Ashley Vale Allotments Association

Ice house or septic tank?

A while ago the committee was made aware of an underground structure on the AVAA site. Romantic ideas that it might be an ice house blossomed until the archeologist from Bristol City Council came up to see for himself. He thought it was almost certainly a Victorian septic tank connected with one of the large houses that used to be on Ashley Down Road. Ashley Down Road used to be the location of many big houses. As with Clifton residents, wealthy people were keen to get out of the stench of the city by building on the hill. Indeed Bristol had a big cholera outbreak in the 1840s and so environmental health was taken more seriously after that… hence the septic tank.
The stone walls may have been part of an earlier structure, but the ceramic pipes leading in and out of the brick dome roof suggest the structure dates from around 1870/80. At the moment the structure is not safe for viewing. If and when it becomes safer, we will let you know in case any of you are interested in seeing it.
The structure seems most likely to be associated with Down View or Down House or the house in between, on the a ttatched (1902) plan:-