Abson

Siston (pronounced "sizeton") is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England. It is 7 miles (11 km) east of Bristol at the confluence of the two sources of the Siston Brook, a tributary of the River Avon. The village consists of a number of cottages and farms centred on St Anne's Church, and the grand Tudor manor house of Siston Court. Anciently it was bordered to the west by the royal Hunting Forest of Kingswood, stretching westward most of the way to Bristol Castle, always a royal possession, caput of the Forest. The local part of the disafforested Kingswood became Siston Common but has recently been eroded by the construction of the Avon Ring Road and housing developments. In 1989 the village and environs were classed as a conservation area and thus have statutory protection from overdevelopment.

HM Prison Ashfield (formerly Pucklechurch Remand Centre) is an adult male sex offenders prison located in the village of Pucklechurch (near Bristol), in South Gloucestershire, England. The prison is operated by Serco. Ashfield Prison was built on the site of the Pucklechurch Remand Centre, and opened in 1999. It was the first private prison in the United Kingdom to house young offenders. The prison was soon mired in controversy after repeated riots and reports of poor management. Conditions at the prison became so bad in 2003 that the Youth Justice Board withdrew prisoners from Ashfield, and threatened to recommend that the prison should be taken over by the public sector. Conditions improved however, and the prison (under new management) was given a good inspection report the following year.In May 2006, staff at Ashfield won a Health team award from the 'Public Servants of the Year Awards'. The award was in recognition of the staff's dedication to improving healthcare and personal health education for inmates held at Ashfield.In March 2008, a new wing for first-time offenders was opened at Ashfield. The wing is specifically designed to create a positive environment for new inmates, and also has amenities for prisoners aged 15 and 16.In 2013 an inspection report that concluded offenders were "exposed to unacceptable levels of violence", including bones broken after the use of force by staff. Ashfield was converted to an adult male prison for sex offenders since July 2013 and a Treatment site since 2014.

Pucklechurch is a large village and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England. It has a current population of about 3000. The village dates back over a thousand years and was once the site of a royal hunting lodge, as it adjoined a large forest. A Royal Air Force station called RAF Pucklechurch existed until 1959, when the site was transferred to HM Prison Service.

Bury Manor Castle is an early 19th-century house in the village of Wick, South Gloucestershire, England. It was built in Gothic Revival style.The three-storey stone building has a slate roof and embattled parapet.The site was an earlier manor house and the cellars date back to the 13th century. It has had a variety of uses: as a school, offices and health spa. Since 2006 it has been a private residence.

Wick is a village in South Gloucestershire, England. It is the main settlement in the civil parish of Wick and Abson. The population of this civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 1,989.

Bridgeyate is a hamlet in South Gloucestershire, England. Bridgeyate is situated between the cities of Bristol and Bath. The increase in housebuilding in the area has seen Bridgeyate become attached to the nearby villages of Warmley and North Common, but it still retains its own identity with a large common and three public houses, The Griffin, The White Hart and The Hollybush. The Hollybush reopened in March 2014 after an extensive refit. Residents of Bridgeyate are fortunate that it looks across magnificent open countryside to the East, with walks over ridges and the Avon Valley towards the villages of Beach and Upton Cheyney and beyond to Lansdown and Bath. Bridgeyate is very well sited strategically, with rapid access to the cities of Bristol and Bath and to the M4 motorway by road, although public transport provision is poor with no local railway station and sporadic bus services. For cyclists and walkers, the renowned Bristol-Bath railway path runs straight past Bridgeyate. Also there seems to be bit of confusion as to how it is spelt, some road signs and maps say Bridgeyate and some say Bridge Yate. The notable individuals that have lived in the Bridgeyate area are as follows: Eddie Shirk - a graduate of Cardiff University who pioneered mental health screening techniques in the Education industry and is known for his philanthropy. Alford Stanley - veteran aerospace engineer King Edmund I - often held residency in the surrounding area and was eventually assassinated in Pucklechurch

