Sea Mills, Bristol

Kingsweston was a ward of the city of Bristol. The three districts in the ward wer Coombe Dingle, Lawrence Weston and Sea Mills. The ward takes its name from the old district of Kings Weston (usually spelt in two words), now generally considered part of Lawrence Weston. Following a Local Government Boundary Commission review in 2015 ward boundaries were redrawn and Kingsweston ward is now split between the Stoke Bishop ward and the Avonmouth and Lawrence Weston ward.

Sneyd Park is a suburb of Bristol, England, lying on the western fringe of Clifton Down, adjacent to the Avon Gorge and the Sea Walls observation point. It was formally twinned with Barton Hill (an area of Bristol) in 1976 as the two areas have curiously similar demographics (cite Avon County Council planning report Jan 1974). The twinning involves an annual luncheon between local resident's at the Barton Hill Settlement. It is part of the Stoke Bishop district. Home to many millionaires, Sneyd Park was originally developed in Victorian times. Many Victorian and Edwardian villas line the edge of the Downs. More modern housing has since been built down over the slope, towards Sea Mills, Bristol. Much of this development was carried out by the Stride family builders whose practice was "to purchase an estate freehold and to erect thereon their own houses, with the knowledge that none will be able to come along and dump a lot of cheap houses down in the neighbourhood, thereby spoiling the amenities of the place and detracting from the value of the houses erected by the firm." The 'Stride brothers' specialised in constructing individual style homes with the emphasis on location, finish and design. Buildings were never duplicated and no two were built to the same design. They often have solid oak interior doors, oak-panelled hallways, the hallmark Stride letterboxes and impressive staircases. Brothers Jared and Jethro Stride founded the business in the 1920s, followed by Jared's sons Arthur and Frederick, and then their sons Leslie and Raymond. In 1864 Jared and Jethro's brother Lot was killed in an accident in a sawmill in Cardiff when his hair was caught in the revolving saw. The incident made the newspapers around the world. Prior to developing Sneyd Park Edwin Stride and his sons Jared and Jethro had set up the Crown Brick Works in Shirehampton to supply bricks for the docks then under construction. Clifton Down, in the vicinity of Sea Walls, was the location of the flight, on 12 November 1910, of the first aircraft built by the Bristol and Colonial Aeroplane Company. Many thousands of Bristol's citizens flocked to see two well-known French pilots, Maurice Tétard and Henri Jullerot, give a public demonstration of the new Bristol Boxkite. Blériot's famous flight across the English Channel had occurred only the year before.

Bristol Manor Farm Football Club is an English football club based in Bristol, England. They are currently members of the Southern League Division One South and play at The Creek. The club is affiliated to the Gloucestershire County FA.

The Hazel Brook, also known as the Hen, is a tributary of the River Trym in Bristol, England. It rises at Cribbs Causeway in South Gloucestershire. From there, its course takes it south, passing the western end of Filton Aerodrome on its left bank, through Brentry and Henbury before dropping through a steep limestone gorge in the Blaise Castle estate. It continues south through two lakes before joining the Trym at Coombe Dingle.

Sea Mills railway station is on the Severn Beach Line and serves the district of Sea Mills and nearby Westbury on Trym in Bristol, England. It is 6 miles (9.7 km) from Bristol Temple Meads, situated at the confluence of the River Avon and River Trym and near the A4 Bristol Portway. Its three letter station code is SML. The station has a single platform which serves trains in both directions. As of 2015 it is managed by Great Western Railway, which is the third franchise to be responsible for the station since privatisation in 1997. They provide all train services at the station, mainly a train every 30 minutes in each direction. The station was opened in 1865 by the Bristol Port Railway and Pier, and had a single platform. It later became part of the Clifton Extension Railway, and had a second platform built. The station was expanded over the years, and at one point had four porters staffing it. However the Severn Beach Line declined over the latter half of the twentieth century and by the 1970s the station had no staff and only one platform. Services however have increased since 2000 to a train every 30 minutes in each direction.

