History
Between Frenchay and Stapleton the river drops nearly 50 feet (15 m), and as a result there a number of corn and other mills were established to harness the water power. They were undershot mills with no mill ponds. Today a wheel at Snuff Mills is preserved and the mill buildings of Cleeve Mill survive as a private residence.
The Frome originally flowed east of its present-day course from Stone Bridge (now underground by St John's Gate) along the line of St Stephen's Street and Baldwin Street, joining the Avon near Bristol Bridge. The narrow strip of high land between the two rivers was a naturally strategic place for the Saxon town of Brigstow, later the walled centre of the city, to develop. When Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, rebuilt Bristol Castle, the Frome was diverted (at present-day Broad Weir) to form the castle moat, so that the city was entirely surrounded by water.
In the mid thirteenth century the harbour had become so busy that it was decided to divert the Frome into a new course through a marsh belonging to St Augustine's Abbey into a "Deep Ditch" that was dug from Stone Bridge to join the Avon at the present site of Prince Street bridge. This has been the line of the river ever since, known as St Augustine's Reach.
The Floating Harbour was constructed in 1809, isolating the Avon and Frome from tides between Cumberland Basin and Totterdown Lock. The increasing use of the Frome as an open sewer combined with the loss of the scouring action of the tides meant that it was now becoming a health hazard and in 1825 it was again diverted, with locks at Stone House, channelling the main flow through Mylne's Culvert to the tidal Avon at New Cut. Up to 1858 the Frome was open along its whole length, and crossed by some 13 bridges. During the latter half of the 19th century, a culvert was built from Wade Street in St Judes to Stone Bridge, covering this stretch completely: Rupert Street and Fairfax Street run over this culverted section. St Augustine's Trench from Stone Bridge to Draw Bridge (near the end of Baldwin Street) was covered over in 1893 and finally the rest of the Trench was covered over in 1938.
Read more about this topic: River Frome, Bristol
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