Is it true that there used to be a wool factory in Frenchay?

The house on the corner of Bristol Road and Filton Road used to be called "Wool Factory House". There was a long building behind it which has now been converted to the houses in Filton Road.  In 1827 it was owned the company Messrs Tuckett and the business was conducted by Philip Debell Tuckett. The 1851 census shows William Perry, his wife and 8 children living there and he is described as a wool sorter.

There is a long history of wool hat manufacturing in nearby Winterbourne and the wool factory may have had links to this.

A booklet titled "Hatters' Trails - walks through Frampton Cotterell and Watley's End" has just been published and copies can be obtained from Frenchay Village Museum.

THIS IS THE LAST FRENCHAY MYSTERY UNLESS YOU CAN THINK OF OTHER MYSTERIES YOU WANT ME TO SOLVE.

Please let me know.  
Carol Thorne

What is the bodysnatchers’ stone in the Unitarian churchyard?

In the 18th century there were anatomists who did public dissections. They obtained bodies from pauper families who could not afford a funeral or from criminals who had been hanged or died in prison. When the supply dried up unscrupulous thieves stole newly buried bodies from graveyards. In order to prevent this, some graveyards had a ‘bodysnatcher stone’ – a huge stone which was placed over the grave temporarily to thwart bodysnatchers.

In 1777 The old House, next door to the chapel, was bought by Nehemiah Bradford, a surgeon, and there may have been worries that he would be looking for bodies to dissect.