High Orchard

{{Short description|Industrial area in Gloucester, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} thumb|Llanthony Provender Mill, 2009, canalside thumb|Llanthony Provender Mill, 2009 thumb|''Tweddell's 150-Ton Riveting Machine'' (1885), made by Fielding & Platt.<ref>''The Engineer'', Vol. 60 (1885), p. 88.</ref> [[File:Converted warehouse on Baker's Quay - geograph.org.uk - 1469381.jpg|thumb|Pillar & Lucy Warehouse at Baker's Quay, 2009<ref>[https://www.gloucester.gov.uk/media/1173/thedockscasep07.pdf ''The Docks Conservation Area (Conservation Area No. 3) Appraisal & Management Proposals''.] Gloucester City Council, Gloucester, 2007. [https://web.archive.org/web/20190327085736/https://www.gloucester.gov.uk/media/1173/thedockscasep07.pdf Archived here.]</ref>]] '''High Orchard''' was an industrial area of the city of Gloucester in England that was developed in the 19th century on the former orchard of the Priory of Llanthony Secunda (1136). The area was closely associated with Gloucester Docks immediately to the north, and served by the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal and railway transport. It was the site of Fielding & Platt's Atlas Works and a number of other significant local employers.

It was centred on High Orchard Street which ran between Llanthony Road to the north and Baker Street to the south. To the west was Baker's Quay and to the east Southgate Street. Immediately south of Baker Street was the terminus of the High Orchard branch railway line.

Most of the area is now the site of the Gloucester Quays shopping centre and associated buildings, with some original buildings surviving as part of the shopping centre and along the canal side.

==Early history== High Orchard was sited on the former orchard of the Priory of Llanthony Secunda,<ref name=Medieval>[https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol4/pp63-72 Medieval Gloucester: Topography.] British History Online. Retrieved 21 March 2019.</ref> founded in 1136 by monks in Wales who retreated to Gloucester and Hereford after attacks by the local populace.<ref name=BBCNews2017>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-38966548|title=Medieval priory restoration work starts|date=14 February 2017|work=BBC News|access-date=21 March 2019|language=en-GB}}</ref>

==19th century== The area was developed in the 19th century, and from the 1830s was particularly known for its timber yards which benefited from the opening of the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal in 1827 and, from 1848, new railway connections. Firms imported timber, prepared it for the building industry, and preserved it by kyanizing it or treating it with creosote. The flour-milling industry was present and flour-milling machinery was made at High Orchard Works (1851), while Atlas Works (1860) was the home of Fielding & Platt who made industrial machinery with a specialism in heavy-duty hydraulics. The cabinet makers J. A. Matthew & Co. built a large manufactory in 1894 that was destroyed by fire in 1912.<ref name=bho1835>[https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol4/pp170-183 Gloucester, 1835-1985: Economic development to 1914.] British History Online. Retrieved 21 March 2019.</ref><ref name=voyce/>

The area was centred on High Orchard Street which ran between Llanthony Road to the north and Baker Street to the south. Other streets were Merchants' Street which ran parallel to High Orchard Street, St Luke's Street, and Church Street.<ref name=os1900>Ordnance Survey map, c. 1900.</ref>

In 1848, the Midland Railway built a branch line from the city station to High Orchard immediately south of Baker Street, and which ran north through the area's industrial buildings into Gloucester Docks.<ref name=bho1835/><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ok2IAwAAQBAJ&dq=high+orchard+gloucester&pg=PT69|title=The Branch Lines of Gloucestershire|last=Maggs|first=Colin G.|date=2013|publisher=Amberley Publishing |isbn=9781445625614|location=Stroud|language=en}}</ref> South of the branch line was the works of the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company.<ref name=os1900/>

There was a small amount of housing served by the Church of England's Church of St. Luke, designed by Thomas Fulljames and consecrated in 1841.<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol4/pp311-317#h3-0010 St. Luke, High Orchard.] British History Online. Retrieved 18 March 2019.</ref> There was also a Norwegian Chapel immediately south of the railway line, and a Mission Room on the corner of Llanthony Road and Southgate Street.<ref name=os1880>Ordnance Survey map, c. 1880.</ref> <gallery> File:Map of Glocester (Gloucester) drawn and engraved under the direction of Edward Wedlake Brayley.jpg|1805 map of Gloucester after the construction of the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal but before the development of High Orchard File:High Orchard, Gloucester, Ordnance Survey map 1880s (2).jpg|High Orchard on an 1880s Ordnance Survey map showing timber yards on the east bank of the canal<ref name=os1880/> File:High Orchard, Gloucester, Ordnance Survey map c.1900.jpg|High Orchard on a c.1900 Ordnance Survey map<ref name=os1900/> </gallery>

==20th century== [[File:Aftermath of J.A. Matthews & Co fire High Orchard Gloucester 24 July 1912 01.jpg|thumb|High Orchard Street (looking north), aftermath of the J.A. Matthews & Co fire, July 1912<ref>[https://www.visit-gloucestershire.co.uk/old-gloucester/even-more-photos-of-gloucester-in-the-1900s/ Even More photos of Gloucester in the 1900s.] Visit Gloucestershire. Retrieved 22 March 2019.</ref>]] In July 1912, a fire broke out at J. A. Matthew & Co. in High Orchard Street and Llanthony Road that destroyed a 400ft long factory and nine houses in High Orchard Street. It also seriously damaged six houses in Exhibition Street. The fire was visible from Cranham, and was extinguished by fire fighters from Stroud and Cheltenham as the Gloucester engine was out of action. Over 200 men were made unemployed as a result of the fire.<ref name=voyce>Voyce, Jill. (1985) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=rWlnAAAAMAAJ&q=high+orchard+gloucester Gloucester in Old Photographs: From the County Library Collection].'' Gloucester: Alan Sutton. pp. 78-79. {{ISBN|0862992583}}</ref>

