Churchdown, Docks 17th March 2010

Firstly, I feel I should apologise.  A statement I find myself using far too often for far too many reasons.  The reason for today's apology however is the huge delay between my ride and blogging about it; a full week and more none less.  I could reel off a list of excuses but won't.  Just be thankful for what you get!
Today's ride was, once again, based on a commute.  However, the journey into Hucclecote had no stops so effectively, we will start the blog there.

Leaving Hucclecote, I travelled North East along Churchdown Lane.  A quick glance to the right here is the site of Hucclecote rugby ground and the former Hucclecote secondary school, now a council run training centre.  A couple of thousands years previously, the site of Hucclecote Roman Villa.  No pictures though.  There is nothing left.  Not visible or above ground anyway.  Carrying on takes us uphill towards Churchdown hill.  I turn right into the village of Churchdown and stop at the Parish Church of St Andrew, so called because it was agreed and commissioned on St Andrew's day around 1900.   It is actually the Parish or St Bartholomew and St Andrew.  You may remember St Bartholomew's church from a previous blog.  I did mention that St Bart's is atop quite a significant hill and stood there for best part of a thousand years.  It seems quite a long time to realise that this caused problems for the elderly and infirm but realise they did and so 100 years ago St Andrew's was born.  And a very good job too.  Churchdown is an old village, dating back to at least the 16th century and, judging by St Bart's much further and this 'new' church must have fitted right in to the local area.  The second picture also shows that, in common with St Lawrence, Barnwood, there is a very recent addition for community activities.

At this point, I carry on through the village and leave Churchdown by the 'other centre'.  This is at the cross roads with the Old Cheltenham Road.  On the Churchdown side, on one side of the road is Churchdown's third Church of England parish church, the Church of St John the Evangelist.  By my reckoning, for a population of about 10000, that's just greedy. I must admit, I know less than nothing about this church and a quick Google (other search engines are available) search seems to give me just a load of broken links so here goes some gratuitous guessing.  I may not be an expert on ecclesiastical architecture, but I'm guessing the building isn't quite as old as many of our parish churches.  In fact, I'd be surprised if it dates much later than the end of the last World War.  My best guess is that it was originally built to serve the newer part of Churchdown and neighbouring Innsworth which were originally built about the same time.  The three churches are, I believe, all linked by the Churches Together local initiative.  I'm willing to be disproved on any part of this, particularly if you are the vicar of any of these churches.  One of you must be reading my blog some time.  Don't you do random Google searches on the Church name?  The other side of the road is the very typical local pub, the Hare and Hounds.  A regular haunt when I worked in nearby Staverton.

Crossing straight over, I do indeed head into Innsworth.  Much of the village having been built up around what was formerly RAF Innsworth but is now the multi-force base Imjin Barracks.  I risked prosecution and worse to take a snap of the entry gates.  For the second picture here, I turned 180 degrees and took a somewhat different snap.  If evidence of Gloucester being built on farming were ever needed, this shows arable land still in use and looks across the housing estate built for the forces personnel.

Leaving Innsworth, I rode through Longlevens, on out to Longford, skirted around the City Centre onto the new bypass passing behind the docks, stopping at Llanthony Secunda Priory.  Until recently, the priory stood very much on its own.  Recently, it has been encroached upon by the Quays development and new Sainsburys.  A very brief potted history of the site will not do it justice but let's try anyway.  The original Augustinian Priory dates back to the 12th century, as an offshoot of Llanthony Prima in Wales.  Very little of this remains, particularly since the fire in the 14th century.  Most of the surviving structure is from after this date.  The priory was, as you might expect, dissolved by Henry VIII.  The priory spent much time as a private residence before again taking a beating in the civil war.  It wasn't until the 19th century that the site was redeveloped and the more modern buildings that you can see were built.  These buildings saw a number of uses before being sold by the railways to the City Council in the 1970s.
Like I say, a potted history and I'm sure I will be lambasted for accuracy by someone who has written a book on local history.

Still, back on the bike, over St Annes's bridge - which, incidentally, hasn't made its way onto Google maps yet, and home along Bristol Road.

Total distance - 30Km

Average Speed - 27 KM/h

Weather - about 12C, Dry, Light southerly wind.