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.
Tags: Bristol Places UK onemilematt united kingdom Clifton Village Clifton Cornwallis Crescent Garden Clifton Open Garden Squares Green Squares and Secret Gardens open day Cornwallis Crescent garden
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Text Recognition Tags: Cornwallis Crescent (West) G5SG - 31.07.2021 Welome-ease teel tree to wander round the garden and woodland Comwal Crescnta home to wel er 150 u. ng in 85 h holds cangng fromente huse to mesty sin oor tats-a larcry fron the originaly olanned 31 households Itnot at the demugraphi prute whch has changed, there na cane forsuggesting that the Crescent sureetly enjoyru a perod efunerecedemad ke, cae and attention fm the pret generation of reutents, Read o. The ongnal plan pronatly by AIta Pay as tor a mplete shullew cresmtol 4hes Work begat a1791, buc akeady the gret spetidative bukdng boo of the perkidwas beginnirg e colapie resaurs become scar, lons had to ome by as finwnciers and buiders were edered boninatnd the debide wan completed wiiti the decteration of war wth France in Bding work vtopped with i tal houne in vanous states of complenn The area inust have arpeaet etroordinary to ute hom this ommentaryof R07 1do noe ecalect mone melhoy oectace westem enros of ms citwamot avofuts are so none than a wok oea d dou t gh tre sent and folng nouses n andesd Theraher meal, with loass on unfinished hauses stit beng gramed an l The Cressent then proably enjoved a hart heydaythough Alan yder's briet testory shows that many f the houses had fong untannted periods dne thied of the houses in the wntern taif atood empty at the time of the I51 census for instance, and the stuation is itle better ty L89L with fiet of the twenty three houses untenarted ind a further thres inhabited only by cartaken The problem of coure was tht many of the buidings were owned hy sentee lindhordi-some of whom tad itle interest in mntaiing them let alone imeroving propress was pite them Nan goes on to show tw y the early twmtleth contury undatian hod beyan to rake to Ang with much of ctor the Cescnt was to beame by the middle of the cntury an anw d cheap maaned odgings reachng eadr in 136 tem he oty cdund proposed to demalah itin prer to bda block of huh-e Datir Comwalh Crescont survtaed-and gadualya nee gonration of residents mode the finsl uarter of the twentieth century perkod of rapid change and runewis for the Crescent. The widespread derekction so evident in the earker part of the oury was gradualy reversed an, house by house Hat ly fat the procs of restoration and renovation changed the Crescent boch inside and mut The Garden Hdden tehind the Crestent's buidings and thigh boundary wal, the gurden is aw a surpriee to wstars. it's the best part of an acre, faces dje south and is shettered from the north-making tideal for terder plants and sun warshippers alte It consists of three laur, two of witsch used to be terns courts and the woods whih slope steeply soun to the bundary wal on Polypon Lane. Our longmt-standing resident. Myrtle Way ememten ter beng played in the tne 1950, though less famaly, one imagines, than in 1906 when the Comwalts Tenni Clit wa fanned Cornwallis Crescent (West) G5SG - 31.07.2021 Welome-ease teel tree to wander round the garden and woodland Comwal Crescnta home to wel er 150 u. ng in 85 h holds cangng fromente huse to mesty sin oor tats-a larcry fron the originaly olanned 31 households Itnot at the demugraphi prute whch has changed, there na cane forsuggesting that the Crescent sureetly enjoyru a perod efunerecedemad ke, cae and attention fm the pret generation of reutents, Read o. The ongnal plan pronatly by AIta Pay as tor a mplete shullew cresmtol 4hes Work begat a1791, buc akeady the gret spetidative bukdng boo of the perkidwas beginnirg e colapie resaurs become scar, lons had to ome by as finwnciers and buiders were edered boninatnd the debide wan completed wiiti the decteration of war wth France in Bding work vtopped with i tal houne in vanous states of complenn The area inust have arpeaet etroordinary to ute hom this ommentaryof R07 1do noe ecalect mone melhoy oectace westem enros of ms citwamot avofuts are so none than a wok oea d dou t gh tre sent and folng nouses n andesd Theraher meal, with loass on unfinished hauses stit beng gramed an l The Cressent then proably enjoved a hart heydaythough Alan yder's briet testory shows that many f the houses had fong untannted periods dne thied of the houses in the wntern taif atood empty at the time of the I51 census for instance, and the stuation is itle better ty L89L with fiet of the twenty three houses untenarted ind a further thres inhabited only by cartaken The problem of coure was tht many of the buidings were owned hy sentee lindhordi-some of whom tad itle interest in mntaiing them let alone imeroving propress was pite them Nan goes on to show tw y the early twmtleth contury undatian hod beyan to rake to Ang with much of ctor the Cescnt was to beame by the middle of the cntury