Royate hill viaduct, 13 arches eastville

[Dean]

Would be nice to have some pics of 13 arches if anyone has some out there. I noticetd today royate hill has a small jungle growing out of the top of the old track bed.

[madhattie]

I wouldn't mind some pics of 13 arches either

There's a book called Around Stapleton that has a great set of pics that show how the council simply took a sleepy hamlet and flattened everything in sight in order to build the M32. The entire section of the book makes me wince, and it's hard to sit on the giant traffic-choked roundabout near Tescos and Ikea and wonder how the area was ever allowed to be so systematically destroyed.

[BristleGWR]

The 13 Arches were blown up before I was born, but I do remember watching the 'White Arch' at the junction of Edward Street and Gloucester Street being blown up, which was on the same stretch of line as the Royate Hill Viaduct (the 7 Arches) and the 13 Arches.
I think I was about 4 or 5 at the time and to see the 'White Arch' being blown up we were stood at the junction of Royate Hill and Edward Street.

I also remember watching from the bedroom window the other 'White Arch' at Clay Hill being blown up, again on the same stretch of line.

Regarding the 13 arches my brother informs me that the centre arch spanned the river and he thinks had a slightly longer span than the other arches. This is probably why the centre arch had additional reinforcement and the reason why it remained standing after the demolition team let off their explosives. If I find out more about this I will post it here.

I've scanned in a few slides/B&W negatives of the 13 arches which my dad took before and after they were blown up. I've emailed these to 'madhattie'.

[madhattie]

I've scanned in a few slides/B&W negatives of the 13 arches which my dad took before and after they were blown up. I've emailed these to 'madhattie'.

And excellent they are too!

I'm currently snowed under with the 9-5, but hopefully I shall get these online by the end of today. Fantastic pics that fill a big hole in the website!

[jules]

Well, very, very distant memories for me here, but .... when I was a very small child, I remember my father taking me on "the last train to Bath" and I am "convinced" that we crossed the 13 arches! But according to my research, the last regular passenger service on this route was ceased in the 1940's. And I was born in 1959! I am also convinced that this journey commenced from CLifton Down. Or am I deceiving myself? Could it have been from Midland Road or even Temple Meads? Anyway, it was obviously a "special" for closure of the Midland routes to Bath, either from TM or Clifton Down.

I also remember my sister taking me to watch 13 arches being blown up. We stood on Purdown and had a grandstand view. Will be brilliant to see the pictures again.

Also remember: Ashley Hill Junction Signal Box, where the routes from Fishponds and Stapleton Road converged to Clifton Down. I remember standing behind the box on the lane from Ashley Hill to St Werburghs and listening to thge block bells ringing on a hot summers' evening. Incidentally, the embankment below this site was (and still is) one of the best places in Bristol to get wild garlic! Lovely ...

And rembember a Sunday when a Hymek came with a crane and took the bridge across which the Midland line from Ashley hill crossed the South Wales main line. We sat on the hill all day and watched the dismantling. That was, of course, before the other side of the cutting (Stottbury Road side) was filled in as a landfill tip. The footbridge there stood on two very high brick pillars. In fact it was so high, it used to frighten me as a kid. Would be great to see a pic of that footbridge on this site. If you follwo the path that crosses the landfill site, you can still notice two large humps in the path. That is where the brick pillars are. They took the bridge away and simply tipped the rubbish around the pillars!

[AndyK]

I also remember my sister taking me to watch 13 arches being blown up. We stood on Purdown and had a grandstand view. Will be brilliant to see the pictures again.

Yes, I was there too. For many years I still had the page of the Evening Post with a spectacular photo of the explosions and the headline "Goodbye Unlucky Thirteen". I think it's probably lost now, though.

[madhattie]

Ok, these are up. A bit of a rushed job so I shall refine it at a later date. (not that it really needs it with pics like these... fantastic stuff!)

http://www.bristol-rail.co.uk/13archesviaduct.php

BIG thankyou to Ian for these

[Portishead Prowler]

Wow.....fine pictures.

I can't believe how many great structures have been demolished around here in the name of "progress."

I never even got to see most of them...

[Dean]

Excellent pics, what a shame blown to pieces never to be seen again. It is hard for me to put everything in place looking at the photos because everything has changed so much. With things changing by the day, one day we will be looking at the pictures of the old Bristol temple meeds train station before it became a multistory car park! lets hope not.

[simon]

Great Pictures!

Though it pains me as City fan to draw attention to Bristol Rovers, there are some intersting shots of the thirteen arches here:

http://www.bristolrovers2.co.uk/eastvillestadium-1.html

Am sure I remember watching them being blown up on Points West.

What year was it? 1967 I think. If so, I was 9

[Steve Huddy]

Fascinating photos, I only knew the area in the late 70's/early 80's, it took a while to work out where they were in relation to things I knew. While I was living around there they were removing the embankment that the arches had led to when a large unexploded bomb was found buried deep in it, traffic chaos as the M32 was shut while it was dealt with.

Great Pictures!

Though it pains me as City fan to draw attention to Bristol Rovers, there are some intersting shots of the thirteen arches here:

http://www.bristolrovers2.co.uk/eastvillestadium-1.html

Am sure I remember watching them being blown up on Points West.

What year was it? 1967 I think. If so, I was 9

Interesting views of the old stadium on there, I remember the South Stand fire, heard a lot of sirens, looked out of the window and it was well ablaze. I only ever seemed to see goalless draws if I went to see Rovers though