Cromhall is a village in

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 ...

, England. It is located between Bagstone and Charfield on the B4058, and also borders Leyhill. The parish population taken at the 2011 census was 1,231.

Location

Cromhall is about from Falfield on the A38 Tortworth turn-off. The village is spread out and about 1 mile long, being one of the longest villages in England, although not as long as Falfield.

Facilities

The

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed Grotesque (architecture), grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from ...

d church of St Andrews is situated in Rectory Lane and was built over a monastery. There is an area named Abbotside close to the church.

The church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglican tradition, with foundational doctrines being contained in the '' Thirty-nine Articles'' and ''Th ...

village school, is also called St Andrews and is situated next to the church. It is said that there is a tunnel which runs under the church yard, across the field and eventually comes out at Abbotside. The tunnel is believed to have been used in Tudor times during the reign of Henry VIII as a safe passage by monks from the abbey. At the other end of the village towards

Yate Yate is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England. It lies just to the southwest of the Cotswolds, Cotswold Hills and is northeast of Bristol and from Bath, Somerset, Bath. Developing from a small village into a town from t ...

, there is a small lane called Cowship Lane. In the village there is a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

, garage and a pub called The Royal Oak.

Mining History

There were several coal mines in Cromhall which worked two seams of coal, the "Top" and "Bottom". The thickness varied "in places being thirty inches thick and in others six inches or dwindled away altogether". The Old Engine works operated from 1774 to 1795, was resumed in 1815 but soon failed before being reopened again in 1819. A new colliery, to the south of the earlier works, was started in about 1827 but that too had closed by 1854. The remains of the engine house at the New Engine Works and the top of the shaft, now completely filled in, are still visible.

Notable people

The author and writer on natural history Anthony Collett was born here, where his father was the rector. He was the nature correspondent for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' during the 1910s and 1920s.

Notable Buildings

The Parish Church of St Andrew is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

and the Old Rectory is listed at Grade II.

References

External links

Cromhall village website
{{South Gloucestershire Villages in South Gloucestershire District Civil parishes in Gloucestershire