STANLEY BADOCK: THE MAN, HIS HOUSE & HIS WOODS

Portrait of Sir Stanley Badock

(Reproduced by kind permission of Bristol University)

PART 1 - THE MAN

Dr Sir Stanley Hugh Badock (son of William Frederick Badock) was born in Bristol on 27 April 1867 and grew up to become a prominent local industrialist. He had an impressive entry in ”Who Was Who (1941–1950)“ which included being a Director of Capper Pass & Son Ltd, who were metal refiners with a smelting works in Malago Road, Bedminster. He was also Sheriff of Bristol from 1908 to 1909 and the Founder and Chairman of the Bristol Civic League of Social Service from 1908 to 1936. From 1922 to 1945 he was Pro-chancellor of Bristol University and Chairman of The University of Bristol Council from its foundation in 1918 until 1943. In 1927 he received an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University. He was knighted in 1943 and died in December 1945 (it is perhaps also worthy of note that his mother, Miriam, founded Badminton School for Girls).

PART 2 - HIS HOUSE

The history of the house (now ”Holmwood House“, located at the top of Channells Hill in Westbury-on-Trym) and the estate can be traced back to 1729, where it is mentioned as a farm owned by a Mr Carr. In 1768 it was purchased by a Richard Llewellin and was subsequently inherited by his son (also Richard) in about 1800. During his ownership, Richard II built a large brick extension to the front (South-East) of the original farmhouse. At about that time (c.1805) he bought Southmead Manor and its estate, which included the area now known as Henleaze Lake and an area that was later to become part of the Southmead housing estate (the site of Southmead Manor, previously Southmead Farm, lies adjacent to Southmead Police Station). Richard II died in 1825 but his widow (Anna) continued to live at Holmwood House until her demise in 1851. The house then passed to their son, Richard III.

Richard III remained a bachelor until he died in 1871. In 1872 the joint estates were purchased by a Mr Henry Green of Henleaze and the Southmead Estate was subsequently sold. During his ownership, Henry Green had the front half of Holmwood House faced with freestone. He died in 1885 but his wife (Elizabeth) continued to live there until she died in August 1904.

At the age of 38, Dr Badock bought the Holmwood Estate in 1905, together with several other parcels of land. Apart from the house with its stables, outbuildings and gardens etc, he also bought the field east of the house, the majority of the wood later named after him and a pond in the wood (complete with weir). With the help of his friend, the eminent architect Sir George Oatley, he decided to demolish the rear half of the house and rebuild it to a different plan. This rear section of the house was the original farmhouse dating back some 200 years.

During his tenure, Dr Badock was responsible for extending the lawns and gardens which included many of the non-indigenous trees in the grounds of the house and woods. His ambitious ornamental landscaping and planting scheme extended along the Trym valley, linking the Holmwood gardens with those at Southmead Manor House. In 1942 the Badock family moved from Holmwood to a smaller property at Knoll Hill in Stoke Bishop, where Dr Badock died in 1945 (aged 78).

In 1945, The National Children’s Home purchased the house, gardens, paddock and the lower part of Badock’s Wood. In 1972, an office block was added to the rear of the house, further extending the section rebuilt by Dr Badock in 1906. In the early 60’s the lower part of Badock’s Wood and the Kitchen Garden were leased to a David Chaffe in order to create the Westbury Wildlife Park. The Wildlife Park was officially opened by Sir Peter Scott in 1967. The house and parts of the grounds were sold by The National Children’s Home for residential development/redevelopment in 1990.

PART 3 – HIS WOODS

At the turn of the 18th century much limestone was quarried in the Southmead area. It was a general practice for the local landowners to lease out these quarries – a practice started by the Llewellins and continued by Henry Green. At one site, quarrying ceased in about 1910 and the quarry was allowed to fill with water. It then became known as Southmead Lake and then subsequently as Henleaze Lake. In about 1911 Dr Badock rented the lake and stocked it for fishing. He also leased part of it to a third party (Mr Curtis) who admitted the public for bathing. The Henleaze Swimming Club was founded there in 1919.

In 1924 Dr Badock bought 83 acres formally belonging to the Llewellins. This included The Lake, which he subsequently sold to the Swimming Club in 1933.

In April 1937 Dr Badock gifted 15 acres of playing fields and woodland to Bristol City Corporation, in perpetuity, but this was conditional on Bristol City Corporation also giving-over 15 acres of their adjacent land for the same purpose. Following from this transaction, the name ”Badock’s Wood“ came into existence. Under the Deed of Gift, Bristol City Corporation (now Bristol City Council) was to maintain an un-climbable iron fence along the western boundary of the land. Also, no structures could be erected except such buildings and works ”as was necessary to protect the lands“.

