Henbury Conservation Society

Last year's HCS programme ended with a fascinating talk on the History and People of St. Mary's Church, Henbury followed by a happy social evening in Woodstock School stables in December. The next two meetings are: - Tuesday 22nd March 7:30 Village Hall - Features & People of Old Vicarage, Tuesday 7th June Village Hall - AGM followed by Village Walkabout

The efforts to promote the use of Blaise House Kitchen Garden continue and a positive meeting was held with Cellan Michael, Manager Bristol Parks Department, which clarified some aspects.

St Mary the Virgin Church

The church of St Mary the Virgin was built around 1200 with the nave and lower tower surviving from that period. In the early 13th century the upper tower, chancel and south chapel were added. The north chapel was built and restoration work was carried out by Thomas Rickman in 1836, and the church was further restored by George Edmund Street in 1875-7.
The earliest record of Henbury dates from 692AD when the Mercian King, Ethelred son of Penda, gave lands to the second Bishop of Worcester in what was then known as "Henbury in the Saltmarsh." It was a large parish, going as far north as Aust. Today the parish is smaller though, in size, said to be the largest in the Bristol Diocese and it stretches from Cribbs Causeway out to the Severn Estuary, including Brentry, Henbury and the vales of Hallen.
The first Norman building was succeeded by the present building in the 12th Century. Almost one hundred years later Bishop Giffard ordered the parishioners of Brentry to rebuild the chancel, which they duly did, making it longer and with the marked northward slant we see today.
St Mary's was then reordered in two phases during the 19th century, the second of which was overseen by the celebrated Victorian George Street. No subsequent work was completed on the building until 2008.
Residents of Henbury Churchyard include the Egyptologist Amelia Edwards, but no monument is more poignant or visited than that of Scipio Africanus. A servant of the Earl of Suffolk and Bindon, Scipio Africanus died in 1720 aged only 18 years. The stones, inside and outside the building tell the story of a community of worshipping Christians that has lasted over 1300 years.

Blaise Castle

The Castle was built in 1766 on a site with evidence of human habitation dating back 5000 years to the age of Neolithic Man. It is the centre piece of the Estate and commands considerable views of the surrounding countryside. It was built by Thomas Farr the owner of the estate, who was a prosperous Bristol merchant, who had considerable sugar investments in the Americas.

One theory for the choice of the position was that it enabled Farr to see his ships entering the river Avon on their way to Bristol laden with cargo from his American Estates. This can be seen on a painting in the Blaise Castle House Museum which shows a pilot vessel alongside a sailing ship awaiting navigation through the difficult tidal waters of the River Avon into Bristol. The Castle is clearly shown in the background.

Due to the effects of the American War of independence., Thomas Farr was declared bankrupted in 1778 and was forced to sell the Estate. It was eventually bought by John Scadrett Harford in 1789. The possible original use for the Castle no longer existed and it became a summer house for the new owners and their guests.

Certainly the interior of the first floor with wooden panelled walls and impressive period furniture, as shown in the only photographs available, indicate its use of entertaining and pleasure. It would appear that this was the sole use of the Castle for about 150 years until the First World War. By this time, house parties and entertaining on a grand scale were in decline, and little use was made of the Castle.

The only definite information on its use after the War is its occupation by an Estate worker, Mr Castell and his family, who lived in the ground floor rooms for about four years in the 1920’s. A harsh and difficult environment with no modern household facilities. A description of what his life was like can be read from a display in the Castle.

Following the purchase of the Estate by Bristol Corporation the building had no real use and was therefore allowed to deteriorate and suffered from vandalism, culminating in a serious fire in the early 1960’s.After considerable interest and pressure from local people a restoration programme between City Council and the Friends of Blaise resulted in saving the building from destruction and the installation of a spiral staircase.

The views for which it was originally built again became available and can be enjoyed by the public on some afternoons in the summer when Friends of Blaise open it to the public.

Written by Friends of Blaise Castle.

Feedback from our last issue

Since our last issue, a lot has happened in our area and we'd love to hear what you think. Please email us or call us. Feedback from our last issue was largely very positive again, but if you disagree - you know what to do!

"We like the newsletter very much! It is good to learn and read more about our area. We didn't know till we got the Newsletter how many churches and community activities are offered in our area. I am sure the newsletter will help to strengthen our community and that's very good!" - Anna Schubert

Anna has now moved to Devon and we wish her and her family well in their new community.

"Thanks for the latest newsletter. Not an easy task I'm sure, so well done! The local history pieces you include are fascinating - where do these come from? Is there a book?" - James Brereton

We're glad you like our history pieces, we're lucky in that they are submitted by residents with an interest in local history or written by members of the newsletter team. You might be interested in the DVD advertised on the last page or get in touch with the Conservation Society, Tim Parkinson, tel. 950 8033

"I live in Henbury and I am quite disappointed to find out there has been a meeting at Wesley college on the 28th June, as I didn't receive notice of this meeting until 29th June and I suspect a lot of people didn't get their Henbury and Brentry newsletter until then. What was the point of the meeting if we don't know about it? I feel our opinions were not wanted or we would have had proper notice of this meeting, but of course it’s now too late." - One very Annoyed Resident of Henbury.

