IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Old Weston Road, BRISTOL, BS48 1UR

Its institutional design was a workhouse originally. Most of the buildings are still used, although not for their original purposes.

This was the entrance to the old Bedminster Union workhouse from 1838. Beyond it is a three-faced tower that also has a clock. It's now a small industrial estate. See Image] for more.

This is Farleigh Court, now a commercial estate with a number of individual companies based here. However, this particular building has a different past: it was built in 1837-8 as Bedminster Union Poor House. After the passing of the Poor Act, the commissioners raised some £6,600 to establish a significant institution to deal with the needy and destitute of south Bristol and other areas. George Gilbert Scott and William Bonython Moffatt were engaged to design the blocks (as they had with other poorhouses) to hold some 300 inmates. In 1899 the governors renamed it as Long Ashton Union and its intake of the poor continued until 1929. It then became Cambridge House, a mental health treatment facility. In 1956 it was renamed Farleigh Hospital, but in 1971 a couple of nurses working there blew the whistle on the scandalous way some vulnerable patients were treated and it was closed. However, in 2005 it was converted into a small industrial and commercial estate, with much of the impressive architecture being retained as a testament to those who had passed its gates. See Image] for more views.

This impressive commercial estate was formerly a workhouse. See Image] for another view.

This church was built in 1860 as part of the adjoining poorhouse. John Norton produced the design with William Gibbs (of the nearby Tyntesfield estate) providing the funding. The inmates would have worshipped here but now the church is no longer in use. It's now on the open market as a remarkable office property with an asking price of around £625,000.

This OS Flush Bracket can be found on the south angle of the Magistrates Court. It marks a point 42.019m above mean sea level.

Installed in the old police station in the early twentieth century, this flush bracket is numbered '88' - an early example. See http://www.bench-marks.org.uk/bm2 for the entry in the Benchmark Database and Image] for a wider view.

This used to be the old police station, built in 1857-58 by John Norton, and Long Ashton Magistrate's Court. It's now home to the coroner's offices. On the nearest corner is a flush bracket - see Image

This footpath carries onto the railway bridge to the north. It runs past the old police station - which is now the coroner's court for the county. See Image] for a clearer view.