Hamilton Court, Montague Street, Bristol
We don’t often get the chance to see what happens after our site work is finished. In the case of Montague Street, our work ended with a watching brief during July and August 2003. The luxury apartments being built were no more than foundations then. So an invitation to the opening ceremony was a welcome chance to see how things have changed.
The excavations and watching brief at Montague Street uncovered a series of cellars belonging to the houses that stood here in the 18th century. These houses were replaced by a factory in the early 20th century, and more recently after the factory was demolished the site was used as a car park.
The apartments were officially opened by the Lord Mayor of Bristol, Councillor Simon Cook, who was interested in the finds on display in one of the apartments. These include a delicate glass wine bottle, and an ornate copper alloy object which is probably part of a bell pull mechanism. Some of the stones from the original cellars were reused in the courtyard garden of the apartments, making an attractive raised planting bed.
Also at the ceremony were representatives of Hartcliffe Tackles Drugs, a charity which supports families damaged by drug abuse. The major contractors involved in the building project had all given money to be donated to the charity.
The photographs shown here were taken by Johnnie Pakington of Band and Brown Communications, and are reproduced here with his permission.
The Lord Mayor, Councillor Simon Cook (centre) examining finds from Montague Street, with Eifion Phillips of Priory Investments (Charles Street) Ltd (left) and Roland Crisp of Cyril Sweett (right).
Flagstones from the cellars excavated by BaRAS in 2003 have been used to build a raised bed in the courtyard garden.
Tags: bristol, post-medieval
- Categories
- Events
Excavations
Finds
Survey
Partners & Relations
BaRAS is registered as an organisation with the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists
All material © copyright BaRAS 2004 – 2016