Place:Winterbourne, Gloucestershire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Winterbourne is a large village and civil parish since 1974 in the district of South Gloucestershire, England. The village had a population of 8,623 in the 2001 census. The Civil Parish of Winterbourne is centred on the village but also encompasses the neighbouring communities of Winterbourne Down, Hambrook and Frenchay. (These communities have all been redirected here in WeRelate, but there is an article on Hambrook in Wikipedia and Frenchay is described below.) To the north-east is the village and parish of Frampton Cotterell and to the west lies the new town of Bradley Stoke.

Winterbourne

Much of Winterbourne is located on a hill. The village is partially surrounded by woodlands and fields, most with public access, but urban development has greatly reduced these areas. The River Frome snakes its way through a scenic valley from Frampton Cotterell (north-east of Winterbourne) and on towards Frenchay. The Bradley Brook flows from Bradley Stoke and Stoke Gifford to the west and joins the Frome near Winterbourne. Since the 1960s the M4 motorway has bypassed the village to the south and west.

The Parish Church is St Michael's, a building believed to date from the 12th century and which celebrated its 800th anniversary in 1998. Set away from the bustle of modern Winterbourne, St Michael's now sits amidst green fields and attractive cottages with its distinctive spire visible for miles around. It is believed that the original village of Winterbourne was located here. Winterbourne Court Farm Barn is close to St Michael's Church. This is a grade II* listed 14th century tithe barn – an outstanding example of its type.

Watley's End

As well as being the centre of an extensive civil parish, Winterbourne contains the hamlet of Watley's End, nestled on the border between Winterbourne and Frampton Cotterell. Nowadays, it is regarded as an area of Winterbourne, but a few decades ago (and still by a number of older residents) it was considered to be a separate village. People with a sense of identity in Watley's End refer to the busy, uphill part of the village as 'Winterbourne Hill'. Salem, the local Methodist church, is in Watley's End.

Frenchay

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Frenchay is a village, now a suburb of Bristol, England, to the north east of the city, but located mainly in South Gloucestershire and the Civil Parish of Winterbourne. The village is situated between the B4058 road, which runs parallel to the M32 motorway, and the wooded River Frome valley.

Frenchay was first recorded in 1257 as Fromscawe and later as Fromeshaw, meaning "the wood on the Frome". Frenchay's largest place of worship is the Anglican church of John the Baptist, adjacent to the large village common, which is overlooked by period houses. Also overlooking the common is the village school which dates from 1842. The village also contains a Catholic church, a Quaker Meeting House and a Unitarian chapel. W G Grace (1848-1915), the famous Victorian cricketer, whose family lived in the next village, was captain of the village cricket team and played on the common. Frenchay Cricket club is the local club now.

Frenchay is also home to Frenchay Hospital, greatly expanded during World War II for the US Army, which treated wounded soldiers returning from the D-Day landings in Normandy. Frenchay is still one of Bristol's major hospitals, and is famous for its burns unit.

Frenchay's earliest place of worship was the Quaker Meeting House. The present one dates from 1809, and it replaced an earlier one of 1670.

Many Quaker merchants from nearby Bristol made their homes here, including Joseph Storrs Fry (1767-1835), the Quaker chocolate manufacturer, who styled his company J S Fry & Sons. He moved to Grove House (now Riverwood House) in 1800. He died in 1835 and is buried in the burying ground behind the Meeting House along with his wife and daughter, Pricilla.

Frenchay Park, an adjacent suburb, is situated within Bristol city limits.

Registration Districts

• Clifton Registration District (1837 - 1877)
• Barton Regis Registration District (1877 - 1904)
• Chipping Sodbury Registration District (1905 - 1937)
• Sodbury Registration District (1937 - 1974)
• Bristol Avon Registration District (1974 - 1996)
• South Gloucestershire Registration District (1996 - )

Research Tips

• Bristol Archives is where paper and microfilm copies of all records for Bristol and its environs are stored.

Online sources which may also be helpful:

• Three maps on the A Vision of Britain through Time website illustrate the changes in political boundaries over the period 1830-1945. All have expanding scales and on the second and third this facility is sufficient that individual parishes can be inspected (except in the immediate Bristol area--for Bristol, see English Jurisdictions).

• Gloucestershire Hundreds as drawn in 1832. This map was prepared before The Great Reform Act of that year. Note the polling places and representation of the various parts of the county.
• Gloucestershire in 1900, an Ordnance Survey map showing rural districts, the boundaries of the larger towns, the smaller civil parishes of the time, and some hamlets and villages in each parish
• Gloucestershire in 1943, an Ordnance Survey map showing the rural districts after the changes to their structure in the 1930s

• A Vision of Britain through Time has a group of pages of statistical facts for almost every parish in the county
• GENUKI gives pointers to other archive sources as well as providing some details on each parish. The emphasis here is on ecclesiastical parishes (useful before 1837)
• A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 and tables of the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. The compiler has gone to a lot of work to provide this material. Respect his copyright.
• The FamilySearch Wiki for Gloucestershire provides a similar but not identical series of webpages to that provided by GENUKI
• English Jurisdictions, a supplementary website to FamilySearch outlining local parish boundaries in the middle on the 19th century. The information provided is especially useful for establishing the locations of ecclesiastical parishes in large towns and cathedral cities, as well as changes in their dedications (names). Very useful for Bristol.
• The Church Crawler has a website of photos and histories of English Churches with emphasis on Bristol.
• Unfortunately, the Victoria County History series provided by the website British History Online only provides information on Gloucestershire Churches in this part of the county. More general information on the Bristol and South Gloucestershire area is sadly omitted.
• Ancestry UK has recently added Gloucestershire Burials, 1813-1988; Confirmations, 1834-1913; Baptisms, 1813-1913; Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1813; and Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938. (entry dated 1 Aug 2015)
• Ancestry has also now updated Bristol, England, Select Church of England Parish Registers, 1720-1933 (entry dated 14 Mar 2016)
• England and Wales Jurisdictions 1851 provides a map illustrating the locations of the various Bristol parishes. Enter "Bristol" in the search box at the top left, then select the parish required from the list below the search box.