Falfield is a village, located near the northern border of the South Gloucestershire district of Gloucestershire, England on the southern edge of the Berkeley Vale, to the east of the River Severn and just falling into the boundary of the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...

. It is the last parish on the northern boundary of South Gloucestershire. The area has a Wotton-under-Edge (GL12) post code and so is often incorrectly listed as being in the

Stroud district Stroud District is a district in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. The district covers many outlying towns and villages. The towns forming the district are Dursley, Minchinhampton, Nailsworth, Painswick, Stonehouse, ...

of Gloucestershire. Falfield is one of the longest villages in England, alongside local village Cromhall. There are approximately 200 houses in the village with a population of some 500, increasing to 762 at the 2011 census. The nearest town to the village is

Thornbury Thornbury may refer to: Places ;Australia *Thornbury, Victoria * Thornbury railway station, Melbourne ;Canada * Thornbury, Ontario ;England *Thornbury, Devon * Thornbury, Herefordshire *Thornbury, Gloucestershire **Thornbury Castle **Thornbury (UK ...

approximately 7 miles to the south. The nearest major cities are Bristol 16 miles to the South and Gloucester 18 miles to the North, and is often referred to as the midpoint between the two. Falfield is clustered mainly along the

A38 road The A38, parts of which are known as Devon Expressway, Bristol Road and Gloucester Road, Bristol, Gloucester Road, is a major A-class trunk road in England. The road runs from Bodmin in Cornwall to Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. It is long, mak ...

. It is also the first stop from Junction 14 of the M5. The shape of the parish is long in its length and narrow in its width. Both the A38 and M5 run through the village from north to south. It has a large garden centre, and two prisons ( Eastwood Park and

Leyhill HM Prison Leyhill is a Category D men's prison, located in the parish of Tortworth in Gloucestershire, England. Leyhill Prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. History Leyhill Prison was originally a United States military hospital ...

) nearby. The village also includes St George's Church, The Huntsman Inn, a village hall, a small shop, a car dealership and several farms as well as 1st Falfield

Scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

Association who are celebrating their 40th anniversary in 2013 and 1st Falfield & Stone Brownies part of

Girlguiding Girlguiding is the operating name of The Guide Association, previously named The Girl Guides Association and is the national guiding organisation of the United Kingdom. It is the UK's largest girl-only youth organisation. Girlguiding is a char ...

who are celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2016. Falfield St George's Church is famous for being the burial place of Conservative politician Sir George Jenkinson, who died in 1892. Politically, Falfield comes under the constituency of Thornbury & Yate, which is currently a Conservative Party seat held by Luke Hall.

Sport

Falfield was once home to successful

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

teams, however both of those have now been discontinued with members now playing at local sides such as Tortworth Musketeers CC. The village is home to 'The Fielders'

skittles Skittles may refer to: * Skittles (confectionery), a brand of fruit-flavor chewy candy, distributed by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company *'' Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical'' * Skittles (sport), the game from which bowling originated * Skittles (ch ...

team. In terms of professional sport, the village is a stronghold for Bristol City F.C. fans due to its South Gloucestershire location, and is an overwhelmingly favoured towards

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Gloucestershire. Founded in 1870, Gloucestershire have always ...

, although rugby support tends to be split fairly equally between

Gloucester R.F.C. Gloucester Rugby are a professional rugby union club based in the West Country city of Gloucester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby, as well as in the European Rugby Champions Cup. The club was formed i ...

and

Bristol R.F.C. Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 18 ...

History

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

charter signifies that village was originally an ancient settlement. In 1608 a document " Men & Armour",John Smyth (1908)

608 __NOTOC__ Year 608 ( DCVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 608 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era b ...

''Men & Armour for Gloucestershire in 1608'', A. Sutton, Gloucester compiled by John Smyth (1567–1641), the Steward of the Gloucestershire lands of Lord Berkeley, recorded that the majority of the men in the village were weavers and others being husbandmen (farmers) or tailors. Ecclesiastically the village was part of the

Parish and was served by a

Chapel of Ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ea ...

, which was recorded as being dilapidated during the 18th century. In 1860 the present St George's Church was built a short distance from where the Chapel of Ease stood. The organist

Charles Harford Lloyd Charles Harford Lloyd ( Thornbury, 16 October 1849 – Eton, 16 October 1919)Thornbury Castle in the 16th century. Later names associated with owners of Eastwood were Tyndale, Ashfield, Rogers, Jenkinson and Watts. More recently it came into the ownership of the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

followed by the Department of Health and is now run as a Conference and Training Centre. Other older constructions in the village are: Green Farm whose origins are medieval, Heneage Farm - 16th century, Sundayshill Farm probably 17th century, Oakhall Farm, Moorslade Farm where a more modern building has now replaced the older farmhouse mentioned in 16th century documents. Whitfield House and Pool Farm in Whitfield are also worthy of mention. Brinkmarsh Farm, now (quite recently) demolished was a fine

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

building with ball finials. In what is known as Mill Lane is a mill which has been on the present site for four or five hundred years, probably longer. A women's prison, HM Prison Eastwood Park, is located in the Falfield area. The village appears to lack a manor house, possibly Heneage Court could have been such, but little of its history is known. Cannonballs found in the roof suggest its existence in the 16th century. Names connected with Heneage Court are: Skey, Hale, Montague Williams and Russell Thomas. Edward Warren laid out the gardens, pleasure grounds and woodland for Russell Thomas in 1913.

References

External links

Falfield.org.uk
{{South Gloucestershire Villages in South Gloucestershire District Civil parishes in Gloucestershire