St Werburghs

infobox UK place
country = England
official_name= St Werburghs
latitude= 51.4656
longitude= -2.5820
civil_parish=
population =
unitary_england= Bristol
lieutenancy_england=Bristol
region= South West England
constituency_westminster= Bristol East
post_town= BRISTOL
postcode_district = BS
postcode_area= BS
dial_code= 0117
os_grid_reference= ST596742

St. Werburghs is an area in central north-east Bristol, England. Surrounded by the M32 motorway, railway embankments and allotment slopes it has the feel of a green village in the inner city. The area became known as St.Werburghs when St Werburghs Church was relocated (and substantially rebuilt) to Mina Road in this district from Corn Street, Bristol in 1879. It is now a Climbing Centre by Undercover Rock. Before then the northern part was Ashley Vale and the southern part Baptist Mills. In the 19th Century part of Baptist Mills was also known as Botany Bay and regarded as a fairly lawless area.

The area was historically prone to serious flooding, notably in 1882 and 1889. There are still 4 Victorian flood marker posts. It was also the source of important water supplies for the city of Bristol through the Quay Pipe and The Boiling Wells..

St. Werburghs hosts a City Farm and has been the scene of several popular environmental campaigns including the development of a self-build housing community and the establishing of Narroways Hill as a Millennium Green and wildlife area. There is an existing campaign to rid the area of the 11 unsightly & instrusive billboards that dominate the main road through St Werburghs.

The BBC Television series Only Fools and Horses, which was filmed in and around Bristol, used the allotments for the episode 'Mother Nature's Son', and various BBC Wildlife & Gardening programmes and the perennial Casualty (TV series) have been filmed in the area.

Area

The district lies adjacent to St Pauls, Bristol, a much maligned quarter which receives a disproportionate amount of bad press from the local media. However St Werburghs shares some of these problems particularly drug dealing and, to a lesser extent, prostitution. [cite web |url=http://www.eukn.org/eukn/themes/Urban_Policy/Security_and_crime_prevention/Sense_of_insecurity/St-Werburghs_1022.html |title=St Werburghs Safer Streets Project, Bristol |accessdate=2007-01-21 |date=2003-02-01 |publisher=European Urban Knowledge Network ] Whilst it has a more of a cultural mix than Bristol , it is not as diverse as other inner city areas. [cite web |url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadProfileSearch.do?a=3&i=1001&m=0&enc=1&profileSearchText=BS2+9YT+&searchProfiles= |title= Neighbourhood Statistics:People and society |accessdate=2007-01-21 |publisher=National Statistics |year= 2003|] It also has more family housing which has increased house prices and meant the area has less crime [ cite web |url=http://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/information/CrimeStats/DisplayStatistics.aspx?t=3&lid=211 |title=St Werburghs Beat Satistics |accessdate=2007-01-21 |publisher=Avon and Somerset Constabulary ] than the other inner city Bristol areas. This leads to the benefits of a multi-cultural community but less deprivation than some neighbouring inner-city areas.

Mina Road is St Werburghs' 'high street', whose shops each have an imaginative figurehead protruding from their frontages indicating the type of trade on offer.

The park opposite the shops contains an exquisite and original example of a cast iron Victorian public lavatory.

See also

* St Werburgh

References

External links

* [http://www.stwerburghs.org/ St Werburghs Community Website]
* [http://www.undercover-rock.com/ St Werburghs Climbing centre]
* [http://freespace.virgin.net/harry.jen/ Narroways Millennium Green]