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35-411: The benefits of Cheltenham's mineral waters had been recognised since 1716, but not until after the arrival of Henry Skillicorne in 1738 did serious exploitation of their potential as an attraction begin. After the visit to Cheltenham in 1788 of King George III , the town became increasingly fashionable, and wells were opened up at several points round the town. Pittville , the vision of Joseph Pitt ,

70-452: A dome over it, and erected a pump on the east side in the form of an obelisk. He laid out attractive walks both near the well itself, and on a new axis (in due course known as the 'Old Well Walk') leading to the parish church at the heart of the town. He planted these walks with a variety of shrubs and trees. In this, he had the support and contributions of many local traders and gentry. A Bristol acquaintance, Norborne Berkeley MP, assisted in

105-590: A second career as the first serious developer of the spa waters in Cheltenham . Regarded as 'the founder of Cheltenham as a watering place' in all the standard histories of the town, his memorial inscription in the parish church, standing at 53 lines and almost 600 words, is one of the longest in Britain, and has been transcribed and reproduced many times. He was born at Kirk Lonan on the Isle of Man in 1678, and

140-614: A student of Dr Samuel Ward in the late 1620s, reported that 'beer brewed thereof is wholesome against the spleen; and Dr. Samuel Ward, afflicted with that malady, and living in Sidney College , was prescribed the constant drinking thereof, though it was costly to bring it through the Severn and narrow seas to Lynn , and thence by the river to Cambridge .' In 1650 Dr Venner recommended Hotwells water for those 'who have hot livers, feeble brains, and red pimply faces' and after 1680

175-798: A terminus of a Bristol Tramways route, Hotwells railway station was the city terminus of the Bristol Port Railway and Pier line to Avonmouth , the lower terminus of the Clifton Rocks Railway , the Rownham Ferry which crossed the River Avon to Bower Ashton , the locks giving access to the Floating Harbour, and the landing stages used by passenger steamers. In the 1920s, the A4 Portway Road

210-512: Is different from what it is anywhere else.' Later customers of the water included Admiral Horatio Nelson , whose correspondence includes references to his purchase of Bristol water in 1798. Known for his abstemious habits, it was said 'He never exceeded four glasses of wine after dinner, and seldom drank three; and even those were diluted with either common or Bristol water.' The Jacobs Well Theatre , built in 1729, provided entertainment for visitors and Bristolians, however Hotwells never attained

245-402: Is served by two schools, Hotwells Primary School and St George C of E Primary School. The latter has been under threat of closure by Bristol City Council , but is now to be re-evaluated in 2013. The nearest secondary schools are Ashton Park School , Cotham School and Bristol Cathedral Choir School . Towards the end of the 19th century, the western end of the district was the location of

280-584: The Church of Holy Trinity , designed by Cockrell, and Albemarle Row, a Georgian terrace. Also listed is the Pump House , formerly the power plant for Bristol Harbour 's bridges and other machinery, now a public house . Hotwells features in two 18th century novels. The Expedition of Humphry Clinker , by Tobias Smollett has scenes set at the spa. Fanny Burney 's Evelina is partly set in Hotwells, as

315-685: The town council . They are now part of The Cheltenham Trust , a charity which also manages the Cheltenham Town Hall, the Wilson Art Gallery & Museum , the Prince of Wales Stadium and Leisure @ - plus the town's Tourist Information Centre which has continued to use them for public events. The Pump Room is frequently used as a concert hall, especially during the Cheltenham Music Festival . At one time

350-618: The 18th century Hotwells Water was extensively bottled and exported. Daniel Defoe noted in 1724 that there were over 15 glass-houses in Bristol, 'which are more than in London...and vast numbers of bottles are used for sending the water of the Hotwell not only over England but all over the world." Alexander Pope was another admirer, claiming in 1739 that 'I am satisfied that the water at the Well

385-561: The 20th century much of the housing in Hotwells was in a poor state of repair, but since the 1970s there has been refurbishment of the older Georgian properties and new housing built on derelict dockside wharves and along the Hotwell Road. Grenville Chapel, a Methodist church, was opened in 1839 in an Early English Style building. For many years it was used as a garage and is now housing association managed flats. Hotwells has several of Bristol's Grade II* listed buildings , including

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420-469: The Mason family had been on only a modest scale, and Skillicorne, familiar with the thriving Hotwells in Bristol, saw clearly the potential for drawing in more visitors to the town. In 1738 he and Elizabeth moved up from Bristol to Cheltenham, and he soon began adding more facilities to the original well. He enclosed the well itself, and built an elaborate well-house, a square brick building on four arches with

