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Bath Road, BRISTOL, BS4 3JZ

This area on the A4 in Brislington is home to a P.D.S.A. branch but also young military types. The Army Cadet Force and the Air Training Corps both have a base here too. Originally this was the site of Kensington House, a large and opulent mansion built around 1810. It featured some top class kitchen facilities of the time and a very large garden. With Arnos Vale as next door neighbour, the grounds were extensively cultivated with unusual species. It became the home of a Richard Jenkins Poole-King, a wealthy Bristol merchant who was later voted as Lord Mayor in 1844. The mansion changed hands a few times until a builder, George Lewis Poole, took over in 1902. He helped to develop the surrounding area as the gardens were reduced to feed the demand. By 1935, the house was used by St Christopher's church and then in 1937 a tank regiment of the Territorial Army occupied it. The military connections have survived to this day, and they occupy the coach house and stables we see overlooking the road. The house itself was eventually demolished in 1973.

Looking SSE from the corner of King's Road.

Anglican church viewed from Hampstead Road.

Anglican church viewed across Falfield Road.

This modern trading estate on the Bath Road in Brislington belies its past. Opening in the late nineteenth century, it was a place where heavy machinery made heavy vehicles. It was the Bristol Commercial Vehicles works that made the nationally-known Bristol bus chassis. Associated with the nearby tram depot and works, the B.C.V. site made completed buses until the post-war period. Once nationalisation dictated the operations of bus-making, the site simply made the chassis and sent them to Lowestoft - the E.C.W. works for completion. Once a running example was made, a driver (sitting on a bare frame and with no cab whatsoever!) took it all the way to East Anglia.

The derelict building is 493-499 Bath Road.

This OS cut mark can be found on the wall NE side of Bath Road. It marks a point 24.832m above mean sea level.

This OS cut mark can be found on the south angle of St Christopher's Church. It marks a point 28.093m above mean sea level.

The pub has been forced to close, but thanks are made public.

Waiting patiently for the customers to return after the Covid-19 lockdown.