Benhall, Gloucestershire

Benhall is a small district within the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. It lies south-west of the town centre, just south of the main road to Gloucester, and north of the district of Up Hatherley. It falls mainly within the Anglican parish of St Mark.

Much of the area consists of the Benhall Estate, developed mainly in the late 1950s and early 1960s on land that had previously been farmland (mainly pasture), and takes its name from the farm that formerly stood there (at the site of the current Notgrove Close). Many of the roads are named after villages in the surrounding countryside. "Robert Burns Avenue" was named after the Scottish poet, after complaints that he was not among the poets with roads named after them in the older St Mark's estate (Tennyson, Byron, Shakespeare, etc.), even though he had a personal link with Cheltenham (his sons retired to the town).

St Marks Church of England Junior School and Benhall Infants School, along with a playgroup, are located on Robert Burns Avenue in Benhall.

The last census recorded the population of Benhall at 3260. The area has an active residents' association. In local government it forms part of the ward of Benhall and the Reddings.

There are 1,362 households within the Benhall district and an average unemployment rate of 1.7%. [http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/NeighbourhoodProfileSearch.do?areaId=557162&ward=true&wardName=Benhall%20and%20The%20Reddings&$ph=72]

External links

* [http://www.cheltenhampartnership.org.uk/libraries/templates/page.asp?FolderID=90 Benhall Residents' Association contact details] - Cheltenham Partnership web site
* [http://www.cheltenham4u.co.uk/benhall.asp?area=Benhall%2C+The+Reddings Benhall area guide] - Cheltenham4u web site