The post office was the last building on the left, opposite the Lifeboat pub, in this view of High Street.
From at least the Eighteenth Century the landscape of Kings Weston has inspired poets, but a recent discovery is possibly the most peculiar yet. We chanced upon it in a Victorian book about the Post Office in Bristol. It was written by George Newton, sub-postmaster in Shirehampton, in reply to some query or complaint that had been directed to the Bristol Postmaster from Kings Weston house. Apparently, it was common for Mr Newton to respond to official enquiries in rhyme, “a course which was tolerated on account of its singularity and of the writer’s zeal and known devotion to his duty”. Newton died in 1895, so the following ditty must date before then:
Two of the 1904 boundary stones returned to their original locations on the west abutment of the bridge.
Something we’ve been eager to protect as part of the iron bridge works are the set of three stone markers that formerly nestled beneath undergrowth on the west abutment. Each stone is carved with the date, 1904, and CB, for City of Bristol. These marked the city boundaries between that date and 1935.
After the opening of Avonmouth Dock in 1877, the gradual development of the village of Avonmouth, and the purchase of the Docks by the Corporation in 1884, there was political impetus to bring the area within the city’s administrative boundary. The city had expanded quickly in the late 19th Century, but growth northwards from the historic boundary along the Downs was limited. Despite a strong argument for bringing everything between there and Avonmouth into the city it was only the Docks themselves that were eventually added in 1897. This left them as an isolated satellite part of the city, disconnected from the main administrative boundary.
Philip Napier Miles of Kings Weston was eager to develop his landholding around Avonmouth and Shirehampton. A plan for “Avonmouth as a city” was well advanced by 1902, with ambitious plans for thousands of acres of land laid out. It was perhaps this prospect that reinvigorated the arguments to bring more of the area within Bristol’s boundary; The 1904 Corporation Act was the mechanism to achieve this.
The city boundary shown shaded on the 1916 Ordnance Survey map, and with boundary markers marked as orange dots. Most of these remain today.
The Act did not go unchallenged, however. There was considerable opposition by residents in Stoke Bishop and Westbury on Trym who did not want to leave Gloucestershire and contribute the more onerous rates of Bristol. Amongst these objectors was Napier Miles himself; his concerns were that Kings Weston house would fall within the new boundary and that his landholding it would be reduced, in value and freedoms to develop it hindered. In the event, the Council changed the proposals to omit Kings Weston’s Home Park, instead taking a line from the iron bridge to The Circle, skirting the Georgian viewing terrace , before following the historic parish boundary through Penpole Wood. This satisfied the Council who’s intention to physically connect Avonmouth and Shirehampton with the rest of the city required only Shirehampton Park to be included. Napier Miles also secured a series of provisions from the Council that satisfied his concerns, and in August 1904 the Act received Royal assent.
The third marker on the corner north of the other two at the west abutment.
It can’t have been long before the city marked its new perimeter with permanent stone markers of the sort found at the iron bridge. Although they project just a couple of feet above ground, they are hefty stones, designed not to be easily moved or damaged, are about 5 feet in height. Another of these stones was spotted in 2016 when we came across it near the white oak. What’s less clear is why the boundary didn’t include Park Lodge and run up the west edge of Kings Weston Road rather than making an odd dog-leg to take it up to the bridge, resulting in the three markers we have today.
As part of the bridge works the contractors have carefully excavated the stones, kept them safe, and have now reinstalled them in their original locations. Whilst they are now little more than relics, their preservation allows new light to be shed on their historic interest.
There’s something of a 1990s revival taking over culture right now; baggy combat trousers are back and raves are in again. Frightening to think that it was around 30 years ago! The 1990s was a bad time for the Kings Weston Estate. The house remained in use as the Avon & Somerset Constabulary police training school despite their aspirations to expand across the park being quashed. They already planned to move to Portishead and minimal maintenance was undertaken on house or grounds. The thin sloping strip of Shirehampton Park along Shirehampton Road, between Kingsweston Hill and Penpole Wood, was the only part of the main parkland controlled by the Council.
detail of the aerial photo survey flown over Kings Weston on 30th March 1990 capturing the funfair, tennis courts, and Fairways.
