Burwalls, Burgh Walls or Bower Walls Iron Age Fort

Burwalls Wood lies between the Police Station on Clanage Road and Leigh Woods, with Burwalls House (below left) very close to the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Burwalls House and the Leigh Woods Tower of the Clifton Suspension Bridge

Burgh Walls (which may also have been known as Bower Walls) was a 3 hectare (4-5 acre) iron age fort (dated about 150 BC) on the hilltop.

Its one of two on the gorges west side the second just a little further down the gorge is Stoke Leigh. The name Burgh Walls (I assume) has come down to us as Burwalls.

Burgh Walls or Bower Walls were mentioned in the 1996 Wessex Archaeology report for the UWE, sorry but this report is no longer on line.

View from Burwalls Wood The orchard mentioned in the second (Long Ashton) link above, is still there. With a public footpath running through it. Its the quickest way to get to Leigh Woods, it also avoids crossing the A369 (twice) on Rownham Hill.

Walk along Clanage Road, go right after passing the Police Station. then immediately left into the woodland, this quickly takes you through the wild orchard.

If you continue upwards you reach Leigh Woods through the National Trust Burwalls Wood. Its a reasonable if steep woodland path with steps and the odd view.

Rownham Ferry

Rownham Ferry is an ancient crossing point near the base of Rownham Hill across the River Avon to Hotwells. The Ferry's history goes back at least to the twelfth century and it is likely to have been a fording point (doubtless a very unpleasant muddy one) before that.

In John Speed's tudor atlas: The Counties of Britain mapped between 1596 and 1610. Rownham Ferry at this time is shown as 'Rounam Pafage' on the Somersetshire map and as 'Rownam pafsage' on the Gloucestershire map.

Its given the same significance as Clifton and Bedminfter (Bedminster) and was plainly an important crossing. Its shown in the Hartcliff and Bedminster hundred. The hundred being an administrative subdivision of Somersetshire.

Avon Gorge with the remains of Rownham Ferry in the foreground.
Muddy remains of Rownham Ferry causeway in the foreground. The photo above was taken from beside the Avon Bridge. The remains in the photos are post 1804.

They actually cross the new cut of the river (finished in 1809). Its position is clearer in this 1901 Map. Before this the river course ran through what is now Bristol Docks, so the old ferry would have been a little further upstream or in what is now Bristol Docks itself.

Muddy remains of the crossing point at Rownham Ferry
The Rownham Ferry crossing point is now only visible at low tide in Greville Smyth Park or from the riverside path beside Brunel Lock Road. The causeway continues on the other side but is rarely visible and usually completely covered in mud.

St. Johns Chapel

The Victorian map shows the site of St. Johns Chapel in the pasture opposite the Smthye Arms (now the Dovecote). On more recent maps it shows as St. James Chapel.

The Wessex Archaelogy 1996 report (sadly no longer online) estimated that the chapel and the likely village of Bower Ashton it supported was deserted at sometime in the 13th or 14th Century.

My added assumption is that this was caused by the Black Death that reach England in the Mid 13th Century.

Wellington Cottage.

  • Wellington Cottage 5 Photo's of Wellington Cottage, a little upstream from Rownham Ferry. This I think was Clifton Bridge Station as late as the 1950's.

Christy Brothers

Bower Ashton was the head office of the North Somerset Electric Supply Company before WW2. With a 33kV generator at nearby Kennel Farm (see 19th C Map top right).

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Public transport access is by the Somerset bus services to Hotwells, Anchor Road and the City Centre bus station. On the bus services page select destination 'Bristol'.

Note that only express to stop in Bower Ashton is the Portishead service.

The UWE U1 bus service is now open to all. The service runs from the UWE (Kennel Lodge Rd) to the UWE's Frenchay campus via Coronation Road, Temple Meads and Zetland Road.

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