Freshford, Somerset
| Freshford | |
| Somerset | |
|---|---|
 The brewery chimney at Freshford Mill | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | ST785603 |
| Location: | 51°20’30"N, 2°18’33"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 530 (2001) |
| Post town: | Bath |
| Postcode: | BA2 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Bath & NE Somerset |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
North East Somerset |
Freshford is a village in Somerset in the valley of the Avon, six miles south-east of Bath. The parish has a population of 530 at the 2001 census. It is part of the Bath Forum Hundred.
The village is in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, within the Green Belt around Bath[1] and is in a conservation area.
The village of Freshford includes the smaller hamlets of Friary, Sharpstone, Park Corner, Woodside and Staples Hill, which are separated from the village centre by a few hundred yards of open fields.
The village history goes back to Anglo-Saxon times and it expanded with the growth of local industry but is now largely residential.
Contents
Geography
The village is in the valley of the River Avon close to the point at which it is joined by the River Frome. The Kennet and Avon Canal is visible across the Avon valley from the village, but the nearest crossings of the Avon are at Avoncliff and Limpley Stoke.
Freshford's village centre is a conservation area which was created in 1975 and extended in April 2007.[1]
Churches
St Peter's Church, on the north side of the village, has a very old Christian marking on the back of the church and parts of the church date back to the fifteenth century. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.[2] The churchyard has a number of Georgian chest tombs, dating from the late 18th and early 19th century, four of which are listed in their own right.[1][3]
The Methodist Chapel was built around 1783 and extended in 1850. It was opened by John Wesley, who preached here several times and mentioned it in his journals.[4]
History
The village has existed since Anglo-Saxon days, for the land at Fersceforde was given to Bath Abbey after the Norman Conquest. A mill existed here as early as 1086 and there are still remains of one built in the 1540s.[1]
Freshford Bridge over the River Frome dates from the early to mid 16th century.[5]
In the 19th century freestone and fuller's earth were mined in the parish and employment included the manufacture of cloth, operation of malt-kilns, breweries, and fulling-mills.[6] The importance of weaving can be seen at the now derelict site of Freshford Mill, and the numerous weavers’ cottages in the village.[1] Dunkirk Mill, which was built in 1795 for Thomas Joyce, is now a residential property located just over the parish boundary in Hinton Charterhouse.[7]
The war memorial in the village commemorates the 17 men from the village who died in First World War and four from Second World War.[8]
Titfield Thunderbolt
In the village, the houses have names instead of numbers, and this was noted in the Ealing comedy The Titfield Thunderbolt, which was filmed locally in 1952. In the film, Freshford served as the set for the idyllic English village under threat. The railway scenes were filmed on the Camerton branch line of the Bristol and North Somerset Railway.
Passenger services started in 1910 and were suspended for the First World War in 1915; they resumed in 1923 but were withdrawn entirely in 1925. Freight services, mostly of coal, on the branch line ceased in 1951. The line achieved some fame after closure by its use in the 1952 film, but the track was taken up in 1958. The cricket scene was filmed near the former Viaduct Hotel at Limpley Stoke. Cricket is still played on this pitch, part of which is used by the local school.
Economy
A significant number (20%) of local residents work from home using the internet.[9] The village has a long-standing tradition of attracting "retired people of status".[10] It is also a dormitory town for people working in Bath and Bristol (27%).[9]
Sights of the village
Most of the buildings and boundary walls are built from the local oolitic limestone.[1]
The 19th-century brewery and attached cottages are now a private residence. The tall ashlar chimney has a tapered octagonal shaft with moulded cap and provides an obvious landmark around the village.[11]
Freshford manor is an 18th-century manor house.[12] It was built on the site of an earlier house known as Pittes Place which dated from before 1603.[13]
The local pub is called The Inn, and sits beside the River Frome, a tributary of the River Avon. The Inn (which has never been an inn)[14] is noted for its regular offering of music including jazz every Thursday night. Every third Monday musicians, professional and amateur alike, are welcome to come and play.
Galleries Community Shop and Cafe
The Galleries Shop & Café is a community shop built, owned and run by the people of Freshford and Limpley Stoke.
Village Hall
Freshford Village Memorial Hall plays host to many events, including painting classes, aerobics, badminton, drama productions, and much more. It is particularly useful for children's parties, wedding receptions and similar events, the scale of charges being very competitive, and a thriving pre-school also uses the facility. It is situated on Freshford Lane and is part of the Freshford village hub, in conjunction with the village community shop and café which shares the same site. The hall has recently completed a significant refurbishment to improve its appearance, insulate it, reduce its heating costs, and its carbon emissions by more than 90%.
The Hall and adjacent playing field are owned by a charity which is run by a management committee of Trustees including representatives of the regular users. The object of the charity's Foundation is "the provision and maintenance of a village hall for the use of the inhabitants of Freshford and the neighbourhood without distinction of sex or political, religious or other opinion, and in particular for use for meetings, lectures and classes, and other forms of recreation and leisure-time occupation, with the object of improving the conditions of life for the said inhabitants."[15]
Freshford Mill
The Freshford Mill site comprises a mixture of buildings the oldest of which, the mill owner's house, dates back to the 17th century. There are also three major blocks from the late 18th/early 19th centuries, all in natural stone and clay tile or slate, and three more modern buildings from the 1950s and 1980s. The site features a mill channel with an internal wheel although a narrower mill leat was blocked many years ago. The site was used until 1993 by Peradins for the manufacture of rubber components for the car industry. Since the firm relocated to their new premises in Trowbridge the site has been essentially empty. The site as been subsequently rebuilt for residential accommodation.
The site contains several protected species of bat.