At the start of the decade the Ordnance Survey sent over its survey planes on one of its periodical photography missions. When it passed over Kings Weston in March it recorded an unusual visitor to the park: a funfair! The fair set up in a prime location on Shirehampton Road, between the Council tennis courts and the car park. It’s possible to pick out dodgems, carousel, and four other big rides as well as a small encampment of stalls, booths, and caravans. Newspapers reveal the fair was here for ten days from the 21st of March, open 6pm or 2pm on weekends, but no indication of which travelling fair it was. Does anyone remember other times the fair came to Kings Weston, or is this photo a chance record of the only visit?
A couple of years later some alternative entertainment was going down on the estate – a rave. Now emblematic of 90s youth culture and fondly remembered by many, raves became a huge civil order issue for the Government. Many were illegally held, but, going by a flyer publicising the event, this one looks to have been more legitimate. In the days before internet and mobile phones in everyone’s pockets, flyers, often handmade, were an essential way to get the message out but rarely survive. The Crank it Up One More Time session was held at Fairways pub in Feb 1992 and promoted by Beyond Control. On the decks were Vinyl Junkie, Luge+Perkz and MC Dope – where are they now? Guests were advised to dress to sweat. We’d love to hear from anyone who remembers going!
An alternative souvenir from the Kings Weston estate in the form of a rave flyer for Crank it UP One More Time 8.2.92
The Fairways pub was just opposite the war memorial, on the present Karakal site. It had begun in the 1972 as a social club for Portway Football club who used the pitch next to the cricket club on Penpole Lane. It was an unglamorous single-storey building erected on land purchased from Bristol Water Works. It can be picked out in the aerial photo to the south of the old covered reservoir. Its construction coincided with efforts to establish a sports centre in the old reservoir building. By 1988 it was being advertised as Fairways pub, so it appears the football club had relocated to more suitable pitches in Sea Mills by this time. Although planning consent for a replacement purpose-built pub was granted in 1992 the old buildings continued until 1995 when it closed, never to reopen. The run-down buildings were demolished shortly afterwards, but by the time the owners of the site made any move to rebuild it things had changed, the estate was now nationally recognised for its historic value, planning policies had changed, and their new proposals were refused.
1970s Architects drawings of the sports and social club on Penpole Lane that would become Fairways pub.
The most significant moment for Kings Weston in the 90s saw the future of the mansion and Home Park in the balance. Kings Weston house was put on the market by the police in 1995 with an asking price of £300,000. Ironically, this was £30,000 lower than the Council had purchased it for in 1970 before being forced to hand the property over to the police four years later when Avon County was formed. Initial reports in September that year suggested the police had accepted a £125,000 offer from “property tycoon” Hugh Parsons, but late bids were received from a developer seeking conversion to a nursing home, and another from the City Council keen to acquire the land and house for the public; A tussle ensued with legal threats flying. The battle over the bidding played out in the press for several months before it was announced in November that the council finally won with a bid of £300,000 and agreement that public access would be protected. Councillor Paul Smith, chairman of the city council’s land and building committee said: “The challenge for us now is to ensure it is properly looked after and the land kept open to the public”. How that came to pass is another story…
The Bristol press keenly followed the battle over ownership of Kings Weston house.
Another artwork with Kings Weston Interest has come our way recently. The panoramic views across the waters of the Severn to the north were matched by the rolling landscape framing the Avon and its gorge to the south. Both proved popular locations for picturesque paintings throughout the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. The recently uncovered work shows the view up the Avon from Shirehampton Park, a spot much-favoured by artists. Here, the view across Horseshoe Bend was attractively framed by trees along the parkland edge. Distant views of Cook’s Folly, a tower with romantic associations, added distant intrigue to the scene.
The painting is likely to date from the 1830s, before the twin towers of the Clifton Suspension bridge rose to punctuate the skyline. Our artist, whoever they might have been, has added a sentimental vignette as foreground interest. A young couple, the gent apparently an artist working on his own version of the same view, have been approached by a gentleman and his dog. It may be that, in his red tunic and walking stick, he is an old soldier begging for money, so adding a poignant human touch in the midst of such natural drama.
