Jill Phipps lived in the village for many years – she met and married John who was a great friend of the boating community. Sadly John died in the late 1990s and a Mulberry Tree was planted in his memory. Brian Greaves, a blacksmith artist who lives on a boat with a forge towed behind, … Read more
A Biography of a Building and its People Written in 2019 to commemorate the 100 years since the Red Cross left the Square a 70 page booklet describing the history and stories of the building and its people. £7.50 inc p&p and including a Supplement of people’s memories inspired by the booklet. Contact trevor.turpin(Replace this … Read more
Private Car Park. From 2016 The car park on the Westwood side, owned by the tearoom No10 as of 2016 leases its carpark to a private company who charge the following and manage: This info / prices are correct as of August 2016. Please check as potentially may have changed. £2 per hour £3.50 (upto … Read more
By Nick McCamley A thoroughly researched, well written and truly fascinating account of this diminutive Wiltshire community situated on the River Avon, Kennet and Avon Canal and Railway between Bradford on Avon and Bath. Particularly strong on social and industrial history.
We are located in the small hamlet of Avoncliff, near Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire. The shop is next to the historic Cross Guns Pub, and overlooks the River Avon. It is small but full to the brim with hand-dipped candles, hand-rolled incense, carved statues, jewellery, and of course one of the largest selections of crystals, minerals and … Read more
Self contained ground floor studio apartment in the garden of The Old Stables in the pretty hamlet of Avoncliff, two miles from the historic town of Bradford-on-Avon. Bedrooms: Double: 1 Bathrooms: En-suite shower Distance: 2 miles from Bradford on Avon Town Centre www.railwaystudio.co.uk
The Avoncliff Community Group represents the community that live & work in Avoncliff and meets regularly to discuss issues that may effect the community and offers a channel for ideas for making Avoncliff a pleasant place to live, work & visit. Avoncliff is within the area covered by the adopted West Wiltshire District Plan. This … Read more
A lot has happened at Avoncliff Halt since the West Wiltshire Railway Users Group appeared in 1989: then we had an average of 8 ‘on request’ (of which more later) trains a day in each direction. There were no shelters, no information points, no seats, and (though we didn’t know it at the time) no … Read more
When the railway was constructed it consisted of a single broad gauge track, the width being 7ft 1/4inch, though the cuttings, embankment and ballast were all built to take a double track of broad gauge. It was planned to open the 91/2 mile track from Bradford junction to Bathampton on 20th January, 1857, but upon … Read more
The Old Court, a square horseshoe-shaped building facing north towards the river and situated at the western end of Avoncliff, was built as a group of weavers’ cottages during the late 18th century. Over the years, The Old Court has changed use from the Bradford Union Workhouse from 1836 to 1914, a convalescent home for the wounded soldiers during the 1914 Ð 18 war, a residential hotel known as the Old Court between 1922 and 1948 and a conversion to 14 self-contained flats from 1952 to 1987 when it was eventually developed into 12 separate houses and changed its title to Ancliff Square the name it holds at the change of the millennium.
The central, twin-gabled, portion of The Cross Guns is the oldest part of the building, though its exact age is not known. The Deeds, dated 1712, state that it was built 100 years earlier, as an inn, but the fireplace has been dated by several people at 1550. It was probably used by quarrymen, mill-workers and people using the ford across the river. Beer was brewed on the premises, and brewing “holes” have been found in the stable floor. Earth and stones from the canal bed were piled against the back of the Cross Guns during the construction of the canal, which necessitated the brick-ing up of all ground floor windows at the back of the pub.
There have been mills in Avoncliff from at least the sixteenth century, when a grist and fulling mill existed, under one roof, and since when it is known that a weir adjoined the mills. The mill on the Winsley side of the river had numerous owners through the centuries and in 1737 it was advertised … Read more
The Aqueduct carries the canal over the River Avon and dominates the hamlet; unfortunately, its central arch sagged immediately after construction and John Rennie is said to have regretted using stone. The aqueduct consists of three arches and is 110 yards long. A stone at the top of the parapet in the bay on the … Read more
Earthworks offers a range of workshops and qualification courses in Crystal Healing and other forms of healing Earthworks has college accreditation through the General Natural Practitioners’ Guild, and is recognised by the Association for Therapeutic Healers. Classes are small, with a maximum of 12 students per class (fewer in some cases), and held in a … Read more
The Neem Tree Trust aims are: To advance the education and vocational training of the residents of a disabled boys’ home located near to Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, South India. To support the work of St Luke’s Leprosarium, Peikulam in the District of Thoothukudi in caring for leprosy patients and their children. To relieve poverty and … Read more
Bhutan Land of the Thunder Dragon: An Introduction for Children and Armchair Travellers Buy the Book Find out more: www.bhutan-an-introduction.co.uk Want to know more about this Himalayan Kingdom? The author, Freda Ferne, is available to work with schools (20 years teaching experience) and also gives talks to groups large and small. Lots of display items including … Read more
The Avoncliff Community Group designed and printed a credit card sized fold out timetable simplified the timings & encouraged people to use the train service & was supported by the Wessex Rail Partnership.
The whole village dressed in 1906 costume for the 100th anniversary in July 2006, together with silver band, refreshments and marquee – even Mr Brunel came to unveil our celebratory Running in Board!
The Blue Lady At a time when there were no roads to speak of in Avoncliff, folk would often use a footpath which led down from the top of the valley, behind the pub and on down to the river below. Now it just so happens, that the old footpath would have passed directly through … Read more
The Kennet and Avon canal, which passes through Avoncliff is one of the most splendid lengths of artificial waterway in Britain and is a fitting memorial to the canal age as a whole. John Rennie (1761 – 1821) is famous, among other things, for building Waterloo Bridge, London Bridge (now transported and re-built stone by … Read more
To mark the start of the Millenium 2000. Avoncliff residents created a series of records, photos, drawings to record what life was like here in Avoncliff in the Year 2000. Here are just a few of the submissions.
Why the Avoncliff website? Well….good question. Long before this website ever existed, just in the woods on the side of the bank of the canal, there existed a strange wooden construction, made from twigs, branches all tied together to form a strange web. This was no ordinary web, this was the first ever Avoncliff website. … Read more
It was on this piece of land, where the soil was deposited, that Anthony Dunsdon had the idea of using the redundant stone reservoir (which used to supply the workhouse with water) as a possible site for an underground house. He asked Hans Klaentschi, responsible for the Ancliff Square conversion to draw up plans for … Read more
The Survey was conducted by Dave Green FLS, Botanical Recorder for the Botanical Society for the British Isles, North Wiltshire. Introduction The Survey was conducted by Dave Green FLS, Botanical Recorder for the Botanical Society for the British Isles, North Wiltshire and author of The Wiltshire Flora (1993). This brief survey was carried out during … Read more