455-643: The United Kingdom , both electoral wards are in the Bristol Central constituency . Hotwells and Cliftonwood Community Association (HCCA), is a registered charity run by volunteers to improve the quality of life for those who live and work locally. For many years HCCA ran the Hope Centre in the listed Georgian Hope Chapel , which provided a base for community groups and offered a programme of arts events. The Hope Centre closed in 2001 following

490-462: The area is at the roundabout where Jacobs Well Road meets Hotwell Road. Hotwells is split between the city wards of Clifton, and Hotwells and Harbourside . Hotwells is approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Bristol city centre lying just north of the Floating Harbour and the River Avon . To the north and some 300 feet (91 m) higher is the suburb of Clifton. Much of the built up area

525-581: The area. There is a ferry service to the city centre and Temple Meads railway station . For elections to Bristol City Council , Hotwells is divided between electoral wards. Areas to the north of Hotwells Road are in Clifton ward; areas south of Hotwells road, and some buildings fronting directly onto the north side of the road, are in Hotwells and Harbourside . For elections to the Parliament of

560-620: The eponymous heroine visits Bristol during its spa-town years. The 2001 United Kingdom census recorded Hotwells as two Super Output Area Lower Layers , 034A, the western part of Hotwells and 034C in the east. The latter layer included parts of Cliftonwood . The figures recorded in the two areas were broadly similar with 034A recording a population of 1,485, with about 58% being described as economically active, 17% students and 7% retired. 42% of homes were owner occupied. 50% of residents had university degrees or equivalent. 50% described themselves as Christian and 44% as having no religion. In 034C

595-497: The figures were a population of 1,522 with about 66% being described as economically active, 12% students and 6.5% retired; 65% of homes were owner occupied; 55% of residents had university degrees or equivalent; 50% described themselves as Christian and 46% as having no religion; and 1,438 persons in 034A were described as white, with 28 of mixed race, 19 Asian, 17 black and 18 Chinese. In 034C 1,374 were described as white, 33 of mixed race, 24 Asian, 24 black and 29 Chinese. The area

630-471: The form of little bubbles, as if the whole had been in a ferment." He says the water tasted "particularly pleasant and soft" was "quite inodorous" and "lukewarm" only, rising from the pump at a constant 76 °F. In 1692 the Society of Merchant Venturers leased the springs and a pump room was built. The pump room of 1696 was demolished and replaced by Hotwells House in 1816 which was itself demolished when

665-459: The goddess Hygieia , Aesculapius and Hippocrates . The Pump Room and its grounds were managed during the 19th century by a succession of lessees, who offered the typical fare of pleasure gardens including menageries, exhibitions and balloon ascents. However the concession did not prove lucrative. Eventually Pitt himself went bankrupt and in 1890 the Room and the grounds passed into the ownership of

700-591: The hot springs which bubble up through the rocks of the Avon Gorge underneath the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The springs were documented in 1480 by William Worcester , the 15th century chronicler and antiquary . He described the waters as being milky and as warm as those at Bath . By c.1630 the water of Hotwells was becoming known for its medical properties, both in its original form and when used to brew beer. Thomas Fuller , who had been

735-441: The landscape design. The reputation of the spa flourished, with Skillicorne presiding 'with esteem' over its growth. Henry Skillicorne died in 1763, ownership of the spa passing to his son William Skillicorne, who continued its careful development, to the point where it was deemed suitable for the six-week royal visit of 1788, by George III , which set the seal on the town's reputation as a fashionable resort. His memorial tablet

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770-459: The neglected spring.' A new pump room was built in 1822, but was demolished in 1867 to allow for widening of the River Avon. A new pump was set up in 1877 and continued in use till 1913. However, the pump appears not to have tapped into the original spring. When it became clear that the pump's waters were polluted, the pipe was sealed off. There were trial borings in 1913 and 1925 to relocate the original spring, but these were unsuccessful. In 1799,

805-447: The original Pump, made of marble and scagliola , to which the waters are today fed by electric pumping. The building has a colonnade of Ionic columns; the interior houses a ballroom on its ground floor. Further Ionic columns support a gallery under a dome from which music might be played; on upper floors there were a billiard room, library and reading room. Above the colonnade are three statues, by Lucius Gahagen, erected in 1827, of