Parkfield Colliery, near Pucklechurch, South Gloucestershire, was sunk in 1851 under the ownership of Handel Cossham. Coal was reached in 1853. The shaft was 840 ft deep, but only the upper series of coal veins were worked. These were the Hard, the Top, the Hollybush and Great veins. The quality of the coal mined was extremely good, and was used for gas manufacture and house coal. Handel Cossham died in 1890 and the pit was put up for sale. (Along with other pits he owned at Deep Pit, South Pit and Speedwell.) It was purchased by Bristol United Collieries, owners of Dean Lane, Easton, Hanham, Pennywell Road and Whitehall collieries. They formed a new company to manage their assets called The Bedminster, Easton, Kingswood and Parkfield Collieries Ltd.A survey of Parkfield Colliery at the time of sale noted that it had two horizontal direct-acting steam winding engines each with 28in cylinders, a 4 ft stroke and a drum 15 ft in diameter. These had been made by Teague & Chew of Cinderford in the Forest of Dean. There were two 38 ft high headgears, each with 2 pulley wheels of 15 ft diameter. Steam was provided by four Lancashire boilers which measured 27 ft by 7 ft. A ventilating fan measured 18 ft by 7 ft and was driven by a pair of horizontal engines which had 14in cylinders and a 16in stroke. A Cornish pumping engine had a 54in cylinder and a 7 ft stroke and was powered by two Lancashire boilers. The pit had an endless haulage system comprising a beam engine and two galvanized ropes, each 990 ft in length. Underground there were 3 engines for haulage, 5250 ft of single T-headed rails, 4350 ft of bridge rails and 5400 ft of tram bridge rails. The 1896 'List of Mines worked under the Coal Mines Regulation Act', states that the colliery employed 292 people underground, and 49 on the surface. The manager was J.T. Onions and the under-manager was John Bullough. In 1914 Parkfield was bought by Sir Frank Beauchamp, owner of a number of collieries in the Radstock area, and another company, the East Bristol Collieries Ltd. was formed. By 1936 flooding was becoming problematic and, combined with increasing pumping costs and decreasing coal reserves, the pit became uneconomic. It closed on 15 August of that year.Brandy Bottom Colliery which used steam powered machinery in the 19th century has been scheduled as an ancient monument.

Bath Ales is a brewery located in the town of Warmley, South Gloucestershire, England; north-west of Bath and east of Bristol.

North Common is a village just outside Warmley, Bristol, in South Gloucestershire, England. Historically this was a rural hamlet surrounded by farmland. The residents are fortunate enough that to the east of the village is attractive rolling countryside, with views of Lansdown, and the surrounding hills. The village is on the eastern outskirts of Bristol and approximately halfway between Bristol city centre and the neighbouring city of Bath. North Common is a semi rural village, adjacent to the villages of Warmley, Oldland Common and Bridgeyate. To the east of the village is open farmland and greenbelt which is only a few minutes walk. The village is home to the Bath Ales brewery.The Bristol and Bath Railway Path passes through North Common and steam trains from the Avon Valley Steam Railway travel as far as North Common where the rail track terminates. Many local children attend St Barnabas CE Primary School, Redfield Edge Primary School, The Meadows Primary School in Bitton or St Anne's CE VC Primary school in nearby Oldland Common. Older students attend Sir Bernard Lovell Academy or other local secondary schools such as Digitech or Wellsway School in Keynsham. North Common has its own village hall located in Millers Drive and is served by several pubs in particular The Griffin and White Harte pubs at Bridgeyate, the Doplhin at Oldland Common and the Hollybush Inn on the North Common - Bridgeyate border. There is suitable public transport with the 42 to Bristol city centre, the 19A to Bath city centre or Cribbs Causeway, or around 10 minutes walk away outside the griffin there's the 35 from Marshfield to Bristol city centre. There are good road links to the Avon Ring Road (and hence the motorway network) via nearby Warmley village and Bath lies some 7 miles (11 km) east and is easily accessible by road. Bristol is 7.6 miles (12.2 km) west, also very accessible.

Warmley was a small railway station just south of Mangotsfield on the Midland Railway Mangotsfield and Bath Branch Line. The station was sited just north of a level crossing on the A420 road through the village. It had wooden buildings: the shelter on the down platform (towards Bath) survives and is used on occasion as a refreshment stop on the Bristol & Bath Railway Path, which follows the route of the railway.

Warmley is a village in South Gloucestershire, England.Warmley is situated in between Bristol and Bath. It is a parish, with its own church, and has some minor landmarks, such as a World War One memorial the focus of Remembrance Services, and a statue of Neptune. It has a main lane, the High Street, having a Tesco and a post office, as well as a barber's. The former bicycle shop has been converted to flats. The War Memorial bears the names of the parishioners who fell in the Great War.

The sinking date for Siston Hill Colliery, Siston, Bristol is unknown, but was probably in the late 1790s or early 19th century. There is a surviving accident report dated 1804. This names the colliery owner as a Mrs. Peterson. By 1831 the colliery was under the ownership of Toghill & Company.The 1880 List of Mines names the owner of the pit as S. H. Hadley. The pit was put up for sale in 1889 and the prospectus states that it had four shafts, two of which were sunk to a depth of 570 ft (170 m). The winding shaft was 9 ft (2.7 m) in diameter, walled throughout and had two separate cages. The winding engine was a Boulton and Watt, had a 4-foot-6-inch (1.37 m) stroke and a 12-foot (3.7 m) drum, and could lift 700 to 800 tons of coal a day. The pumping engine had two 19-inch (480 mm) cylinders and was in working order. Above ground was a bank high enough for double screens which sorted the coal before it was loaded for transportation. A tunnel was provided at the bottom of the bank to enable timber and other materials to descend into the pit without first being hauled to the top. A 100-foot-high (30 m) circular chimney stack towered over the colliery.The sale was not a success and the colliery never reopened.