THE HISTORY OF ST ANNE'S

The first record we have of St Anne's is with Brislington as a manor with neighbouring manors of Keynsham, Filwood and Bedminster and that the manor of Brislington was part of Kingswood Forest. Also that the Saxon Kings who resided at the palace of Pucklechurch hunted in the forest regularly and, as the River Avon was tidal to Bath, it could be forded on horseback in several places.

History tells us that,after the Norman Conquest, William 1 seized the estates of Brictvic, Saxon governor of Bristol and took Kingswood Forest, which included Brislington, for the Crown.

For the next 150 years it is recorded to have been granted to several people from time to time but apparently the manor of Brislington was only a hunting ground on the south side of the river and remote from the city so it was not one of those manors which had its own manor house. It is probable that the first manor house was built by John LeWarre who was granted the manor in 1204. A manor house stood on this site until it was demolished in 1933.

This was in West Town Lane which, in modern times, has become part of the sports ground of Imperial Tobacco Company.

image above: 1900 St. Anne's railway station

The manor eventually passed to the brother of John LeWarre who is attributed to the establishment of a chapel at St Anne's which he endowed with adjacent land and a house for the priest which was built at the rear of what is now known as Wick House and previously Newyeke. All this land was given to the Abbey at Keynsham and they supplied the Canons to run the church.

Roger LeWarre died in 1320 and one of that family is reputed to have been present with the Black Prince at the Battle of Poictiers. It may well have been that the vessels in this chapel could have come from France as they are similar to the ones which are being discovered in Brittany.

The site of this chapel is now part of the St Anne's Board Mill complex and is recorded as being 19 yards long and 5 yards wide. It gained fame at the time when Bristol was hit by the plague (1348) as, adjoining the chapel and stretching towards the river, was a burial ground and a small mill stood at the corner of what is now Wootton and St Anne's Road.

Two wells apparently existed at that time together with a spring which gushed from the rocks and has since been enclosed. It is now known as St Anne's Well.

Early in the 16th. century the chapel began to lose its fame and was partially demolished. In 1537 the Monastery at Keynsham granted a lease of the chapel site, cemetery land and the house at Newyeke to Robert Stratford, a yeoman, for 40/ a year.

And then came the dissolution of the monasteries and in 1539 the

Bishop of Keynsham surrendered the Abbey and its land to Henry VIII. It was soon afterwards that a survey was made of England and Wales on behalf of the King and in this survey is a record of St Anne's Ferry. This is the first authentic record. 

image above: 1900 Pear Orchard Cottage St. Anne's Wood demolished 1931 - last occupants the Ford Family

Going back to the manor at Brislington,in the late 1600s Lady LeWarre married into the Sackville family and moved to Knowle House, there being no male heir in the LeWarre family. The manor then passed to the Langton family in 1677 and the Langtons established a court house in Langton Road, St Anne's. Langton became a well known name in Bristol the family supplying at least one Lord Mayor and a Member of Parliament.

Fourteen years after the dissolution Edward VI sold the Abbey property to Thomas Bridges who apparently had no interest in the land and leased it to Robert Collins who, about the middle of the 17th Century, built a small kiln and pottery on the site of the ruined chapel and took over the mill which stood on the corner of St Anne's and Wootton Roads.

He thereupon commenced the manufacture of Delft ware and fragments dated 1652 have been found on the site and are now in Bristol Museum. History records what apprentices were signed at the pottery and the output grew so that when Edward Ward took over the pottery, potters were travelling from Hanham, Bitton and Bristol to work with him. This must have been a very prosperous time for the pottery as, during that period, a house was erected and occupied by the chief potter.

Later it became a farm and in 1957 a large quantity of pottery which was presumed to be rejects was found just a few inches below the surface near the house. Ward apparently opened another pottery in Bristol making much the same kind of ware but manufacture continued at St Anne's until approximately 1770 when the pottery closed.

For those persons who are interested in pottery produced at St Anne's and called Delft ware, this was earthenware pottery with a glazed and coloured finished. The design and process for this pottery originated in Delft, Holland.

Whether they were actually made at the pottery or not we will never know but, mixed in with the records, is the fact that in 1764 Timothy Rodos, belonging to the Pot House at St Anne's near Brislington,was tried at Taunton Assizes for making base shillings.

And then John Jenkins took over the mill and pottery in 1772 when he used the pottery as a bakery and the mill as a grist mill. He was apparently charged at quarter sessions for baking bread and not having served an apprenticeship in the trade but was acquitted and continued baking until they made a sizeable fortune.

The two grindstones from the mill are reported to be still at St Anne's but local people have been unable to locate them up to the present day.

image above: Salisbury Road St.Anne's church on left of picture

The end of the Bridges family came in 1776 and the land changed hands until it came into the ownership of the Sinnot faintly in the 1800's.

In 1836 the railway line from Bristol to London was started and when this was opened in 1841 there was no station at St Anne's, which was eventually opened on 23 May 1898. In the meanwhile the Langton estate had passed into the hands of three persons who jointly held possession; Hall Sinnot, solicitor, of Bristol, Heber Mardon and a Mr Harris. Harris and Mardon sold out to Hall Sinnot and became associated with the printing works now Mardon Son and Hall.

image above: St. Anne's School corner of Bloomfield Road

Mr Sinnot's son James followed in the footsteps of his father and became a solicitor and subsequently married Mr Mardon's daughter and by the time James was 30 he owned most of the land at St Anne's. He kept Birchwood Lodge as his summer residence and is reputed to have held many hunting parties there.

Some of the land he let for quarrying purposes, drawing a tonnage payment. He also owned the ferry and let the farm at St Anne's.

image above: Site of 'The Holy Well' St. Anne's Wood - 1900

In 1890 a bridge was erected across the river near Netham and Sinnot began to sell the land which was appreciating in value with development spreading out from the city of Bristol.

Around Langton Court it is recorded that many houses were built. A small brickworks was started in Mardon Road, possibly thinking to take advantage of the housing explosion, but did not flourish.

image above: 1965 - A view of St.Anne's Board Mills on the banks of the river Avon near Crews Hole this was once the site of the former Brislington Pottery

In 1913 land was purchased for the site of St Anne's Board Mills and after World War One Mardon Son and Hall bought an adjoining site where in 1920 St Anne's Board Mills was extended.

James Sinnot gave St Anne's Wood to the public and by the 1920's a large housing site was erected on other lands. 

image above: Mardon Son & Hall employing 5,000 workers - it began in 1823 - it produced cigarette cards and packaging later production moved to the works at Warmley - the business closed down for good in the 1980s - Warmley was closed down later.

During World War II bombs fell on St Anne's Board Mills but there was no serious damage, certainly not enough to halt production and, after the war, the Company continued to expand and more land was purchased.

James Sinnot died at Gloucester in 1944 in his 100th year and the remaining land in St Anne's which he owned passed to his sons. 

image above: St. Annes Board Mills built in 1893 it closed in 1980 - modern houses now stand on this site

St Anne's Ferry closed on 27th October 1957 and a foot-bridge was opened on which a plaque was erected which reads: -'This footbridge was opened to the public on 27 October 1957 and replaced St. Anne's Ferry which had been in existence since the Middle Ages.'