Broad Plain Circular Multi-Cache
Calluna Tib: As there has been no response to the previous log requesting that the cache is checked it will now need to be archived.
Regards
Heather
Calluna Tib
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A gentle stroll of less than 1 mile around the historically important area of Broad Plain. eminently suitable for little ones with a good cafe and toilets in the big furniture store
The 'Parking ' co-ordinates are for a pay and display car park. Lots of alternative on-street parking is also available nearby.
Start your walk at the co-ordinates given above.
The site now occupied by the large "retail centre", entered by the public from Broad Plain, is of complicated provenance.
The tall brick building seen here, a prominent east Bristol landmark, was Thomas's soap-boiling works. The manufacture of soap began here in 1783. The present structure was an 1881 re-modelling, perhaps by W. B. Gingell, of a smaller building put up in the 1840s. A fire in 1902 resulted in drastic alterations; the turret-like chimneys were reduced and much decorative brickwork was lost.
The congeries of buildings grouped around Broad Plain, with their massive rubblestone arches ...familiar to any Bristolian .. were added or re-modelled piecemeal, also possibly by Gingell. There is also a block of 1957-8 by the local Modernist A. E. Powell.
The Thomas business eventually passed to a well-known major soap company, whose in-house architect made additions in 1912. The brick block left of the main building was by Gingell, 1883, and the pennant stone building whose exterior walls are now propped up by scaffolding was by Foster & Wood, 1865-7.
What will this view look like in 20 years I wonder ? New office building has encroached almost up to the walls. As we see, some of the original buildings are derelict and much of the site is unused. Off to the right empty ground brings in a little revenue from office workers' car parking.
Very well done, Wonkey Donkey, for a rapid First to Find
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