The area between these estates was still being mined for celestine and therefore could not be built on until the mineral had been extracted. In the 1950s the Ridge housing estate was developed. Major growth in Yate started in the early 1920s with the construction of the Moorlands Road estates behind Station Road, close to the Parnall aeroplane factory. A number of bus services also pass Yate railway station. On Sundays and bank holidays, the only bus routes serving Yate are the services to Bristol and Cribbs Causeway which operate to a reduced frequency with the first journeys being later and the final journeys being earlier than the rest of the week.īuses in Yate pick up and set down at Yate Bus Station which is at Yate Shopping Centre. The majority of bus routes in the area operate Monday to Saturday only. Additionally, buses link Yate to a number of other towns/villages within South Gloucestershire including Badminton, Charfield, Chipping Sodbury, Downend, Emersons Green, Filton, Fishponds, Frenchay, Hanham, Kingswood, Pucklechurch, Mangotsfield, Old Sodbury, Staple Hill, Thornbury, Tormarton, Westerleigh, Wick, Winterbourne and Wotton under Edge. There are also buses from Yate running to Bath, Cribbs Causeway, Malmesbury, Tetbury and Westonbirt Arboretum. Regular bus services link Yate with Bristol City Centre. Other operators who provide bus services to/from Yate include Andybus, Severnside Transport and South Gloucestershire Bus and Coach Company. Busesīus services within the Yate area are mainly provided by First Group and Wessex Connect. The station is located on the main Bristol to Birmingham line between Bristol Parkway and Cam and Dursley, and is operated by First Great Western. The opinion of Bristol Industrial Archaeological Society has also been sought. Oxford Archaeology has been commissioned to undertake an investigation as to the military significance of this site. It was occupied by the Highways Agency until the sheds were demolished for development. Two large storage sheds survived on the site until 2008.Īt the end of World War II, the site was taken over by the Royal Navy and became known as the Sea Transport Stores Depot. Yate rail yardĭuring World War II, a rail transfer yard was constructed for the United States Army, probably as part of Operation Bolero to assist the build up of troops and stores before D-Day. To locals the area is known as Brimsham Park. This housing estate continued to use the corrupted name of Brimsham. The town further expanded in the 1990s and 2000s with the construction of housing at North Yate. Owing to a spelling error, however, it was in fact called Brimsham Green School. When a secondary school was built in the late 1970s, it was supposed to be called Brinsham Green School, after Brinsham Lane at nearby Yate Rocks. The creation of a new town included a large retail shopping area, sports and leisure development together with public buildings. In the 1960s Yate was designated as a development area and the building boom began. Yate railway station was closed by the Beeching Axe in January 1965, but was reopened in May 1989 the Brunel-built engine shed is preserved nearby. The cattle and produce markets were held around this road, and businesses were established there. It was the opening of the railway station in 1844, as part of Bristol and Gloucester Railway, that established Yate, with Station Road becoming the central thoroughfare. St Mary's Primary School, situated outside the churchyard walls, was built on the site of a former poor house. It was altered during the fifteenth century and was extensively restored in 1970. The town's parish church, St Mary's, dates from Norman times. Through the centuries the land was cleared for farming. The name is derived from the Old English word giete or gete, meaning ‘a gateway into a forest area’.ĭuring the Anglo-Saxon period and well into medieval times, most of this part of south Gloucestershire was covered with forest. The first mention of Yate is the existence of a religious house in about AD 770 Yate is also mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. Yate Town Council provides local services. Yate remains part of Gloucestershire only for traditional purposes. In 1996, Avon was abolished, and the area became part of the unitary authority of South Gloucestershire. Yate was in Gloucestershire until 1974 when it became part of the newly-formed county of Avon. Yate is represented in the UK Parliament by the constituency of Thornbury and Yate. The town is surrounded by countryside and within reach of the city of Bristol by bicycle, car, bus or train.