Twerton

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 51.381
longitude= -2.398
official_name= Twerton
unitary_england=Bath and North East Somerset
lieutenancy_england= Somerset
region= South West England
constituency_westminster= Bath
post_town= BATH
postcode_district = BA2
postcode_area= BA
dial_code= 01225
os_grid_reference= ST723642

Twerton is a suburb of the city of Bath, Somerset, England, situated to the west of the city, and home to the city's football club, Bath City.

The Domesday Book of 1086 records that Twerton was held by Nigel de Gournay, who would have won his lands in Englishcombe, Twerton, Swainswick and Barrow Gurney by fighting for William I of England. His original home must have been Gournay, which was half-way between Dieppe and Paris.

Thomas de Gournay was involved with the murder of Edward II at Berkeley Castle in 1327. [Manco, J. (1995) "The Parish of Englishcombe: A History", pp. 2, 4.]

Twerton is serviced by bus routes 5 and 20, both operated by First buses in the Bath area. Twerton high street houses pubs, a minimarket, a newsagent's, Blockbuster, a bakery and two hairdressing salons.

At the time when Brunel was designing the Great Western Railway, his plan was for the line from Bath to Bristol to go through the centre of Twerton. The landowner, named Wilkins, was so enthusiastic about the railway that he paid for the village to be demolished to make room, then rebuilt it next to the line ["Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a graphic biography" by Eugene Byrne and Simon Burr, 2006] . The railway station on the main line, called Twerton-on-Avon, survived until 1917. Twerton was also the terminus of one line of the Bath tramway system until that closed in 1939, .

St Michael's church was enlarged in 1824 by local architect John Pinch the elder and rebuilt in 1839 by the city architect George Phillips Manners.Twerton Gaol was built by Manners in 1840 and closed in 1878. Only the governor's house survives, now converted into apartments.

The author Henry Fielding who wrote Tom Jones lived in Twerton and is believed to have written most of the novel while living there. His house was demolished for road improvements by Bath City Council in the 1960s.

References

External links

* [http://www.proudoftwerton.com www.proudoftwerton.com - community site for Twerton, Whiteway and Southdown]
* [http://www.twerton.com www.twerton.com - Twerton Community Site]