1960

Bridgeyate Methodist Church, believed to be the oldest Methodist church in the Bristol area still holding regular services, celebrated its 150th anniversary in February this year.

The little grey stone building standing at the top of Bridgeyate Common behind an ancient chestnut tree often goes unnoticed by the speeding traveller these days but when the first foundation stones were laid the pace of life was very different.

In February 1960, the chapel was packed to capacity for the four weekend celebration meetings which proved to be a great success. The final anniversary service was performed by the Reverend David Catterson who came to Bridgeyate in 1958.

Long before the chapel was built, religious meetings were held in private houses. Local folk-law has it that the Rev. John Wesley may have preached nearby, on the common.

The original conveyance of 1810 decrees that 'The Chapel or Preaching House and Buildings... be peaceably used for the public worship of Almighty God, by the church and congregation that shall or may from time to time and at all times hereafter meet and assemble therein.'

The original trustees of the chapel, known as the Bridgeyate Ebenezer, were all local men, several gaining employment from the brassworks at Warmley Tower. Some of their names and the name of the original owner of the land are synonymous with Bridgeyate, thus Trubody, Peacock. Jarrett, Ashley, Wilmot, Parket and Johnson.

image above: Brain's local Warmley village shop 1930's

1961

Warmley swimming pool which opened around 1910 was an inspirational project for the time but with the icy cold spring water and its open aspect, it was suitable for use only in the summer months. The pool could accommodate 400 people but it was only in the extreme heatwaves that anything over 100 or so bathers appreciated a cool dip.

Attempts were made to heat the waters in a boiler house but this proved ineffective and very expensive, the heat gong straight up into the atmosphere. Local schools would come to have swimming lessons and it is possible that many people from the district owe their lives to the instructions they received at Warmley Baths. If they were ever thrown into the seas m the Arctic regions it would be just like being back at Warmley Baths.

By the late 1950s, plans were afoot to build a splendid modern pool at Soundwell. This was funded equally by Kingswood and Mangotsfield Urban District Councils and cost 160,000 pounds It was opened on the 9th September 1961.

The poor little pool at Warmley could not compare to Soundwell and by the mid-60s was filled in, then later the site was built upon to provide additional facilities in the area.

image above: 1890 a photograph of Charlotte Close of Cadbury Heath She and her four sisters took their produce to Kingswood Market twice a week

1962

On the 25th April 1961, clearance orders were sent to the residents of Nos. 178 to 220 Tower Road North as their homes were considered unsuitable for human habitation and would have to be demolished. These homes were better known in the area as Tower Rank. What was not realised at the time was that these buildings were probably the oldest industrial houses in the country.

It is recorded in 1761 that William Champion owned, as part of his estate, 25 tenements. The tithe map of 1841 shows 22 of these houses, thirteen in the Rank, three in Chapel Row and another group of six on the site of 'Tanners House' (No. 134). In 1712, before Champion came to Warmley, there were 98 dwellings in the whole of Siston Parish with a population of 450. Of the 98 dwellings the hamlet of Warmley contained only eleven.

When Champion moved to Warmley he needed to entice key industrial workers to come with him. Part of the deal was that he would provide quality housing for them. Many of these craftsmen came from Germany and the Low Countries; Siston parish records report the deaths in the 1760s of Peter Crymmer and John Craft, both Dutchmen.

This early initiative shows Champion as the first industrialist in the country to provide paternal housing for his workforce. Paternal, in this sense, meaning to look after the workers from cradle to the grave.
It is also probably that there was a school or chapel and a shop provided in this industrial community.

The rank of thirteen houses backed on top of the lake and often suffered from flooding when the water breached the banks. Eighteen months after the council letter the residents began to leave and eventually all the residents were rehoused by the council.

Many of the families moved as a community to Earlstone Close, Park wall. The demolition crew moved in and expected to knock down these old buildings in a day or two but Champions masons and builders knew their craft all those years before. The work eventually took over three weeks.

What of the site of these unique homes today? It is an unoccupied car park!

image above: A 1900 view of Tower Road looking towards the junction with Cadbury Heath Road with The King William IV ('King Billy') public house on the left

1963

John McAdam became world famous for his system of combining tar with suitable sized stones to produce a semipermanent road material. The first road to use this Tarmac was the road from Bristol to London better known as the A420, which runs through Warmley and Bridgeyate.

The McAdam experiments were carried out in Victorian times but the roads that were covered with this new road material were much, much older. In the 17th century, the road through the Kingswood Forest was just a rutted cart track.

By the 18th century the road was described as The Causeway. Later that century and in the 19th century, the Bristol Turnpike Trust took control of this and other roads and began to make great improvements, thus enabling the Bristol to London coach traffic to pass by with much greater ease and comfort.

The work had to be paid for and so a series of Turnpike Houses were erected to collect the tolls on behalf of the Trust. There were two turnpike houses in Siston parish and several others just outside. One house was on the corner of Carsons Road and Siston Hill (currently a boarding kennel) the other stood on the cross roads opposite the Griffin Inn.

