Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

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csheehan
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Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

Post by csheehan »

I am trying to find out the history of the road called "Dixon Gardens" (near Landsdowne Mews) in Weston, near Bath, England. When was this road established? is it a new road or old, perhaps as old as 1790 or 1800? I am hoping someone can point me to a map that be helpful to answer this question. Thank you very much.
Herned
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Re: Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

Post by Herned »

The National Library of Scotland maps service is the place to start
csheehan
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Re: Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

Post by csheehan »

I have found this map: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... _60%29.jpg
But I don't see Dixon Gardens on it. However, it is hard to read and doesn't seem very detailed.
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Re: Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

Post by csheehan »

Herned, Thanks for the reply. Why the Scotland map source? I am looking for Weston/Bath, England, fyi.
WHBM
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Re: Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

Post by WHBM »

Looks like a 1980s housebuilders' development on previously undeveloped land which had been a nursery/market garden since Victorian times.

You would (should) never get planning permission for such a substantial new homes development off a narrow back lane (which does look early 19th Century) nowadays; the fire service would surely veto it for lack of fire engine access.

** The National Library of Scotland has the best historic maps source available on line. It's just they had staff who digitised them all. It's become a standard source across the country.
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Steven
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Re: Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

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WHBM wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 08:47 ** The National Library of Scotland has the best historic maps source available on line. It's just they had staff who digitised them all. It's become a standard source across the country.
Except for our own SABRE Maps, of course, available from the "Maps" link in the yellow bar at the top.

We have quite a number of maps that the NLS don't have, and vice versa. They have nowhere near our One Inch series collections online and georeferenced; but equally we just don't have the resources to be able to do as much with larger scale maps and plans as they can.
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KeithW
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Re: Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

Post by KeithW »

Well it seems to have been a plant nursey between 1886 and the 1970's which was then developed for housing. By the mid 1970's it would have been surrounded by development and this was a bad time for such businesses. With rising energy prices and cheap foreign imports a lot of them folded at that time. My current house was built on the site of a small orchard in the late 1970's while the other houses date back to the 1950s'
https://www.farminguk.com/news/british-horticulture-demands-more-attention-as-new-report-shows-increasingly-weak-sector_39150.html wrote: Big decline in horticultural area

There has been a big decline in the area given to UK horticultural production. From 1985 to 2014, there has been a decline of 27% for fruit and vegetables combined. The area growing vegetables has declined by 26% and the area growing fruit by 35%.

Great source of imports

Fruit and vegetables are by far the greatest source of imports in the UK food system. The trade gap in horticulture has risen to £7.8 billion a year, about 37% of the UK’s total food trade gap of £21 billion in 2014.
See attached image.
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wrinkly
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Re: Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

Post by wrinkly »

WHBM wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 08:47
** The National Library of Scotland has the best historic maps source available on line. It's just they had staff who digitised them all. It's become a standard source across the country.
It's still the case, is it not, that www.old-maps.co.uk have more than the NLS?
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Re: Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

Post by WHBM »

wrinkly wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 11:39 It's still the case, is it not, that www.old-maps.co.uk have more than the NLS?
You are correct. However Oldmaps has a most annoying/infuriating interface that loses its settings as soon as you breathe at it, and I normally send newcomers to NLS as it's more straightforward to use.

When I glanced at the history of this site I did use Oldmaps.
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Re: Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

Post by Steven »

wrinkly wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 11:39
WHBM wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 08:47
** The National Library of Scotland has the best historic maps source available on line. It's just they had staff who digitised them all. It's become a standard source across the country.
It's still the case, is it not, that www.old-maps.co.uk have more than the NLS?
Not for free. Which ours also is.
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wrinkly
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Re: Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

Post by wrinkly »

Steven wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 11:51
wrinkly wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 11:39
WHBM wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 08:47
** The National Library of Scotland has the best historic maps source available on line. It's just they had staff who digitised them all. It's become a standard source across the country.
It's still the case, is it not, that www.old-maps.co.uk have more than the NLS?
Not for free. Which ours also is.
That's strange, I've never paid a penny for any of the hundreds of occasions when I've consulted old-maps.co.uk.
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KeithW
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Re: Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

