Whitehouse Street

The origins of Bedminster are not fully understood.

It is believed that before the end of the Saxon period a small settlement had been established on and around a ridge of higher ground now occupied by St John’s Churchyard and the area now occupied by British Road to the west.

The ‘minster’ placename element suggests that this early settlement was associated with a significant ecclesiastical centre prior to the Norman conquest in 1066.

Recent research has identified that post Conquest, the settlement expanded along a causewayed route above the flood plain of the rivers Avon and Malago, a route now known as East Street and Bedminster Parade, heading towards Redcliffe. The tenement boundaries either side of this route are laid out as burgage plots, where long narrow properties extend back from the street frontage (marked in red on the plan).

Burgage plots were defined tenement areas consisting of a dwelling at the front and long strip of land for subsistence to the rear. They are distinctive of a medieval planned town and the plots often survive as property divisions within the modern landscape.

Along Bedminster Parade these burgage plots are evident on the first historic maps and continue to define much of the existing street frontage with original alleyway gaps providing access to the back lane, now known as Stillhouse Lane, Boot Lane being one of the more significant breaks between the tenements.

At the northern end of Bedminster Parade, north of Boot Lane these plot boundaries have been lost as a result of later developments, discussed further below.

The area to the east of Stillhouse Lane, is essentially the flood plain of the Hazel Brook, a tributary of the Malago. It is this brook that formed the small valley between Totterdown and Windmill Hill, later used as the route for St Luke’s Road.

Being a low lying, marshy area this land remained undeveloped throughout the medieval period and was probably used for seasonal grazing.

Note the slightly elevated ground indicated by darker colours (1) immediately to the south of the New Cut. This relates to the upcast from the excavation of the New Cut in 1807-9 on which York Road and the earliest terraced housing was constructed, see below.

Rocque’s plan of Bristol (1750) is centred on central Bristol and only shows part of the study area. It depicts large pools of water (1) immediately to the east of Stillhouse Lane.

These are likely to be tanning pools for the tanneries that are known to have fringed the Bedminster area and are shown on later mapping.

This map also shows development along the east side of Bedminster Parade while the west side, that lay within the parish of Redcliffe, is shown as undeveloped areas of horticulture or gardens.

An important feature shown by Rocque is the track from Ship Lane, near St Mary Redcliffe that ran through the study area. It is likely that this route survived until the creation of the New Cut, see below.

Although the route doesn’t truly align with that shown on the later map, it is possible that Rocque was not intending to accurately map a feature beyond his area of interest.

The first map to show the whole study area at a reasonably large scale is Plumley and Ashmead’s map of 1828 that post dates the creation of the New Cut in 1809, see below.

Over the top of this map we have marked the areas of new houses, industries and streets in yellow. These areas of 1820s development are also shown on the later plans in this story to help demonstrate how the area has changed.

This 1828 map, shows the tanneries (‘Tan Yards’) east of Stillhouse Lane, but also shows a water course or drainage ditch running north-south parallel to Stillhouse Lane.

The boundary that this ditch defines persisted in the mapping throughout the 19th and 20th century. It is highly likely that this ditched boundary relates to the pre New Cut landscape and was part of an early route from Redcliffe connecting to Ship Lane to the east of St Mary Redcliffe, as referenced above.

The New Cut was created in 1809 as part of the engineering works that formed the Floating Harbour.

This man-made ‘cut’ was designed to take the tidal course of the River Avon. In addition to the cut, new bridges were necessitated to maintain the route between Bedminster and Redcliffe and along the Bath Road to the east.

The New Cut was largely excavated through the low lying flood plain of the Avon, Malago and other tributaries. The upcast from the creation of the channel was deposited to the south of the Cut creating a bank that slightly raised the ground above the flood plain allowing for the subsequent creation of York Road and associated terraced housing.

This series of terraces along York Road, originally called Redcliffe Crescent, were the first significant developments within the study area post 1809.

Behind Redcliffe Crescent, the former Hazel Brook flood plain also began to be developed for housing.

