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Clifton Down History Trail Trail 2 - v1_Layout 1 03/11/2011 10:22 Page 1 The Downs History Trails No 2 A little background history START at Sion Hill look-out point Clifton and Durdham Downs: how has such an extensive and dramatic landscape that is so close to the centre of a great city survived open and free from development Start at Sion Hill look-out point will not refuse riding behind a man… and for so long? above the Avon Gorge Hotel; take numbers of what they call double horses For many centuries the tenants or commoners of the two medieval manors of Clifton a seat looking up the hill. are constantly kept for that purpose.” and Henbury had the right to graze their animals here. But by the mid-nineteenth Three ‘double horses’ are depicted. Clifton Down century grazing was declining as the city expanded and development pushed in at This seemingly bleak view On the top of the hill is the defunct the edges of the common land. Mines and quarries also scarred the Downs as well as 1A was drawn in September windmill, which was to become the the Avon Gorge. 1789 from an upper window of a newly Observatory thirty years later. Below the built lodging house in Sion Row, only just In 1856 the Society of Merchant Venturers, owners of Clifton Down since the late tower is a ruined building, just possibly “... for ever hereafter open out of your sight around the rising bend seventeenth century, promised “to maintain the free and uninterrupted use of the the remains of St Vincent’s Chapel which of Sion Hill. Clifton was then expanding Downs.” The following year Bristol City Council purchased two small properties in William Worcester recorded in 1480 rapidly partly at the expense of the Stoke Bishop, together with one of the few remaining commoner's rights to graze and which was still extant in 1625. and unenclosed...” declining Hotwell spa, immediately below animals on Durdham Down. In the spring of 1858 the City of Bristol turned out Any remaining traces would have been you at the river’s edge. sheep stamped ‘CB’, keeping alive the medieval rights of pasturage and making swept away in the 1830s during the further development more difficult. In 1793 Shiercliff's Guide tells us that construction of the approach road to the "Some ladies also take great delight in Clifton Suspension Bridge which springs Then, in equal partnership, the council and the Merchant Venturers promoted Detail of I.K.Brunel’s approved ‘Egyptian’ design for the Clifton Suspension Bridge, 1831; watercolour by riding upon Durdham Down… and the from the point just to the left of the ruins. The Clifton and Durdham Downs (Bristol) Act, 1861. This act allowed the council to Samuel Jackson and Auguste Charles Pugin (BCMAG K4077) best lady attending the Hot-well, if she purchase Durdham Down. It preserved the Downs for us all ‘for ever hereafter’. And it does not chuse to ride a single horse, set up the method of management that continues today: the Downs Committee, We are at the southern The first competition for the bridge, made up equally of councillors and Merchant Venturers under the chairmanship of 1B extremity of the commons held in 1829, was a fiasco. In the second the lord mayor. of Clifton Down. When William Vick, competition Brunel had to overturn the a Bristol wine merchant, died in 1754 committee's initial decision against him there was hardly a house to be seen from and then, having won, to get agreement Where to start: The nearest toilets: this spot. Vick’s will left £1000 in the care on the style of architecture that was to At Sion Hill at the look-out point above Are by the Clifton Suspension Bridge, of the Merchant Venturers to grow by clothe the engineering solution. Elegant the Avon Gorge Hotel, but you can join see map. compound interest until sufficient for Egyptian gateways topped with sphinxes at any point on the map. the building of a stone bridge from were selected. The towers were to be The Avon from Clifton Down, watercolour by Francis Danby, c.1822 (private collection) Further information: Clifton Down to Leigh Down – a flight covered in cast-iron plaques illustrating of inexplicable fancy, for such a bridge every phase of the bridge’s history How far and how long: Go to www.bristol.gov.uk/page/downs was then beyond the wit of man. and construction. it is 2.5 km long and takes about to download other trail leaflets on trees, It is 150 years since The Clifton and Durdham Downs (Bristol) Act, 1861 But by the end of the century iron was 90 minutes. It is almost all on birds, lichen and other subjects. Brunel died in 1859 and the bridge