Underfall Yard
Prior to the creation of William Jessop’s Floating Harbour in 1809, the River Avon flowed through where Underfall Yard now stands.
The construction of Cumberland Basin and the New Cut meant that an island was formed between where the river was diverted and Bathurst Basin at Redcliffe. This island became known as Spike Island.
Jessop’s plan included an ‘Overfall’ Dam to allow excess water in the Floating Harbour to flow over into the New Cut, but by the 1830s the harbour was becoming badly silted up.
Although Jessop had included sluices with his Overfall Dam, the main method of clearing the silt out was to drain the harbour and remove it by hand, which was less than ideal to say the least.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel was brought in to make improvements to both Cumberland Basin and the Overfall Dam, and for the Overfall Dam he recommended developing Jessop’s sluices further and using dredger boats to remove the silt.
He devised an Underfall system where three shallow sluices could be used in a way that would control the harbour water level according to the tide and weather conditions, and a fourth ‘deep scouring’ sluice which could be opened at low tide when a powerful undertow (undercurrent) would suck the silt into the New Cut to be carried away by the next tide.
This Underfall system is still in use today, although a more modern system of dredging is used.
At the time of the Floating Harbour’s construction, maintenance of the docks was carried out in different workshops around the city, but in the 1880s it was decided to merge them all into a single maintenance facility at Underfall Yard and most of the buildings that survive were built between 1880 and 1890 under the supervision of Docks Engineer, John Ward Girdlestone.
One of these buildings was the Hydraulic Power House that replaced Thomas Howard’s original Pump House (now a pub) that operated next to the Junction Swing Bridge.
The Power House at Underfall was originally steam powered (which is why it has a chimney), but in 1907 a hydraulic system was introduced which pumped water from the harbour and used high pressure pumps and accumulators to power the lock gates, sluices, swing bridges and cranes throughout the harbour.
In 1975 the City Docks closed to commercial shipping and the buildings and Patent Slip at Underfall Yard fell into disrepair.
In 1994 the Underfall Yard Trust was established whose aim was to restore and preserve the buildings and surroundings in keeping with modern day requirements.
In 2016 the Hydraulic Power House became a visitor centre, and pumping demonstrations take place three times a week, although since 2010 it operates using an oil hydraulic system.
There’s also a large photographic interactive map which seems to take up most of the Power House, but is an excellent source of information regarding the layout of the Floating Harbour and its relevant components.
Even though the set-up is all very rustic and, in its infancy, I like it as it is, and the bacon rolls from the Pickle Cafe are “Gert Lush”.
There is even a Human Accumulator to give you an idea how the system works, but the real ones can be seen outside – or at least one of them can. The original is inside the red brick tower but was difficult to service, so an external one was added in 1954. If you’re around on a day that the pumps are being demonstrated then you’ll be able to see this accumulator in action.
The other buildings around the yard that once employed engineers, shipwrights, blacksmiths, divers, electricians, plumbers and others are now used by today’s maritime business and not normally open to the public, but you’re still free to wander around, and the Patent Slip is on full view to the public where boat maintenance is still carried out, much as it would have done 130 years ago.
The site is completely free of charge and is well worth checking out even if all the technical stuff isn’t your thing. Underfall Yard can easily be reached by the Bristol Ferry Boat service.
Originally posted 2019-01-19 16:32:05.
Well now, you see continuing from the maritime history comment, this is another very interesting post. Brunel wa sclearly a genius and it is good that this site is still open if you want a wander round.
It’s an integral part of Bristol’s history, but a lot of Bristolians don’t know about it – or even care.
Yeah, the amount of folks that don’t know their hisotry that way is sad. A town is what it is because of that.
You already know more about the history of Bristol than a lot of locals. The trouble is these days is that a lot of locals aren’t native to the city
Seems to be happening more and more everywhere.
Wow, there is a lot to see down there, Malc! Thanks for this link. What a clever idea the Underfall system is – Brunel was a bit of a genious, wasn’t he? I’d never heard of it before, but it would be nice to see all the machinery in action. It’s nice to see the Matthew on the Patent Slip too, so we’ll have a look around here on Friday. If it’s not there, it’ll give us an excuse to go back! Great post, and it’ll add even more to our visit this week. 🙂
I’m not sure if you know Bristol at all Alli, but Underfall Yard is at one end of Spike Island and the M Shed is at the other, and for somebody like you and Maddie, who both seem to be athletes compared to me, it could be something that you could contemplate doing.
You probably won’t be able to fit in the ‘Treasure Island Trail’ as well if you take in Spike Island as you should.
This looks a great spot for interesting photos, I would enjoy a wander here for sure. Your accounts of the various efforts to improve the harbour remind me of the much smaller scale work at Seaton Sluice in Northumberland. Have you ever been there? If not (cue shameless plug 😉 ), you might find my blog entry interesting: https://toonsarahnorthumbria.travellerspoint.com/16/
I’ve replied on your Seaton Sluice page Sarah