Monthly Archives: October 2024

An Edwardian Slideshow

A fascinating series of slides has recently come on the market showing Shirehampton in the early years of the 20th Century. Amongst this treasure-trove were a number of interest to Kings Weston and that we’ll detail here. Fortunately, each was recorded by the original owner with the date and location, without which their value might have been lost to posterity.
 
The first is something of an alternative angle on Shirehampton Park captured in 1904. Rather than the once-famous views over Horseshoe bend the picturesque scene is stolen by a young gentleman in a straw boater poised atop the trunk of an elderly oak tree. The broken fence and pile of branches in the foreground suggest it’s recently succumbed to age and the saw, the young man using the opportunity for a unique and novelty photograph. The dramatic view of Horseshoe Bend and Sea Mills is no longer easily obtained. The location has vanished, possibly impacted by the enlargement of the railway cutting below the view, but certainly lost when the Portway was driven through the estate.

The next three slides are all geographically clustered around what’s now Shirehampton Cricket Club ground, sandwiched between Shirehampton Road and Penpole Lane. Indeed, a “comic cricket match” is the subject of the first. Some research was needed in uncover what this involved and answers were provided from the Western Daily Press on 26th August 1904. It describes:

“ A fancy cricket match took place in Shirehampton Park on Wednesday between the members of the local club and the Tradesmens’ Association. The characters of the various players were unique and highly amusing, A procession started from the George inn, and went to Avonmouth accompanied by the Shirehampton brass band, and collections were taken en-route and in the field, the proceeds going to the Bristol Royal Infirmary. Besides the comic cricket match various old English sports were indulged in”.
  

The slide is somewhat blurred, but the costume efforts of the players are on show, many seemingly sporting top hats. The view looks across the cricket pitch towards Shirehampton Road and the rush pool, though both are out of sight in the view.

The cricket ground appears to have hosted other sports, with it being described as an athletics ground on some later ordnance survey maps. A small shed on the far west of the field looks to have been a store for other club’s use and is the backdrop to a slide taken in 1906. This is titled Bristol Athletic Club, Easter, Shirehampton. Newspaper’s don’t record the meet, but one from June the same year describes the club at Shirehampton and hosting a series of events, mainly running races, but also tug-o-war. Sadly, none of the names from the Easter meet are recorded. One hopes that the gun brandished by one chap with a tobacco pipe is in fact a starting pistol!

Bounding the cricket pitch along Shirehampton Road was once the Rush Pool. A natural pond, it was an attractive local landmark once used by cattle and horses. Rather than its usual visitors we have here Jack the dog posing for the camera in 1905. Jack, identifiable from other slides in the series, looks quite unimpressed with situation he’s found himself in. Behind him Shirehampton Road winds through the park passing the site of today’s war memorial in the centre of the view. Beyond it, too distant to be made out clearly, would be Kings Weston house itself.  Today, this scene has changed entirely through road widening, infilling of the pond, and the growth of many trees.

Bristol Planners volunteer at the lilypond   

KWAG brings volunteers up to speed on the tasks for the day.

The estate and KWAG was fortunate to host a team-building event by officers of Bristol City Council Development Management team on Wednesday 25th October. We’d managed to arrange with Kingsweston School for a group of 25 volunteers to access the area of the Georgian walled gardens around the lily pond on Napier Miles Road as the latest in our campaign to stem the tide of neglect and restore the much-loved and historic site.

The work overseen by KWAG focussed on the three strips of garden surrounding the pond, the removal of the dead box hedging, digging-up of brambles, and the felling of self-seeded saplings and shrubs. The formal box hedges succumbed last year to an onslaught of box moth caterpillar that ravaged Bristol. Here it left just a single bush alive, and that just barely. The brambles and saplings have taken advantage of the lack of maintenance since the school returned the pond area to Council Property department.

The south walk along the pond before and after the day’s events.

We were lucky enough to take advantage of the west lodge at the pond for bag storage as the team were briefed on the tasks for the day and health and safety. It was impressive, the way that the volunteers engaged with the work and threw themselves into it. Despite an unpromising weather forecast, the rain held off until the dying minutes of the event before 4pm and we even enjoyed some sun.

Tired Council volunteers pose at the end of the day outside the lodge.

We were lucky to have one of the city ecologists and tree officers as part of the team who were able to advise us on the work. The ecologist was particularly in demand when digging disturbed dozens of Common Newts and other amphibians settling down amongst the roots. These were relocated to safe areas around the pond.  

Huge inroads were made on clearance, massive progress in restoring the area. Whilst the job wasn’t completed in its entirely, the magnitude of the job was enormous and what was achieved was epic in scale. We are extremely grateful to all the Council officers who turned out for the event and made such an impact. Despite the wet finish everyone enjoyed the event and stuck with it until the very end. The space that’s been revealed is now a blank canvas to re-plan the gardens, and buys precious time for KWAG to plan a viable new future. Thanks too to Kingsweston School for hosting us, and parks and other departments of the Council for enabling the event.

Similar views of the west side of  the lilypond in 1898, and before and after recent volunteer work. The pond edge is again discernible and brambles threatening the lodge have been cut. 

…As a postscript, KWAG returned to make some investigations of the pond and have managed to clear some of the saplings alongside the road so visitors can glimpse progress on the garden areas beyond.

Some clearance at the lilypond has allowed us to find the waterline and judge the extent of the tree growth.