IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Gleneagles Road, BRISTOL, BS30 8GW

William Champion set up a number of brass works and Zinc smelters in the Bristol area in the eighteenth century. The waste products of the works (clinker, ash and the like) were used to construct these grottoes and other features in his gardens. Water from the nearby Siston Brook was dammed to create this dark, damp and somewhat Stygian grotto - as was the fashion of the time.

Part of William Champion's gardens: two walled courtyard areas are divided by this unusual wall and arches. The pattern is made from brick and slag blocks from Champion's brass works. See Image] for a closer look.

This imposing (if not alarming) statue of Neptune stands in the grounds of the Kingswood museum - at 9m (30ft)! It is now missing both arms, a trident and a few other smaller pieces, but retains its original features. Known locally as the ‘Warmley giant’ it was part of the small landscaped gardens and stream at Warmley - the grounds owned by William Champion (1709–1789). He was one of the pioneers of metallurgy, particularly in Zinc smelting and brassworking. Descended from the Champion family that worked with Abraham Darby, William set up the Bristol Brass Company and foundries in the area. Neptune is in fact made with cement and decorated with black clinker from Champion’s works.

The Chequered Wall is partly made from brass slag blocks. See Image] for more.

The remains of a windmill at Kingswood Heritage Museum. An industrial windmill used, not to grind corn, but to drive machinery in the brass making process. Only one of five industrial windmills in Britain, and the oldest and tallest.

View inside Warmley grotto, taken on August Bank Holiday open day.

Datestone 1858.

Approaching a small roundabout on Bristol's ringroad near to Cadbury Heath.

East of Wraxall Road near Grimsbury Farm. Looking over Cadbury Heath at the foot of the hill, Oldland is further over. Kelston Round Hill Image cannot be missed on the skyline.

Looking through a screen of silver birch. Warmley is at the bottom of the hill. Lansdown to the right in the distance, the row of trees on Freezing Hill Image stands out on the horizon left of centre.