Ask Gerry
Do you know what happened to the stone on a plinth at the site of the old St Anne’s station? It has been missing for about six months.
As far as I know it’s in memory of railway man who lost his life pushing it out of the way of a express train.
Geoff Ewans,Hill based train driver.
I’m afraid you have got your stories muddled, Geoff.
This five-ton sandstone nodule of sandstone was one of a pair found in St Anne’s tunnel by Brunel’s workmen while he was supervising the construction of the GWR in 1837.
The great engineer was so taken with these geological marvels that he had them mounted on plinths at the sides of the tunnel.
When St Anne's Park station closed in 1970, the stones remained on the platform until a Bristol professor, Sir Alfred Pugsley, secured one of them for the university.
It was later transported to a patch of lawn on Woodland Road.
Earlier this year discussions with Network Rail led to the arrival of the second stone, the one that you said had gone “missing.”
Together again the pair have now been installed on a raised bed at the entrance to Cantock's Close.
The man who pushed a dislodged quarry stone out of the way of an express train in 1876 was John Chiddy, a foreman at Birchwood quarry near Bristol’s No 2 tunnel.
Unfortunately the train struck him before he could leap clear.
Hanham Memorial Cottage was built in his memory and a plaque there carries the inscription:
“Erected AD 1877, by public subscription for the widow and family of John Chiddy who was killed by an express train whilst removing a large stone from the metals of the Great Western Railway near Conham, March 31, 1876.”
The hero was buried in Christ Church cemetery in Hanham but there is no mention there of his brave deed.
Can you tell me when the Muller Homes at Ashley Down finally closed?
Anne Crowther,.
Yes, it was in the 1950s.
By then large communal institutions like this were being phased out in favour of smaller, more intimate, family units in ordinary houses.
In 1958 the buildings were taken over by Bristol College of Science and Technology. (Later the City of Bristol College - Brunel Campus)
Some of the Victorian buildings have recently been converted to housing.
George Muller, who was joint pastor at the Bethesda Chapel in Great George Street, opened his first orphanage in Wilson Street, St Paul’s in 1832.
As the numbers in his care increased so he took on several other nearby houses.
But much more space was needed.
The newly built Ashley Down buildings - grey Pennant stone dressed with freestone - opened in 1849.
It was a rigorous, disciplined institution but standards of education were high.
Boys, who stayed at school until they were 14, were found a job before they left.
Girls, however, stayed until they were 17 with most going into domestic service, nursing or teaching.
Between 1832 and 1958 18,000 children were cared for through the homes.
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