Tagged: motor-vehicle
I bumped into my friend Lisa in town during yesterday's wander, and we decided to have a wander today, too. We managed quite a long ramble, starting up through Clifton and nipping down Park Row to investigate the two tower blocks I'd noticed popping up behind Park Street yesterday, then took in a few roads I'd not managed to get to before, including cutting through the grounds of Bristol Grammar School.
"A major new street frontage to the former Veterinary School on Park Row
has created University Gate", according to the University of Bristol
Strategic Masterplan.
The surroundings seem a bit down-at-heel. The listing says:
Terrace of 4 houses, now offices. c1826. Possibly by RS Pope. Limestone ashlar with party wall stacks, roof not visible. Double-depth plan. Neoclassical style. Each of 3 storeys and basement; 3-window range. A composed terrace of projecting end houses linked by a colonnade of Ionic columns, spaced 1:2:2:1 to each house, to an entablature and balustrade of square balusters and panels with wreaths.
Swinging By Sydney Row
01 Apr 2021
Another workday, another quick coffee excursion. This time I decided to swing past Sydney Row on the way back from the marina car park where Imagine That have their horsebox. I didn't know until recently that the terrace was built for workers at the adjacent dockyard.
I've also gradually come to the conclusion that I don't really think very two-dimensionally when it comes to finding my way around or associating one place with another. I only realised in the last few days that the odd industrial building that takes up the other half of Syndey Row, the one that's always covered with graffiti, is the back of the dockyard works. In my defence, as it's tucked away in a corner of the little industrial estate that I've never ventured into (I rarely find I have a need for the products of safety valve manufacturers), I don't think I've ever seen the front of the building...
I don't think I ever put two and two together before and worked out that this was the back of one of the industrial buldings on the Albion Dockyard. I'm not sure you can see it from the front, or at least not without wandering into the fairly private-looking works area.
I made a "that doesn't auger well" pun on Twitter but hardly anyone noticed it. #dadjoke
An Evening Wander to the Gallows
06 Apr 2021
I'd originally intended just to pop up to the area around Alma Road, where I'd missed a few streets on earlier wanders. It was such a nice evening, though, I decided to extend my walk up to the very top of Pembroke Road, just outside my one mile radius, to take a few snaps of something intriguing I'd found in my researches.
I've driven, walked and jogged past the little triangle of land at the top of Pembroke road a great deal in my time in Bristol, but I didn't know that it used to be the site of a gibbet, in fact that the road itself there used to be called Gallows Acre Lane. According to the Durdham Down history trail, by Francis Greenacre (an excellent name for a Downs researcher!) among other sources:
...it was below this quarry near the top of Pembroke Road, once called Gallows Acre Lane, that a gibbet stood. It was sometimes occupied by those who had committed robberies on the Downs and was last used in 1783 to hang Shenkin Protheroe for the murder of a drover. Stories quickly spread that he descended from the gibbet at midnight every night and stalked through Clifton. Such was the alarm that his body was cut down
and buried.
Also very close to this little triangle of land was one of the gates of the extensive turnpike system...
Anyway. Along the way I encountered a wooden tortoise and a real squirrel, among other things. It was a good walk, and more light in the evenings means I can move my wanders out of the ticking countdown clock of work lunch-hours and be a bit more leisurely.
I knew I'd missed a street! This wasn't my destination tonight, though, and there was a children's party going on in the street, by the sound of it, so I decided to come back here another day.
A great fish restaurant, clearly gearing up for some al fresco dining once the lockdown eases up a bit.
The actual street isn't much to look at. Unusually for Clifton, the front of one terrace stares directly at the back of another.
One of Bristol's most famous punning business names (along with mobile kebeb seller Jason Donervan and off-licence Amy's Wine House), Happytat is a long-running secondhand furniture shop on Stokes Croft.
From the listing:
Terrace of 8 houses. c1840. Possibly by RS Pope. Limestone dressings, roof not visible. Double-depth plan. Late Georgian style. Each of 3 storeys, attic and basement; 2-window range. A formal terrace has a right-hand pair with the upper floors set back behind an open arcade, possibly planned as the centre of a wider terrace.
