OS grid reference SO839205 Region South West Sovereign state United Kingdom Shire county Gloucestershire Dialling code 01452 | Ceremonial county Gloucestershire Country England Post town Gloucester District Tewkesbury Borough UK parliament constituency Gloucester | |
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Longford is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. Although situated within two miles of Gloucester city centre, Longford parish falls within the jurisdiction of the Borough of Tewkesbury.
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Map of Longford, Gloucester, UK
The village borders the Tewkesbury Road running north out of Gloucester and is bisected by the A40 northern bypass at the busy Longford roundabout. Connected with Segregated Bicycle Path to Gloucester.
Longford was severely affected by the July 2007 floods 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 and the flooding extended along the Tewkesbury Road, past the Longford Inn as far as Westfield Terrace.
Longford is primarily residential, and is home to Oxstalls Sports Park and Tennis Centre, the Winfield Hospital and both Longford AFC and Gala Wilton Football Clubs.
In 2016, the former England football captain, Stuart Pearce, briefly came out of retirement to sign a one-match deal with Longford AFC, a team dubbed 'The worst in Great Britain', in order to support the grass roots game. Unfortunately, Longford still lost 1-0.
Every summer since 2013, Oxstalls Sport Park, Plock Court is the venue for the Sportbeat Music Festival, a two day outdoor music and sports festival. "Sportbeat Music Festival"
A new primary school is due to open at Whittington Park, Longford, in September 2017 near the Longford Village Hall.
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.
History
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.
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 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Longford like this: