Why is our stadium called Ashton Gate?

[hoxton casual]

My 8 year old wants to know.

[BS4 on Tour...]

There was a toll house at the western end of North Street which was known as the ‘gate on the way to Ashton’ - now known as Long Ashton....our stadium took its name from that toll house...hope that isn’t too boring for an 8 year old @hoxton casual...

[Wrongagain]

That’s that one sorted, now how about Lulsgate

[redsquirrel]

3 minutes ago, dave36 said:

That’s that one sorted, now how about Lulsgate

did lulsgate bottom belong to the gatekeeper?

[reformed_red]

Legend has it that Steve Lansdown Senior Senior broke into the Memorial Ground in 1883 and stole the entrance gates, taking them back to Bedminster and burning them as a marker of a new club south of the river. Hence the name “ASHton Gate”.

It is also believed in many parts of the city that this was the start of a long-running ploy to by the Lansdown family to “divide and conquer” the “real” club of the city.

[Toffee dog]

2 minutes ago, redsquirrel said:

did lulsgate bottom belong to the gatekeeper?

No his wife.

[Reigate Red]

This be it ….

 

[Erithacus]

Yup, the turnpike house was a gated entrance to the city's south west. The Ashmead map of 1828 shows a sturdy barrier across the road in front of the house shown above, with two separate gates. At that time almost the whole of the area around here was open and undeveloped.

[Fiale]

 

 

Also now we are going to go with 1884 as our foundation date - time for the South stand to be renamed The Bristol South End (as a nod to our past).

[Oh Louie louie]

Sad to see what that building has become.

Walk past ashton park between 9 and 12 and i gurantee opposite the coopers you will see at least two of the residents of the toll house led in the flowerbed with a 2 liter.

[CitySlam]

So the whole area was like a town green back then?

[Major Isewater]

7 hours ago, Reigate Red said:

This be it ….

 

I believe that’s Aizoon on the right smoking his pipe.

What I miss are the smells of the city , the tobacco, the Gas works , the diesel from the boats  ... not as healthy as today I suppose but it’s part of my childhood that’s gone.

[42nite]

 

Ah the 'Family Ales'.......

Eat yer greens young un, then you can have yer pint.

 

[Port Said Red]

8 hours ago, hoxton casual said:

My 8 year old wants to know.

I haven’t been to the Bristol Museum for a while but I am guessing they still have the area that shows all the maps of Bristol from post Roman times through to Edwardian. Ashton and Bedminster are outside the City until comaparatively recently. If you get at loose end on a rainy day take him up  there (it’s free)  :), should stop a few questions.

7 hours ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

There was a toll house at the western end of North Street which was known as the ‘gate on the way to Ashton’ - now known as Long Ashton....our stadium took its name from that toll house...hope that isn’t too boring for an 8 year old @hoxton casual...

 

7 hours ago, dave36 said:

That’s that one sorted, now how about Lulsgate

Not sure on the “Luls” bit but the same idea would apply. All Cities charged traders etc a tax on their wares when they would come to the various markets. The gates were placed on the major routes into the area. 

The names of the gates were usually derived from the area or perhaps named after local landowners etc. 

[Pezo]

23 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

I believe that’s Aizoon on the right smoking his pipe.

What I miss are the smells of the city , the tobacco, the Gas works , the diesel from the boats  ... not as healthy as today I suppose but it’s part of my childhood that’s gone.

You could go to han oi or schengen or any other polluted city somewhere there aren't laws if you want to be nostalgic about smells like that, i think you will soon appreciate what we have now.

[CyderInACan]

8 hours ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

There was a toll house at the western end of North Street which was known as the ‘gate on the way to Ashton’ - now known as Long Ashton....our stadium took its name from that toll house...hope that isn’t too boring for an 8 year old @hoxton casual...

Sorted. Next up, Whorefield. 

[Major Isewater]

9 minutes ago, Pezo said:

You could go to han oi or schengen or any other polluted city somewhere there aren't laws if you want to be nostalgic about smells like that, i think you will soon appreciate what we have now.

