Oldland Common is a village in the far south region of

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, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, the latter three forming ...

, England, on the outskirts of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. 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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

Bitton Bitton is a village and civil parish of South Gloucestershire in England, to the east of the Greater Bristol area on the River Boyd. It is in South Gloucestershire. The parish of Bitton has a population of 9,307, and apart from the villag ...

, approximately 8 miles between the centres of cities

and Bath. Cottages, Oldland Common High Street - geograph

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 in 76 Test matches and 123 One Day Internationals.Millwall FC Millwall Football Club () is a professional football club in Bermondsey, South East London, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Founded as Millwall Rovers in 1885, the club has retained its name ...

manager, and former

Bristol Rovers FC Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have be ...

player,

Ian Holloway Ian Scott Holloway (born 12 March 1963) is an English professional football manager, former player, media personality and television pundit who was most recently the manager of Grimsby Town. A midfielder, he notably played in the Premier League ...

. 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. 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

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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

'' of 1086. As was common in the surrounding area, the village was involved in the coal mining 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 established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

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 First West of EnglandCompanies House extract company no 25088
...

, which operates the following services through the village; *19 between Bath 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 and leisure facilities. The retail and leisure complex takes its name fr ...

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

via Saltford, Keynsham, Kingswood, Staple Hill, Downend, Bristol Parkway railway station and UWE *42 between

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 oper ...

, which is 2.5 miles from the village. Direct services are available to Bath Spa railway station, 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

An electoral ward in the name ‘Bitton and Oldland common’ exists. This stretches north from Oldland Common to

and had a population of 7685 at the time of the 2011 census.

Sport and leisure

Oldland is home to the non-League football 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 a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

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; *McColls (Westcourt Drive) *HRD Hardware Store (Westcourt Drive) *Tangled Hair Studio (Westcourt Drive) *The Dog Wash (West Street) *Just Kim - Hairdressing (High Street) *Premier Stores/Newsagent (High Street) *Oldfield Fish & Chips (High Street) *Taylor Dudley Pharmacy (High Street) *Oldland Common Post Office (High Street) *Golden Fish Bar (High Street) *Oldland Common Veterinary Surgery (High Street)

References

External links