Coombe Dingle is a suburb of Bristol, England, centred near where the Hazel Brook tributary of the River Trym emerges from a limestone gorge bisecting the Blaise Castle Estate to join the main course of the Trym. Historically this area formed part of the parish of Westbury on Trym, Gloucestershire, and it is now part of Kingsweston ward of the city of Bristol. South of Coombe Dingle is Sea Mills; to the north is Kings Weston Hill; to the west are Kings Weston House and Shirehampton Park; and to the east, Henbury Golf Club and Westbury on Trym proper. The inhabited place appears simply as Combe, Coomb or Coombe, meaning 'short bowl-shaped valley', in documents from the 13th century onwards and on early maps. The name applied to Coombe Farm and Coombe House on the eastern side of the confluence of the Hazel Brook and the Trym, not where the modern suburb lies. This area later became noted for its cherry orchards, commemorated in a modern house-name, and a nursery. Strictly speaking, Coombe Dingle was the wooded narrow valley through which the Trym passes south-west of the farm and house to flow southwards through Sea Mills to the River Avon. The name of the narrow valley was borrowed for the new development consisting mostly of private housing built to the west of the Trym in the 1920s and 1930s on an area called Boulton's (or Bowden's) Fields. It was and remains a desirable area to live. Near the western edge is Haig Close, a small development of houses originally built for ex-servicemen in 1929 on land donated from the Kingsweston Estate by Philip Napier Miles, though this is generally said to be in Sea Mills. Coombe Dingle was once a popular destination for outings from Bristol, and there was a well-known tea-room and tea garden in the wooded Dingle itself, now a private house (just West of Grove Road on The Dingle). It was there by 1888 and used to be known as Appletree Cottage. The original winding road passing it, called The Dingle, has been bypassed by the modern A4162, which is carried across the river on its own bridge with a classical-style balustrade. Sylvan Way and the bridge were built in about 1920. The bridge is made of in situ cast concrete. It is quite an early example showing the arch design of brick and stone bridges, but built of a material for which an arch is unnecessary. In the Dingle itself, the river drove a flour mill called Coombe Mill. Below Coombe House, just above the confluence of the Trym and Hazel Brook, was a sluice where the footbridge now is. This diverted the water through a mill stream to Hazel Brook. Another sluice there diverted the water into a millstream which ran approximately below where the main path now runs down to the site of the mill. This clever arrangement meant that when the flow in Hazel Brook was low the miller could use the water of the River Trym as well as that of Hazel Brook. Coombe House which stood to the South of the confluence of Hazel Brook and the Trym, backing on to Canford Lane, was the home of John Graves Livingston (born J.G. Thompson) who was a long time director and chairman of the Ffestiniog Railway Company. For more information see: https://www.festipedia.org.uk/wiki/John_Graves_Livingston There is a parade of shops on Westbury Lane. There used to be, close to the road bridge and near the northern end of Coombe Lane, a "tin" (i.e. corrugated iron) Methodist chapel. It was a small building with plain Gothic-style windows dating from the 1890s, demolished in the mid-1990s and replaced by a house. There are no other places of worship in Coombe Dingle. Coombe Lane is the home of Bristol University sports complex, which is commonly referred to as Coombe Dingle, though it is really in Stoke Bishop.

The Portway is a major road in the City of Bristol. It is part of the A4 and connects Bristol City Centre to the Avonmouth Docks and the M5 motorway via the Avon Gorge. The road was constructed following World War I in order to provide improved access to the ports at Avonmouth Docks, which had replaced Bristol Harbour as the major local centre for commercial shipping. Upon opening on 2 July 1926, it was the single most expensive road project in Britain, costing £800,000 (now about £49 million). The construction posed a number of significant engineering challenges, including long and deep rock cuttings, a viaduct over the River Trym, and retaining walls against the gorge adjacent to the River Avon. Falling rocks have since been a problem along the Portway, particularly at the southern end close to the Clifton Suspension Bridge, with concrete canopies constructed to prevent loose rock and assist with remedial work. The Portway remains an important route to and from Bristol, and is now used as part of the Portway Park and Ride scheme. In the 21st century, the road has been regularly shut to motor traffic for maintenance, providing sporting events such as the Bristol Half Marathon, or to allow locals to enjoy a traffic-free view of the Avon Gorge.

Trinity College, Bristol is an evangelical Anglican theological college located in Stoke Bishop, Bristol, England. It offers a range of full-time and part-time taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses which are validated by the University of Durham through the Common Awards Scheme, though the college sets its own curriculum. Many of its students are training for ordination in the Church of England; and hence there is a strong vocational aspect to the courses it provides. It also has students of other Christian denominations, as well as students who are intending to serve within various forms of lay ministry. The college also has a significant number of students studying for research degrees at masters and doctoral levels. All of Trinity's postgraduate research courses are validated by the University of Aberdeen. It runs an evening programme for students from a number of Christian denominations, as well as those training for ordained and lay ministry in the Diocese of Bristol.

