I got interested in Bristol's medieval water supplies after poking around near Jacobs Wells Road and Brandon Hill. It was during that research I found out about a pipe that's still there today, and, as far as I know, still actually functioning, that was originally commissioned by Carmelite monks in the 13th century. They wanted a supply of spring water from Brandon Hill to their priory on the site of what's now the Bristol Beacon—Colston Hall, as-was. It was created around 1267, and later, in 1376, extended generously with an extra "feather" pipe to St John's On The Wall, giving the pipework its modern name of "St John's Conduit".
St John's on the Wall is still there, guarding the remaining city gate at the end of Broad Street, and the outlet tap area was recently refurbished. It doesn't run continuously now, like it did when I first moved to Bristol and worked at the end of Broad Street, in the Everard Building, but I believe the pipe still functions. One day I'd like to see that tap running...
There are a few links on the web about the pipe, but by far the best thing to do is to watch this short and fascinating 1970s TV documentary called The Hidden Source, which has some footage of the actual pipe and also lots of fantastic general footage of Bristol in the seventies.
On my walk today I was actually just going to the building society in town, but I decided to trace some of the route of the Carmelite pipe, including visiting streets it runs under, like Park Street, Christmas Street, and, of course, Pipe Lane. I also went a bit out of my way to check out St James' Priory, the oldest building in Bristol, seeing as it was just around the corner from the building society.
There are far too many pictures from this walk, and my feet are now quite sore, because it was a long one. But I enjoyed it.
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31 Jul 2021
At the end of July I went to have a look around some of the private gardens opened up by the annual Green Squares and Secret Gardens event. Sadly it was compressed into a single day this year, for various Covid-related reasons, it seems, so I didn't get to poke around too many places. I went to:
And snapped a few things in between, too. It was a lovely day—a bit too hot, if anything—and it was interesting to get into a few places I'd only ever seen from the outside, especially The Paragon and Cornwallis gardens, which are the least visible to passing strangers of all of them.
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Text Recognition Tags: Alhe ongeat Besdents Asooatten w n tact an Ownery Asoction n uy otheresidents sarvants and tnantamply datn'tcourt,ifwe are to jutge buan the Minuts of the eaure Ground Commttue whch in 1904 voted that taretoes and mer faes be et permitted to ae he plrae ground The ervants were dearly a problem, and in 12 e evatad alwng of Mers in the gendens s ogin droughta that he delinguents the ernt ot No2and t waireoked at the on Secnetany should wite to Mr. Esery ponting ut the e of actithe Canmitee eulbe forct to nahe reted the einquit n Ais aniceIta ey to beas ur predeeos but through the laboun of anore ar less ful-ine gadener e per wkin 18 they worted hard at cresting and mantaning the ganden we njny tody. Over the pears the Minutes book refers constantly to payments for eeh and shut, andtor the paths the lopping oftand the manteriance of the was-al of whah remainstnie ti day with the tres being partieular thefore he Camtt The gardemer tate tio epee It clear that toth heuses and gandes uffered dre eet setwthe as and for the folkowng 20 ywars Then in 1963 a Residents Aocutun was farmed whech emtraed the sgir af the age led by anewneration of owner aupies.and spitad tenantsa deteined attempe as made to mole etryane in the care of their haned anironmant The fact that eerol taf serp undanter rub ws of the state to which the prdns had deckned. There are stl a couple of ndents iing hers who took part in that massive dea e Weowe them agrst e We try to contue that self ep echos today, in the bellef that z fosters a samn of community All ptup residents er fleer paare tomatkally memters of the RA all havenght of acs to the garden Reponshlky for geting things done rests with everoe. The firat Sunda of she month is a'gandening elorning and we takein tus to mange the rkforce and alleate tasks. Keen gardeners are free moved d from the gardets is exidence enough s as much as they ke. Becently we haive been trying te manage he ganden to make mare wlfe frendly. We no Inngor spray the gravel path and we leave areasf the lawn unmwn to amcurage inects Some bird boons have teen pi u on the trees and Soses and badgers ane regar viston the latter not slwy welcome as they dig up the lan for wonms and gns dandeningrt, the grounds anea perfact plavaruund for chiidren and aduts ae de foctie, an anal bonfenight sctacule treasure hunts and bithday partiem, outdonr Shakeprare, carol singing sit doun meaand dancing in ourmarquee Lockdown in 2020 led to Cuckinghan Palace and the intraduction ofs fock of splenddy productive rescue hers, and this ar we started to plane truit ree aey The parden seemi to survive everything we thew t it, se far Alhe ongeat Besdents Asooatten w n tact an Ownery Asoction n uy otheresidents sarvants and tnantamply datn'tcourt,ifwe are to jutge buan the Minuts of the eaure Ground Commttue whch in 1904 voted that taretoes and mer faes be et permitted to ae he plrae ground The ervants were dearly a problem, and in 12 e evatad alwng of Mers in the gendens s ogin droughta that he delinguents the ernt ot No2and t waireoked at the on Secnetany should wite to Mr. Esery ponting ut the e of actithe Canmitee eulbe forct to nahe reted the einquit n Ais aniceIta ey to beas ur predeeos but through the laboun of anore ar less ful-ine gadener e per wkin 18 they worted hard at cresting and mantaning the ganden we njny tody. Over the pears the Minutes book refers constantly to payments for eeh and shut, andtor the paths the lopping oftand the manteriance of the was-al of whah remainstnie ti day with the tres being partieular thefore he Camtt The gardemer tate tio epee It clear that toth heuses and gandes uffered dre eet setwthe as and for the folkowng 20 ywars Then in 1963 a Residents Aocutun was farmed whech emtraed the sgir af the age led by anewneration of owner aupies.and spitad tenantsa deteined attempe as made to mole etryane in the care of their haned anironmant The fact that eerol taf serp undanter rub ws of the state to which the prdns had deckned. There are stl a couple of ndents iing hers who took part in that massive dea e Weowe them agrst e We try to contue that self ep echos today, in the bellef that z fosters a samn of community All ptup residents er fleer paare tomatkally memters of the RA all havenght of acs to the garden Reponshlky for geting things done rests with everoe. The firat Sunda of she month is a'gandening elorning and we takein tus to mange the rkforce and alleate tasks. Keen gardeners are free moved d from the gardets is exidence enough s as much as they ke. Becently we haive been trying te manage he ganden to make mare wlfe frendly. We no Inngor spray the gravel path and we leave areasf the lawn unmwn to amcurage inects Some bird boons have teen pi u on the trees and Soses and badgers ane regar viston the latter not slwy welcome as they dig up the lan for wonms and gns dandeningrt, the grounds anea perfact plavaruund for chiidren and aduts ae de foctie, an anal bonfenight sctacule treasure hunts and bithday partiem, outdonr Shakeprare, carol singing sit doun meaand dancing in ourmarquee Lockdown in 2020 led to Cuckinghan Palace and the intraduction ofs fock of splenddy productive rescue hers, and this ar we started to plane truit ree aey The parden seemi to survive everything we thew t it, se far