28 Dec 2020
Fractionally outside my one-mile zone, but I got curious about Saint Vincent's spring, whose last remnants you can see in a defunct drinking fountain on the Portway. Along the way I passed Gyston's cave, sometimes called St Vincent's cave, in the sheer wall of the gorge. It's now accessible by a tunnel from the observatory—I tried it about twenty years ago, I think, and still recall the vertiginous moment of looking down from the protruding balcony and realising that you could see straight through the grille floor to the drop below—but from what I can work out the tunnel is relatively recent. Before the tunnel was dug it was accessible only by access across the cliff face, which must have been even more terrifying.
This cave was first mentioned as being a chapel in the year AD 305 and excavations, in which Romano-British pottery has been found, have revealed that it has been both a holy place and a place of refuge at various times in its history.
A few different sources say that the cave became a hermitage and chapel to St Vincent following Bristol's early trading in Iberian wines; St Vincent of Saragossa is Lisbon's patron saint, and a lot of nearby things bear the name.
I'm not sure where the crossover of Vincent and Ghyston happens, though. On the giants Goram and Vincent (or Ghyston), Wikipedia says:
The name Vincent for one of the giants rests on the fact that at Clifton, at the narrowest point of the Avon Gorge, there was formerly an ancient hermitage and chapel dedicated to St Vincent, at or near the present cave in the cliff-face which bears his name. Another (apparently modern) version of the story calls the Clifton giant Ghyston, which is in fact the name, of obscure origin, for the whole of the cliff-face of the Avon Gorge at least as early as the mid-fifteenth century, in the detailed description of the Bristol area by William Worcestre. The place-name was personified to produce the giant's name. Vincent's Cave is called Ghyston cave or The Giant’s Hole in an article in the July 1837 issue of Felix Farley’s Bristol Journal.
In my research on the original Hot Well House, I've seen quite a few contemporary paintings which state their viewpoint as "from St. Vincent's Rock", so in the 16th century it seems the cliff-face name was typically St Vincent Rock rather than Ghyston's Rock, perhaps.
I am, as you can tell, no historian!
On the way, I also wandered around the base of the popular climbing area, which I think is the site of the old Black Rock quarry.
Presumably they have the odd bonfire around here.
Tags: Bristol Places UK onemilematt united kingdom A4 Avon Gorge Portway road St Vincent's Rocks
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25 Jul 2021
The far east of the intersection of my one-mile radius and Bedminster, anyway. I was feeling a bit tired this morning, so I motivated myself to get out of the door by imagining one of Mokoko's almond croissants. That got me on my way, and I wandered across to Bedminster, through Greville Smyth Park, along most of the length of North Street (looking out for new Upfest 75-pieces-in-75-days artwork as I went) and then onto some new roads at the far end.
I only wanted to knock a few streets off my "to do" list, but by the time I'd diverted here and there to check out various bits of graffiti and other attractions and come back via the aforementioned purveyors of Bristol's finest croissants, I'd walked 7.4km. Not bad for someone who woke up tired, and at least I've done something with my day. I'm very glad the weather broke (we had tremendous thunderstorms yesterday), even if some of the pictures might've looked better with a blue sky. I was getting fed up with walking around in 29°C heat...
19 Aug 2023
It's been a long while since I did one of these walks.
I'm thinking of finishing up the project by walking one or two last bits of road, thus being able to declare with all honesty that I've done my best to walk every public road within my mile (and quite a few alleyways besides.) As a prelude, and just because I felt like it, I decided to drag out the camera and GPS on this little wander to the local shops.
More notices, including a couple of newcomers to the local businesses: Hopewell, an estate agency, has opened up just down Hopechapel Hill in the place of The Landmark Practice (an environmental consultancy firm that seem to have moved out to Long Ashton) and HappyBack, who I'd noticed appearing down on the Hotwell Road a month or two ago.
