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire, England. It was begun in 1511 as a home for Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham. It is not a true castle, but rather an early example of a Tudor country house, with minimal defensive attributes. It is now a grade I listed building. The site was occupied by a manor house in 930. Part of the original plans for a very grand residence were "well advanced" before the duke was beheaded, in 1521, on the orders of his distant cousin Henry VIII, for alleged treason. As in the Kings palace at Sheen, the main ranges of Thornbury framed courts, of which the symmetrical entrance range, with central gatehouse and octagonal corner towers, still stands, as do two less regular side ranges with many irregular projecting features and towers. Following the Dukes death Thornbury was confiscated by King Henry VIII of England, who stayed at the castle for ten days in August 1535 with his queen, Anne Boleyn. Following the English Civil War, the castle fell into disrepair, but was renovated in 1824 by the Howard family. It is situated behind St Marys Church, a church whose founding dates from the Norman period. Between 1966 and 1986 the castle was operated as one of the UKs top restaurants by Kenneth Bell MBE with staff including food writer Nigel Slater and MasterChef New Zealand judge Simon Gault early in their culinary careers. The castle is now a 26-room luxury hotel and restaurant, and a venue for weddings.

Winterbourne

Winterbourne is a large village and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, situated on the north side of Bristol. The village had a population of 8,623 in the 2001 census. increasing to 8,965 taken at the 2011 census. The Civil Parish of Winterbourne is centred on the village but also encompasses the neighbouring communities of Winterbourne Down, Hambrook and Frenchay. To the north-east is the village of Frampton Cotterell and to the west lies the new town of Bradley Stoke. Much of Winterbourne is located on a hill. The village is partially surrounded by woodlands and fields, most with public access, but urban development has greatly reduced these areas. The River Frome snakes its way through a scenic valley between the village and nearby Frampton Cotterell, continuing on towards Frenchay, and eventually draining in Bristol's Floating Harbour. The Bradley Brook flows from Bradley Stoke and Stoke Gifford to the west and joins the Frome near Winterbourne. Since the 1960s the M4 motorway has bypassed the village to the south and west. Winterbourne Viaduct carries the railway over the River Frome. Beneath the viaduct is the abandoned Huckford Quarry, a public nature reserve popular with dog walkers. Winterbourne has a large duck pond which overlooks part of the Frome Valley and is a popular spot for fishing and feeding the ducks and swans. On Winterbourne's south-eastern slope is the village of Winterbourne Down, host of the Parish's annual May Day carnival. Parts of the village are subject to minor flooding from the River Frome during the winter months. The Parish Church is St Michael's, a building believed to date from the 12th century and which celebrated its 800th anniversary in 1998. Set away from the bustle of modern Winterbourne, St Michael's now sits amidst green fields and attractive cottages with its distinctive spire visible for miles around. It is believed that the original village of Winterbourne was located here. At the altar a stone depiction of the Last Supper, based on the painting by Leonardo da Vinci, greets the congregation. Winterbourne Court Farm Barn is close to St Michael's Church. This is a grade II* listed 14th century tithe barn – an outstanding example of its type. Winterbourne has a number of pubs including The George and Dragon (the upstairs of which served as the original location of St Michael's Primary School), The Swan and The Mason's Arms. A number of the village's pubs have become restaurants; two of which now serve Indian cuisine. Due to Winterbourne's size, people are divided over whether it should be classed as a village or town. The village has three social centres: St Michael's Rooms, Fromeside Community Centre and Greenfield, hosts to clubs, functions and other public events. Winterbourne has branches of the Co-op and Tesco Express, a chemist, optician, a handful of dental practices and a library. NatWest has a branch in the village. The typical aspects of an English village remain, however; a bakery, butchers' and Post Office. Horses and cows can be found grazing in the fields surrounding the village, notably the Cloisters area, which offers a picturesque view of the Frome Valley and viaduct. In late 2004, the local secondary school (then The Ridings High School, now Winterbourne International Academy) opened a large all-weather pitch in the heart of Winterbourne as part of its 'Sports Village' scheme. The school also owns the local swimming pool and gym. As well as being the centre of an extensive Civil Parish, Winterbourne contains the hamlet of Watley's End, nestled on the border between Winterbourne and Frampton Cotterell. Nowadays, it is regarded as an area of Winterbourne, but a few decades ago (and still by a number of older residents) it was considered to be a separate village. People with a sense of identity in Watley's End refer to the busy, uphill part of the village as 'Winterbourne Hill'. Salem, the local Methodist church, is in Watley's End. Children in the village can join Fromeside Youth Club, and the gymnastics club, Fromeside Gym Club, both situated on Watleys End Road. Winterbourne was recorded in the Domesday book (1086) as Wintreborne, meaning 'Winter Stream'. The village is believed to have derived its name from the nearby Bradley Brook as much of medieval Winterbourne is believed to have originally built up around St Michael's Church, which is situated near the river.

