The Norwood Triangle

In the 1790s Charles Brandon Trye built a horse-drawn tramroad at his quarries on Leckhampton Hill. In July 1810 he extended it to form a spur of the Gloucester and Cheltenham Tramroad, which ran from a wharf near the present Tesco superstore in Gloucester Road to Gloucester Docks. This enabled transportation of the stone to Cheltenham and wider afield via the docks and the River Severn.

Initially the tramroad ran through fields and open countryside, later forming the street pattern in this area. The line ran down what is now the route of the Leckhampton Road and Norwood Road. At the Norwood Triangle it veered off along Andover Road, through Westall Green and into Queen's Road. There it joined the main tramroad near to the site of the later Lansdown station, which wasn’t built until 1840.

Great Norwood Street follows the line of a siding which once led from the Norwood triangle to stonemason's yards at Grotten Wharf, near to Suffolk Road.

The tramroad consisted of a plateway. Its rails had L shaped flanges to guide the wheels, unlike modern railways, and rested upon heavy stone blocks. The gauge was 3 feet 6 inches and any carter could use it on payment of the toll. The line was exclusively for freight but there are reports of passengers riding in the carts, including some bad accidents. It closed in 1861, by which time the streets had been built and the tracks were a nuisance to road traffic.

At the Norwood Triangle, the Railway Inn was built in the early 1830s to serve the thirsty hauliers, stonemasons and a growing urban population. It was the location of several coroner’s inquests in the 19th century, which included incidents of death by fire, scalding and being run over by horse drawn carriages.

The pub had its fair share of assaults, drunkenness and theft. For example the Cheltenham Mercury reported 6th December 1862 that John Sale, a labourer, arrived at the Railway Inn in a disorderly state. The landlady threw him out and in retaliation he broke a window. The fine was 5 shillings plus expenses or 10 days imprisonment.

In common with other pubs, The Railway Inn was a centre for the local community but it finally closed in 1968.

Take a minute to look at the bronze disc inlaid in the pavement which bears a copy of the seal of the old tramroad company. It was placed here in 2008.

Walk south along Norwood Road until you reach The Norwood Arms