Smithford Street (inc. Ram Bridge)

Smithford Street revealed. But not for long; it was being dug up when I walked past again half an hour later.

Well captured Peter. I heard O'Boyle going on about them this morning on the radio. As you say they've already been dug up and he was mooting about putting them down somewhere else - completely losing the meaning and representation of what they are/were

The cobbles where they were in January 1955.

JRL The photo's in a different place, the first way beyond the facing car in the second.

How about this one? I wasn't trying to be accurate on the earlier photo. I think the cobbles Peter photographed are about where the two women are pushing the pram towards Broadgate. This old photo doesn't show the cobbles very clearly though. Notice how the spire is nicely visible in the centre as was originally intended when the precinct was planned.

JRL, I didn't mean to be critical - merely thinking, this was the spot where a coach and four that was travelling at great speed up Smithford Street, when a coal donkey cart came out of West Orchard. The driver was not able to stop in time, the coach was overturned, the four horses dragged the coach some yards. The passengers were roughly shaken and bruised, some hurt seriously. The coach driver was thrown into the arms of the owner of the Ram Inn, who was standing on his front doorstep.

Today's mystery These pipes were buried beneath the Smithford Street roadway revealed (and removed) last week. Buried pipes are nothing new, but these are bound together in a 3x3 formation which I haven't seen before. There are two sets and I can't see why anybody would use 18 pipes instead of one! The pipes are aligned with the former roadway.

Are they pipes or are they electricity or gas?

Definitely service pipes, not sewer or gas.

You could be correct in thinking they were electricity, Helen. I've come across early (1890's) photographs of 3-phase electrical distribution in both New York and Bristol that have some similarities to this Smithford Street image. Would this fit in with the time period of the excavated items? The bundle of 18 could probably be three circuits of 3-phase in delta formation, cutting out the need for an earth cable. See Electrical distribution images

Labelled as Smithford Street 1940 - anyone note whereabouts?

Can you place where the postbox and the crossing was ?

It's the corner of Fleet Street and West Orchard looking north, with Well Street in the distance. The building on the right is the new Co-op building.

Brilliant as always, Helen. Thanks That’s quite an unusual view in that case - don't think I've seen many other images looking directly north up West Orchard from that junction. Shame there is not a similar shot pre-war. Another from the same set looks down Smithford Street looking west - Helen do you think that might be the entrance in to Vicar Lane on the left? Edited by member, 30th Oct 2020 10:19 am

Hi Neil, I've not seen a photo looking into West Orchard after they'd built all the new Co-op buildings either. There's a partial in the Jubilee book which is how I identified the doorway and the upper windows. I almost threw in the towel when I couldn't work out which direction it was looking. I didn't check but I recon the building to the left in the middle distance is also in the book. The fence in the background suggested to me that it wasn't the main street. The picture above shows the cinema which was closer to Broadgate than Vicar Lane. So it was beyond the tall brick building on the left. I suspect that the buildings fronting Vicar lane were still timber buildings underneath and would have perished fairly completely.