Origins Sea Mills derives its name from a
watermill just above the tidal limit of the River Trym, recorded first in 1411 as
Semmille and in 1484 as
Cemille. This probably meant that its grinding capacity was limited to one
packhorse-load of grain (a
seam) but was later misinterpreted to mean 'mill by the sea'. The name was subsequently extended to an adjacent farm on the north side of the Trym, Seamill Farm, and to one of the earliest
wet docks in England, Seamill Dock − where dock gates retained water at the high-tide level. Constructed on 12 acres (5 hectares) of land where the Trym joins the Avon, leased from the
King's Weston Estate in 1712, the dock was intended "to provide a repair and ‘laying up’ facility for ships docking at the congested and vastly overcrowded quays further up [the Avon] in
Bristol". But poor land transport links with Bristol doomed the enterprise. The dock and associated warehouses were abandoned in the 1760s. It was described and partially surveyed by the author and inventor,
George William Manby, in 1802. The ruined dock walls survive, and pleasure craft were moored in the much silted-up harbour until recently. Sea Mill had ceased to function before 1800, but two watermills further up the Trym, near the Sea Mills boundary, remained in use until the 20th century: Clack Mill, below what is now the bend on Coombe Bridge Avenue, and Coombe Mill, beyond the
Blaise Castle Estate car park in
Coombe Dingle. Both had been demolished by the 1950s and their
mill leats and a
mill pond obliterated. By the time the first
Ordnance Survey map of this part of Gloucestershire was published, in 1830, the present name Sea Mills had become established for the farm, dock area and an early 18th century
tavern on Sea Mills Lane opposite what is now Sea Mills Depot. The tavern was turned into a farmhouse soon afterwards and renamed The Hermitage. It was demolished in the 1930s, before Trym Cross Road was constructed, and Sea Mills Lane and the course of the Trym were realigned. The line was single track, standard gauge and, as built, unconnected to any other railway line. Of course, most other local railways were to Brunel's broad gauge. On opening it had twenty four-wheeled passenger coaches and six goods wagons so the emphasis was clearly on passengers and their time saving by catching steamers at the Avonmouth pier rather than in the centre of Bristol. On Saturday 3rd June 1865 the pier was opened when the S. S. Apollo landed passengers from Cork saving them at least four hours on a journey to London. Passenger services with Bristol’s principal railway station at
Temple Meads were established in 1886, after the construction of a mile-long tunnel under the
Downs from
Clifton Down railway station to the
Avon Gorge, and still operate. Whereas the original railway line between Hotwells and the connection with the
Clifton Extension Railway at Sneyd Park Junction was closed in 1922 to make way for
the Portway.
Abona There was an ancient folk memory of a
Roman port at the mouth of the Trym, and much Roman material was unearthed when Seamill Dock was constructed. All finds then and later have been on the south side of the river. In the 1820s it was proposed and generally accepted that this was the site of the port of
Abona (Avon), linking
Silchester and
Bath with
Venta Silurum (
Caerwent) in Wales, on Route 14 of the 3rd-century
Antonine Itinerary’s
Britannia section. There was then no other port on the Avon or other town in the Bristol area. Piecemeal archaeological excavations have since found evidence of the street pattern, buildings within the small Roman town and cemeteries outside it.
Sea Mills Garden Suburb The Sea Mills area was entirely rural until the British government launched a heavily subsidised scheme after the
First World War to build "homes fit for heroes". The legislation did not receive royal assent until
31 July 1919. To ensure rapid implementation, however, that April
Bristol Corporation had bought two farms on the southern edge of the King’s Weston Estate, on which to build a low-density garden suburb for the working classes to standards recommended in the
Tudor Walters Report that the legislation was based upon. The suburb takes its name from Sea Mills Farm, although the greater part was built over the former Clack Mill Farm, Shirehampton Road marks the boundary between them; the early 18th century Sea Mills farmhouse was to be preserved, but all buildings on Clack Mill Farm were demolished. Addison's Oak still stands on Sea Mills Square, actually an elongated semicircle at the centre of the garden suburb, and was a runner-up in the 2019
Woodland Trust tree of the year competition. "The Square" was to have been a quadrangle, bisected by Shirehampton Road, but the initial plan was modified to follow a celebrated design by the chief architect of the national housing scheme,
Raymond Unwin, who had ultimate responsibility for approving the Sea Mills layout. In the course of development, the plan was further modified to be less dense and formal, with fewer right-angles and squares and more open spaces, to follow contour lines, and to create a more coherent northern framework. The vendor of the farms,
Philip Napier Miles of
Kings Weston House, took a keen interest in the design and layout of the garden suburb, stipulating in the deeds of sale that the density should be not less than 8 and not more than 12 houses per acre, and that layout and building designs were to be agreed with him. He donated open spaces between Shirehampton Road and the Portway as recreational areas, gave what is now Shirehampton Park Golf Course to the
National Trust, and donated land for the Portway. A total of 1279 houses were built between 1920 and 1931. Of these, 1030 were council houses, 156 (including 12 shops on Sea Mills Square) were leased, and 93 were privately built and leased. All had a bathroom and inside toilet, scullery/kitchen, one or two reception rooms, and back gardens large enough to grow fruit and vegetables and to keep chickens. Most had three bedrooms, but there were some with four bedrooms for large families. This was Bristol Corporation’s flagship estate, and rents were relatively high. Strict maintenance standards and uniformity were enforced, even down to the height of privet hedges throughout the estate.
Centenary celebrations In 2019 the Sea Mills 100 project, funded by the
National Lottery Heritage Fund and
Bristol City Council celebrated the centenary of “homes fit for heroes” municipal housing. Events included a 100th birthday celebration for Addison's Oak and a weekend-long heritage trail around the estate. Its lasting legacy is a mini-museum situated in a
K6 phone box on Sea Mills Square, which was renovated by local volunteers as part of the project. The project also published a book,
How Lucky I Was, written by people who grew up in the area between the 1930s and 1950s, including novelist
Derek Robinson. ==Public Buildings==