ASHLEY, BRISTOL

'Ashley' is a small area of Bristol sandwiched between Bishopston, Horfield and St Werburghs. The main artery is the Ashley Down Road. Places in Ashley include Ashley Down, Montpelier and St Pauls.
Its centre piece is the City of Bristol College, Brunel Campus. This has in its past been used as the film set for the BBC television series Casualty, and started out in life as an orphanage.
In 1845 George Müller entered into a contract for the purchase of 7 acres (28,000 m²) of ground at £120 per acre (£0.03/m²) for the accommodation, feeding, clothing and education of 300 destitute and orphan children. On 18 June 1849 the orphans transferred to the new building, designed by local architect Thomas Foster. By 1886 Müller had received £700,000 through prayer and had over 2,000 children in his care.
Whilst these buildings stand mainly whole today they are being slowly converted into flats and other affordable housing.
In 1958 the children and organisation headquarters had moved from Ashley Down and the buildings became Bristol College of Science and Technology (more recently changed to City of Bristol College, Brunel Campus).
As an aside, Muller Road which runs near the site of the orphanage and is named after its founder, is the longest road in Bristol without a pub on it.
The majority of Ashley's residents are students but this is only apocryphal as the area is not included in the Census statistics being included in the larger area of Bishopston.
Ashley Down Old Boys' RFC is a rugby club playing in Gloucestershire League II. They are members of the Bristol Combination. It is also the location of the Gloucestershire County Cricket Club ground.

Contents

References

External links

References

1. Ashley

External links

★ George Muller entry at Christian Biography Resources

★ City of Bristol College

★ Narrative of the Lord's Dealings with George Müller

★ Joshua and Susan Bolitho's story

★ Geograph of the Ashley Down area