Tortworth Court

Tortworth Court is a Victorian mansion in South Gloucestershire built in Tudor style for the 2nd Earl of Ducie between 1848 and 1853. Its architect was Samuel Sanders Teulon. The house is situated in the civil parish of Tortworth, near Thornbury in South Gloucestershire, England. During World War II the mansion became a naval training base for coding and signals, under the name of HMS Cabbala, and a mast was erected in the high reception hall. After the war, the buildings constructed for the hospital and, for a time the house itself, became HM Prison Leyhill. Tortworth Court was then used as a training school for prison officers. The property was designated a Grade II* listed by English Heritage on 9 July 1991. By the 1990s, however, it had become derelict, and suffered a large fire in 1991. It was thereafter restored to its original style and extended at a reputed cost of £25 million. In June 2001 it reopened as a hotel operated by Four Pillars Hotels.

Acton Court

Acton Court is the historic manor house of the manor of Iron Acton in Gloucestershire, England. It is a grade I listed building of Tudor architure and was recently restored. It is situated, at some considerable distance from the village of Iron Acton and the parish church of St Michael, on Latteridge Lane, Iron Acton, South Gloucestershire, England. The Poyntz family owned the property from 1364 until 1680. Nicholas Poyntz added the East Wing onto the existing moated manor house shortly before 1535. Construction took about 9 months to complete. Subsequently, the wing was lavishly and fashionably decorated to impress Henry VIII. The king and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, stayed in the house in 1535, during a tour of the West Country. Building work continued at Acton Court until Nicholas died in 1557. When the direct line of succession ended in 1680, the house was sold. It was reduced in size and converted for use as a tenanted farmhouse. Due to neglect, the house gradually fell into a dilapidated state. By the end of the 20th century, practically only the East Wing survived. However, the neglect resulted in a rare example of Tudor royal state apartments being preserved virtually intact. An extensive restoration was completed only recently. Prior to the restoration, English Heritage commissioned a comprehensive study, published as K. Rodwell and R. Bell, Acton Court: The evolution of an early Tudor courtiers house . The monograph is now publicly available through the Archaeology Data Service

Dodington Park

Dodington Park is a country house and estate in Dodington, Gloucestershire, England. The Codrington family acquired the estate in the late 16th century, when there was a large gabled Elizabethan house and adjoining church. In the 18th century the family became wealthy from sugar plantations in the West Indies and undertook work on the estate. The grounds of 240 ha were laid out around 1764 by Capability Brown and were modified in 1793 by William Emes and John Webb. The current house was built by James Wyatt between 1798 and 1813 for Christopher Bethell Codrington. The church was also rebuilt by Wyatt. A formal garden was added in 1930. The house, the church and Bath Lodge by the southern entrance in Tormarton are all grade I listed buildings. The estate remained in the Codrington family until 1980. It was bought in 2003 by the industrialist James Dyson, inventor of the vacuum cleaner that bears his name. The River Frome rises in the grounds.

Tracy Park

Tracy Park is an estate near Wick, South Gloucestershire, close to the boundary with Bath and North East Somerset and approximately 5 miles from the World Heritage City of Bath. Set in approximately 240 acres of parkland, the house is a Grade II listed building. It has a 17th-century nucleus behind a classical two-storey front built of Ashlar stone. The gate piers either side of a the carriageway leading to the house are also Grade II listed. The estate is documented from 1246. Throughout the 17th and most of the 18th centuries, the estate was owned by a succession of Bristol merchants and tradesmen, culminating in Robert Bush, a pewterer, who purchased the estate in 1774. His son, Robert, constructed a classical façade in c. 1800, obscuring much of the original building. Sold for more than £12,000 to General Sir William Gabriel Davy in 1820, it was much altered and rebuilt by his son, a prominent Freemason, who adorned the estate with many Masonic symbols. The estate again changed hands in 1926. The mansion ceased to be a private house in 1973, when it was auctioned and subsequently became a golf and country club and hotel.

