The Old Sodbury Times is a community newsletter for the village of Old Sodbury.
It is produced bi-monthly by volunteers, and 250 copies are distributed to homes in and around the village.
If you would like to join our mailing list to receive an emailed copy, please use the very simple sign up procedure on this link: https://mailchi.mp/04969d142752/old-sodbury-times-sign-up.
Please be assured that signing up will not mean your details are sold on to others, or you will get spam etc.
To contribute to the the Old Sodbury Times, please send your news to either Michelle Dash on 07955 170321 or Chris Anderson on 07860 155528 or email .
The deadline for articles is the middle of the previous month.
For Village Hall bookings click here.
Thank you to everyone who writes for or helps produce the Old Sodbury Times. We always welcome more contributors.
Any opinions expressed or implied within the Old Sodbury Times are not necessarily those of the editors. Any articles submitted are on the basis that they can be edited and must not be anonymous.
Old Sodbury is a small village nestled on the west side of the Cotswold Hills. There are extensive views to the Severn and Forest of Dean, and on a clear day you can see the Brecon Beacons. Of the 250 households most are concentrated along the spring line. The Church half way up the hillside on a rise has been there since Norman times. Nearby is a viewpoint.
The village has three inns: The Dog on the A432, The Bell nearer to Chipping Sodbury and The Cross Hands at the top of the hill where the A432 meets the A46. Queen Elizabeth II was forced to take refuge in the Cross Hands during a severe snowstorm in 1982.
Opposite The Dog by the village green is the Cotswold Service Station which sells snacks in addition to petrol (open Monday to Saturday).
Old Sodbury periodically hits the news because of the tunnel on the mainline between Cardiff and London floods. Standing above the main village is a tunnel ventilator shaft, one of six along the line, resembling a small castle.
The village is within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is a focal point for footpath trails. Here the Frome Valley Walkway and the Jubilee Way meet the Cotswold Way National Trail. The Monarch's Way also passes nearby.
The river Frome rises in nearby Dodington Park (landscaped by Capability Brown) and crosses the railway on an aqueduct. It goes through the nearby town of Chipping Sodbury (2 miles away) and flows on to end up in the floating harbour at Bristol.
The village contains several old buildings: a mill and park mentioned in the Domesday Book, a former turnpike cottage on the main road, an Elizabethan house, and The Cross Hands was a coaching inn where horses were changed on the coach journey from Bath to Gloucester. Much older to the north of the village is an Iron Age Fort, the ramparts of which support limestone flora. Just to the west of the Church bumps in the ground show where the Manor Court used to be and below it at the bottom of the hillside are the remains of medieval fishponds.
The village has a primary school and a village hall.
The images on this page have been kindly supplied by Richard Wilson.
@mysodbury