South Gloucestershire - Cotswolds to the Coast Quiz | Geography

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Filton and its airfield have been home to many aerospace companies such as Airbus and Rolls Royce. Which aircraft was put on display at the airfield and opened to the public in 2004?

Answer: Concorde

Concorde, a joint project between Britain and France had assembly lines in both Filton and Toulouse, France. Concorde 216 flew its first flight from Filton on 20 April 1979 and on 26 November 2003 it made the final ever Concorde flight, returning to Filton to be kept there permanently.

Twenty Concordes were built and fourteen entered airline service. The others were prototypes and production models. Seven were operated by British Airways and are now on display around the world. Air France also had seven, one was withdrawn and used for spare parts in 1982, another crashed in 2000, and a third never completed a final check leaving four to be displayed at various museums.

2. Warmley, a village on the edge of Bristol, is home to Kingswood Heritage Museum. The museum is housed in the factory built in 1740 by William Campion when he moved his business from central Bristol. What was it that this factory made?

Answer: Brass

In its time the factory was one of the largest industrial sites in Europe and included a rare industrial windmill. The windmill still stands, minus its sails, and is part of the museum. William Campion also built a Paladian house for himself and laid out gardens, including a water feature with a thirty-foot statue of Neptune and grottos.

The gardens are open to the public roughly once a month for guided tours.

3. South Gloucestershire has the only Tudor Castle in England which is open as a hotel. In 1535, King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn spent ten days there. Which castle is this?

Answer: Thornbury Castle

Began in 1511 for the third Duke of Buckingham, Edward Stafford, the castle has few of the usual defensive features associated with castles. On King Henry VIII's orders, the Duke was beheaded in 1521 for treason so he never saw the completed building. Although the building fell into disrepair during the Civil War, it was renovated in 1824.

The property also boasts the oldest Tudor gardens in England as well as a 500 year old vineyard inside the castle walls, which still produces Thornbury wine.

And if you want to follow in the footsteps of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, you can stay in the "Duke's bedchamber".

4. I am now in a place that marks the boundary between Bristol Harbour Authority and British Waterways water. The lock here is the first lock east of Netham, where boats leave Bristol Floating Harbour. Just up the road is one of the oldest public houses in Britain, which Oliver Cromwell used as his regional headquarters. Where am I?

Answer: Hanham

Hanham Lock is officially the first on the Kennet and Avon Canal. A weir carries the river whilst boats use the adjacent lock. Below Hanham Lock the river is tidal, although high tides often rise over the weir making the river tidal to Keynsham. The lock opened in 1727 and used to include a colliery wharf to the west however the mines closed in the nineteenth century.

"The Blue Bowl", believed to have been named after a roman blue bowl found nearby, has been a pub since the 1300s at least and is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.

5. Dyrham is a small village near the M4 motorway and home to Dyrham Park, a large baroque mansion and deer park. The standing house was built for William Blathwayt who was secretary to war for which monarch?

Answer: King William III

Dyrham Park was completed in 1704 replacing the family's ramshackle Tudor home. King William III was Dutch and consequently there is a large collection of Dutch arts in the house. The house and grounds are now owned by the National Trust and open to the public.

6. A few miles up the road, in the far east of the region, stands the stately home of the Dukes of Beaufort which is renowned for its annual horse trials. What is the name of this property?

Answer: Badminton House

Badminton House has been the home of the Dukes of Beaufort since the seventeenth century and has played host to the Badminton Horse Trials since 1949. Badminton is also the base for the Duke of Beaufort's Hunt, founded in 1682 by the first Duke. It is one of the oldest and largest fox hunting packs in England.

7. Kingswood, now part of the eastern suburbs of Bristol, was as the name suggests once-royal forests. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries a notorious group of thieves, ruffians, and highwaymen terrorised the area. By what name were they known?

Answer: Cock Road Gang

The gang consisted mostly of members of the Caines family. Although they mainly operated in the Kingswood and Oldland areas they did commit crimes as far away as London and Birmingham. Cock Road is located high up and provided a good vantage point to see anyone approaching; nowadays it still provides a good view over the city of Bristol.

A chapel now stands on the site the gang used as their lookout point. The gang committed their crimes for around 150 years until 1834 when George Caines was transported for life to New South Wales, Australia.

He had been arrested after burgling various silver and gold items from Dyrham Park mansion. Several other members of the family were also transported and others were hung in Gloucester.

8. On 13 December 1981, whilst travelling through the Cotswolds a blizzard struck and Queen Elizabeth II had to take refuge at the Cross Hands Hotel. What village is this hotel in?

Answer: Old Sodbury

The Cross Hands Hotel dates from the fourteenth century and is an old posting house. In the 1680s the cellars were used to house convicted criminals sentenced to death by 'bloody' Judge Jefferies.

9. The first four level stack interchange in the UK was opened in South Gloucestershire in 1966. Where is this located?

Answer: Almondsbury

Almondsbury Interchange is between the M4 and M5. By 2009, two further four stack interchanges had been opened; one at the M4/M25 interchange near Heathrow and the other where the M23 meets the M25 south of London.

10. The longest river in Great Britain forms the north-western boundary of South Gloucestershire. What river is this?

Answer: Severn

Two large bridges cross the river Severn from South Gloucestershire. The first, a suspension bridge was opened in 1966, takes the M48 from Aust across to Beachley in Wales. Thirty years later a second crossing was opened which stretches from Severn Beach to Subrook.

This cable stay bridge carries the M4. The tidal range of the river Severn is the second highest in the world, exceeded only by the Bay of Fundy in Canada. At certain times of the year a large surge wave called the Severn Bore sweeps up the river.

The shape of the Severn estuary causes the water to be funneled into an ever narrowing channel as the tide rises which forms the large wave.

Source: Author jules44

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Pagiedamon before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

South Gloucestershire - Cotswolds to the Coast Quiz

South Gloucestershire was formed when the county of Avon was abolished and split into four in 1996. Although a lot of the region is rural it also includes much of the northern and eastern suburbs of Bristol. Welcome to my county!

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