Tagged: wa
Saint Vincent's Spring
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.
So you don't disturb nesting falcons. Seems like a win for both climbers and falcons to me.
Tags: Bristol Places UK onemilematt united kingdom A4 Avon Gorge Portway road St Vincent's Rocks
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John Carr's Terrace
16 Mar 2021
I wanted a nice simple lunch-hour walk that took me past a cafe today, and I managed to find the perfect road to knock off my list of targets to do it. Situated just off Jacobs Wells Road, right next to Queen Elizabeth's Hospital, John Carr's Terrace, and Rosebery terrace above it, which I'd completely forgotten existed, are a little cul-de-sac that many Bristolians will have wandered past a thousand times without ever seeing.
There's a reason it's next to QEH:
Known traditionally as "The City School", Queen Elizabeth's Hospital was founded by the will of affluent merchant John Carr in 1586, gaining its first royal charter in 1590.
John Carr's terrace itself isn't much to write home about, architecturally, but I like the secluded feel of it, and I really liked Rosebery Terrace with its little houses, commanding position and friendly, slightly tumbledown feel.
On the way home I popped into Foliage Cafe for a coffee and a very pleasant nutella and banana pastry, then walked home past the refurbishment of the old Thali Cafe into a new and interesting clinic...
Now the well house seems to have stopped overflowing and the sign board is no longer cordoned off, it's time for a closer look. Lots of good info here.
Tags: Bristol Places UK onemilematt united kingdom Jacob's Well
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Text Recognition Tags: WASHING IN THE WELL Bathing in the Past JACOB'S WELLS COMMUNITY HUB REMEMBERING JACOB'S WELLS Building Jacob's Wes Beths Commat foundahion Viah home whem wa gal yeung abour 17, and ended op iing in warios bedat y Setureley egular a cockwork we t co do ecob Wel ath an hae v tadng a lt u ee v A wlem ar w lwte ite FERRY Water from the Wel? CARMEN GARAGHON Eremenber then beg the est anaing baihe dten sy i they wee s ould come T ie a the Theat Cmpe dy ot W p DeentChaer 2theer Ho iteat My-iacle koal leming C WASHING IN THE WELL Bathing in the Past JACOB'S WELLS COMMUNITY HUB REMEMBERING JACOB'S WELLS Building Jacob's Wes Beths Commat foundahion Viah home whem wa gal yeung abour 17, and ended op iing in warios bedat y Setureley egular a cockwork we t co do ecob Wel ath an hae v tadng a lt u ee v A wlem ar w lwte ite FERRY Water from the Wel? CARMEN GARAGHON Eremenber then beg the est anaing baihe dten sy i they wee s ould come T ie a the Theat Cmpe dy ot W p DeentChaer 2theer Ho iteat My-iacle koal leming C
Green Squares and Secret Gardens
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:
- A talk by the oldest resident of Victoria Square
- The St Vincent's Rocks Hotel garden
- The Paragon garden
- Cornwallis Crescent gardens, both east and west
- The Polygon garden
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'm afraid that this is a bit of a badly-curated wander, where I mostly just popped out to find out a little of the history of Underfall Yard and poke around the various open workshops, and, in hindsight, really didn't take pictures in any kind of coherent order. So there's a lot of pictures, but they don't really tell the story that, in hindsight, I seem to have been trying to tell, of the unusual electrical substation in Avon Crescent, the Bristol Electricity that predates the National Grid but is still in use, the history of the hydraulic power house... It's a bit of a mess.
But I suppose sometimes these wanders—always chronologically presented in the order I walked and took photos—simply will sometimes be a bit of a mess. Let's hope you still get something out of it, anyway...