You are wrong . The odours were unique to Bristol and more specifically the area around  Hotwells , Canon’s Marsh, Bristol Docks , Cumberland basin and Bemmy. 

I have been all over the world and never experienced the same smell or close to it that evokes the memories.

 

[Offside]

3 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

You are wrong . The odours were unique to Bristol and more specifically the area around  Hotwells , Canon’s Marsh, Bristol Docks , Cumberland basin and Bemmy. 

I have been all over the world and never experienced the same smell or close to it that evokes the memories.

 

I also used to love the smell of yeast from the Courage’s brewery by Bristol Bridge - something else that always felt unique to Bristol. 

[RedM]

18 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

You are wrong . The odours were unique to Bristol and more specifically the area around  Hotwells , Canon’s Marsh, Bristol Docks , Cumberland basin and Bemmy. 

I have been all over the world and never experienced the same smell or close to it that evokes the memories.

 

Exactly, and as @Offsidesays above it was certainly a Bristol. The ‘stinky bones’ smell of my childhood living in Brislington and smelling the glue factory (?) wafting over from St Phillips I think it was?

Back in the day the rich would escape the city and holiday here in Brislington, between Brislington and Keynsham as both were villages outside the boundary and countrified, hard to believe now with the traffic using the Bath Road.

[Bristol Oil Services]

"Ashton" means 'farmstead by the ash trees.'

So, perhaps a robin in an ash tree for the new badge? Or, a robin on a gate under an ash tree on a farm?

[exAtyeoMax]

I used to love the smell of the tannery in Bedminster. Smells of a working city. 

[downendcity]

41 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

You are wrong . The odours were unique to Bristol and more specifically the area around  Hotwells , Canon’s Marsh, Bristol Docks , Cumberland basin and Bemmy. 

I have been all over the world and never experienced the same smell or close to it that evokes the memories.

 

 

18 minutes ago, RedM said:

Exactly, and as @Offsidesays above it was certainly a Bristol. The ‘stinky bones’ smell of my childhood living in Brislington and smelling the glue factory (?) wafting over from St Phillips I think it was?

As I was reading the Major's post, the glue factory was the first thing that came into my mind.

Also remember the chemical smell around Avonmouth and seeing yellow smoke coming out of the chimneys

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, exAtyeoMax said:

I used to love the smell of the tannery in Bedminster. Smells of a working city. 

You still get it on a sunny summers day - along with the stink of the muddy river banks sometimes.

The Bristol Beer Factory goes some way to creating the yeast smell on North St that you got down by Bristol Bridge 

[Dollymarie]

1 hour ago, CitySlam said:

So the whole area was like a town green back then?

Yep. Full of newts!  

[cheese]

2 minutes ago, Dollymarie said:

Yep. Full of newts!  

And dog shit.  But that's gone to Whorefield now.

[simon uk]

14 minutes ago, Dollymarie said:

Yep. Full of newts!  

All sounds terribly legal to me, i hope no one ever built on it

[The Fat Controller]

1 hour ago, CyderInACan said:

Sorted. Next up, Whorefield. 

"The name ‘Horfield’ may raise a few guffaws among the less mature, and its etymology is hardly enrobed in roses. Meaning ‘Filthy open land’ in old English"

[myol'man]

Great-Grandad used to ice skate along Colliters Brook as a boy on his way to help IKB dig out the New Cut

[Steve Watts]

7 hours ago, Fiale said:

 

 

Also now we are going to go with 1884 as our foundation date - time for the South stand to be renamed The Bristol South End (as a nod to our past).

1894, but a good point, nonetheless.

[Fiale]

1 hour ago, CitySlam said:

So the whole area was like a town green back then?

Looking at all these maps, it's amazing how little South Bristol was built up until within the last 100 years... a few large farms, mines, rifle ranges etc - yet still a lot of hospitals and sports facilities.

 

there are 3 threads talking about the history of the club / area if your ineterested - often think they should be merged, title changed and pinned so people can find/read and add to them. Here are two of them, there is a third larger thread somewhere but In can't find it, it had a on of photos maps and chat about the past in our area / the club etc