Until the 1920s Bridgeyate was the boundary of Siston Parish and probably in ancient times a gate stood by the breaches (a nearby field) or Breaches-gate.

This name has since evolved into Bridgeyate.The toll house opposite The Griffin had by 1963 not been used for its original purpose for a long time and has become part of the areas folklore as Miss Bences Shop. This was a little shop full of wonderful delights, sweets, soap, polish, peas, you name it and it was there somewhere! Unfortunately, in later years it had the unsavoury distinction of being the place where you didnt buy meat.

In these modern days of refrigerated food cases and the like, the Health Inspector would have had a fit!

image above: Carsons Chocolates and Confectionery Ltd this purpose built factory once stood on Siston Common built 1912 modern development of housing now stands on this site

1964

This year saw the centenary celebrations of Warmley School. In January 1864, Gabriel Goldney, who owned the Crown Colliery and other lands, conveyed a small plot of land to the Elders of St. Barnabas Church, to be used to build a school for the poorer classes in the new parish of Warmley.

By September the building had been designed and built, quite remarkable in such a short time! The schools first head teachers were Miss Ellen Greenville assisted by her brother, the fee for those able to pay was 3d per week or 2d if you used only sand boxes or chalk and slates. The cost may sound modest today, but a good wage for a man in the pits or at the brassworks was twelve shillings and some families had eight or more children.

The first register shows that there were 65 on the roll, 35 boys and 30 girls, then numbers began to drop as children returned to the National School at Webbs Heath where they previously had attended. Attendance at Warmley eventually took a turn for the better and in two years the original roll had doubled.

The children in 1964 enjoyed special lessons on The Good Old Days and school life in Victorian times. Most children dressed in mop caps and pinafores and the boys in cloth caps and braces. The school has always had close links with St. Barnabas Church and the celebrations ended with a parade along Church Avenue for a Centenary Service which, to the delight of all, was recorded for T.V.

image above: Carsons Chocolate Production 1940's

1965

The 60s were now in full swing and it was a period of out with the old and in with the new. On the 17th May, goods traffic came to an end at Warmley station yard and a few days later coal also stopped arriving.

In the 1930s the stations goods yard was a hive of activity. There were several coal dealers including Sidney Fussell, Peacocks and Laceys. Imported leather would arrive for the Kingswood boot factories and cases of the finished product would go down on the return trip. A lorry load of Douglas motorcycles would arrive every other day to be shipped by rail all around the country. Fireworks came from Cranes and Ochre from Wick and Warmley. The Hollychrome Brickyard dispatched three waggon loads of bricks and other goods a week.

Every so often a consignment of cattle and other livestock would arrive. These had to be driven to the nearby slaughterhouses, such as the barn at Barrs Court, now used as a public house. Local boys could earn a penny or two helping to herd cattle, sheep or pigs, along Baden Road over Wraxall Hill and through the fields to the farm.

All good things must come to an end and so they did at Warmley goods yard. As manufactory declined and road transport increased, British Rail found it increasingly difficult to keep these small country depots going. By the summer of 1965 the clatter of buffers and the squeal of brakes were heard no more.

The following year, the final nail was struck with the closure of passenger facilities at the station. On 7th March 1966, the last passenger train pulled out from the station platform and disappeared around the bend for the last time.

Long before buses or trains, or even the Avon Metro was conceived, people could catch a train into Bristol, Temple Meads, and be transported almost anywhere in the country. You could also travel in the opposite direction and, for a few pence, pass through Bitton and along the Avon Valley and be in Bath before you knew it.

Perhaps sometime in the future it could happen again who knows?

image above: Tudor Siston Court Cromwell stayed here amongest many other famous people (now converted into flats)

1966

Forover one hundred years pottery goods were produced at Warmley Tower. William Champions world renowned brass works at Warmley had for nearly a century gone into decline and by 1850, Alfred Davidson of Warmley House, introduced a group of potters from Derbyshire and elsewhere and thus began the era of the Warmley Tower Potteries.

By the late 1880s, Davidson had moved on and the business was controlled by a succession of other manufacturers. At the end of the decade the site was in the control of Joseph Haskins who had pioneered a machine to produce drainage pipes of various sizes.

Joe Haskins died in 1891, not seeing the fruits of his labours, but the Pottery was continued by his wife and eldest son, Herbert Haskins. After the Great War, John Seymour-Williams was the proprietor, leaving the day to day running to a succession of managers. Initially, the clay for all the products was provided from the nearby clay pits across the road but in the latter years all clay was imported by the lorry load from the north of England.

The goods made at Warmley were famous for their strength, due to the gritty nature of the local clay. However, the clay was so abrasive that it would wear out the dies and other machinery parts many times faster than would be expected.

Over the years a huge variety of produce was manufactured at Haskins Pottery, from bricks, tiles, pipes, chimneys and at one time a variety of small statues, including one of Lord Nelson.