I thought it sounded Scottish. Hopetoun House is allegedly Scotland's "finest stately home". Not sure why there's one in Clifton, too.
Clifton Village Lunchtime Coffee
07 Apr 2021
Unusually for my recent lunchtime coffee trips, I managed to find a new road to walk down: Caledonia Mews, which has a little entrance off Princess Victoria Street and runs between it and Caledonia Place. I've noticed it before a couple of times—if you look up from Princess Victoria Street you can see some of it, standing tall above the low buildings on the street itself—but until last night I'd not set foot in it, I think.
As well as focusing on this charming little mews, I looked in on the demolished site of the old WH Smith, and spotted what I think is part of the now-private-houses St Vincent Rocks Hotel that I'd not really noticed before, tucked away between Sion Lane and Sion Hill.
The entrance is on Princess Victoria Street, but I imagine based on the name that it was built as a mews for Caledonia Place, which lies on the other side, forming, with West Mall, the surrounding streets of the Mall garden.
For some reason I always think of Princess Victoria Street as running north-to-south, but that's because of my terrible sense of direction, I suppose, as it's really more east-north-east.
A London Wander in Southville
10 Apr 2021
There's a bit of Southville that I've been meaning to get to for some time, where the streets seem to take some strong inspiration from London. There's a Camden Road that crosses with an Islington Road, and a Dalston Road, even an Edgeware Road. For me these names are more evocative than the rather more exotic names I passed by to get there—Sydney Row or Hanover Place, say, because I've actually been to the places in London. The last time I was in Islington I saw Monkey Swallows the Universe play at The Angel, and I can't think of Camden without remembering a gondola trip with my friend Tara where a cheery youth played Beatles music for us on a saz...
I really liked this little area, with its mostly well-kept pretty houses and hints here and there of the creative side of the residents. It's arty and down-to-earth at the same time, and I wouldn't mind living there, I think.
On the way there I got the chance to walk through Underfall Yard for the first time in a while, and on the way back I had my first take-away hot food for many months, grabbing some crispy fried squid from the excellent Woky Ko at Wapping Wharf.
I was taken by the colour and texture of these three houses. I have three towels with a very similar colour and finish, at least visually...
I should probably have visited, but it's not very "public street"-ey and there were people milling about out front who might have objected.
Back on Howard Road, with more nice tidy houses. And a cat on a balcony, though you might not be able to seem it in this pic once it's small enough to put on the website...
Long Bemmie Wander with Lisa
11 Apr 2021
My friend Lisa joined me again, this time for a long wander through "Bemmie". In fact, I tweeted recently using "Bedmo" as my abbreviation for Bedminster, and apparently there's something of a culture war going on. From what I can glean, the longer-term residents call it "Bemmie" and consider "Bedmo" a name made up by hipster gentrifiers.
I had no idea, but then I didn't grow up around here, and I don't live in Bedminster, and I'm not a hipster. I'm not sure I've ever gentrified anywhere, either; Hotwells was already quite gentrified by the time I arrived. I probably just lowered the tone a bit.
Anyway. Lisa and I entered Bemmie by the traditional toll gate (though actually you'd only have paid if you were coming from the Long Ashton direction, not merely nipping across from Hotwells) and then almost literally combed the streets to knock several new roads off my list of targets. Along the way we saw lots of street art, as you'd expect, and admired the area's panoply of gorgeous knockers.
Though actually this very end of it appears to be Fairfield Place, a tiny continuation of the road around the next corner. That's Gaywood House in the distance; we'll be visiting its very odd doctor's surgery in a bit...
Just to give an idea of prices, that two-bedroom house is currently on sale for £345,000. It looks in excellent condition.
We move from Fairfield Place to Fairfield Road and the views open up. I was instantly reminded of my previous visit to the parallel Mount Pleasant Terrace.
Dartmouth Mews is basically a tiny square with a little terrace down two opposite sides, built very much to match the character of the existing little Victorian houses around here.