was secured the Downs as a place of recreation for us all – forever. This trail and revolutionising engineering and the tarmac paths. For educational visits, events, guided finally completed in 1864 to a much small but growing village of Clifton had a second trail exploring Durdham Down celebrate this anniversary and tours, news and volunteering go to the altered design and as a memorial to the become a building site. explore the rich and fascinating history of the Downs. How to get there: Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife Project’s great man from his fellow engineers. By bus: 8, 9, 586 and 587; by train: the site: www.avongorge.org.uk or e-mail nearest station is Clifton Down Station, [email protected]; for the Walk on up the hill following the tarmac path that curves left and then 15 minutes walk away. Friends of the Downs and Avon Gorge The Downs email: [email protected]. right below the bridge’s abutment. Very carefully cross Suspension Bridge Road by the speed restriction signs and take the steep tarmac Committee View of the Windmill & Camp at Clifton…from my window at Mrs Rossignols…Septr. 12th 1789"; pen, ink and wash drawing by Samuel Hieronymous Grimm (BCMAG Ma 3701) path winding up Observatory Hill, stopping very soon at the first bench. Walk on up the hill always keeping to the path at the edge of the gorge. The exact viewpoint of 1888, however, some plants were Samuel Hieronymous One contemporary guide implied that You are very close to The new road, which is so prominent in 2A Grimm’s drawing is a few rediscovered in the Avon Gorge 2B Grimm’s viewpoint was just quarrying was yet another exciting Continue past the Observatory and take a seat at the first bench 20 3B Francis Danby’s fenceless the watercolour, is depicted very shortly feet above you and you will be passing and a tale of pioneering conservation 15 metres to your left. He evidently spectacle for visitors and suggested that metres after you have enjoyed the information panel ‘Having a wild viewpoint. His watercolour allows us to before completion in 1822. The Old the spot shortly. The drawing’s inscription emerged. delighted in the two intrepid quarrymen the explosions and "the sound of time’. You have four ‘chapters’ here; do also wander and marvel at the sense something of the excitement and Hotwell House has still to be demolished is testimony to the fame that the Avon Isambard Kingdom Brunel had been on the right who appear to be sending crashing rocks running with thundering spectacular landscape around you. vision of the engineers who believed that so that the road could pass over its Gorge and the Downs have enjoyed warned by Mrs Glennie, wife of his rocks hurtling down the cliff towards the peel through the vale...re-echoing on they could span this vast space. It also foundations. The road continued along since the early sixteenth century for their principal engineer, of the destruction he old limekiln at the base of St Vincent’s every side of the surrounding cliffs... depicts the Hotwells Spa. In the centre the river and up what is now called wealth of rare wild flowers. was about to cause. Brunel then ordered Rocks. They may have been searching for make it most awfully sublime You have climbed into both the Old and the New Hotwell Bridge Valley Road to the Downs and The ‘autumnal Hiacinths’, which the artist his workmen to remove turf containing Bristol Diamonds, for which St Vincent’s and grand." 3A one of three ancient House stand side by side above the Clifton, providing much easier access by mentions, are now better known as bulbs of autumn squill to a safer and, Rocks had been camps at the highest points of the muddy banks of the Avon. The Old carriage at a gentler gradient than either autumn squill, Scilla autumnalis, and you evidently, almost inaccessible spot. celebrated since the Avon Gorge. These hill forts used the Hotwell House was built in 1696 and its Granby Hill or Park Street allowed. The can see it in the special flowerbed at the sixteenth century. steep cliffs for defence, adding massive successor was completed in 1822. Portway was not to be built for another Today, the Avon Gorge is classed as one Clifton end of the bridge, created in 2006 The broken geodes or ramparts and ditches. Seyer’s map, The rebuilding was part of a valiant and one hundred years. of the top three botanical sites in England to display several of the Avon Gorge’s nodules filled with clear illustrated here, makes it easier to ultimately unsuccessful attempt by the and its exposures of carboniferous rarest plants.
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