In 1964, Hepworths from Sheffield bought control of the Hollychrome Pottery at Warmley, next to the station, and took great delight in acquiring this smaller competitor and eventually tearing down the kilns and other buildings. Many of the skilled workers were then employed by Hepworths but before long even that works closed.

On 23rd April Mr. Airy Neave, M.P. for Abingdon, opened the Refuse Disposal Plant at Carsons Road. This amenity was the solution to the ever-growing problem of household refuse. All the local tips had been filled.

This initiative allowed refuse to be sorted and recycled so saving revenue for the council.

image above: 1960 Siston Church the door is still plugged with bullet holes from Cromwell's Roundheads

1967

In the late 50s and early 60s an old quarry site near Cowhorn Hill had been used as a refuse tip. Warmley R.D.C. then had to find a use for this unstable area of land. Through out 1967 topsoil was brought in and then the area was landscaped and grassed, all eleven and a half acres. By July 1968 Warmley had its own eighteen hole golf approach and putting course.

In the early years several holes were on the south side of Warmley Brook and local residents complained that mis-directed balls were a danger. Eventually the course was confined to the north of the brook. Warmley R.D.C. can be proud of this sporting initiative which enabled residents at a modest price to enjoy a game of golf.

For those bitten by the golf bug there is Mangotsfield Golf Course at Carsons Road, Siston, which was built over lodge Farm.

image above: 1916 looking towards Siston and St Anne's Church

1968

The worst rainstorm in over half a century occurred this year with more than five inches of rain falling on some areas in less than 24 hours.

The summer had been hot and the fields had formed a hard crust. On the 10th July, the first few drops fell and a storm that started in Brittany France and spread across the whole of southern England came to a climax in the Bristol and north Somerset areas. Brooks and streams became rivers and rivers became lakes as the torrents of floodwater quickly burst their banks and flowed over the surrounding low lying land.

Before the storm abated, seven people were to lose their lives, bridges were destroyed, dams were demolished and hundreds of homes and factories were flooded. Siston Brook, which rises above St. Annes pool, very quickly burst its banks and flooding occurred near Little Brook Farm, Goose Green. More flooding occurred around the Midland Spinner. The water was so high in the lower skittle alley, a chair became lodged in the rafters of the building.

The Warmley Brook, rising beyond Carsons Factory, created a lake that reached from the bridge in Station Road, Kingswood, to well beyond the bridge in Anchor Road. The fields along Tenniscourt Road were flooded and collected debris created a further blockage to the bridge in Deanery Road, making that road impassable.

At Warmley, Crown Gardens had become a collecting point for the deluge which was unable to drain into the brook. That night the ambulance service was called out to rescue frightened elderly people from their bungalows. The village constable, P.C. Doug Hardiman, was almost swept away as he waded through waist deep water.

The two tributaries now combined by the Champions Summerhouse in Tower Road North and the caravan park, being on the bed of Champions thirteen acre lake, once again became awash. Some of the caravan dwellers had to be rescued by rowing boats as their homes were threatened.

Further downstream the rushing tide of water had picked up a massive tree trunk and, acting like a battering ram, had charged into the dam wall at Willsbridge Mill, breaching the banks and releasing hundreds of thousands of gallons of muddy water. The water tore down the valley in a tidal wave, swamping cars and low lying homes to the depth of several feet.

As a permanent reminder of this occasion an inscribed brass plate was erected at the Midland Spinner by landlord, Cyril Hemmings, giving the date and flood level. The plate is opposite the door and about five feet above the floor.

image above: Historic Bridge House on the London Road

1969

The final remains of Haskins Pottery disappeared in September this year. All the other buildings and ten kilns were levelled to the ground during the summer. The two 110 feet high chimney stacks remain, standing alone like sentinels over the devastated site. The scene was a sad one indeed, looking like a picture from the wartime blitz.

The first stack was built about 1850, the second in the 1950s. Dawsons of Clutton had the task of bringing down the two stacks; with a few sticks of gelignite in strategic positions and a push on the plunger the stacks were no more.

A large crowd gathered to see the spectacle, including Jim Ashley, the last foreman and caretaker of the site. When the Pottery closed three years earlier, Jim collected the final batch of clay and produced a pipe inscribed with the date and the legend 'The Last of Millions'.

On the 16th July this year, the death occurred of Cyril Jesse Turner. Cyril had the honour of being the Captain of the bellringers at St. Barnabas Church from 1954 to 1964. He also had the distinction of living in the most unusual building in the parish. Cyril lived in the building known as the Summerhouse.

This castellated building was another of William Champions great follies and was originally used as the gatehouse to control the water flow into the lake. The unique structure straddles Warmley Brook with one set of footings in Oldland Parish and the other in Siston. Warmley Brook flows ten feet beneath the lounge.

The Summerhouse is built almost entirely from black copper slag blocks, a by-product of Champions copper smelting enterprise. In the 1970s the Summerhouse was sold. The accommodation was very small and two modern extensions have since been added.

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