Eastville, Bristol
Encyclopedia
Eastville is the name of both a council ward
in the city of Bristol
in the United Kingdom
and a suburb
of the city that lies within that ward. The Eastville ward covers the areas of Eastville, Crofts End (also known as Clay Hill), Stapleton
and part of Fishponds. Notable places within the ward include Bristol Metropolitan College
( formerly Whitefield Fishponds Community School) and Colston's School, and the Bristol & Bath Railway Path also passes through the ward.
Eastville is an inner-suburb
of the English
city of Bristol
, situated between Lower Easton
and Whitehall/Fishponds in the central north of the city. In the west its boundary is the River Frome
(or the M32 motorway
, which follows a similar route).
Eastville Stadium
(on the west bank of the Frome) used to be the home of Bristol Rovers Football Club, as well as being a site for greyhound racing
and speedway
, but this site has now been developed by IKEA
.
Eastville Park is a large park with a small lake, just to the east of the M32.
The lake at Eastville Park was instigated as part of a social scheme by Ernest Bevin
(a well-respected westcountryman), who later became Minister of Labour under Churchill
in the coalition government of WW2 and later Foreign Secretary in the Attlee
Government from 1945 until his death.
A large railway viaduct known as 'The Thirteen Arches' for obvious reasons, once ran through the area, roughly parallel to the current Muller Road. This was part of the Clifton Extension Railway
.
Eastville Workhouse was a former French Prison which was brought from the Government circa 1832, In 1930, the Stapleton workhouse became Stapleton Institution and by the Second World War the site was mainly used for the care of the mentally ill. It was bombed in 1940; the centre of the site is now May Park Primary School.
. The White Lion was licensed to a John Williams as early as 1877, while the Queen's Head has perched above Eastville Park since the late 19th century. Many other pubs were sited in Eastville, but all have now been demolished or converted to other uses.
. It is an industrialised area, with many small Victorian
houses, built when this area was a coal mining
community.
was established in 1895 by George Brown
, as a Christian
work for miner's children in The Freestone Rank, Whitehall Road, it became known as The Miner's Mission. It is now part of the local and much wider community but still very much a family church. The pastor is Andrew Yelland.
The church was built on a site bounded by market gardens
, a brick works
and Deep Pit Colliery. When The Beaufort Arms, then known as The Beatem and Wackem and now called The Wackum Inn was the place where most miners spent their hard earned wages! Hence the need for a children's work in that community.
Another local church was Clay Hill Chapel which was demolished when the industrial estates were built.
, to reach the coal face!
The area is undergoing more change as the majority of 'prefabs
' (built by American Service-men
as post war housing) in the locality have been demolished. Planning applications will replace these with mixed style housing.
The old, redundant Civil Defence building on the junction of Crofts End Road and Brook Road was demolished and housing association flats were built on the site, now named "Craftes Court"
of Bristol which lies in the east of the city.
Wards of the United Kingdom
A ward in the United Kingdom is an electoral district at sub-national level represented by one or more councillors. It is the primary unit of British administrative and electoral geography .-England:...
in the city of Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and a suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of the city that lies within that ward. The Eastville ward covers the areas of Eastville, Crofts End (also known as Clay Hill), Stapleton
Stapleton, Bristol
Stapleton is an area in the north-eastern suburbs of the city of Bristol, England. The name is colloquially used today to describe the ribbon village along Bell Hill and Park Road in the Frome Valley. It borders Eastville to the South and Begbrook and Frenchay to the North...
and part of Fishponds. Notable places within the ward include Bristol Metropolitan College
Bristol Metropolitan College
Bristol Metropolitan Academy, formerly Whitefield Fishponds Community School and later Bristol Metropolitan College, is an academy in Fishponds, Bristol, England...
( formerly Whitefield Fishponds Community School) and Colston's School, and the Bristol & Bath Railway Path also passes through the ward.
Eastville
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
city of Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, situated between Lower Easton
Easton, Bristol
Easton is both the name of a council ward in the city of Bristol in the United Kingdom, and an inner city area that lies partly within that ward. The Easton ward also contains the Whitehall and Netham areas of the city. Notable places within the ward include Lawrence Hill and Stapleton Road railway...
and Whitehall/Fishponds in the central north of the city. In the west its boundary is the River Frome
River Frome, Bristol
The River Frome is a river, approximately long, which rises in Dodington Park, South Gloucestershire, and flows in a south westerly direction through Bristol, joining the former course of the river Avon in Bristol's Floating Harbour. The mean flow at Frenchay is The name Frome is shared with...
(or the M32 motorway
M32 motorway
The M32 is a motorway in South Gloucestershire and Bristol, England. It provides a link from Bristol city centre to the M4 and is part of the Bristol Parkway. At about , it is one of Britain's shortest motorways...
, which follows a similar route).
Eastville Stadium
Eastville Stadium
Eastville Stadium, also known as Bristol Stadium and Bristol Stadium – Eastville, was a stadium in Eastville, a northern suburb of the English city of Bristol....
