Westerleigh

Contrary to earlier edits of this page, there are no documentary references to Westerleigh prior to the Norman Conquest. Indeed, and again contrary to earlier text here, neither is Westerleigh recorded by name in the pages of Domesday Book (1086).^[2] Historically, Westerleigh emerges as a chapelry of the very large estate of Pucklechurch, which before being granted to Glastonbury Abbey in the 10th century, had been a royal manor.^[3] Westerleigh's Domesday assessment is therefore most likely included silently within the account of that estate. At present, the earliest mention of Westerleigh in a document appears to be from the late 12th century. The place-name means 'the more westerly clearing', probably in relation either to the Sodburys or Dodington.^[4] The second element of the name, which is Old English lēah, can also have a meaning of 'wood pasture; meadow'.^[5] There is no evidence of any kind whatsoever, whether historical or archaeological, about exactly when the church at Westerleigh was founded. On a balance of probabilities, however, it is very likely that there would have been a church on the present site, possibly of timber, by the year 1000. A house specifically for the occupation of the chaplain serving the church at Westerleigh had been established there at least by the end of the 14th century, and probably much earlier^[6]. Like the church itself, it is probable that this had been provided by Glastonbury Abbey. Its site is now lost although a location somewhere within the churchyard might be expected.

The settlement plan of Westerleigh in the medieval period is entirely unknown. Morphologically, as it appears on the earliest available maps, it is a loose agglomeration, clustered around a central, roughly triangular nexus where three lanes meet - heading northwards, south-westwards and south-eastwards out of the main area of occupation. The church occupies a prominent site on the southern side of what is now a small, triangular, open green space; but even though this central cluster may well represent an original (ie pre-Conquest) occupation locus, it is unlikely in the extreme that the 'green' itself is of any antiquity at all. The plan does not appear to display any of the attributes usually invoked to define a 'planned' settlement, such as a basic grid with right-angled, straight lanes, instead having a far more 'organic' appearance. It is likely that whatever 'original' settlement arrangements there were at Westerleigh involved a high degree of dispersal, in the form of individual farmsteads and small hamlets scattered across the estate. The church itself looks, in fact, like an intrusive element, and it is possible that it was only after it was founded on its present site that occupation began to gravitate to the area around it. It is notable that there never appears to have been a capital or manorial house at Westerleigh, whether directly associated with the church, or anywhere else on the estate. The likelihood is that the church was not, therefore, a proprietary foundation, but was perhaps established by Glastonbury Abbey in the course of its tenure of the Pucklechurch estate, which it gave up in the early 13th century to the See of Wells^[7].

The northern wall and porch of St James church are from the 13th century, as the carved stone pulpit. The church was rebuilt in the perpendicular style, with the tower (once used as the village lock-up), added at a later date. The 700th anniversary was celebrated in 2004.

By 1600, the village supported a shoemaker, a blacksmith, a sawyer, a flour mill, a malt house, and two public houses. In 1617, John Crandall was baptised to James and Eleanor Crandall at St. James the Great church, and became one of the founders of Westerly, Rhode Island, United States.

The discovery of coal in 1660 provided employment for the villagers, with further finds at Coalpit Heath and Parkfield providing more employment. The mines closed in the last century, when the coal was exhausted.

By 1876 occupations in the village included farmers, a bootmaker, shopkeepers, innkeepers, butchers, a plasterer, a blacksmith, a wheelwright, a market gardener and a carrier. At the end of the 19th century many of the old houses were demolished. At the beginning of the 20th century, the railway and mining provided most of the work. Now residents find work in nearby Yate, Chipping Sodbury and Bristol, and in the village itself.

An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward stretches from Dodington in the east, through 'Westerleigh'. The total population for the ward at the 2011 census was 3,755.^[8] On 1 April 2023 the parish was renamed from "Westerleigh" to "Westerleigh and Coalpit Heath".^[9]

The village has two public houses: the New Inn and Ye Olde Inn. As well as Wot Not second-hand shop, and two garages. The village shop has now closed.

In the late 18th century roads were built to Downend. The Great Western and Midland Railways were constructed in the 19th century. Westerleigh Junction was a crossing point of east-west and north-south main lines. In particular it is considered to be the present end of the line from milepost zero at Derby. Westerleigh formerly had a goods depot on the Bristol & Gloucester Railway. Demolished in the 1960s as part of the Beeching cuts, the site is now the home of one of Murco's oil storage terminals.

Westerleigh is served by the WESTlink on-demand bus, available to the public Monday-Saturday.^[10]