A carpet manufacturer moved to the area in the late 1930s<ref name=bho1985>[https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol4/pp183-191 Gloucester, 1835-1985: Economic development 1914-85.] British History Online. Retrieved 21 March 2019.</ref> and by 1975 there was a carpet factory there employing 250 people.<ref name=bho1985/>

West Midland Farmers' Association, an agricultural co-operative, owned buildings at Baker's Quay (1955) and a former maltings (1983) at High Orchard, and in 1983 employed 383 people.<ref name=bho1985/>

The Church of St. Luke was demolished in 1934 and stained glass from the building, much of it German or Dutch of the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, was reused at Holy Trinity Church, Longlevens.<ref name=NHL>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1419405|desc=Church of the Holy Trinity|access-date=18 March 2019}}</ref>

==21st century== thumb|High Orchard Street in the Gloucester Quays development with former Matthews factory on the right Most of High Orchard was redeveloped as Gloucester Quays shopping centre and associated buildings in the early 2000s. The surviving streets are High Orchard Street, Baker Street, Church Street, Llanthony Road, Southgate Street, and Merchants' Road. St Luke's Street no longer exists, Church Street is much longer than it once was, and Baker Street has a different course. Some existing buildings were retained on the canal side or incorporated into the shopping centre. These include listed buildings Pillar and Lucy Warehouses (c.1838),<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1271711|desc=Pillar Warehouse|access-date=21 March 2019}}</ref> Sudbrooke House (1840s),<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1245763|desc=Sudbrooke House|access-date=21 March 2019}}</ref> Llanthony Provender Mill (1862),<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1271710|desc=Llanthony Provender Mill|access-date=21 March 2019}}</ref> and Downings Malthouse (1893).<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1271707|desc=Downings Malthouse|access-date=21 March 2019}}</ref><ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1271708|desc=Downings Malthouse|access-date=21 March 2019}}</ref>

Llanthony Provender Mill was seriously damaged in an arson attack in 2015<ref>[https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/arson-pair-cheered-torched-historic-29625 Arson pair cheered as they torched historic Gloucester mill.] Daniel Chipperfield, Gloucestershire Live, 20 April 2017. Retrieved 22 March 2019.</ref> which left it a "dilapidated shell".<ref name=flats/> It was subsequently rebuilt as luxury flats.<ref name=flats>[https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/gloucesters-most-exclusive-flats-unveiled-1560330 Gloucester's most exclusive flats unveiled - and they look completely different.] Daniel Chipperfield, Gloucestershire Live, 12 May 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2019.</ref>

Other listed buildings along Llanthony Road and Southgate Street are St Lukes House,<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1245762|desc=St Lukes House|access-date=21 March 2019}}</ref> the Mariners Hall,<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1245761|desc=Mariners Hall|access-date=21 March 2019}}</ref> 172 Southgate Street,<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1245637|desc=172 Southgate Street|access-date=21 March 2019}}</ref> and 182/184 Southgate Street.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1245610|desc=182/184 Southgate Street|access-date=21 March 2019}}</ref>

In 2017, the last four surviving dockers' cottages (1902) in High Orchard Street were released for sale after renovation.<ref>[https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/old-dockers-cottages-homes-once-279333 Take a look inside old dockers' cottages transformed for the 21st century.] Daniel Chipperfield, Gloucestershire Live, 4 August 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2019.</ref>

==Bridges== High Orchard has two bridges that cross the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal; Llanthony Road Bridge in the north, and the High Orchard Bridge (2008) in the south on the newly constructed St Ann Way.<ref>[http://www.eadonconsulting.co.uk/projects/bridges/our-experience/high-orchard-lift-bridge,-gloucester-quays/ High Orchard Lift Bridge.] Eadon Consulting. Retrieved 22 March 2019.</ref><ref>[https://www.gloucesterdocks.me.uk/gloucester/gloquays/newbridge.htm High Orchard Bridge.] Hugh Conway-Jones, Gloucester Docks & the Sharpness Canal, 2008. Retrieved 22 March 2019.</ref><ref>[https://www.urbanrealm.com/news/1511/Bridge_gives_Gloucester_a_lift.html Bridge gives Gloucester a lift.] Urban Realm, 8 June 2009. Retrieved 22 March 2019.</ref> <gallery> File:Llanthony Road bridge - geograph.org.uk - 1013527.jpg|Llanthony Road Bridge looking east along Llanthony Road File:Drawbridge Gloucester.JPG|Llanthony Road Bridge looking north File:High Orchard Lift Bridge.jpg|High Orchard Bridge </gallery>

{{clear right}} == References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == {{commons category|High Orchard, Gloucester}} *[http://www.emgauge70s.co.uk/proto_gloucester.html High Orchard before and after photographs.]

Category:Areas of Gloucester Category:Gloucester Docks Category:Industrial history of Gloucestershire