Avoncliff – The Secret History of an Industrial Hamlet in War and Peace
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.
The Old Court Hotel (Known now as Ancliff Square)
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...
Ancliff Square
1770’s – Weavers Cottages Built as a group of weavers’ cottages in the late 1770’s the building known at the turn of the millennium as Ancliff Square was in turn… the Bradford Union Work House from 1836 to 1914… a convalescent home for wounded soldiers during the 1914-18 war…a residential Hotel, known as ‘The Old...
5 responses to “Ancliff Square”
Great to see the history and that the old place looks so great. I’m from New Zealand and worked for a short time for the builders doing the renovations in 1987. I mainly worked on laying the new drainage pipes that run along the front of the building and into each apartment. Couldn’t be a nicer environment to work in. A few lunchtime trips to the pub were also enjoyed. Visited about 4 years ago and found it a much busier place.
I lived here as a student from September 1981 to March 1982. Carole and I had a nice little flat, but we got snowed in that winter. Only one loo worked in the whole building and we even had ice in our kettle. Carole had a small car and we managed to drive over the aquaduct to get supplies. The landrovers couldn’t get out. We spent a lot of time in the pub – very lively. Our neighbours were 3 engineering students (2 lads and one girl). Nice memories. I think it was called Old Court then. The owner was very nice. Mr Dunton?
Very interesting article. My name is Martin Heyes and I am the eldest son of Margaret Heyes who was the eldest daughter of William Dell’s 10 children.
My mother died nearly 3 years ago.
I grew up in the north of England but I did spend a few years of my childhood at the Old Court in Avoncliff.
I even went to primary school (for a while) in Westwood!
An awful lot of nonsense is talked about the Old Court but, trust me, it was great growing up there as a kid!
The article mentions the Dell family who owned the Old Court from the early 1950’s to the 1960’s. My grandfather, William Dell, indeed bought (not “brought”) the Old Court as a rather delapidated property and eventually housed 8 of his 10 children there – some married with children of their own and some (at that time) still single.
I am the elder son of William’s oldest daughter, Margaret, and apart from a very short time in the late 1950’s we never actually lived at the Old Court.
However my mother would take my brother and I there every summer for a few weeks and that was an idyllic time for my brother and I. We enjoyed the company of a large number of cousins and even 2 of my uncles – my mother’s youngest brothers – who were not much older than me!
Eventually, however, all good things must end and my grandfather sold the Old Court in the 1960’s. He and my grandmother moved to Trowbridge with his 2 youngest sons and the remainder of the family dispersed.
My husband and I bought Old Court from Mr Dell in, I think, 1967 and were there for a short time. My husband had hoped to improve each of the flats as they became empty so we could increase our income but this didn’t happen and the tax people wouldn’t let us run it as a business for some reason so we had to sell up. The whole place was in a very bad state but we were excited to find a lovely greenhouse with a vine in it. My father and my husband cleared it out and we grew some lovely tomatoes. I remember also finding a sunken garden. There was a pig farm which rented part of the property and ofcourse, the debtor’s prison. An amazing property but too much for one man to take on unfortunately. I might possibly be moving to Bradford-on-Avon from Devon in the future and hope to have a peep at what, I’m sure, is now a stunning place.