Stoke Bishop is a medium-sized outer city suburb in the north-west of Bristol, located in between Westbury-on-Trym, Sneyd Park, and Sea Mills. Although relatively low, Stoke Bishop's population has increased due to substantial infilling on the Smelting Works sports ground and The Grove which used to belong to Clifton High school. The population of Stoke Bishop varies throughout the year because of the influx of students to the large campus of Bristol University halls of residence situated on the edge of the suburb and the Downs during term time. Stoke Bishop is also the name of a council ward, which also includes Sneyd Park, The Downs open green space, much of the Avon Gorge. and a small area of Sea Mills along the River Trym.The suburb is concentrated around a small village hall and a row of shops on Druid Hill, with a number of small local businesses. The association with Druids arose from a megalithic monument, apparently the remains of a burial chamber, discovered in 1811 off what is now Druid Hill. Druid Stoke House, a Grade II listed building west of Druid Hill, dates from the late 18th or early 19th century. The suburb of Druid Stoke was developed in the grounds of Druid Stoke House in the 1930s.Within Stoke Bishop there is a church, St Mary Magdalene (CofE); one primary school, Stoke Bishop C of E Primary, sometimes called Cedar Park, because of its location; and a village hall, which is used for a variety of activities from dog training to karate. The historic Stoke House and Park lie in Stoke Bishop. The house was built in 1669 as a family mansion for Sir Robert Cann, Member of Parliament, Mayor of Bristol and Merchant Venturer. Stoke House is a Grade II* listed building and is currently occupied by Trinity College, Bristol. Stoke Lodge, built in 1836, is a Grade II listed building and hosts the Stoke Bishop Adult Adult Education Centre. Alongside Stoke Lodge is a playing field, arboretum and a children's play park owned by Bristol City Council, the entire site has been held as education land since 1947. In 2011, the playing fields were long-term leased to Cotham School; these fields are the subject of a protracted legal dispute which reached the High Court in 2018 with the court quashing the decision of the Bristol City Council Public Rights of Way and Greens Committee to register the playing fields as a Town or Village Green in 2016. Following the TVG application being rejected in June 2018 by the Public Rights of Way committee (in light of the findings of the court), Cotham School erected new signage on the site and announced plans to fence the site despite Ofsted confirming that it did not require perimeter fencing, as the school had repeatedly claimed. The fence was finally completed in March 2019.In December 2019, the planning committee agreed with residents that the wording of a school sign harmed “public amenity”, and that its presence was inappropriate for a heritage site, and refused the application. Conservative councilor for Bishopsworth Richard Eddy said it was time for the council to step in and help end the dispute. “It seems that Cotham School has been having an ongoing war with the people of Stoke Bishop for years now and we need to do something as the local council to resolve that,” he said. New applications were made to register the playing fields as a Town or Village green in September 2018 and June 2019, and on 28 June 2023 the Public Rights of Way and Greens Committee voted to register the land as a TVG. Registration as a TVG means that the fence has to be removed, since it is illegal to enclose a village green. Cotham School has also courted controversy by installing covert CCTV cameras on the playing fields, which were declared by the Information Commissioner's Office to be unlawful in January 2023. Stoke Bishop Cricket Club play at Coombe Dingle Sports Complex. The cricket club has two senior men's XIs: the 2010 season has just finished with the 1st XI winning Bristol & District League Division 1 (thus gaining promotion to the Senior Division of the Bristol & District League), while the 2nd XI finished 5th in Bristol & District League Division 2. The club also boasts a thriving junior section composed of U9, U11, U13, U15 and U17 teams. Next to the primary school is Bristol Croquet Club, which has had many influential international members. In the 1930s Jared and Jethro Stride built "one-off luxury homes on plots they had bought in the area". The tradition was carried on by Jared's sons Arthur and Frederick, and later into the 1960s by their sons Leslie and Raymond. The 'Stride brothers' specialised in constructing individual style homes with the emphasis on location, finish and design. each house was built to a unique design - no two are the same - and well fitted out with oak floors, wood-panelled rooms and central heating. These "high quality dwellings" are still marketed today as classic 'Stride houses'. The small Roman port of Abona, now Sea Mills, at the mouth of the River Trym was used by the military forces passing in transit to settlements in what is now South Wales. There are ruins of a small Roman villa at the entrance to Roman Way from the Portway. The Roman legionaries had a transit camp on what were the grounds surrounding Sneed Park House, near that villa. The district of Sneyd Park was built over most of the old Sneed Park Estate. Renamed Nazareth House, when it became a Roman Catholic Orphanage in the 1920s, the former mansion was demolished in 1970. Bombs fell in Roman Way during the Second World War, destroying one house completely.

Holy Trinity Church (grid reference ST564770) is a Church of England parish church in Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, England. The first church on the site was established in the 8th century. In the 10th century a Benedictine priory was founded. Construction of the present building began in the early 13th century and it has been rebuilt several times since. It has been designated by Historic England as a Grade I listed building.From the late 12th century to the middle of the 16th century it was the collegiate church for Westbury College; of the latter, little more than the college gatehouse remains. The church contains the tomb of John Carpenter, Bishop of Worcester, who had planned to make it a joint cathedral for the Worcester diocese.

Kings Weston Hill (grid reference ST556781) is a hill in the north of Bristol, England. It forms a ridge about 1 mile (1.6 km) long, extending from Henbury to Shirehampton and separating Lawrence Weston to the north from Coombe Dingle to the south. The hill is a public open space managed as part of the Blaise Castle Estate. It takes its name from the settlement of Kings Weston, now absorbed into Lawrence Weston. At the eastern end of Kings Weston Hill is the site of an Iron Age hill fort, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.The hill is located between Kings Weston House to the southwest, and Blaise Castle to the northeast, and the hill is also the site of a tower for television broadcasting.

Kingsweston Iron Bridge is a footbridge in Sea Mills, Bristol, UK, that crosses the B4057 (Kings Weston Road).