Where is there a former drinking fountain in Frenchay?

The former drinking fountain is on Frenchay Common opposite what was Clic Cottage.
The inscription reads:-
 
IN COMMEMORATION
OF THE 60TH YEAR OF THE REIGN
OF H.M. QUEEN VICTORIA
JUNE 24TH 1897
——------------------------------------------------------------------
ERECTED BY
FRANCIS AND ELIZABETH TUCKETT

Where is Bamboo Island? Yes there are real bamboos there!

“Bamboo Island” is in the River Frome where the Begbrook Stream joins the Frome. The Begbrook Stream is also the boundary between Frenchay and Stapleton, and can be approached from the end of Sterncourt Road (where the Begbrook Care home is).

This photograph was sent in by a reader of Frenchay Community News.
Do you know where and what this is?

Not a statue or a totem pole! It is a dead tree in the grounds of the former Frenchay Hospital close to where the cricket pitch used to be.

Where were the daisy fields?

You may have heard older people talk of the daisy fields estate. Before Bristol Corporation built the Froomshaw Road estate it was a field covered in moon daisies. They were so tall that you could play hide and seek in the field.

Many of the first people to occupy the houses were people who lived in the prefabs further along the road. As their families increased they needed a larger house but wanted to stay in the district.

When the prefabs were built to ease the post war housing shortage they were state of the art. They had fridges at a time when fridges were a luxurious rarity. Instead of messy coal fires the heating was electric fires. And they contained the first fitted kitchens.

The gardens were generous and there were open spaces scattered about the estate. The roads were named after birds and some of the present roads still bear these names.

Carol Thorne

The Bridge across the River Frome.

In Snuff Mills there is a footbridge across the river. People who live on the Stapleton side of the river traditionally called it Fatman’s Bridge, allegedly because it replaced an earlier, much narrower one that could only be used by thin people.

The people who live on the Fishponds side call it Halfpenny Bridge, allegedly because people used to stand on the bridge and fill your bucket with water from the river for a halfpenny. As the banks adjacent to the bridge are shallow, making it easy to get water without help, and a halfpenny was a considerable amount in Victorian times this seems unlikely.

I am sure you can guess that I come from the Stapleton side.

Incidentally, why is the River Frome called the Danny River when it gets down beyond Eastville? I have never been able to find this out.

Carol Thorne

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.

There is no Post Office in Frenchay. Why are there 2 houses in Frenchay Hill called   Frenchay Post Office and The Old Post Office?

The 1851 census records that Frenchay Post Office and grocery shop was run by a single woman called Hannah Vowles. She lived in the building at the top of Frenchay Hill (now called the Old Post Office) with her 80 year old mother. She continued the run the Post Office until her death in 1897, helped by her niece Kate.

2 people were required to run the Post Office, which played an important role in the community. There were 2 daily deliveries and 2 collections. In the early days Hannah had to meet the coach to collect the letters.  Most houses had no address but Hannah knew all the residents of Frenchay and delivered the letters personally.

After the death of Hannah, Kate continued to run the Post Office, now located in the building opposite the original one. She died in 1922 aged 82.  Her niece Mabel took over on her death and then Mabel’s daughter Barbara Higgins ran the Post Office until it finally closed.

In 1985 a nasty incident took place. Barbara had finished work for the day and went opposite to see her friend, Lionel Jenkins, taking the day’s takings with her. Thieves learned of her habit of doing this and broke in. They tied them up and stole the money. Lionel was so affected that he died shortly afterwards and Barbara never opened the Post Office again.

In 130 years there were only 4 Post Mistresses – all related to one another.

The White Lion is the only pub in Frenchay. Were there ever any others?

The road known as The Newlands is built on the site of the now demolished house of the same name. In 1768 the house was described as Frenchay Inn or Frenchay Coffee House and in 1782 was recorded as the New Inn, occupied by James Maule, Land Surveyor.

There was also an inn in the house which is now called Frenchay Common Cottage.  It was run by Joseph Norgrove as a “private inn” from 1857. 10 years later he moved to a terrace of 3 cottages a few doors away and converted them to become The White Lion.

In 1899 it was acquired by Georges Brewery who pulled it down and put up the present building.

Why is the lane at the bottom of Frenchay Hill called Chapel Lane when there is no chapel there?

At the end of Chapel Lane is a private house which was previously a Methodist chapel. Robert Johnson of Fromeshaw House was a Wesleyan circuit steward and by 1843 meetings were held in a room over his stables.

In the middle of the nineteenth century Methodists were split and the reformed Kingswood Circuit of the United Methodist Free Churches approached the Quakers for permission to use their meeting house. Instead Mr F.F.Tuckett donated a plot of land on which the chapel was built in 1887. It closed in the 1960s and was converted to a private house.