You are here:
Avoncliff
Avoncliff maps
Historic maps of Avoncliff and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Avoncliff maps
Avoncliff area books
Displaying 1 of 12 books about Avoncliff and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Avoncliff
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Avoncliff.
Add your memory of Avoncliff
or of a photo of Avoncliff.
Canter Across The Canal
It must have been around the late 1960s, early 1970s when my sister and I used to ride our ponies down to Avoncliff. We lived a short distance away in Upper Westwood and our mother liked us to ride along the tow path as it kept us away from the roads and any traffic that may spook our ponies. Avoncliff was a favourite place - at that time the aqueduct was dry and instead of going down and under the bridge we used to take our nimble ponies down the bank, canter across the bottom and leap up the other side! I'm sure our ponies used to enjoy it as much as we did as they used to start prancing around in anticipation as we came round the last corner and approached the canal.
The tow path was very overgrown and a haven for wild life. We pretty much had it to ourselves and once across used to canter all the way to Bradford on Avon, only slowing down... Read more
Wiltshire memories
The Old Ride
I first saw Frankleigh House through the trees in the distance as I was driven there for my first day at The Old Ride Preparatory School for Boys. The school and its predecessor had been based there for many years. As a seven year old it was an inspiring sight. What seemed to be a huge building in acres of lawns and green fields. Tennis courts, a swimming pool and cricket pavilion just part of the grounds. Inside, a stunning hall with wood panelling, flagstone floor and the smell of furniture polish. The dining hall with a stage at one end swagged with red velvet curtains. A library with an elaborate plaster ceiling. Large dormitories smelling of disinfectant. And the classrooms with underfloor heating (supposedly). Boiled cabbage, tyrannical rules and even as a non-boarder, seven days a week with prep not finishing until 7pm. Happy days.
The Old Ride
I was a day boy between 1966 and 1970. I was always in trouble and spent most of my meals on the punishment table. The ruling was tyranical, you had to eat everything on your plate and couldn't leave the table until you had done so; classical music was played during the main course at lunch time and talking was not allowed. The teachers were either eccentric or old fogeys found on the scrap heap. Plug, the head, ruled the place with a rod of iron, and after staff meeting on a Monday lunch time, on return to the school-room, he would see a line of boys against the window that had been pulled out by the equally tyranical head boy. He would stand there bolt upright, arms down by his side, one index finger rigid pointing, rapidly nodding his head as he scanned the row of boys, and getting redder and redder until he exploded - not a pretty sight. Snoop - he was so short sighted that when... Read more
Summer Days
My Sister Carolynn and I practically lived at the pool in summer even before it was heated and was often a bit chilly. Walking through the park & over the waste ground with our costume rolled in a towel under our arm. Entering the gate and hearing the fountain splashing, children screaming with laughter and the smell of chlorine in our noses, it was magic.
A quick change & walk through the disinfectant pool and we were there with everyone else having fun. When after many happy hours of swimming and jumping in it was time to leave we would put our costume throught the mangle and head home exausted but happy and keen for the next day so we could do it all again.
The Pool has long gone and I am no longer living near Trowbridge myself but the noises, sights and smells remain with me to this day and I am sure I am not the only one who misses those halcyon days of the... Read more
Faraway Castles
As a child playing on the allotments behind the Fire station in Trowbridge I used to see the white buildings gleaming in the sun of the Manor on the far hills. It was always so beautiful sitting majestically in the distance I longed to see it up close. My father once took us around the estate and lake when access was allowed and I was intrigued by the romance and wildness of the house and garden. Years later after time and destruction had taken their toll I did see it again but sadly it had lost much of the original beauty as well as size. I still think about it today even though I am far away. Whenever I am in England I always go back to West Ashton to have a look at Rood Ashton Manor. Still beautiful in its own way.
Wigfield Rd
This is a picture of the Roman Catholic Church in Wingfield Rd, facing towards the town. The road on the left is Westbourne Gardens. I used to live opposite this in Westbourne Road for five years in the early 1970s.
Trowbridge High School For Girls
My first day at Trowbridge High School was early September 1949. Our class was form 3 - Miss Metheringham was Form Teacher, Miss Dawes was Headmistress. I travelled by train each day with other pupils from Warminster, where I lived at the time. We had assembly every morning in the Hall. The School Song began with 'Near the Rolling Wiltshire Downs and the Old White Horse'. We had sewing lessons in a wooden hut. Miss Hazel and Miss Quine taught domestic science. My maiden name was Heard. I remember Susan Wickham, Cherry Hobbs,Margaret Newbury, Joan Marks, Paddy Haller and many others.
