Kingsweston was a

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

of the city of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. 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.

Coombe Dingle

Coombe Dingle is a suburb of Bristol, centred on where the River Trym emerges from a gorge passing through the Blaise Castle Estate. A desirable area, the private housing was mainly built in the 1920s and 1930s. Further downstream is Sea Mills. There was a tin Methodist church which was demolished in the mid-1990s. There are still some photos of it on ti
Tabernacles
It was a small gothic building of the 1890s.

Lawrence Weston

Lawrence Weston is a post war housing estate in north west

between

Henbury Henbury is a suburb of Bristol, England, approximately north west of the city centre. It was formerly a village in Gloucestershire and is now bordered by Westbury-on-Trym to the south; Brentry to the east and the Blaise Castle Estate, Blaise Ha ...

and

Shirehampton Shirehampton is a district of Bristol in England, near Avonmouth, at the northwestern edge of the city. It originated as a separate village, retains a High Street with a parish church and shops, and is still thought of as a village by many of it ...

. It is bounded in the east by the Blaise Castle estate and woods. It is situated directly beneath the wooded Kingsweston Hill. The industrial complex and port of

Avonmouth Avonmouth is a port and outer suburb of Bristol, England, facing two rivers: the reinforced north bank of the final stage of the Avon which rises at sources in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Somerset; and the eastern shore of the Severn Es ...

is a mile or so away, across the flood plain. The residential area was built in the late 1940s/early 1950s. Originally council owned, much of the housing stock is now in private hands. It is known as "El Dub" to its inhabitants. The row of shops in Ridingleaze has been revamped and each shop is now adorned with a mural. Lawrence Weston is well known locally for its vibrant facilities for young people. There are two youth centres, a BMX track, a young people's shop called Juicy Blitz and a Youth Inclusion project. it has the community farm and a range of clubs and groups for young people.

Kings Weston

Kings Weston formally Weston Regis was originally a hamlet (or

tything A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or s ...

) in the parish of Henbury, to the west of Lawrence Weston, subsumed into Lawrence Weston when the estate was built in the 1940s. Historically it was known as the location of

Kings Weston House Kings Weston House () is a historic building in Kings Weston Lane, Kingsweston, Bristol, England. History It was built between 1712 and 1719 was designed by Sir John Vanbrugh for Edward Southwell on the site of an earlier Tudor house, remodell ...

. The village also gave its name to Kingsweston Hill and Kings Weston Lane, the main road between Lawrence Weston and Shirehampton. There is a

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...

at Kings Weston.

Sea Mills

Sea Mills is a suburb of the English port city of

. It is situated some 3.5 miles (6 km) north-west of the city centre, at the seaward end of the

Avon Gorge The Avon Gorge () is a 1.5-mile (2.5-kilometre) long gorge on the River Avon in Bristol, England. The gorge runs south to north through a limestone ridge west of Bristol city centre, and about 3 miles (5 km) from the mouth of the ...

. Nearby suburbs are

, Sneyd Park,

Combe Dingle 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 ...

and

Stoke Bishop 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 ...

.Ordnance Survey (2004). ''OS Explorer Map 154 – Bristol West & Portishead''. . Sea Mills was the site of a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

settlement, known as Portus Abonae. The name and location suggest that this was a river port, but to date there has been no archaeological proof of this. The Roman settlement seems to have been abandoned by the 4th century, and there is no evidence of Saxon settlement. By the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

Bristol had become a major port, with all traffic between the port and the sea having to pass through the Avon Gorge and past Sea Mills. In 1712,

Joshua Franklin Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...

, a Bristol merchant, built a

wet dock Wet may refer to: * Moisture, the condition of containing liquid or being covered or saturated in liquid * Wetting (or wetness), a measure of how well a liquid sticks to a solid rather than forming a sphere on the surface Wet or WET may also refe ...

at Sea Mills, to eliminate the need for large sailing ships to navigate the dangerous River Avon any further upstream. This was located where the River Trym enters the River Avon. However, poor transport links doomed the enterprise and the harbour facilities fell into disrepair by the end of the 18th century. Some remains of the dock still exist, and are used as a harbour by pleasure craft. In the 1920s and 30s, Sea Mills was developed as a planned green suburb. Much of the housing was local council, although it is now mainly in private ownership. Adjacent to the Portway is a small estate of prefabricated bungalows dating from a post-WW2 housing scheme. The wide A4 Portway trunk road passes along the south-west edge of Sea Mills and links central Bristol with its outport at Avonmouth. Running parallel to the serpentine path of the River Avon, the Portway was the most expensive road in Britain when it was opened in 1926. Both the Portway and the railway line have bridges over the harbour outfall into the Avon. Ocean-going ships used to sail past Sea Mills, going to and from

Bristol City Docks Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of . It is the former natural tidal river Avon through the city but was made into its current form in 1809 when the tide was prevented from going out perm ...

. Nowadays most of the shipping is in the form of pleasure craft, Bristol's main docks now being at Avonmouth and

Portbury Portbury is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England within the unitary authority of North Somerset. The parish includes the hamlet of Sheepway which is situated on the moorland at the northern edge of the Gordano valley, between the Go ...

. October 2006 saw the opening of The Portway Rugby Development Centre. The facilities it has are 2 outdoor 3G Crumb pitches, suitable for Rugby and Football. Outdoor grass Rugby pitches (ready for August 2007). There are 2 meeting room's and they host many aerobics classes.

Population

According to the 2001 Census there are 10,844 people living in Kingsweston ward, over 95% of whom were whit

Transport

Kingsweston ward is served by 1 railway station, at Sea Mills railway station, Sea Mills, just outside the ward boundary. With hourly services between

Bristol Temple Meads Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is located away from London Paddington. It is an important transport hub for public transport in the city; there are bus services to many parts of the city ...

and

, there are also peak connections to Severn Beach. Bus services serving the area are 3, 4, 10, 11 and 13.

References

External links

*
Sea Mills history
{{coord, 51.48026, -2.64939, type:landmark_region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(ST550759), display=title Areas of Bristol Wards of Bristol