Tags: Bristol Places UK onemilematt united kingdom Hotwells Underfall Yard Spike Island Docks Heritage Weekend
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Text Recognition Tags: Bristal City Cup aping Masbina Made by Hde and Cengany of Mabeeter, the 1880/90 a A versatle acbine whih is witel nalaly te the prouction af vrge pe of w Shaping asbin ar reative of the planing maina e tr tararta Day han reelprocating toel. The naphine la tort long vera sd a halt en frem e shafting tbrg fu g puley at the ieft hand vod The langth af vtroke can be variel by thn takng of tw large wa on the drive trie The ram is fed siung the machine ty s esd sorew whiut can be rotatad wtber by hand u A pew and ratchet mechanin rlvn by the sam att w prs the rem mehastan The ram reciprocating speed an be variet tn 10 d 30 vtroke pe ita The foothrake which is operatel fron the right hand end of the saibine was t ly the Port of Bristul Autherity to stop noveent qickty. Without the trsks De sautios 'ne o codd be for uo to balf minute which wan nnint and a tengtatian for the operatar to ne dangeraun metos to adieres sker stas Bristal City Cup aping Masbina Made by Hde and Cengany of Mabeeter, the 1880/90 a A versatle acbine whih is witel nalaly te the prouction af vrge pe of w Shaping asbin ar reative of the planing maina e tr tararta Day han reelprocating toel. The naphine la tort long vera sd a halt en frem e shafting tbrg fu g puley at the ieft hand vod The langth af vtroke can be variel by thn takng of tw large wa on the drive trie The ram is fed siung the machine ty s esd sorew whiut can be rotatad wtber by hand u A pew and ratchet mechanin rlvn by the sam att w prs the rem mehastan The ram reciprocating speed an be variet tn 10 d 30 vtroke pe ita The foothrake which is operatel fron the right hand end of the saibine was t ly the Port of Bristul Autherity to stop noveent qickty. Without the trsks De sautios 'ne o codd be for uo to balf minute which wan nnint and a tengtatian for the operatar to ne dangeraun metos to adieres sker stas
Tags: Bristol Places UK onemilematt united kingdom Hotwells Underfall Yard Spike Island Docks Heritage Weekend
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Text Recognition Tags: B oty Dea wwerth Pa Mae Ud y fer wa g sinegate nd L ham f ri and rerent it at ty it w md to sake the tre for m L wng BriA Table wee ar we y 14tG ang te m anraga te y pw niste nd se e dte werk a to Gft ia arenates The toe ers th rael pard or d traver aro te werkl g satana te the tale prled ky e efa ad ar Thie sere s dis un A tentert spare thread of in TM shege of aetion l rretation l an ya tatie ve calada t striker w the iv at freN e er to anather The lengn uf str et ty the a wster w ihe se of sto pd t f the vrktak The s odataastre veriates of 10 e k B oty Dea wwerth Pa Mae Ud y fer wa g sinegate nd L ham f ri and rerent it at ty it w md to sake the tre for m L wng BriA Table wee ar we y 14tG ang te m anraga te y pw niste nd se e dte werk a to Gft ia arenates The toe ers th rael pard or d traver aro te werkl g satana te the tale prled ky e efa ad ar Thie sere s dis un A tentert spare thread of in TM shege of aetion l rretation l an ya tatie ve calada t striker w the iv at freN e er to anather The lengn uf str et ty the a wster w ihe se of sto pd t f the vrktak The s odataastre veriates of 10 e k
A Constitutional to Burwalls and Back
21 Dec 2021
The recent lack of posts here is mostly due to my feeling very run down following having a couple of wisdom teeth extracted. Having had an emergency appointment yesterday1, hopefully I'll be on the mend now, though it does mean I'm on the kind of antibiotics where you can't touch alcohol for the whole of the Christmas period. I have tried to keep myself a little distracted from the pain by working on the nuts and bolts of this website—you should notice that the front page loads rather faster now than it used to, and that there's a shiny new statistics page that I'll probably be continuing to work on. Oh, and you should find that the tags below the photos are now clickable and will take you to a page of all other wanders that have photos with the same tag.
Today I felt like I needed to drag myself out of the house, but I didn't want to go too far, and I needed to get to the Post Office up in Clifton Village to post a Christmas card (spoiler for my parents: it's going to be late. Sorry.) As luck would have it, idly looking at the map I spotted that I'd missed off a section of Burwalls Road in the past, and that's basically one of the long-ways-round to Clifton Village, crossing the river to Rownham and walking up the hill on the Somerset side before coming back across the Suspension Bridge.
As I was heading for Burwalls Road I decided to make Burwalls itself the focal point of the walk, but unfortunately the mansion grounds are private and the place is hard to snap. Still, at least it gave me a destination. Burwalls was the mansion built by Bristol press magnate Joseph Leech, who I've mentioned before after buying a vintage book he wrote on a previous wander. There's a good article about the house on House and Heritage which has some photos from angles I couldn't ever get to. (Well, maybe with a drone, but it seems like the kind of area where they may be kitted out for clay pigeon shooting, so I probably wouldn't risk it.)
1 My dentist admitted that she probably needed to keep her internal monologue a bit more internal after we started the appointment with her staring into my mouth and immediately saying, "oh, that's weird." These are words one doesn't want to hear from a medical professional.