The 1828 plan indicates that this early 19th century housing was focussed around two new roads that had been created after 1809; Whitehouse Street and Spring Street. Although unnamed on the 1828 plan, Spring Street probably takes its name from the Hazel Brook or another small watercourse that once ran in this area.

During the 1800s development in the area expanded from these two north-south routes.

By the 1880s, Bedminster had become a dense urban area.

In addition to the housing, the area witnessed industrial growth including the expansion of the tanneries, but also other land use such as the Rope Yard, or rope walk, where ropes will have been manufactured at a long, straight yard area often lined with trees for shade. The land occupied by this rope walk had become the route of Philip Street and associated terrace housing by 1854 and shown here in 1880.

Much of this housing in and around the study area was poor quality. By the second half of the 19th century the area was defined by overcrowded dwellings within backstreet courts that epitomised the Victorian slums. Although not technically back-to-backs, the early ordnance survey map of the 1880s captures this high density living environment that lay alongside the polluting industries particularly the tanneries.

During the first half of the 20th century, these areas of poor quality dwellings began to be identified for clearance, although significant efforts in this area of Bedminster did not progress until after the war.

During the war, Bedminster suffered from bombing raids. Although this impacted some streets, the level of damage was not as widespread as the Redcliffe and Castle Green area of central Bristol.

Within the Whitehouse Street area bomb damage was largely restricted to the southern end of Whitehouse Street and junction of Philip Street.

The bomb damage and loss of housing and businesses in the area contributed to the greater emphasis on slum clearance and regeneration after the war.

The 1950s environmental health plan gives an indication of the level of bomb damage and proposed clearance (shown in red) at the time.

The 1950s plan is likely to relate to a survey undertaken to inform the development of the post war local plan that resulted in the roads, housing and employment areas.

This clearance and planning process resulted in the area of Whitehouse Street being changed from a predominantly residential area in the 1930s to a predominantly light industrial area by the 1970s.

By 1970, this land use change from residential to light industrial within the study area had largely completed.

Associated with this growth in employment uses, many of the roads were widened or reconfigured. The most significant of these changes was the introduction of a second bridge across the New Cut as part of the construction of the large roundabout at the end of Bedminster Parade and approach to Redcliff Hill.

The creation of this large junction necessitated the demolition of the properties at the northern end of Bedminster Parade (1) and removal of this urban grain that had persisted since the medieval period.

In addition to the roundabout, many of the roads within the study area were widened and junctions enlarged to accommodate servicing of the industrial units. This is particularly evident at Victoria Grove and Whitehouse Place that were not previously connected (2).

Other roads like King Street (3) and York Street (4) were removed to enable the development of large light industrial units, but also reduced the east-west permeability.

The only residential buildings to survive these changes were; the early terraces on York Road, although by the 1980s these properties were in a poor state of repair, a short terrace of six inter-war dwellings nos.3-13 Sargent Street (5) and a group of terraced properties near the junction of Philip Street and Whitehouse Street (6).

As mentioned above, the changes to the area after the Second World War not only impacted the neighbourhood’s built fabric, but also significantly eroded the route structure.

By the later 1800s (as shown on this mid 1880s Ordnance Survey plan), two routes linked Whitehouse Street and Spring Street; Regent Street and King Street with the latter continuing along York Street to St Luke’s Road.

The routes west of Whitehouse Street tended to be cul-de-sacs (1) stopping at a boundary resulting from the early water course or drainage ditch mentioned earlier.

The post war changes to the area further impacted the east-west routes.

• The only connection to St Luke’s Road is now through a narrow pedestrian lane (2).

• King Street has been completely replaced by warehouses (3).

• One beneficial change has been the east-west connection at Victoria Grove/Whitehouse Place (4).

• The connection from Stillhouse Lane to York Road has been severed (5) and there are no routes east of Stillhouse Lane north of Willway Street.

• More recently, Regent Street has been gated for private business use (6).

Where the historic fabric survives, this defines the heritage designations of the Bedminster Conservation Area (shown in orange on the plan) and nationally and locally listed buildings (the red and yellow buildings).

One of the most important aspects that defines the identity of this part of the city is the panoramic view across Whitehouse Street from Victoria Park.