(on the west bank of the Frome) used to be the home of Bristol Rovers Football Club, as well as being a site for greyhound racing
Greyhound racing
Greyhound racing is the sport of racing greyhounds. The dogs chase a lure on a track until they arrive at the finish line. The one that arrives first is the winner....
and speedway
Motorcycle speedway
Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. Speedway motorcycles use only one gear and have no brakes and racing takes place on a flat oval track usually...
, but this site has now been developed by IKEA
IKEA
IKEA is a privately held, international home products company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture such as beds and desks, appliances and home accessories. The company is the world's largest furniture retailer...
.
Eastville Park is a large park with a small lake, just to the east of the M32.
The lake at Eastville Park was instigated as part of a social scheme by Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin was a British trade union leader and Labour politician. He served as general secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922 to 1945, as Minister of Labour in the war-time coalition government, and as Foreign Secretary in the post-war Labour Government.-Early...
(a well-respected westcountryman), who later became Minister of Labour under Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
in the coalition government of WW2 and later Foreign Secretary in the Attlee
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
Government from 1945 until his death.
A large railway viaduct known as 'The Thirteen Arches' for obvious reasons, once ran through the area, roughly parallel to the current Muller Road. This was part of the Clifton Extension Railway
Clifton Extension Railway
The Clifton Extension Railway was a joint railway in Bristol, owned by the Great Western Railway and the Midland Railway companies.-Description of line:...
.
Eastville Workhouse was a former French Prison which was brought from the Government circa 1832, In 1930, the Stapleton workhouse became Stapleton Institution and by the Second World War the site was mainly used for the care of the mentally ill. It was bombed in 1940; the centre of the site is now May Park Primary School.
Pubs and bars in Eastville
There are four pubs officially designated as in Eastville. Each of them dates back at least to the reign of Queen Victoria. The Coach House was originally called The Beaufort Inn, and subsequently the Railway Tavern, while the Black Swan was licensed during the reign of King George IVGeorge IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
. The White Lion was licensed to a John Williams as early as 1877, while the Queen's Head has perched above Eastville Park since the late 19th century. Many other pubs were sited in Eastville, but all have now been demolished or converted to other uses.
Crofts End
Crofts End (also known as Clay Hill) is a suburb of BristolBristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. It is an industrialised area, with many small Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
houses, built when this area was a coal mining
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
community.
Churches
Crofts End ChurchCrofts End Church
Crofts End Church is a nonconformist church, located in St George, Bristol, England. The specific area in which it is located is known locally as Crofts End....
was established in 1895 by George Brown
George Brown
- Politicians :* George Brown, Baron George-Brown , British politician, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs* George Brown, Jr. , U.S...
, as a Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
work for miner's children in The Freestone Rank, Whitehall Road, it became known as The Miner's Mission. It is now part of the local and much wider community but still very much a family church. The pastor is Andrew Yelland.
The church was built on a site bounded by market gardens
Market gardening
A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. It is distinguishable from other types of farming by the diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically, from under one acre ...
, a brick works
Brickworks
A brickworks also known as a brick factory, is a factory for the manufacturing of bricks, from clay or shale. Usually a brickworks is located on a clay bedrock often with a quarry for clay on site....
and Deep Pit Colliery. When The Beaufort Arms, then known as The Beatem and Wackem and now called The Wackum Inn was the place where most miners spent their hard earned wages! Hence the need for a children's work in that community.
Another local church was Clay Hill Chapel which was demolished when the industrial estates were built.
Industry
Over many years, the Market Gardens became housing, White's Brick Works became Somers Wood Yard (now an industrial pallet site) - where many older people will remember going as children to collect a sack or trolley full of firewood - and Deep Pit Colliery became industrial estates. When Deep Pit closed, men were having to walk underground as far as FrenchayFrenchay
Frenchay is a suburb of Bristol, England, to the north east of the city, but located mainly in South Gloucestershire and the Civil Parish of Winterbourne....
, to reach the coal face!
Housing
Crofts End House, located at the junction of Plummer's Hill and Whitehall Avenue, still exists, but no longer as a single dwelling. It has been refurbished and is now part of a housing association development.The area is undergoing more change as the majority of 'prefabs
Prefabricated home
Prefabricated homes, often referred to as prefab homes, are dwellings manufactured off-site in advance, usually in standard sections that can be easily shipped and assembled....
' (built by American Service-men
Military of the United States
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
as post war housing) in the locality have been demolished. Planning applications will replace these with mixed style housing.
The old, redundant Civil Defence building on the junction of Crofts End Road and Brook Road was demolished and housing association flats were built on the site, now named "Craftes Court"
Fishponds
Fishponds is a predominantly residential area of Bristol that lies partially within the Eastville ward.Stapleton
Stapleton is a suburbSuburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of Bristol which lies in the east of the city.