Westerleigh is a clustered village 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Westerleigh and Coalpit Heath (which includes

Henfield Henfield is a large village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Horsham (district), Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies south of London, northwest of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester at ...

) 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, it contains sources of the

Frome Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills and on the River Frome, south of Bath. The population of the parish was 28,559 in 2021. Frome was one of the largest tow ...

and has an endpoint of the Frome Valley Walkway. It is north of the M4, south of

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 ...

and northeast of

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

. In the south it includes a steep hill of its own from the crest of the

Cotswold hills The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the be ...

which is designated an

AONB An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...

Background

The village is first mentioned in a

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

document of 887AD. At that time it was probably just a clearing in the woods with possibly a wooden church. Westerleigh is 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086. In

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 ...

times the village would probably have been green with the houses and church around it, and prosperous. The northern wall and porch of St James church are from the 13th century, as the carved stone

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

. The church was rebuilt in the

perpendicular In geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at right angles, i.e. at an angle of 90 degrees or π/2 radians. The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the '' perpendicular symbol'', � ...

style, with the tower (once used as the village lock-up), added at a later date. The 700th anniversary was celebrated in 2004. By 1600, the village supported a shoemaker, a blacksmith, a sawyer, a flour mill, a malt house, and two public houses. In 1617,

John Crandall Elder John Crandall (15 February 1618 – 29 November 1676) was a Baptist minister, born in Westerleigh, Gloucestershire, England and was one of the founding settlers of Westerly, Rhode Island. Biography English roots Crandall was born in 1618 ( ...

was baptised to James and Eleanor Crandall at St. James the Great church, and became one of the founders of Westerly,

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

, United States. The discovery of coal in 1660 provided employment for the villagers, with further finds at

Coalpit Heath Coalpit Heath is a small village in the civil parish of Westerleigh and Coalpit Heath, in the South Gloucestershire district, in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England, south of Yate and east of Frampton Cotterell. Background D ...

and Parkfield providing more employment. The mines closed in the last century, when the coal was exhausted. By 1876 occupations in the village included farmers, a bootmaker, shopkeepers, innkeepers, butchers, a plasterer, a blacksmith, a

wheelwright A wheelwright is a Artisan, craftsman who builds or repairs wooden wheels. The word is the combination of "wheel" and the word "wright" (which comes from the Old English word "''wryhta''", meaning a worker - as also in shipbuilding, shipwright ...

, a market gardener and a carrier. At the end of the 19th century many of the old houses were demolished. At the beginning of the 20th century, the railway and mining provided most of the work. Now residents find work in nearby

Chipping Sodbury Chipping Sodbury is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority area of South Gloucestershire, in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated 13 miles (21 km) north-east of Bristol and directly east of Yate. The town ...

and

, and in the village itself.

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

in the same name exists. This ward stretches from Dodington in the east, through 'Westerleigh'. The total population for the ward at the 2011 census was 3,755. On 1 April 2023 the parish was renamed from "Westerleigh" to "Westerleigh and Coalpit Heath".

Amenities

The village has two public houses: the New Inn and Ye Olde Inn. As well as Wot Not second-hand shop, and two garages. The village shop has now closed.

Transport

In the late 18th century roads were built to Downend. The Great Western and

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...

s were constructed in the 19th century. Westerleigh Junction was a crossing point of east-west and north-south main lines. In particular it is considered to be the present end of the line from milepost zero at

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

. Westerleigh formerly had a goods depot on the Bristol & Gloucester Railway. Demolished in the 1960s as part of the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...

, the site is now the home of one of Murco's oil storage terminals. Westerleigh is served by the WESTlink on-demand bus, available to the public Monday-Saturday.

Location grid

References

External links

Westerleigh village websiteWesterleigh Parish Council website
{{South Gloucestershire Villages in South Gloucestershire District