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.
Avoncliff Halt – A HALT NO 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...
The Railway in Avoncliff
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...
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...
