Tortworth | |
---|---|
Tortworth Court | |
Location within Gloucestershire | |
Population | 147 |
OS grid reference | ST7093 |
Civil parish |
|
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Wotton-under-Edge |
Postcode district | GL12 |
Police | Avon and Somerset |
Fire | Avon |
Ambulance | South Western |
UK Parliament | |
Tortworth is a small village and civil parish, near Thornbury in Gloucestershire, England. It has a population of 147 as of 2011. It lies on the B4509 road, which crosses the M5 motorway to the west of Tortworth. [1]
In the Domesday Book of 1086 the manor is recorded as held by Turstin FitzRolf. [2] Tortworth is noted for its ancient chestnut tree in St. Leonard's churchyard, which became known as the "Great Chestnut of Tortworth" as early as 1150. This tree measured 51 feet in circumference at 6 feet from the ground in 1720. [3] The tree is one of fifty Great British Trees, selected in 2002 by The Tree Council to commemorate the Queen's Golden Jubilee. [4]
The Tortworth inlier is the most complete section of "Silurian" rocks in the Bristol and South Gloucestershire area. [5] Old red sandstone is most dominant. [6]
The civil parish contains Tortworth Court. It was formerly the home of the Earls of Ducie, but is now run as a hotel. [7] [8] Tortworth Rectory, was part of Oriel College. [9] It was renowned for its library collection, which was eventually purchased by the Earls of Ducie. [10]
There is a national prison nearby, HM Prison Leyhill, which was converted into a prison from an army hospital in the post-war period. [11] In 1985 the prison won the Windlesham Trophy for the best-kept prison gardens. [12]
Aust is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England, about 10 miles (16 km) north of Bristol and about 28 miles (45 km) south west of Gloucester. It is located on the eastern side of the Severn estuary, close to the eastern end of the Severn Bridge, now part of the M48 motorway. The village has a chapel, a church and a public house. There is a large area of farmland on the river bank, which is sometimes flooded due to the high tidal range of the Severn. Aust Cliff, above the Severn, is located about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) from the village. The civil parish of Aust includes the villages of Elberton and Littleton-upon-Severn.
Wickwar is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, located between Yate and Charfield. At the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 1,943.
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. 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 of Gloucestershire. Falfield is one of the longest villages in England, alongside local village Cromhall.
Pilning is a village in South Gloucestershire, England, close to Redwick and Severn Beach. Pilning is close to the M4, M49 and A403 roads, and has the South Wales Main Line railway running through it, with a minor station.
Henbury is a suburb of Bristol, England, approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) north west of the city centre. It was formerly a village in Gloucestershire and is now bordered by Westbury-on-Trym to the south; Brentry to the east and the Blaise Castle Estate, Blaise Hamlet and Lawrence Weston to the west. To the north lie the South Gloucestershire village of Hallen and the entertainment/retail park Cribbs Causeway.
Whitfield is a hamlet in South Gloucestershire, England.
Tortworth Court is a Victorian mansion in Tortworth near Thornbury, South Gloucestershire. England. It was built in Tudor style for the 2nd Earl of Ducie. It is a Grade II* listed building.
Hill is a village and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, midway between the towns of Thornbury in South Gloucestershire and Berkeley in Gloucestershire. The parish stretches from the banks of the River Severn to an outcrop of the Cotswold escarpment. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 114. Hill is approximately 5 miles from the M5 motorway which links to Gloucester, Cheltenham and Bristol.
Siston is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England. It is 7 miles (11 km) east of Bristol at the confluence of the two sources of the Siston Brook, a tributary of the River Avon. The village consists of a number of cottages and farms centred on St Anne's Church, and the grand Tudor manor house of Siston Court. Anciently it was bordered to the west by the royal Hunting Forest of Kingswood, stretching westward most of the way to Bristol Castle, always a royal possession, caput of the Forest. The local part of the disafforested Kingswood became Siston Common but has recently been eroded by the construction of the Avon Ring Road and housing developments. In 1989 the village and environs were classed as a conservation area and thus have statutory protection from overdevelopment.
Aston Ingham is a village in south-eastern Herefordshire, England, near Newent and about 7 miles (11 km) east of Ross-on-Wye. The population of the village at the 2011 census was 398. There is a church, dedicated to St John the Baptist, which has been a Grade II* listed building since 17 March 1987.
Gorsley is a small village in the Forest of Dean district of Gloucestershire, forming part of the civil parish of Gorsley and Kilcot in the South West England. Nearby Gorsley Common and Little Gorsley are both in Herefordshire.
Henry John Reynolds-Moreton, 3rd Earl of Ducie, styled Lord Moreton between 1840 and 1853, was a British courtier and Liberal Party politician. He notably served as Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard from 1859 to 1866, and Lord Warden of the Stannaries from 1888 to 1908.
Henry George Francis Reynolds-Moreton, 2nd Earl of Ducie, styled the Hon. Henry Reynolds-Moreton from 1808 to 1837 and the Lord Moreton from 1837 to 1840, was a British Whig politician, agriculturalist and cattle breeder.
Henry Haughton Reynolds-Moreton, Lord Moreton DL, was a British Liberal Party politician.
Oldbury-on-the-Hill is a small village and former civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, ninety-three miles west of London and less than one-mile (1.6 km) north of the village of Didmarton.
Burnett is a small village within the civil parish of Compton Dando, approximately 500 metres (1,600 ft) from the River Chew in the Chew Valley within the Unitary Authority of Bath and North East Somerset in Somerset, England. The nearest town is Keynsham, which lies approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) north of the village. The parish had an acreage of 608 acres (246 ha). It is within the Bristol/Bath Green Belt.
Berkeley Basil Moreton, 4th Earl of Ducie, was a British peer and a politician and pastoralist in Australia. He was a Member of both the Queensland Legislative Assembly and the Queensland Legislative Council.
Julia Reynolds-Moreton, Countess of Ducie, formerly Julia Langston, was an English noblewoman, the wife of Henry Reynolds-Moreton, 3rd Earl of Ducie.
The Tortworth Chestnut is an ancient sweet chestnut tree in Tortworth, South Gloucestershire. The exact age of the tree is unknown, but various sources provide estimates. Two accounts in 1664 and 1712 record the tree growing in, respectively, the 12th and 13th century, dating it at over 800 years old. The tree was known as "the Old Chestnut of Tortworth" in 1150, suggesting it is over 1,000 years old. More romantically, a legend recounts that the tree sprang from a nut planted in 800 AD during the reign of King Egbert.