Our Historical Map

We have created a historical map to tell the story of our area from ancient times to today. This has been an engrossing and sometimes challenging experience!  

First of all, we had to agree where 'Downend' begins and ends, so what to include on the map.  As the area has grown up over many centuries, and is still expanding today, there are no exact boundaries.  

After researching at length in documents, maps, photographs and online, as well as liaising with  local historians, we decided that our map would cover the area from Cleve Tea Garden (formerly a grain and iron mill) in the northwest to Bristol and Bath Science Park in the northeast, the Colliery Engine House at Emersons Green in the southeast and Wendover Maternity Hospital (now the Red Bus Nursery) in the southwest.

This image shows our rough working out of what to cover in our map.

The next step was to collate all our research and decide which roads, landmarks, places and people to include.  Some of the key features of our history are no longer visible, such as quarries and Cleve Hill House - the local manor house around which so much of Downend grew up to service - but their impact still remains.

We brought together all the key points about our area to describe how Downend has changed from the thickly-wooded Kingswood Forest where wolves roamed wild and the king hunted deer, into an independent vibrant community that is still thriving and growing.  

We decided to depict places such as Page Park, Westerleigh Road Cemetery and the Scout Memorial, which you can still see today, along with others which have gone, like the stocks and whipping post, the old animal pond, Cottage Homes workhouse and orphanage, as well as the site of the Britannia Air Crash.  

We have made our map double-sided, with the map itself on one side and the fascinating story of our local history on the other.

The image shows our draft sketch of which roads, places and people we would include.

Next, we commissioned illustrator Matt Joyce to bring all these fascinating stories to life.  We are very grateful to South Gloucestershire Council for awarding us funding to produce the map - it has enabled us to bring Matt on board and to print copies of the map to share.

We have included people such as WG Grace, William de Putot, 13th century Sheriff of Gloucester, the Player and Cave families, and Henry Croot, Bristol's last town crier.  We mention those who have worked in Downend in various jobs over the centuries - from farmers, miners and quarry workers, to  blacksmiths, pinmakers, hatmakers and domestic servants,  to nurses, ARP wardens and American airmen during World War II, and those working at the Bristol and Bath Science Park today.

The image shows some of Matt Joyce's inital suggestions for bringing the features of our map to life.