Longford, Gloucestershire

From Gloucester, the Tewkesbury road ran northwards from Alvin gate through the settlements of Kingsholm, Longford, and Twigworth. In Kingsholm it was joined by a road from the blind gate, which in its south part was known in 1803 as Dean's Walk and in its north part in 1722 as Snake Lane (later Edwy Parade). Bridges and a causeway carried the Tewkesbury road over water courses and low-lying meadows in Longford, which took its name from the crossing.[4]

On the Tewkesbury road north of Kingsholm a house was converted into three cottages in the early 19th century. Further north in Longford there was a small early settlement at the south end of the causeway, where a medieval cross and possibly a chapel stood. There was evidently a house there by the early 13th century, when a man surnamed of the plock was recorded, and Plock Court, east of the road, occupied the site of a medieval manor house.

In 1851 market gardeners were fairly numerous in Longford and Twigworth, and later there were several market gardens and nurseries at Longlevens (called Springfield) and Innsworth. In 1855 the civil parish of Longford was created.[5]

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Longford like this:[6]

LONGFORD-ST.CATHERINE, a hamlet in St. Catherine parish, Gloucestershire; contiguous to Gloucester city, 1 mile N of Gloucester r. station. Acres, 200. Real property, with Longford-St. Mary, £4,735. Pop.. 213. Houses, 37. The manor belongs to the Bishop of Gloucester; and most of the land, to the Dean and Chapter. A Roman settlement is supposed to have been here.

In 1866 a free hospital for children of the poor was begun next to St. Lucy's Home of Charity on the site of the current Gambier Parry Gardens. The home, a converted villa east of the Tewkesbury Road, was occupied by the sisters of St. Lucy, an Anglican community founded in 1864 by Thomas Gambier Parry of Highnam to train nurses and tend the sick in their homes. By 1866 the sisters, who were sent to many parts of the country, nursed some patients in the home. Gambier Parry also conceived the idea for the children's hospital in connection with the home and paid much of the building costs. The hospital, a brick building designed by William Jacques, opened in 1867 with 22 beds. Children of the poor from any distance were admitted and out-patients were treated at a house in Bell Lane. The hospital was supported by subscriptions and donations. In 1872 the sisters of St. John the Baptist from Clewer, Berkshire, took over the work of the sisters of St. Lucy. In 1876, Gambier Parry moved the home to a large house at the corner of Hare Lane and Pitt Street.

Longford Park Primary Academy,[7] a new primary school and nursery with 210 places, opened at Whittington Park, Longford, in September 2017 near the Longford Village Hall.[8][9]

In 2017, the University of Gloucestershire submitted final plans to develop Plock Court as part of its Oxstalls Campus redevelopment. The improvements will comprise a new business school and growth hub together with substantial sports facilities: a sports hall and stadium, 4G pitches, landscaping, and better community access.

Every summer from 2013 to 2017, Oxstalls Sport Park, Plock Court was the venue for the Sportbeat Music Festival, a two day outdoor music and sports festival.[10]

Sports activities include:

• Oxstalls Tennis Centre, Oxstalls Sports Park, with 6 indoor and 4 outdoor tennis courts[11][12]
• Gala Wilton Football Club
• Longford A.F.C.[13][14]

Longford was severely affected by the July 2007 floods [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] resulting in the many homes being flooded. The bar at the Queen's Head on the Tewkesbury Road was under a couple of feet of water [20] and the flooding extended along the Tewkesbury Road, past the Longford Inn as far as Westfield Terrace. The river Severn's water capacity is insufficient for the required basin drainage, since it is long overdue for dredging. Sediment build-up has made the channel shallow.

• Parish Council

Media related to Longford at Wikimedia Commons