Totterdown Residents Environmental & Social Action
Totterdown
Some interesting pieces about Totterdown, it’s history, geography, and origin. If you have any extra information about the origins of Totterdown, please let us know.
This interesting article about the Banana Bridge is reproduced from Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History [Grace’s Guide To British Industrial History] Wrought iron arched bowstring footbridge, 134 ft long, on masonry abutments. Built in 1882[1] by Finch and Co of Chepstow. 1882, July: ‘THE NEW BRIDGE AT BEDMINSTER. The temporary foot bridge placed across the New Cut[…]
Situated on the grass verge corner opposite the Star & Dove). The inner text reads “The more we share the more we have” Totterdown’s most recent mosaic is a celebration of our diverse community. Different sections of the mosaic represent some notable aspect of our amazing community:
Situated on Zone A at the junction of Wells Road and Firfield Street This mosaic is in memory of the homes and businesses knocked down for an ill-fated 1960s road scheme. In the 1960s town planners enthusiastically embraced the explosion in car ownership that took place after the war. Bristol Council drew up plans for[…]
Situated on the grass verge near the junction of Bellevue Road/Wells Road (Very close to Three Lamps) Ravenswell is the source of a medieval water pipe in Bristol. In 1370 the monks of Austin Friars who werebuilding a religious house in Temple Parish (the area around Temple Meads Station and the leaning tower ofTemple Church) negotiated[…]
TRESA was interested to see the comments (reproduced below) in relation to the importance of archeology in the Mead Street area. _________________________________ Comments for Planning Application 21/06878/FAddress: Land At Corner Of York Road And St Lukes Road Bedminster Bristol BS3 4ADProposal: Mixed-use redevelopment including 221 residential (C3) units and 651 sq.m. of commercial floorspace (Class[…]
Our local independent businesses are here to help us all through this current madness… many of them are continuing to stay open, providing brilliant service as ever and always, always a friendly face in the chaos. This is not an exhaustive list – please check with the venues and retailers themselves regarding opening hours and[…]
If you have an interest in the history of Totterdown’s pubs, you may enjoy reading: The Nineteenth-and Twentieth-Century Public House in Bristol English Heritage Project: NHPP 4A1 6942. Totterdown has its own section, and there are other references to Totterdown throughout. Happy reading!
Raven’s well is the source of the medieval water pipe in Bristol – called Temple Pipe built in 1366 to supply water to the friary at Temple Gate and Temple Church. 100 years ago Temple pipe was severed by the building of the railway line. Raven’s well is under the three lamps sign post at[…]
The name “Totterdown” comes from the old english term for “Traders Rest” or “Traders Camp”. Totter is the old english term for a trader, whilst down refers to a camp, rest or stop. So it is where traders would rest before reaching the city centre the next day for trading. Now you know! 🙂
In the early 1850’s a petition was got up and signed, by 293 people of Totterdown, Bath Road, the New Cut and neighbourhood, in respect of the nauseous smoke and vapour emitted, both night and day, from the Alkali Works near Marsh Bridge, St Philip’s. In addition, they complained of the several thousand tons of[…]
An interesting piece of information received from a Totterdown Resident: “I attended, some years ago, a talk on “Farms of Knowle and Totterdown”. When this area was farmland the meadow on which Bushy Park and Knowle Road were subsequently built was called Bushy Mead. The next meadow up the hill, as you may guess, was called[…]
A spring at Pylle Hill was named Ravenswell. In 1370 the monks of Austin Friars who were building a religious house in Temple Parish (the area north of Pylle Hill of which Temple Meads Station and the leaning tower of Temple Church are the last vestiges) negotiated a grant of spring water from Sir John[…]
Totterdown is a suburb of Bristol, England, situated area just south of the River Avon and south-east of Temple Meads railway station. It rises relatively steeply from the river bank to a largely terraced Victorian housing area which is notable for its painted homes – often in bright colours – that can be seen from some distance. Like with many places,[…]
The name Aldebury of Knowle appears in a Bristol charter of 1188, in Charters of 1252 and 1373 other variations on the name appear. Its location is not given precisely in the Charters but it was certainly in the area of what is now the junction of the Wells and Bath Roads where a map of 1742 gives[…]
A charter of 1373 refers to a place called Pylhillesbrugh; as with Aldebury it was not given a definite location but was in the region of the present junction of the Wells and Bath Roads. The element ‘brugh’ may be a confusion with ‘burgh’ which has the same meaning as ‘bury’ but more likely it[…]
The area today that is known as Totterdown was once part of the Manor of Knowle; called Canole in the Doomsday book, the manor was quite small and its first Norman lord, Osberne Giffard. Osberne held lands in Gloucestershire where he built a castle. The Manor of Knowle was too small to support a household[…]
“Totterdown Rising” is a book about a community that was split in half to make way for a road that was never built. But it’s not a book about a community beaten into submission by a local council’s obsession with the motor car, it’s a story of how people rebuilt their community and reinvented the[…]
