Much to our absolute delight, today we met Stanley Brown’s son George and his wife Mavis when they came to visit Underfall Yard.  George remembered that his father’s apprenticeship had been at Llewellin and James foundry, which is profiled on Grace’s Guide. He also recalled memories of Uncle Bill who worked in the casting shop at Sampson’s on Malago Road, which is where Underfall Yard patterns were sent for casting.  George remembers Uncle Bill as having very burnt hands. George said that Stanley thought Bert Smith, Stanley’s manager, was “a wonderful bloke and a good boss”.  Which is a [...]

A few weeks ago we met Leonard Brown and his family, who recognised Leonard’s brother Stanley in one of the photos in our Visitor Centre. Stanley Brown worked at Underfall Yard for about 20 years from shortly after the end of the Second World War until the mid-1960s as an engineer, which Leonard says “was the making of him”.  Leonard shared with us some lovely stories about Stanley of which he said, with a twinkle in his eye: “most are true”.  In the photo Stanley can be seen working on the lathe in the foreground and it was wonderful [...]

From September 2017, our Visitor Centre will not open on Mondays. The Visitor Centre will be open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am - 5pm until the clocks change.  During GMT, the Visitor Centre will close at 4pm. The yard itself will still be open to walk through on Mondays.  As a working yard, occasionally it may be necessary to close the yard gates at short notice to protect visitors from dangerous operations. During these times, the footpath on Cumberland Road provides an alternative route.    

We are delighted to announce that Underfall Yard and Alec French Architects have been awarded Bristol Civic Society's 2017 Design Award. Bristol Civic Society runs the prestigious Design Awards, which recognise developments in Bristol which make a positive contribution to the local environment through excellence of design.  The Civic Society has made awards for many years, celebrating good quality design – buildings, transport projects and improvements to the public realm. There are three fundamental criteria: nominations must be made for projects completed during the preceding two years; located within the City of Bristol; and visible from a public place. The [...]

Today, the yard gates were locked whilst a very exciting and dangerous operation was carried out.  Star Yacht's launched Annabel.  She was craned into the water and doesn't she look marvellous.  She will only be with us for a short while (approximately 10 days) so if you want to see her, get down to the yard quickly for a sneak peak. To find out more about the fabulous team that built her, check our Star Yacht's website and their facebook page.

A year ago, on 18 March 2016, we opened the doors of the Visitor Centre to the public for the very first time.  On that first day, our volunteers braved the cold and rain to meet and greet members of the public.  Ever since then, our wonderful and dedicated volunteers have greeted over 72,000 visitors by giving 5,000 hours of their time. Our volunteers are amazing: we are regularly told by visitors that they have made people's days, taught them something new, shared their enthusiasm and generally just been aces, so a massive thank you to every volunteer who has been part of our first year. [...]

Bristol Ferry's Independence arrived today at Underfall Yard for essential maintenance. She was built in 1927 to work the shallow waters of the River Severn and Wye.  For a time Independence worked on the Erewash Canal in Derbyshire, built by the famous canal and harbour engineer William Jessop who was the main designer of Bristol Floating Harbour.  She also spent some time working in the Wye Valley between Chepstow and Brock Weir and was bought by The Bristol Ferry Boat Company in 1980 (information reproduced here with kind permission of Bristol Ferry). You can catch a ferry to and [...]