Tags: Bristol Places UK onemilematt united kingdom Clifton Village Hotwells Clifton
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Text Recognition Tags: SAVE JACOBS WELLS your We W ty WS Na à Order w a gratyf Lauan ya wld worldcat HERE THE PETI Cale wwwwww CHBUEC C www d Dabe 17 TANTO F www. 0-100 Your journey is our journey and we are here to help you every step of the way Wend fpwith vir Ourica apteert papper mating nything t neces or Sc ng vs Shack and petere p FM 2 yan unteers Needed 0/0 70-23 DAN HappyBack Find Ho D Highly experienced Physiotherapy. Osteopathy and H® Massage specialists, helping you to get your happy back! W Lifeskills Lifeskills Learning for Living Py Acad Marg back. people to join our amazing toomer volunteers Oxime ww We are your new neighbours! pelare a prsity independent state aguny tinging together every best o ort, medium Alongtam ss and mes for sale across the city ravis A NEW Ma # HOPEWELL Come and say hello at our new offic orated at Hope Chcel House Hone Chapel Hill BSB IND 0117 911 8663 CERED ww are acest (10-only) og for new SANT FREE PEER SUPPORT GROUP TUESDAYS ONLINE 6.30-8.30pm 24ury Facilitated by LGBTQIA people Safe, nonjudgemental, confidential space to discuss mental wellbeing with other LGSTOLA+people Trinity Lunch Club Thursdays 10am-3:30pm Morning Coffee Armchair Excises 3 Course Home Cooked Lunch CET ARTIN Quiz Activities Tea & Biscuits For more information Call 07458 300 210 or email tes@holytrinityhotwells.org Holy Trinity Church serving the communities of Hotwells, Cliftonwood, Saike Island, Harboursie holytrinityhotwells.org Alexander May Having a baby? 42- AU You and your birth partner weinstela Calm Births Hypnobirthing FREE TASTER SESSION, online with Dolanan Monday th September OXO 7.30pm P By placeb www.dealbws.com We are devastated by the fire at the Underfall Yard. fre The fee has destroyed the heart of the Yard where most of the boat building activity takes place and tenant's businesses and boats have. been ruined. Thankfully no one was killed and no on was injured, but a lot of people in the Underfall Yard community have been impacted our staff, our tenants, our volunteers and our neighbours on Avon Crescent and Nova Scotia Place. Our hearts are with them and we are supporting our tenants as best we can. P DARO l HIER UNDERFALL YARD TRUST The Underfall Yard Trust was formed i the 1990's to bring the Underfall Yard out of dereliction, to look after the historio buildings, to shine a light on Bristoll's engineering harbour heritage and to promote traditional marine skills. In light of the devastation at the Yard, those aims remain as relevant now as they were then, SE We absolutely are committed to rebuilding the Underfall Yard and continuing the charity's work, If you would like to support the Trust, please see our JustGiving page, scan the QR code or alternatively, there is a donation box located on the Café till. https://www.justgiving.com/theunderfallyardtrust SAVE JACOBS WELLS your We W ty WS Na à Order w a gratyf Lauan ya wld worldcat HERE THE PETI Cale wwwwww CHBUEC C www d Dabe 17 TANTO F www . 0-100 Your journey is our journey and we are here to help you every step of the way Wend fpwith vir Ourica apteert papper mating nything t neces or Sc ng vs Shack and petere p FM 2 yan unteers Needed 0/0 70-23 DAN HappyBack Find Ho D Highly experienced Physiotherapy . Osteopathy and H® Massage specialists , helping you to get your happy back ! W Lifeskills Lifeskills Learning for Living Py Acad Marg back . people to join our amazing toomer volunteers Oxime ww We are your new neighbours ! pelare a prsity independent state aguny tinging together every best o ort , medium Alongtam ss and mes for sale across the city ravis A NEW Ma # HOPEWELL Come and say hello at our new offic orated at Hope Chcel House Hone Chapel Hill BSB IND 0117 911 8663 CERED ww are acest ( 10 - only ) og for new SANT FREE PEER SUPPORT GROUP TUESDAYS ONLINE 6.30-8.30pm 24ury Facilitated by LGBTQIA people Safe , nonjudgemental , confidential space to discuss mental wellbeing with other LGSTOLA + people Trinity Lunch Club Thursdays 10 am-3:30pm Morning Coffee Armchair Excises 3 Course Home Cooked Lunch CET ARTIN Quiz Activities Tea & Biscuits For more information Call 07458 300 210 or email tes@holytrinityhotwells.org Holy Trinity Church serving the communities of Hotwells , Cliftonwood , Saike Island , Harboursie holytrinityhotwells.org Alexander May Having a baby ? 42 AU You and your birth partner weinstela Calm Births Hypnobirthing FREE TASTER SESSION , online with Dolanan Monday th September OXO 7.30pm P By placeb www.dealbws.com We are devastated by the fire at the Underfall Yard . fre The fee has destroyed the heart of the Yard where most of the boat building activity takes place and tenant's businesses and boats have . been ruined . Thankfully no one was killed and no on was injured , but a lot of people in the Underfall Yard community have been impacted our staff , our tenants , our volunteers and our neighbours on Avon Crescent and Nova Scotia Place . Our hearts are with them and we are supporting our tenants as best we can . P DARO l HIER UNDERFALL YARD TRUST The Underfall Yard Trust was formed i the 1990's to bring the Underfall Yard out of dereliction , to look after the historio buildings , to shine a light on Bristoll's engineering harbour heritage and to promote traditional marine skills . In light of the devastation at the Yard , those aims remain as relevant now as they were then , SE We absolutely are committed to rebuilding the Underfall Yard and continuing the charity's work , If you would like to support the Trust , please see our JustGiving page , scan the QR code or alternatively , there is a donation box located on the Café till . https://www.justgiving.com/theunderfallyardtrust