Nailsea & District Local History Society
Members Newsletter

Published by the Society for its members

email: <editor@ndlhs.org.uk>

The SOCIAL EVENING will now be on Monday 11th June, the date originally advertised as a visit. Once again we are invited to the home of our President Mrs Norma Knight at +REDACTED+ [almost opposite the entrance to St Andrews Church] from 7.30pm onwards. Please bring a contribution to the finger buffet [wine and non-alcoholic drinks will be provided], and if possible a folding chair in the expectation of spending a summer evening in a delightful garden.

The EVENING VISIT is on Tuesday 3rd July to Acton Court. Pre-booking at £4.00 per head is essential, so if you did not sign up at our March or April meetings, please contact Mike Phillis on +REDACTED+ for details as soon as possible. We are limited to two groups of twenty five each. Refreshments will be available at £1.50 per head.

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Organised by Avon Local History & Archaeology, to which our Society is affiliated. No pre-booking is necessary:

Monday 9th July
ST WERBURGHS – A guided tour around this much forgotten part of Bristol by local historian and resident Harry McPhillimy. Your chance to find out about the church which was moved stone by stone from Central Bristol, and the areas connection with John Cabot. Meet outside St Werburghs Church in Mina Road [beyond the railway tunnel] at 6.45pm. Parking should be easy in adjoining streets. Charge £1.50.

Monday 13th August
CLIFTON ROCKS RAILWAY – Another chance to visit this unique railway tunnel and see how restoration is progressing. The walk leader will be Peter Davey, Chairman of the restoration group, and other equally knowledgeable members of the team. Note – the walk back up the steps in the tunnel can be tiring, bit will be taken without any hurry. Meet at the top entrance adjoining the Avon Gorge Hotel, Sion Hill, Clifton at 6.45pm. A charge of £2.50 is made to help restoration.

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To the TITHE BARN RESTORATION TRUST and Nailsea Town Council on the award by the Heritage Lottery Fund of £500,000 grant towards the restoration of this historic building. The initial payment of £27,000 will enable a Business Plan to be drawn up and a Planning Application made. With £150,000 pledged by the Town Council, £50,000 already raised from other sources and through fundraising, the balance of £220,000 still has to be raised by the end of this year. We wish them every success and look forward to the time when we ourselves might hold a social evening there when the restoration is complete.

Also to Trevor Bowen on being presented with the Nailsea Town Council COMMUNITEY AWARD at the recent Annual Town Meeting. This award is for long and exceptional service to the Community, but as Trevor explained to the Meeting, since most of what he has done over the past thirty years as been under the banner of the Society, past and present Committee Members should share this Award. Awards were also made to Martyn Davis and Jane Knight, long serving Committee Members of Nailsea & District Horticultural Society, Joint show secretaries and members of the award winning “Nailsea in Bloom” team.

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Founded in September 2005 as a Community Archaeology team with guidance and direction from Vince Russett, the North Somerset Archaeologist. Our ongoing project is to record the landscape characteristics of Nailsea, in particular the dry stone walls (Geology), significant trees (Natural History) and pre-1939 buildings (Architecture) and any historical or cultural associations. We also decided to attempt a field study of “Whelps Place”. This is an interesting field in Wraxall, (just behind Wraxall House), which is protected by English Heritage from ploughing. It is thought to be the site of a deserted village or a derelict mansion of some sort.

We completed an earth survey of the site last year to determine the profile of the ground and an indication of where the buildings may be.

We followed this with a geophysical survey (under Vince Russett's tuition) and began to form an impression of the structures beneath the ground.

Both these exercises have been completed and we await the finished results.

In meantime several members have completed field walks around the same area picking up a variety of pottery pieces. Some Medieval, Ham Green pottery and some Roman. Roman coins have also been found in the fields a little further east along the valley.

We have purchased a metal detector and hope to use it on other fields in the area (with permission from the owners). We are interested in discovering more about the architecture of Nailsea. How many 19th or 18th century houses have survived the years?

Does your house have a history? How old is it? Was it connected to the Coal mining industry or the Glass works? Do you have the deeds? Is there local history hidden in your home or perhaps your garden? We would love to know. Give us a call or join the team and help build the story of Nailsea past.

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It is now almost three years since North Somerset District Council agreed in principle to a Management Agreement with the Avon Industrial Building Trust for the restoration of Middle Engine Pit. This document would enable an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund to be made for £250,000, and if successful would result in the archaeology of this scheduled site being consolidated and the surrounding Edwardian garden landscaped. AIBT are still awaiting that Management Agreement, as is its Project Officer, the Nailsea Historic Monuments Trust, the nominated architects, English Heritage, the HLF and of course ourselves.

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