Recent History
At the start of the 20th Century, Patchway was a small village centered on Patchway Green, now known as Patchway Common. Part of the village straddled Gloucester Road, south of the bridge which passed over the Great Western Railway line from Bristol to South Wales. Patchway Tunnel was nearby.
Industrialization started when a flying school at Filton Aerodrome was converted into an aeroengine factory, when the Bristol Aeroplane Company (BAC) acquired Cosmos Engineering in 1920.
During the 1930s, new housing was built on Patchway Estate, just north of Filton Aerodrome, and bungalows were built on Stoke Lane.
BAC started the development of East Works on Gypsy Patch Lane during the re-armament programme of the 1930s. Engine component testing facilities were built alongside the main railway line during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.
A dual carriageway, known as the Filton Bypass, was constructed through Patchway Estate in the late 1930s, to divert A38 road traffic away from Filton. During World War 2, the US Army had a tented encampment along the wide verges of the bypass. In the late 1940s the bypass was severed by the extension of the main runway at Filton aerodrome to accommodate the Bristol Brabazon airliner. This project also required the demolition of the nearby hamlet of Charlton, many of whose residents were rehoused on Patchway Estate.
In the 1950s and early 1960s a large bungalow estate was built at Stoke Lodge, adjacent to Patchway Common. A huge overspill estate was built at the back of Patchway Estate in the mid-1960s.
Also in the mid-1960s, the New Filton Bypass (now part of the M5 motorway) was constructed, on the north-west fringe of Patchway Estate, along the upper edge of the Severn Escarpment. This road forms the boundary between the town of Patchway and the adjacent Green Belt.
Rolls-Royce have built new production facilities on the Gypsy Patch test site, close to the A38 and have completely demolished the old East Works, for redevelopment. All the Rolls-Royce Bristol facilities are now north of Gypsy Patch Lane, the former West Works site on the airfield having been redeveloped by the Post Office in the late 1980s.
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