Along the Line – Facts or Fiction?
The City of Bristol
Long associated with Bristol is Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The name ‘Isambard’ is derived from the old German word Isanbert, meaning “bright iron” or “famous iron”. Quite a fitting name for this famous19th century British Civil Engineer, noted as one of the driving forces of the Industrial Revolution.
Grade I listed Bristol Temple Meads station, which was opened in 1840, was the first station to be designed by Brunel. Moored in Bristol harbour is the SS Great Britain, now a popular museum, which Brunel designed for the Great Western Steamship’s emerging transatlantic service. Launched in 1843 it also marked the beginning of international passenger travel and world communications.
Perhaps not so well known is that, although credited to Brunel, the nearby Grade I listed Clifton Suspension Bridge which spans the Avon Gorge and River Avon, was not completed in Brunel’s lifetime or to his original design. Opened in 1884 to a design by William Henry Barlow and Sir John Hawkshaw, the only remaining parts of Brunel’s design, whilst not identical, are the hollow Towers at each end of the bridge. However the suspension chains used were purchased by Barlow and Hawkshaw when Brunel’s Hungerford Bridge over the River Thames was demolished to make way for a new railway bridge to Charing Cross railway station.
Close to the heart of Bristol, is Arnos Vale Victorian Garden Cemetery, a forty-five acre national heritage site with woodland trails, exhibitions and much more. It contains the graves of most of Bristol’s Victorian citizens, industrialists, philanthropists, scientists and soldiers as well as tens of thousands of others.
Keynsham is a good stopping off point for walks along the paths of the Rivers Avon and Chew and the Kennet and Avon Canal.
On the outskirts of Keynsham is Keynsham Humpy Tumps, one of the most floristically rich acidic grassland sites within the Avon area.
Oldfield Park railway station was the third station to be built in Bath on the GWR line and it is the only station on the local railway line whose platforms are below the surrounding road levels.
Bath, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is famous for its hot springs, Roman baths, medieval heritage, stately Georgian architecture, Jane Austen and more.
Maybe not so well known is that quarry owner, entrepreneur and philanthropist Ralph Allen, a Postmaster at the age of eighteen, reformed the British postal system. Allen is also reputed to be Weymouth’s first Georgian tourist. He liked the town so much he bought a property there, spending up to three months each summer in Weymouth, hobnobbing with King George III and his entourage.
An intriguing feature of Royal Victoria Park, the largest park in Bath, is the Botanical Gardens where it’s easy to forget how close one is to the city, and when it comes to the battle of the famous cakes credited to Bath, who will win – Sally Lunns or Bath Buns?