Surprised he looks so cheerful about it.
Tags: Bristol Places UK onemilematt united kingdom graffiti Avon Gorge river avon street art avon END TIMES
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I was just about starting to feel better—the antibiotics seemed to have kicked in for my dental issues, and it had been some days since I'd left the house, and I was at last starting to get itchy feet. So, a wander. But where? Well, there were a few industrial bits near Winterstoke Road in the Ashton/Ashton Vale areas of Bristol that needed walking. I knew they were likely to be quite, well, unattractive, frankly. So why not do them while I wasn't feeling exactly 100% myself? Maybe it would fit my mood. Hopefully you're also in the mood for a bit of post-industrial wasteland, for that's what some of this feels like...
Then, at the last minute, I thought again about the Bristol International Exhibition—I've got a book about it on the way now—and that gave me another goal, which could just about be said to be in the same direction, and I decided to walk significantly further than my normal 1-mile limit and try recreating another historical photo...
Sadly I don't know much about the Ashton area; it's just on the edges of my mile and I rarely have cause to go there. It's brimming with history, I'm sure: the whole South Bristol area rapidly developed from farmland to coal mines to factories to its current interesting mixture of suburbs and industrial work over the last few hundred years. As a more working class area less attention was paid to it by historians, at least historically-speaking, than the Georgian heights of Clifton, and much of it has been knocked down and reinvented rather than listed and preserved. I see here and there some of this lack is being addressed, but I'm afraid I'll be very light on the history myself on this wander, as most of my usual sources aren't throwing up their normal reams of information as when I point them at Clifton, Hotwells or the old city.
Here's the BBC report. This was posted on a telephone junction box in the "Daveside" area, the little strip of Festival Way that's used as a skate park in between the old railway depot and the White City allotments.
Tags: Bristol Places UK onemilematt united kingdom Daveside Festival Way skater Rownham RIP poster shooting skater boy
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Text Recognition Tags: RiP SKATER- BOY Speer Astrworth wes shot dd on the pontiy troli oursida poroed on a parmbar 217, fo ot hum panpiag randa n ha car ecnde, Ashwent had stchn r pist at peple in te M Whes otde pertbary Sandred the copa vabully engged ith him & te id the sir pial in duar a amade, al dhe afficeatfaruda vapeifical ary m t igh efis teg Aalwedia does dieeda lantal illing Spee sd wa 29 ywars ol asato alested at dowing. te sffint win dprnmte det aliemal hth-sad on a at copoerad (PC) W t r j amed repose won aweof tis& he porta holstd i letal s t padori alhiy, they'e pafeial whe was the radt why na wait t o, atwodk ad or allad avass gat 20 rchis ft dowaon& seeettinng afar milm ikrwn ths road in pa el, btitapoevs iss aterchn don's lon hi bundie arm ef snk, nak yu thik tht people luallpere fer elationte ee ndaal sls hatir awe e on wha nie dity lo e tg lse Se waa shelebar uM onl fard koe lesk wtut t e d n I& th d adal Owturid ptn k da taerthatte ahin buar Boh RiP SKATER- BOY Speer Astrworth wes shot dd on the pontiy troli oursida poroed on a parmbar 217, fo ot hum panpiag randa n ha car ecnde, Ashwent had stchn r pist at peple in te M Whes otde pertbary Sandred the copa vabully engged ith him & te id the sir pial in duar a amade, al dhe afficeatfaruda vapeifical ary m t igh efis teg Aalwedia does dieeda lantal illing Spee sd wa 29 ywars ol asato alested at dowing. te sffint win dprnmte det aliemal hth-sad on a at copoerad (PC) W t r j amed repose won aweof tis& he porta holstd i letal s t padori alhiy, they'e pafeial whe was the radt why na wait t o, atwodk ad or allad avass gat 20 rchis ft dowaon& seeettinng afar milm ikrwn ths road in pa el, btitapoevs iss aterchn don's lon hi bundie arm ef snk, nak yu thik tht people luallpere fer elationte ee ndaal sls hatir awe e on wha nie dity lo e tg lse Se waa shelebar uM onl fard koe lesk wtut t e d n I& th d adal Owturid ptn k da taerthatte ahin buar Boh
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.
Tags: Bristol Places UK onemilematt united kingdom Bedminster
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Text Recognition Tags: RARE YREE BANGE LOCAL MATRALN WA Butohers of Southville RARE YREE BANGE LOCAL MATRALN WA Butohers of Southville