Lower Woods

Lower Woods is a 280.1-hectare biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near the village of Wickwar, South Gloucestershire, notified in 1966 and renotified in 1985. The site area has increased at last revision in 1974 to a 284.1-hectare site. The site is a nature reserve managed by the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. Lower Woods are the most extensive area of ancient woodlands and seminatural woodland in the former county of Avon and now in South Gloucestershire. It is one of the largest ancient woodlands in the south-west of England and covers some three square kilometres. There are three waymarked trails and over sixty miles of paths, rides and wide grassy trenches . This large reserve is made up of twenty-three woods and coppices, the boundaries of which have remained unchanged for several centuries. The woods are linked by a network of grass trenches and ridges. The Little Avon River runs through the centre of the site. The woods are situated in the damp clay soils of the Vale of Berkeley and are made up of the distinct woodlands as well as grassland areas. The site is adjacent to Yarley Meadows which is also an SSSI.

Whitefield's Tabernacle

Whitefield's sometimes Whitfield's Tabernacle is a former Calvinistic Methodist and Congregational church in Kingswood, a town on the eastern edge of Bristol where George Whitefield preached in the open air to coal miners. The name refers to two buildings in which the church met. The congregation originally met in the New Society Room which was built in 1741 for George Whitefield and John Cennick after a separation occurred between them and John Wesley. The former Society Room building was expanded to a large size, and is a grade I listed building. It is now roofless and derelict after an arson attack. In 1851 a very large gothic building, designed by Henry Masters, was constructed just west of the original tabernacle. In the late 20th century this building was closed and the United Reformed Church congregation moved back into the original 18th-century building for a few years, before leaving both buildings to join together for worship with another congregation associated with the 18th-century revival, the Moravian Church, in the Moravian building on the other side of the High Street. In 2003 the Tabernacle featured in the BBC's Restoration series. As of 2007, there were plans for the redevelopment of the three listed buildings on the Tabernacle site, namely the two churches and the 18th century Chapel House. Besides various proposed memorial facilities, the plan includes flats in the Chapel House and the 19th century building. At February 2011 the site was still derelict although the large disused churchyard had been cleared of vegetation. As at February 2015 the site is still derelict and the graveyard is once again overgrown.

Second Severn Bridge

The Second Severn Crossing is the M4 motorway bridge over the River Severn between England and Wales, inaugurated on 5 June 1996 by HRH The Prince of Wales to augment the traffic capacity of the original Severn Bridge built in 1966. The bridge marks the lower limit of the River Severn and the start of the Severn Estuary. Its location is farther to the south than the old bridge and, being more in line with the landward sides of the M4, is a shorter journey when travelling between England and South Wales. The junctions at each end are designed for most traffic to use this crossing, and in order to use the old Severn Bridge crossing, one has to leave the M4 and join the M48 either at Aust or near Magor. The new crossing carries more traffic than the Severn Bridge, which is still in use. It is much wider than the Severn Bridge, having three lanes and a narrow hard shoulder each way, compared with the two lanes, cycle path and narrow footpath of the original crossing. The path taken by the bridge is close to that of the Severn Tunnel, which has carried the railway line beneath the river bed since 1886. Much of the estuary is mudflats at low tide, but at high tide can be covered by as much as 14 metres of water. This has presented the engineers with a unique set of constraints, with packets of work being scheduled at low tide and needing to be completed, with the short windows allowed by the tides. The concession given to the consortium which financed, built and operate the bridge required them to take over the outstanding debt on the original Severn Bridge and to operate the two bridges as a single entity. Tolls are set annually by the government based on the change in the previous year's Retail Price Index. On the expiry of the concession the consortium is required to hand the bridge over into public ownership. It was reported in 2012, that the process of repayment was likely to continue until the early 2020s due to the introduction of a revised settlement to the operator in return for accepting payment by debit and credit cards. As part of the announcement, it was stated that even after repayment was complete the toll charge would likely remain at the same levels.
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