an anw d cheap maaned odgings reachng eadr in 136 tem he oty cdund proposed to demalah itin prer to bda block of huh-e Datir Comwalh Crescont survtaed-and gadualya nee gonration of residents mode the finsl uarter of the twentieth century perkod of rapid change and runewis for the Crescent. The widespread derekction so evident in the earker part of the oury was gradualy reversed an, house by house Hat ly fat the procs of restoration and renovation changed the Crescent boch inside and mut The Garden Hdden tehind the Crestent's buidings and thigh boundary wal, the gurden is aw a surpriee to wstars. it's the best part of an acre, faces dje south and is shettered from the north-making tideal for terder plants and sun warshippers alte It consists of three laur, two of witsch used to be terns courts and the woods whih slope steeply soun to the bundary wal on Polypon Lane. Our longmt-standing resident. Myrtle Way ememten ter beng played in the tne 1950, though less famaly, one imagines, than in 1906 when the Comwalts Tenni Clit wa fanned
I've been pretty awful at reading so far this year, apparently averaging about one book per month. That's a far cry from 2019, say, where I got through 41 books in the year. Today's wander was prompted by my rubbish reading, as I needed to go hand back some books to the library, because I'd managed to renew them so many times that I hit the limit on renewals. Oops. Several of them were still unread.
So, off to the Central Library for me, tail between my legs. On the way there I did my best to recreate a historical photo of Dowry Square; while I was in the area I walked under the adjacent Norman arch and poked around behind the Cathedral, and I also had a little diversion to the city centre and came back along the south side of the river, hitting some trouble with the lock gates as I finally crossed the harbour back towards home.
A bit more detail if you fancy it.
Tags: Bristol Places UK onemilematt united kingdom City Centre Saint Nicholas Market St Nicholas Market St. Nicholas Market Corn Street old city
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Text Recognition Tags: THE CORN EXCHANGE CLOCK The clock on this building with an extra minute hand recalls early Victorian days, when Bristol was in two minds about the correct time. Although today we take Greenwich Mean Time or British Summertime for granted before 1880 no standard time existed in the British Isles. Every city had its own local time, reckoned by the sun and signed by church bells. Bristol lies 2 degrees, 36 minutes west of the Greenwich Meridian and so the sun reaches its noon nearly peak 11 minutes later than in Greenwich. Before the growth of railways, most people expected to spend their lives close to home. Travel by stagecoach or ship was slow and uncomfortable. Timetables were vague. For Bristolians a change came in June 1841, when the first through train from London pulled into Temple Meads Station. Brunel's Great Western Railway began to tempt people to travel, now they could go to London in hours rather than days. The Railways ran on London time (Greenwich Mean Time). If you wanted to catch a train at noon from Temple Meads you had to remember that it would pull out at 11:49 Bristol Time. To help Bristolians catch their trains, Bristol Corporation arranged for the main public clock on the Corn Exchange to show both local and Greenwich Mean Time (Railway Time) with two minute hands. Other clocks in Bristol adopted the same compromise, In September 1852 Bristol adopted GMT and Bristol time became the same as Lond THE CORN EXCHANGE CLOCK The clock on this building with an extra minute hand recalls early Victorian days , when Bristol was in two minds about the correct time . Although today we take Greenwich Mean Time or British Summertime for granted before 1880 no standard time existed in the British Isles . Every city had its own local time , reckoned by the sun and signed by church bells . Bristol lies 2 degrees , 36 minutes west of the Greenwich Meridian and so the sun reaches its noon nearly peak 11 minutes later than in Greenwich . Before the growth of railways , most people expected to spend their lives close to home . Travel by stagecoach or ship was slow and uncomfortable . Timetables were vague . For Bristolians a change came in June 1841 , when the first through train from London pulled into Temple Meads Station . Brunel's Great Western Railway began to tempt people to travel , now they could go to London in hours rather than days . The Railways ran on London time ( Greenwich Mean Time ) . If you wanted to catch a train at noon from Temple Meads you had to remember that it would pull out at 11:49 Bristol Time . To help Bristolians catch their trains , Bristol Corporation arranged for the main public clock on the Corn Exchange to show both local and Greenwich Mean Time ( Railway Time ) with two minute hands . Other clocks in Bristol adopted the same compromise , In September 1852 Bristol adopted GMT and Bristol time became the same as Lond