First Residents BS3 Heritage Group Introduction
- GVHeritage Groups
- 9 hours ago
- 2 min read
by the First ResidentsBS3 Heritage Group for Futures Past
Bedminster is dramatically changing in the 21st century with new neighbourhoods and communities emerging. One of the first will see over 300 residents moving into the nearby new Stafford Yard buildings in 2025. But what of the original community living, working and playing in that Little Paradise and Stafford Street area? According to local maps, just fields occupied the site in 1828 and 30 years later, only Little Paradise, by then a terraced street linking East Street with the Millpond on what is now Dalby Avenue, is visible.
The next 50 years sees a major expansion of coal mining and industrialisation in the area. Stafford Street, Leicester Street and Little Paradise are now all occupied, thronged with homes. However, this original community only lasts for around half of the 20th century, as German bombs literally obliterate much of what has gone before and the local authority decides the area is no longer a suitable place to live.
As we await the arrival of another group of new residents to populate this part of urban Bedminster in the 21st century, the First ResidentsBS3 team of local voluntary historians, drawn from different generations, has been seeking out the stories and the characters from that original community in three time periods, to create an evocative and memorable record of them and their lives.
Map backgrounds for PDF panels:
Plumley and Ashmead 1828 plan, courtesy of Bristol Archives via Know Your Place
The Ashmead 1854 is courtesy Bristol Archives via Know Your Place.
OS plans are courtesy of the National Library of Scotland via Know Your Place.
The 1950s plan is courtesy of Mike Hooper via Know Your Place.
