Difference between revisions of "River Frome, Bristol"

Latest revision as of 09:53, 18 November 2019

The River Frome by Snuff Mills

The River Frome is a river twenty miles long in southern Gloucestershire. It was historically known as the River Froom, and the name is still pronounced in that way. It rises in the Cotswolds and discharges into the Floating Harbour in Bristol at the southern boundary of the county. The Floating Harbour is a cut-off stretch of the original course of the River Avon, and so the Frome is a tributary of the latter river.

The Frome rises in Dodington Park, and flows in a south westerly direction for twenty miles into Bristol to the Floating Harbour. The mean flow at Frenchay is 60 cubic feet a second.

Name

The name Frome is shared with several other rivers in the south-western counties, and means 'fair', 'fine', or 'brisk’, from the old British language.^[1] There is another Frome in Gloucestershire; the Stroud Frome. The best known may be the Somerset Frome from which the town of Frome takes its name.

The historic spelling, Froom, is still sometimes used and this is how the name of the river is pronounced (as in broom). In the nineteenth and twentieth century the River Frome became known in East Bristol as the Danny. The derivation of this name is uncertain, some suggest a nickname, taken from the Blue Danube Waltz, others that it was derived from the Australian slang word dunny.^[2]

The river and the city

Originally the Frome joined the Avon downstream of Bristol Bridge, and formed part of the city defences, but in the thirteenth century the river was diverted through marshland belonging to St Augustine's Abbey (now Bristol Cathedral), as part of major port improvement works. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the lower reaches of the river were culverted and the river now flows under The Centre into St Augustine's Reach.

As with many urban rivers, the Frome has suffered from pollution, but several stretches run through parks and reserves that sustain a range of wildlife. The power of the water was harnessed in many watermills and the area around the river mouth was developed as shipyards by the eighteenth century. As the city of Bristol developed in the nineteenth and twentieth century, flooding became a major problem, remedied by the construction of storm drains and diversions.

Course

Twenty miles long, the River Frome rises in the grounds of Dodington Park in the Cotswolds of southern Gloucestershire, and flows through Chipping Sodbury and Yate. Below Yate it is then joined by the Nibley brook at Nibley and the Mayshill brook at Algars Manor near Iron Acton, both on the left bank. The river turns south towards the next settlement of Frampton Cotterell, where it is met by the Ladden brook on the right bank.

Continuing southwards between Yate and Winterbourne, the Frome crosses Winterbourne Down, to Damsons Bridge where the Folly brook tributary merges on the left bank.

The Bradley brook joins on the right bank at Hambrook just before the river passes underneath the M4 motorway and, also on the right, the Stoke brook (or Hambrook) joins at Bromley Heath. After passing under the A4174 the Frome enters a more urban environment passing between Frenchay on the right and Bromley Heath and Downend on the left. Turning in a more south westerly direction the river enters Oldbury Court estate, a city park, where it is joined by the first of two Fishponds brooks both on the left. The river then passes Snuff Mills, entering a steep valley at Stapleton, where the second Fishponds brook joins, then passing Eastville park, where it feeds the former boating lake.^[3]

The river then flows under the M32 motorway and parallels its course for a while before disappearing into an underground culvert at Eastville Sluices, upstream of Baptist Mills. It is joined underground by Coombe brook^[4] on the left and Horfield brook on the right.^[5]

A brief stretch in St Judes is uncovered and then the river runs underneath Broad Weir, Fairfax Street and Rupert Street. At the site of the former Stone Bridge, near the junction of Rupert Street and Christmas Street, the main flow is channelled through Mylnes Culvert. This follows the course of Marsh Street, Prince Street and Wapping Road, and joins the New Cut close to Gaol Ferry Bridge. The culverted section between Stone Bridge and St Augustine's Reach is now a flood relief channel.

Canoeing

From Damsons Bridge (ST657794) to Snuff Mills (ST623764) the river is large enough for canoes and kayaks, though some carrying may be required. Kayakers also reckon that also possible to start at Moorend Bridge (ST650794) or Frenchay Bridge (ST644777). Some of the Bradley brook has also been kayaked.^[6]

In December 2011, a kayaker was killed after capsizing in the flooded river at Snuff Mills weir in Frenchay during a night-time paddle.^[7][8]

Historical interest

Map of Bristol Castle in the Middle Ages with the original course of the Frome

Between Frenchay and Stapleton the river drops nearly fifty feet, and as a result there a number of corn and other mills were established to harness the water power. They were undershot mills with no mill ponds. Today a wheel at Snuff Mills is preserved and the mill buildings of Cleeve Mill survive as a private residence.^[9]

