Bristol: Mosaics, Gaunts Ham Park and the vanished Wain Brook

The Wellspring Centre is at the end of Beam St.

With your back to the Wellspring Centre cross the road and turn right passing by the car park.  Walk towards the Urban Park gate but turn right before going through it.  Follow the path and exit between two stone gate posts on to Morley Street opposite the Barton Hill Settlement.  Your first mosaic is directly opposite you on the front of the Barton Hill Settlement.

[1] Cross Morley St, turn left and then immediately right into Ducie Rd. 

The pavement is narrow on Ducie Rd and traffic can go through quickly so please keep to the pavement.

On both sides of the Ducie Rd railway bridge there are mosaics.  Do take some time to look at them.  Continue to Ducie Rd car park and cross the road. Turn left onto Lincoln St.

[2] Cross the road at Lawrence Hill Church and go through the octagonal stone gate posts on your right into Gaunt's Ham Park.  Pass to the right of the Gaunt's Ham Park notice board.  At the first tree turn left, walking past two very large and old plane trees.  Turn left at the second plane tree and continue straight on to exit the park but not through the stone pillars on the right.  The path is divided by a section of curved green railing (opposite a gate numbered 4).  Go to the right of the railing.  Follow the path with street lights, ignoring the left fork leading to the front of some houses and follow the wider path across a grassy area.  Continue to follow the path between two houses and take the left hand fork.  At the T junction turn left and then right onto Lincoln St.

[3]  Turn right onto Days Rd and cross using the pelican crossing.  Turn left to go over the railway bridge.  Days Road now becomes Barton Hill Road.  Continue along Barton Hill Rd past a grassy picnic area on the left.  You will see a sign on the right for the Walled Garden.  If you are not visiting the Walled Garden continue along Barton Hill Rd.

Take care crossing Queen Ann Rd as this is quite a busy junction.

At Church St. turn right.  Pass the brick buildings on your left and turn left through the red gate into the Urban Park. 

[4] Go straight ahead to the children's play area.  Take the second path bearing right between the arched play equipment, looking at the Barton Hill mural complete with elephant and monkey on your right.  Exit into the car park, walk across it and past Boots the chemist and you are now back at the Wellspring Centre.

A. Barton Hill Settlement offers many services to the local community from adult learning to lunch clubs.  You can find out more on  http://www.bartonhillsettlement.org.uk/ where there is also some interesting material about the history of the Settlement which spans over 100 years.

B.  The mosaics on Ducie Rd railway bridge.  

C.  As you enter Gaunt's Ham Park you are crossing the Wain Brook. Maps from the 1880s (www.bristol.gov.uk/knowyourplace) show the Wain Brook feeding into disused paper mills that were operating in the 1870s.  By the 1890s the paper mills had disappeared under Peter's Terrace and the route of the brook is shown with no name and there is no sign of it in the 1949 map.  There are references to it in archaelogical surveys and it used to feed into the Avon at the wonderfully named "Cuckold's Pill" near Avon St.  This old photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/glosters/6833043156/ shows Cuckolds Pill.  Now the brook is covered over in a culvert following the western edge of the park..  There seems to be no history available about Gaunt's Ham Park.  Modern signs have dropped the apostrophe but on the 1990s map it is shown with an apostrophe.   The 1880s map show trees on the park area but with no name.  The plane trees we see in the park today are massive and seem older and bigger that the ones in St George Park.  If they are the trees shown on the 1880s map they are over 130 years old.

D.  Barton Hill Walled Garden is open on Wednesday to women and young families from 10am - 5pm and on Friday is open to all from 10am - 4pm.  This is a former vicarage garden that is now used for a neighbourhood growing project.  It gained a Green Volunteer Project award in 2011.  More about it on http://bartonhillwalledgarden.wordpress.com. 

There are no steps on this route.  There are a number of kerbs at road crossing and the narrow pavement on Ducie Rd could be an issue for wheelchairs.  This walk should present little difficulty to someone with a child's buggy.

There are toilets in the Wellspring Centre but it is closed at weekends.

There is a cafe in the Wellspring Centre on Tuesday lunchtimes.

There is a pub on Ducie Rd, the Russell Arms.