Alan Aburrow

October 2007

SOUTHMEAD ROUND BARROW

The field accessed from the main Doncaster Road entrance into Badock’s Wood (and which contains a 3500 year old Bronze Age Burial Mound at its north-western corner) was known as ”Milltut Field“ or ”Mill Toot Field“ since at least the seventeenth century. This suggests that the burial mound, ”Southmead Round Barrow“, was once the site of a windmill. However, no actual remains of a windmill have ever been found at the mound to support this suggestion. Anecdotal evidence supports the theory that there were windmills in the Westbury area in the past and which subsequently gave rise to field names such as ”Windmill Close“ and ”Windmill Leaze“.

The Southmead Round Barrow (or tumulus) is a Scheduled Ancient Monument dating from the early Bronze Age and in the Bristol Sites and Monuments Record it is recorded as ”SMR No 793“. It is 20 yards (18m) in diameter and 7 foot (2m) high and was reportedly crowned with 23 ”Scotch Firs“ (sic) in the 15th century. It was first excavated in 1873 by R A Montgomery who cut a passage four feet (1.2m) wide from the south side to the centre where it was enlarged to west and east. This work showed the barrow to be made of small unshaped stones of carboniferous limestone carefully piled up and embedded in a reddish earth. Flint flakes and 2 flint scrapers, together with animal bones were found in the mound. Fragments of human skull and other human bones were also discovered, though there was no evidence of a burial chamber or even a coffin. Later work by Professor Tratman and the University of Bristol Spelæological Society led to a more detailed description of its structure and convinced Tratman that it was Middle Bronze Age in date and that is it was constructed about 1300 BC.

In 1937 Milltut Field, along with other parcels of land, was given to Bristol City Corporation (now Bristol City Council) to be used as a Public Park and open space. Notwithstanding its ”Public Park“ status, allotments were laid out in the field during the Second World War, although not right up to the barrow. After the Second World War, the erection of 81 prefabs started in Milltut Field in about May 1947. The road serving these prefabs was named ”Bowness Gardens“ and connected with Doncaster Road at the point where the main vehicular entrance into Badock’s Wood is today.

Demolition and removal of the prefabs commenced in 1979. By 1982 they had all been demolished, although some of the prefab bases and paths are still evident today. The drain grids and covers that can still be seen in the field are also relics of the Bowness Gardens' road and footpath infrastructure

After the removal of the final prefabs, Milltut Field was returned to its intended status as a Public Open Space with extensive landscaping and planting taking place, although some of the prefab’s ornamental garden trees were retained.

There is a covenant on Badock's Wood that was effected between Bristol Corporation and Sir Stanley Badock et al at the time that the area became a Public Park in 1937. The covenant states that only "such buildings and works would be permitted as was necessary to protect the lands; otherwise no other such structures could be erected". Milltut Field (parcel 261), which temporally became Bowness Gardens, was included in the 1937 covenant. Presumably, as the prefabs were regarded as "temporary dwellings", Bristol City Corporation considered it appropriate to "turn a blind eye" to the restrictive covenant in support of the War Effort and the urgent need for temporary post-war housing at that time.

Alan Aburrow

January 2006

THE  MONUMENT  ON  THE  TUMULUS

The inscription reads (verbatim):-

”At badocks wood ghostly windmill sails turn and like a rewound film spin through history to remote times when this was burial place for bronze aged warrior in that landscape wolves prowled and nervy red deer grazed while hog rooted among trees“

In 2002, Bristol City Council commissioned the monument as a way of defining the location of the Bronze Age barrow. The Council were concerned that the barrow, which is a scheduled ancient monument, was not marked in any way and also by the fact that it was suffering from vandalism. The Council had thought initially of an Information Board but felt that this could itself be vandalised and may not have had universal appeal.

This led to the decision to commission an artwork that would be both robust, informative (without being wordy) and attractive. The Council commissioned Michael Fairfax, who had considerable experience in this sort of project, to design the monument. It was subsequently made by Jordan Fabrications of Yate and was formally unveiled in February 2003.

The words define, in poetic form, the history of the monument from burial mound to windmill. The wording on the rear of the monument simply denotes the fact that this is a Bronze Age burial mound within the former field known as 'Mill Tut'.

This Bronze Age round barrow was later used as the base for a windmill. In 1873AD a passage was dug from the south and friable human remains were found near to the centre. A further investigation in 1922AD produced bone, flint and pottery sherds.

Alan Aburrow

September, 2006