Tormarton is a village 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, in 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 village is about half a mile north of the

M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is the third longest motorway in the United Kingdom, running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh ele ...

; the A46 road towards Bath passes a similar distance west of the village to join the motorway at junction 18. The parish includes the small village of West Littleton, south of the motorway. The parish population at the 2021 census was 323. The Cotswold Way footpath passes through the village.

History

It is thought that humans have been active in the area of Tormarton for more than 6,000 years. In 1968 the bodies of three

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

men were discovered near Tormarton, when a gas pipeline was being installed. Unusually, two of the bodies showed

combat Combat (French language, French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent Conflict (process), conflict between multiple combatants with the intent to harm the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed (Hand-to-hand combat, not usin ...

wounds; they are now in

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is a large museum and art gallery in Bristol, England. The museum is situated in Clifton, about from the city centre. As part of Bristol Culture and Creative Industries it is run by the Bristol City Council with no ...

. Further excavations were made in 1999 and 2000, which found remains of two other bodies estimated to be 3,500 years old. They are all thought to have all died at a similar time and were then buried in a ditch. A BBC documentary, ''Meet The Ancestors'', was made that followed the second excavation. The area is thought to have been inhabited by the Romans as a stone coffin was found in nearby Hinton. The village was on the border of the

Anglo Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to Ge ...

kingdoms of

Wessex The Kingdom of the West Saxons, also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until Alfred the Great declared himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886. The Anglo-Sa ...

and

Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...

. The

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

village was larger than today: extensive earthworks to the north and east of the church suggest that this area may have been settled previously. Its name may come from ''Thor Maer Tun'', meaning ''The settlement with the thorn (tree) on the boundary''. Another source suggests the name derives from the church tower (Tor) on the border between Wessex and Mercia (Anglo-Saxon Meark). The village became part of the

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

estate, owned by the

Duke of Beaufort Duke of Beaufort ( ) is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created by Charles II in 1682 for Henry Somerset, 3rd Marquess of Worcester, a descendant of Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester, legitimised son of Henry Beaufort, 3rd D ...

, in 1789. In 1848 the population of the parish was 620. Baron Altrincham, of Tormarton is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom that was created in 1945 for the politician

Edward Grigg Edward William Macleay Grigg, 1st Baron Altrincham, (8 September 1879 – 1 December 1955) was a British colonial administrator and politician. Early life Grigg was the son of Henry Bidewell Grigg, Order of the Indian Empire, CIE, a member of ...

and then held by John Grigg who disclaimed the title under the

Peerage Act 1963 The Peerage Act 1963 (c. 48) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that permits female hereditary peers and all Scottish hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords and allows newly inherited hereditary peerages to be disclaimed. ...

. The M4 motorway to the west of Tormarton opened in 1967, with the section to the east running to

Stanton St Quintin Stanton St Quintin is a small village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire in England. It is about north of Chippenham and south of Malmesbury. The parish church dates in part from the 12th century. The parish includes the hamlets of C ...

(Junction 17) opening four years later. In 2008,

SITA Sita (; ), also known as Siya, Jānaki and Maithili, is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. Sita is the consort of Rama, the avatar of god Vishnu, and is regarded as an avatar of goddess Lakshmi. She is t ...

made a planning application to build a large in-vessel composting facility near Tormarton. Previously SITA had been proposing to site it on a brown field site in Pucklechurch but this was met with opposition from residents due to concerns it could pose a health risk and be an

eyesore An eyesore is something that is largely considered to look unpleasant or ugly. Its technical usage is as an alternative perspective to the notion of landmark. Common examples include dilapidated buildings, graffiti, litter, polluted areas, a ...

. The proposed facility would handle 30,000 tonnes of waste a year.

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

reported that it was controversial with residents in Tormarton too.

Notable buildings

The

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

of St Mary Magdelene stands to the north of the present village. Its Norman origins can be seen in the chancel arch and the lower two stages of the tower. The south aisle was added in the 14th century, and in 1853 T. H. Wyatt added the south porch and the vestry. The church was designated as Grade I listed in 1985. The former

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

, now Manor Farmhouse, is south-west of the church. Originally the home of the St Loe family of Tormarton and Sutton Court at

Chew Magna Chew Magna is a village and civil parish within the Chew Valley in the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset, in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. The parish has a population of 1,149. To the south of the village is Chew ...

, it was later owned by the de la Riviere family. Dating from c.1350, the house was enlarged to the rear in the next century and further added to and altered in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Tormarton Court is a Grade II listed Georgian rectory, now a house. The manor house at West Littleton, from c.1500 with later alterations, is Grade II* listed.

Notable residents

James Dyson Sir James Dyson (born 2 May 1947) is a British inventor, industrial designer, farmer, and business magnate who founded the Dyson company. He is best known as the inventor of the bagless vacuum cleaner, which works on the principle of cyclonic ...

's estate, Dodington Park, lies beyond the western boundary of the parish * John Mackay (1914–1999), headmaster of

Bristol Grammar School Bristol Grammar School (BGS) is a 4–18 Mixed-sex education, mixed, Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Bristol, England. It was founded in 1532 by Royal Charter for the teaching of 'good manners and literature', endowe ...

, retired to Tormarton * Robert Payne (1596–1651), cleric and academic * Edward Grigg, 1st Baron Altrincham lived at Tormarton Court until his death in 1955 * Sir William St Loe, Captain of the Guard to Queen

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

, Chief Butler of EnglandDigby, ''Elizabethan Embroidery'', p. 58-63 and the third husband of Bess of Hardwick owned the manor of Tormarton *Sir Edward Wadham, Sheriff of Somerset and Dorset in 1502, married the widow of Sir John St Loe, father of

William St Loe Sir William St Loe (1518–1565) was a 16th-century English soldier, politician and courtier. He was the third husband of Bess of Hardwick, his second wife. His official positions included Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard, Chief Butler of Eng ...

, and lived at the old manor of Tormarton in the early sixteenth century. He was Esquire of the Body in 1509 at the funeral of

King Henry VII Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509), also known as Henry Tudor, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry ...

, and with his nephew Sir Nicholas Wadham represented the counties of Somerset and Gloucestershire at the

Field of the Cloth of Gold The Field of the Cloth of Gold (, ) was a summit meeting between King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France from 7 to 24 June 1520. Held at Balinghem, between Ardres in France and Guînes in the English Pale of Calais, it was a ...

with King

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

in 1520. He was Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1525, 1531, and 1541.See, lists of county sheriffs etc. and the will of Sir Edward Wadham of Tormarton in the National Archives at Kew

References

External links

Tormarton Parish Council
{{South Gloucestershire Villages in South Gloucestershire District Civil parishes in Gloucestershire