The Frome originally flowed east of its present-day course from Stone Bridge (now underground by St John's Gate) along the line of St Stephen's Street and Baldwin Street, joining the Avon near Bristol Bridge. The narrow strip of high land between the two rivers was a naturally strategic place for the Saxon town of Bricgstow, later the walled centre of the city, to develop. When Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, rebuilt Bristol Castle, the Frome was diverted (at present-day Broad Weir) to form the castle moat, so that the city was entirely surrounded by water.^[10]

In the mid-thirteenth century the harbour had become so busy that it was decided to divert the Frome into a new course through a marsh belonging to St Augustine's Abbey into a "Deep Ditch" that was dug from Stone Bridge to join the Avon at the present site of Prince Street bridge. This has been the line of the river ever since, known as St Augustine's Reach.^[11]

The Floating Harbour was constructed in 1809, isolating the Avon and Frome from tides between Cumberland Basin and Totterdown Lock. The increasing use of the Frome as an open sewer combined with the loss of the scouring action of the tides meant that it was now becoming a health hazard and in 1825 it was again diverted, with locks at Stone House, channelling the main flow through Mylne's Culvert to the tidal Avon at New Cut, to the east of what is now Gaol Ferry Bridge. Up to 1858 the Frome was open along its whole length, and crossed by some 13 bridges. During the latter half of the nineteenth century, a culvert was built from Wade Street in St Judes to Stone Bridge, covering this stretch completely: Rupert Street, Fairfax Street and Broad Weir run over this culverted section. St Augustine's Trench from Stone Bridge to Draw Bridge (near the northern end of Baldwin Street) was covered over in 1893 and the section between that point and the bottom of Park Street was covered over in 1938.^[12]

Shipbuilding

Shipbuilding on the River Frome may have been carried out for centuries, with docks on the northern part of Narrow Quay (St Clements Dock and Aldworth's Dock) being archaeologically excavated. By the seventeenth century, Francis Baylie built warships on the east bank at Narrow Quay. Tombs' Dock was built opposite at Dean's Marsh in 1760, on the west bank of the Frome and was later lengthened to 435 feet, the builders including FW Green, and two additional docks were built by at Teast's Docks in 1790; a drydock later known as Albert Dock and a mud dock at Mansfield's point. The last shipbuilder closed in 1883.^[13]

Flooding

Part of the Frome Valley Walkway

Where it passes through Bristol the river was prone to flooding, but the Northern Stormwater Interceptor, running from Eastville Sluices to the River Avon downstream of Clifton Suspension Bridge, has since been constructed to control this. At Wade Street, St Judes, the river enters an underground culvert, emerging at what Bristolians call The Centre (formerly the 'Tramways Centre'), but only when there is a risk of flooding. The river is otherwise channelled through Mylne's Culvert into the River Avon at a point between Bathurst Basin and Gaol Ferry Bridge. Three further flood relief tunnels- Castle Ditch, Fosseway and Castle Green Tunnel - run under Castle Park in central Bristol to carry excess flows into the Floating Harbour.^[14]

Major floods have included Mina Road, St Werburghs and Wellington Road in October 1882; Eastville, St Werburghs and Broadmead in 1936 and 1937; Eastville Park and nearby due to melting snow in 1947; 1968 Bristol Rovers F.C. old ground at Eastville.^[15] The Broadmead area still remains at risk of flooding in severe weather conditions.^[16]

Frome Valley Walkway

The Frome Valley Walkway is a public footpath, eighteen miles long, that runs almost the entire length of the river from Old Sodbury to Bristol. A guide pamphlet has been published.^[17] The walkway was created by a partnership between local authorities, the Environment Agency, wildlife organisations and location action groups, including Avon Biodiversity Partnership, Avon Invasive Weeds Forum, Avon Wildlife Trust, Bristol City Council, Bristol Naturalists' Society and South Gloucestershire Council. Regular events include clearing of invasive species and guided walks.^[18]

Natural history

The Frome valley supports a range of wildlife and plants, passing through or near to a number of nature reserves and parks, including Goose Green fields, Chill Wood, Cleeve Valley, Oldbury Court park and Eastville Park. Notable species include grey wagtails, wild service trees (Sorbus domestica, dippers and several species of bat.^[19] One of the last British populations of the endangered native white-clawed crayfish in the Bristol area was found in the river, but became extinct in 2008.^[20]

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about River Frome, Bristol)

• Rivermouth location: 51°26’56"N, 2°35’54"W
• Environment Agency video of the underground river - YouTube

References

• Watson, Sally (1991). Secret Underground Bristol. Bristol: The Bristol Junior Chamber. ISBN 0-907145-01-9.