Description of the sites and their setting
Warmley Conservation Area occupies eastern parts of Bristol in the southern parts of Warmley village. Conservation mainly covers Siston Brook, Warmley House, gardens, and industrial area in the south. Siston Brook is not conspicuous and meanders from north to south. Today, elements of Champion’s legacy remain part of the modern buildings, schools, and industrial units (Morris, 2010).
Warmley area became a Conservation Area in the year 1995. This was in recognition of the architectural and historical relations with William Champion (1709-1789) who was a prominent innovator, Quaker and industrialist.
Importance of Warmley area
The area is a heritage site of national importance as the place where William Champion first started large-scale production of Zinc in Europe. This area is also the remaining 18th century landmark consisting of industrial complex with complete industrial processes of metal production of finished goods. This is a rare example remains of 18th century with unique features with some parts made from waste products from the industry.
The prominent features in the area consist of the Warmley House, gardens, Clock Tower, Windmill Tower, Icehouse, the Grotto, the Mound, and a former 13 acre lake called Echo pond. There is also a chequered walled garden, Summerhouse, Statue of Neptune, and the Boat house. The Conservation Area also has nine buildings, Historic Gardens and Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Echo Pond
Echo pond is in the north and adjacent to Elm Walk. Echo pond consists of few trees, looks like an open place with sunny aspect. The 13 acre lake acted as a reservoir for the works of the watermills. Echo pond now has a caravan park that touches parts of the garden setting.
Boathouse
The Boathouse is in the middle of former Laurel Walk and the Mound. The area has giant and mature trees making it looks like an enclosure.
Statue of Neptune
The giant Statue of Neptune is in the middle of the pond. The Statue is ten metres high and made of clinker and concrete. It is an odd feature in the area.
The Mound
The Mound is also ten metres high making it unusual feature in the area. It has several Oak trees presenting a noticeable view from the surrounding location. The former Laurel Walk connects the Mound to the Boathouse.
Siston Brook
River Siston Brook runs north to south across Warmley. Champion built a dam across it that formed a crater lake, which provided power and water for the industry. Siston Brook borders the Grimsbury School, the caravan park and the gardens. However, the river runs across the area in trees that hide its view making it a secluded and enclosed feature. The Windmill Tower offers an open view of the river and Summerhouse where there is a bridge across it. There is also a sidewalk along the river with a neglected appearance (Bryant, 1994).
Chequered Walled Garden
Chequered wall connects to the Grotto. It is an eccentric decorative garden feature constructed from clinker. It has arched openings with bricks, slag blocks made in a chequered design.
The Grotto
The Grotto is a prominent feature in most 18th century gardens. It has myths described as a mysterious warren because of the black zinc clinkers and its complex system of pools and cascades.
Windmill Tower
It is approximately 18 metres high making it visible and prominent in the area. However, it has lost its blades but is a rare survival of the 18th century power source for industrial activities. It has pennant stone, red bricks and slag blocks.
Icehouse
The Icehouse is mainly an underground structure in the north to the Windmill Tower next to Siston Brook. The Icehouse has a diameter of 10.6 metres. It is a circular structure constructed of local pennant sandstones. It is the largest surviving Icehouse in England.
Clock Tower
Clock Tower served as a place for making pins using a brass wire. After the end of pin making in the 19th century, it served as a place for potteries and boot factory, and now serves the community. It is a three-story high, built from rubble sandstone and slag block quoins with a hipped pantile roof.
It has vast cast iron windows, tower and clock, and external parts. However, today it is a standalone feature in the backdrop of trees. This area is useful for archaeologists since they have uncovered significant historic furnaces. It also has a narrow gauge rail line that links former industrial clay pits.
Ram Hill Colliery
Ram Hill is a small village of South Gloucestershire, England. The colliery site is next to the rail road. It has historical features on the ground like shaft, horse grin, and tram roads ending as arches. The site became a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 2006.
Winterbourne
This is a large village in South Gloucestershire. Much of the village’s area is on a hill consisting of fields and woodlands. The old Steam Engine House consists of a steam engine used to drive factory equipment. The place is a historic site where visitors come to see numerous assortments of ancient mechanism (Smith, Calder and Field, 2002).
Acton Court in Iron Acton
Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn stayed in Acton Court during the summer of 1535. In order to impress the King, Nicholas Poyntz built and decorated a new East Wing in the manor house. The East Wing consists of a conserved Tudor House in Acton Court. It is a rare manifestation of the 16th century royal apartment with the finest decorations.
Archaeological work or fieldwork carried out
There were excavations in Warmley Area near Clock Tower in 1986. The work revealed remains of construction work like cementation furnaces. Avon Archaeological also excavated industrial remains. However, their findings remain published (Pastscape, 2010).
English Heritage conducted an emergency excavation and discovered industrial remnants, slag bricks, artefacts, zinc remains, and clinker. English Heritage analysed them to learn much about Champion’s works.
The chronology and current interpretation of the site
William Champion built the first industry of its kind in Warmley, England. He moved from his previous site to Warmley in 1742 where he established his operations (Bryant and Howes, 1991). This is where he manufactured brass, smelting, sheet and wire brass, and finally kettles and pins.
Champion’s garden formed parts of the works. The dam at Siston Brook provided water for the mills. This dam created a 13 acre lake, currently known as the caravan park. Champion disguised the Summerhouse using a set of sluice gates. The industrialist constructed the Statue of Neptune at the centre of the Echo pond using industrial wastes of copper. The same materials are also present in the Grotto and chequered garden. The Grotto may also contain elements of industrial, but they are difficult to notice. The Grotto look decorative, and there was excessive water management systems.
Dungworth and White notes that “William Champion overextended himself, and his vast complex, which in 1761 included 22 copper furnaces, 15 brass furnaces, 5 zinc furnaces, one wire mill, three rolling mills and five battery mills had to be sold, due to the financial collapse of Champion’s company in 1767” (Dungworth and White, 2007, p. 2).
Reference List
Bryant, A and Howes, L 1991, Warmley Historic Gardens, A. Bryant & L. Howes Publishing, London.
Bryant, A 1994, Life in Siston and Warmley, Kingswood Heritage Museum, Bristol.
Dungworth, D and White, H 2007, Warmley Brassworks, Siston, Bristol Analysis of some Eighteenth-Century Brassworking Debris, English Heritage, London.
Morris, R V 2010, The Field Trip Book: Study Travel Experiences in Social Studies, Information Age Publishing, Charlotte, NC.
Pastscape, 2010, Warmley Brass Works, Web.
Smith, N, Calder, M and Field, D 2002, South Gloucestershire, English Heritage, London.