I couldn't find anything out about this little VW with the well-stacked roof rack. It's tucked away on Dartmoor Street
At this point I think Lisa suggested a "Knockers of Bedminster" project. I later found out that Amy Harrison has recently been doing a similar project in East Bristol.
I might prefer a smaller house with a little front garden, given the panoply of recycling boxes the council expects us to keep lying around.
Better Look at an Extension
14 Apr 2021
Apart from a lovely coffee and a slice of Victoria sponge from Twelve, there weren't any new sights on this little lunchtime jaunt except for a slightly better look at the long raised extension at the back of the St Vincent's Rocks Hotel, where I at least got to see the arches it's raised up on. I also got a fair bit of exercise by walking up the Zig Zag to get there, and saw far more people out than I have in months, what with the lockdown having just been significantly lifted. As I walked past The Mall pub they were turning people away from their already-full garden, and the (outdoor) cafe tables were pretty full up.
I'm guessing there used to be a grand front door, but then later the hotel annexed the building and didn't need it any more? But it's only surmise.
These aren't listed per se, but they're on the "local list" and named as 8-14 St Vincents Rocks, so I think that confirms that it used to be part of the hotel.
Surely if you want to mark the passing of the Royal Consort you'd move your dangling flag to the lower window...
Nice to see someone keeping The Rocks Garage well-maintained. And they've safely wrapped Maggie Shapland's plaque in a carrier bag to protect it from paint drips, too. Excellent work.
Nice to see someone keeping The Rocks Garage well-maintained. And they've safely wrapped Maggie Shapland's plaque in a carrier bag to protect it from paint drips, too. Excellent work.
Coffee, Pirates and a Spitfire
15 Apr 2021
Just a quick trip to Imagine That for a flat white and a date ball (they're really nice), snapping the general sights along the way. No new roads, as has rapidly become the default on my lunchtime wanders, but as I'm in the routine of this project it almost seems strange not to pop my wanders up on the site.
Apparenlty it's owned by the same man who owns the Mustang I've snapped here before. I was told this by a lady who I imagine was his long-suffering wife. "At least it started this morning. He spends all his money on these, you know; none on the house..."
Desultory Coffee Wander
16 Apr 2021
Another day, another quick dash out for a coffee. I did at least try to take a different route from normal, especially on the way back, where I yet again got a bit lost in the strange paths, flyovers and underpasses that make up the odd maze of pedestrian "infrastructure" among the concrete jungle between the west of Greville Smyth and my neck of the woods in Hotwells. I swear one day I'll take a turn I've not tried before and end up being gored by a Bristolian minotaur.
Even on a quieter day, the roar of the traffic is pretty amazing. I was listening to a podcast about electric cars on noise-cancelling headphones, while wishing there were already a few more on the roads...
Man on a Mission
17 Apr 2021
I went rather outside my area today, as I went to pick something up from the Warhammer shop on Wine Street (Games Workshop as-was, and before that I think perhaps a rare retail outlet for Her Majesty's Stationery Office? I may be mis-remembering...) Anyway, a friend of mine wanted something picking up and posting to him, so I figured I'd knock some streets off my list along the way.
I first headed for the St George's Road area, walking down the narrow Brandon Steps and finding some strange wall art on Brandon Steep, then headed to the Old City via Zed Alley. The Warhammer shop visit was friendly and efficient, and, mission accomplished, I treated myself to a sausage roll and a flat white from Spicer + Cole, to take away and eat in Queen Square with its current decoration of hearts. I finished off with a detour up Park Street, looking out for St John's Conduit markers, before finally crossing Brandon Hill on the way home.
Quite a long wander, all told, and I'm a bit knackered today...
When you think you're a free spirit who needs a convertible when actually you'd have been better off with the Volvo estate.
Who was it that decided that petrol stations had to be ugly? It's not like oil companies don't have money...
Apparently they're a "Cloud and Cyber Security Specialist". Let's not let them near this website, please; I wrote a lot of the code in a hurry when I was tired...
I think the last time I saw this little sign on Queens Parade, it had a rather different message.
On the whole, I do like the Voi scooters, but they're aways going to suffer from the problem of people parking them in the middle of the pavement.
