Southmead

Coordinates: 51°30′14″N 2°36′10″W / 51.5039°N 2.6028°W / 51.5039; -2.6028

Southmead is a northern suburb and council ward of Bristol, in the southwest of England. The town of Filton (in South Gloucestershire), and the Bristol suburbs of Monks Park, Horfield, Henleaze and Westbury on Trym lie on its boundaries.

The River Trym rises in Southmead and flows southwest through Badock's Wood, a Local Nature Reserve. There is a round barrow near the northern end of the wood.

History

Southmead was a manor of the parish of Westbury on Trym. The manor house, mentioned in a document of 1319, was near the south end of what is now Southmead Road. Most of the estate of 313 acres (1.27 km²) was sold in the late 19th century. By 1888 Southmead was a small hamlet on Southmead Road.Southmead Hospital, formerly the Barton Regis Workhouse, was opened there in 1924.

Large-scale development of the area started in 1931, when the Bristol Corporation built 1,500 houses to the north of Southmead Road, partly to house families cleared from the slums of central Bristol, and partly to address the housing shortage at the time. A further 1,100 houses were built after World War II. Since then, reference has often been made to the "pre-war estate" of Southmead and the "post-war estate".