Over, South Gloucestershire

This article is about the village in South Gloucestershire near Bristol. For the village in central Gloucestershire near Gloucester, see Over, Tewkesbury.

Over
Civil parish
  • Almondsbury
Unitary authority
  • South Gloucestershire
Ceremonial county
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBristol
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England

Over is a village in the civil parish of Almondsbury[1] in South Gloucestershire, England, 6 miles (10 km) north of Bristol. It lies on the B4055, a road that parallels the M5 from Junction 17 to 16. The road, known locally as Over Lane, abuts to the east a ridge which overlooks the Severn floodplain, dominated by Bristol Golf Club or Course. According to local legends, a ghost of an old woman haunts this place every New Year's Eve.[citation needed]

Over Court had a large deer park, which was largely replaced in the 20th century by the golf venue.[2]

A similar deer park was higher and to the north at Knole Park, the house of which was centred on a small knoll which was a fortified Roman camp.[3] Most of its grounds have been replaced by a large brick quarry,[4] Springwood Nurseries and Almondsbury's paired garden centres which are notable for large outdoor areas.

Beyond the clustered settlement, before the lane climbs to the north it passes over the London to South Wales Main Line, a railway emerging from Patchway Tunnel before heading across the Severn floodplain to the Severn Tunnel.[5] Its main station is Bristol Parkway station a few miles to the southeast. Via mainly rural, linear Easter Compton parish or footpaths and tiny lanes which follow the line closely Pilning railway station is a walk about 2 miles (3.2 km) away. The area is road-dominated and the loss of the deer parks has led to little tourism. In 2015 Pilning it was the sixth least used station in the UK — 68 passenger entries/exits were recorded for the year.[6]

  1. ^ "Almondsbury Parish Council". Archived from the original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  2. ^ "The Course". Bristol Golf Club. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  3. ^ "Knole Park Camp". Megalithic Portal. Archived from the original on 6 April 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  4. ^ "Cattybrook Brickpit SSSI" (PDF). Natural England. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  5. ^ "Patchway Tunnels". Bristol Railway Archive. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  6. ^ Sims, Aaron (30 June 2016). "Rail platform and footbridge set for closure in Pilning". Gazette. Retrieved 20 July 2020.