Blaise Castle, Bristol, England

Blaise Castle House is at the northern corner of the site. From the terrace the view to the south-west is of grassland to Castle Hill, on top of which stands Blaise Castle. From Castle Hill there are views to the north and west over the Severn estuary. To the south the views extend over the deep gorge of the Hazel Brook to the countryside beyond.

From Castle Hill one can descend westwards through the Echo Gate, climb up onto the ridge and walk for several miles along King's Weston Hill. Repton's Carriageway Drive  descends and ascends the Hazel Gorge. The drive to Combe Dingle follows the Hazel Brook, taking one past many of the picturesque features. There are many paths through the woods and across the open spaces.

The site is generally well-maintained by Bristol City Council. The castle has been vandalised and in need of urgent restoration work. In addition several trees to the north-east of the castle have been recently felled, meaning that the castle is open to view from the house. This is not in keeping with Repton's vision. He wanted the castle to be romantically hidden by trees and approached gradually by the winding walks. 

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest

A mid-18th century landscape garden overlaid by a late-18th century landscape park, laid out largely in accordance with Humphry Repton's suggestions, with further early 19th century additions and structures by John Nash and G S Repton. Since 1949 the site has been used as a public park.
 

DESCRIPTION

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

The Blaise Castle estate of about 100 hectares abuts the southern edge of the village of Henbury, now part of the north Bristol suburbs, about 5 kilometres north-west of the city centre. Its south-west boundary is formed by properties in the residential area known as Coombe Dingle; directly west it abuts the Kings Weston estate on Kings Weston Hill. The north-west boundary is formed by Kings Weston Road and properties in the village of Henbury. To the north-east the boundary runs behind 20th century properties and a playing field on Henbury Hill but includes a Repton lodge towards the southern end of Henbury Hill, about 750 metres south-east of Blaise Castle House. To the south, the boundary runs along the north side of Coombe Hill including the higher, more wooded parts of a golf course, and around the rear of properties in the suburb of Coombe Dingle, abutting Kings Weston, Avon, east of Henbury Lodge, about 1.7 kilometres south-west of the Blaise Castle House. Topographically, the site is dominated by Blaise Hill, at the eastern end of a ridge which rises some 2.2 kilometres to the south-west as Kings Weston Hill. Hazel Brook enters the estate at the north-east, 200 metres north-east of the House, and runs south-west through a gorge bounded on either side by high ridges with limestone outcrops. From Blaise Castle there are spectacular views south-west towards the Avon, while from the ridge of Kings Weston Hill there are northward views to the Severn and the Welsh hills.

Blaise Hamlet (about 0.8 hectares) is now separated from the rest of the estate by suburban development but occupies a clearly defined enclave about 300 metres north-west of the House.

REFERENCES

R Atkyns, The Ancient and Present State of Gloucestershire (1712), pp 473-4

N Temple, John Nash & the Village Picturesque (1979)

N Pevsner, The Buildings of England: North Somerset and Bristol (1958, reprinted 1979), p 468

G Carter et al, Humphry Repton (1982), p 152

N Kingsley, The Country Houses of Gloucestershire, Volume Two, 1660-1830 (1992), pp 79-81

Blaise Castle Estate: Historic Landscape Survey and Management Plan, (Nicholas Pearson Associates 1993)

S Daniels, Humphry Repton (1999), pp 48-9, 230-5

T Mowl, Historic Gardens of Gloucestershire (2002), pp 109-13

Description written: October 2002

Edited: September 2003