We are sorry that the last newsletter was delayed by two weeks, and as we mentioned on the feedback page, it was due to technological issues beyond our control. We feel it important to clarify that this newsletter is run by volunteers and in no way represents either the Community Council or Bristol City Council, although members of both participate and help to fund its production. Also, as passionate members of the community, we more than most welcome your comments and opinion on developments in Henbury and Brentry. We recognise the importance of dialogue between individuals, public bodies and private enterprise and want the newsletter to act as a forum for it. LASTLY, THIS FURTHER HIGHLIGHTS OUR CONSTANT REQUIREMENT FOR MORE DELIVERY VOLUNTEERS! ALL WELCOME, NO MATTER HOW SMALL AN AREA YOU CAN COVER!

Contact the newsletter team by email to:
henburyandbrentrynewsletter@gmail.com
or call the editors: Marianna 0117 950 7032 and Olivia 0117 950 0936.

Two Hidden Houses

When you walk up Rectory Gardens towards St. Mary's Church from Henbury Road you may admire the fine stone walls but you will be hard put to catch even a glimpse of the two historic houses behind them.

The older of the two became the home of Woodstock School (50 pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties) in 2000 when £1M was spent on refurbishment and restoration. John Sampson from nearby Charlton* completed the house very much as it is today in 1688 and his descendants lived there until 1947 when Major Sampson-Way** died. Death duties and compulsory purchase orders for the Norton and Westmoreland farms resulted in the housing estates along Crow Lane and Station Road. The house was known originally as Henbury Awdelett but later generations preferred Henbury Manor. Around 1950 Bristol City Council purchased the house and it became a school and towards the end of the century it catered for children with physical difficulties.

The other house, the former Vicarage, has a less authenticated completion date of 1729. It certainly replaces a large rambling building shown in a print Thomas Kip dated 1710. This latter would probably have been timber framed and indeed there is a very large redundant wooden stanchion embedded in the cellars of the current house. John Gardiner was the first vicar to live in the house and he did so for 50 years. In 1830 the first of three generations of vicars of the Way family followed on from Walter Trevelyan, a famed naturalist (Trevelyan Walk named in his memory?). The first vicar Way, John Hugh**, constructed the tunnel leading from the churchyard towards the Royals and Blaise. He did this with the help of gifts from family and friends so that his parishioners would not have to walk past the vicarage windows as they used the right of way through the vicarage grounds.

When the third vicar, Charles Parry Way, retired in 1927 the house was bought by Dr. Kenneth Wills, a medical doctor. Dr. Wills was an early experimenter with X rays as evidenced by a local electrician who was frequently called out to restore the overloaded electricity supply. He lived in the Old Vicarage until the late 1960s when it became the home of the Drs. John and Elizabeth Spencer-Smith with surgeries in Henleaze and Westbury. In 1974 the new owner set about dividing the house and garden into four units. Today these four have been consolidated into two halves of the house each with a separate owner.

* Demolished in the 1940s to make way for the Filton runway
** John Hugh Way had a sister who married Edward Sampson. Hence the change to Sampson-Way.

Blaise Castle and Mansion

Many readers will be familiar with the Mansion House at Blaise and the Museum which is housed there, but few will probably know much about its origins.

It replaced an original Manor House built in the area of what is now the Dairy Garden and, following the recommendation of Humphry Repton, the landscape architect employed to design the estate, the land was raised so that it appeared that the house was standing on a small knoll. This can be clearly 

seen today. The best views from this site are to the south so the house was built with the major rooms facing this direction and at the same time making the best use of the available sunlight. The first floor also provides excellent views of Castle Hill and the Castle itself.

It was designed by a Bristol architect William Paty and the foundation stone laid by the owner Mr. John Scandrett Harford on 1st December 1795. After roofing was completed in October 1796, there was a celebration dinner at the Blaise Castle Inn with a gallon of ale all round for the seventy workmen.

The impressive Picture Room was a later addition added by John Scandrett Harford's son and was constructed in 1832-33 between the South East front of the house and the Conservatory. The garden entrance to this room has a massive collonade of six Ionic columns leading onto the terrace which is bordered by a balustrade and several ornamental urns. This room remains today as an elegant tribute to the architect and houses a fine collection of paintings from the City Art Gallery.
Patrick Clarke - Friends of Blaise Castle

New DVD from Friends of Blaise Castle, cost £10, order it by email: pateastover@aol.com

impressive job! Very informative and covers not only the history of Blaise Castle but all Henbury area from Romans to today

Marianna