840-608: The original well is now part of the premises of Cheltenham Ladies' College . Hotwells Hotwells is a neighbourhood in the English port city of Bristol . It is located to the south of and below the high ground of Clifton , and directly to the north of the Floating Harbour . The southern entrance to the Avon Gorge , which connects the docks to the sea, lies at the western end of Hotwells. The eastern end of

875-657: The physician Thomas Beddoes opened the Pneumatic Institution in Dowry Square. Free treatment was advertised for those suffering from consumption, asthma, dropsy, "obstinate Venereal Complaints" and scrophula. The laboratory superintendent was Humphry Davy , who investigated nitrous oxide , also known as laughing gas, using equipment designed by James Watt . Under Davy's supervision laughing gas parties were held, attended by guests such as Robert Southey , Thomas Wedgwood and Samuel Taylor Coleridge . In

910-526: The river was widened in 1867. In the Georgian era , Hotwells was developed as a spa including the building of Dowry Square in an attempt to compete with Bath. Many visitors came, including the diarist John Evelyn and the travel writer Celia Fiennes , who hunted for Bristol Diamonds in the gorge. The Somerset historian John Collinson came to Hotwells in 1793 seeking recovery from an unspecified lingering illness and died there on 27 August 1793. During

945-551: The same status as Bath. In the 1790s 'the celebrated hot mineral spring, denominated the Bristol Hotwell' still featured in tourist guides. However, the spa went into decline during the Napoleonic Wars and by 1816 a local physician said of Hotwells that 'It has the silence of the grave, to which it seems the inlet. Not a carriage to be seen once an hour, and scarcely more frequently does a solitary invalid approach

980-482: The town was to provide a broad vision for developing a potential attraction into a real one, and for engaging others in this enterprise without special regard for himself. His new wife was the heir to a number of land holdings in Cheltenham, including a field at Bayshill , rising ground to the south of the main street where in 1716 a mineral spring had been discovered. Initial exploitation of the Cheltenham waters by

1015-507: The upper floor housed a Museum of Fashion. Following elections in 2007 the incoming Council discussed the possibility of selling the Pump Room but after widespread protests this proposal was later dropped in favour of a limited privatization which would retain the building's public use. Henry Skillicorne Henry Skillicorne (c. 1678–1763) was a Manx -born merchant mariner who after some four decades trading out of Bristol began

1050-408: The water became well known as cure for diabetes. The physician Alexander Sutherland, published a summary account of the qualities of Hotwells water in 1773, typically known by that time as "Bristol Water". Sutherland says of it that "BRISTOL-WATER received in a glass, appears, to the naked eye, colourless, pellucid, and manifestly impregnated with Air, sparkling and bounding through its substance, in

1085-408: Was a planned 'new town' development of the 1820s, in which the centre-piece was (and remains) a pump-room where the waters of one of the more northerly wells could be taken. The Pump Room was built by the architect John Forbes between 1825 and 1830. It is a Grade I listed building standing at the northern end of Pittville Lawn with landscaped grounds running down to a lake. The building contains

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1120-655: Was driven through the Avon Gorge to provide better access from the city to Avonmouth Docks , in the process removing all signs of the Bristol Port Railway and Pier's station. Since the 1960s, the western end of Hotwells has been dominated by a flyover complex, which enables traffic from the city centre and the A4 Portway to cross the river and harbour entrance locks to access the south west of the city. Public transport links include buses serving Weston-super-Mare , Clevedon and Portishead which pass through

1155-473: Was erected following extensive instructions set out in the will of his son William, who died in 1803: it greatly helped shape his posthumous reputation, although it is not entirely complete or accurate. Among his descendants were two mayors of Cheltenham. A garden behind the town hall carries his name, as does a modern housing development, Skillicorne Mews, in the Lansdown district of Cheltenham. The site of

1190-646: Was originally salt marsh known as Rownham Mead. Nearly half of Rownham Mead was excavated in the early 19th century to construct the Cumberland Basin , part of the entrance lock system to the city docks. The west of the area marks the beginning of the Portway road which connects Bristol to Avonmouth , passing under the Clifton Suspension Bridge which lies about 0.25 miles (0.40 km) north of Hotwells. Hotwells takes its name from

1225-595: Was taught by Dr Thomas Wilson , the long-serving bishop of Sodor and Man; his schooling included instruction in navigation. Much if not all of his career was in association with Jacob Elton, member of a prominent Bristol merchant family. As captain of and shareholder in an Elton-owned galley, he made regular trips to the Mediterranean, and claimed to be able to 'do business in seven tongues'. He gave up his sea career not long after his second marriage, in 1732, to Elizabeth Mason. Skillicorne's unique contribution to

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