Post by KeithW »

wrinkly wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 12:12 That's strange, I've never paid a penny for any of the hundreds of occasions when I've consulted old-maps.co.uk.
However there is a limit to how far you can zoom in without having a subscription.
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Re: Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

Post by Steven »

KeithW wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 12:35
wrinkly wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 12:12 That's strange, I've never paid a penny for any of the hundreds of occasions when I've consulted old-maps.co.uk.
However there is a limit to how far you can zoom in without having a subscription.
Exactly. They have a subscription model in place. Which is something that we do not, and neither does the NLS. If we have it, you can see it.
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Re: Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

Post by csheehan »

Thanks for all this information, folks! So it looks like there was no road called Dixon Gardens in 1800, based on the older map with the nursery in this spot.
Some of you have mentioned "Dixon Banks." Can you tell me more about that? I'm looking for something in this general area of Weston/Bath with the name "Dixon."
I'm also looking for "Churchill" or "Church Hill" in this area -- could be a road, could be a place, could be a lane, etc. But it needs to have been in existence by at 1815. (So Churchill Bridge doesn't work).
Any ideas?
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KeithW
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Re: Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

Post by KeithW »

csheehan wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 14:58 Thanks for all this information, folks! So it looks like there was no road called Dixon Gardens in 1800, based on the older map with the nursery in this spot.
Some of you have mentioned "Dixon Banks." Can you tell me more about that? I'm looking for something in this general area of Weston/Bath with the name "Dixon."
I'm also looking for "Churchill" or "Church Hill" in this area -- could be a road, could be a place, could be a lane, etc. But it needs to have been in existence by at 1815. (So Churchill Bridge doesn't work).
Any ideas?

I suspect Dixon Gardens may have been the name of the Nursery. Such names tend to stick. There is still a row of shops in Middlesbrough that everyone refers to as the Palladium buildings as they were built on the site of the Palladium Cinema which was closed in 1960 !

There is an entry on the Historic England web site as part of the original garden walls still exist and are Grade II Listed. That listing dates back to 1972 when the Housing development seems to have taken place.
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1394472 wrote: History
The terraces that now surround the houses in Dixon Gardens made up the lower section of a linear garden designed by William Beckford and the Bath architect Henry Edmund Goodridge between 1823 and 1844. It formed part of Beckford’s ‘ride’ from his house at 20 Lansdown Crescent, just to the south, to his tower on top of Lansdown Hill, now known as Beckford’s Tower. Beckford’s design was influenced by the lengthy private grounds laid out by his great-uncle Charles Hamilton north of the Royal Crescent. The ride took in a series of structures, which included a long grotto tunnel, an Italianate cottage, walks, rides, exotic planting, a rockery, ornamental pools and a quarry, beginning with the embattled gateway (Grade II) at the north-east corner of the nursery gardens.
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Re: Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

Post by SteelCamel »

csheehan wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 14:58 I'm also looking for "Churchill" or "Church Hill" in this area -- could be a road, could be a place, could be a lane, etc. But it needs to have been in existence by at 1815. (So Churchill Bridge doesn't work).
Any ideas?
"Church Hill House" is shown at the top of Church St here (on the 1873-1888 25 inch map). It appears that "Church Hill" may simply refer to the hill on which the church stands (it's noticeably higher than the rest of Weston as it existed at that point).
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Re: Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

Post by csheehan »

Keith W and Steel Camel, This is very helpful to me, both the personal knowledge of the area and the particular map Steel Camel provides here, with Church Hill House identified. I wonder if that particular area was called "Church Hill."

It would also be great if I could find out if the nursery that occupied the space where Dixon Gardens now is, was once owned by someone named Dixon, and/or called Dixon Nursery, Dixon Fields, or something like that -- at or around 1800. Or is the "Dixon" of Dixon Gardens an invention of the late 19th century?

Anyway, thanks for all your help -- so much appreciated! If anyone has ideas on the "Dixon" naming of "Dixon Gardens", I am all ears!
Finally, does anyone know if the name "Campbell" played a part in the geography of Weston/Bath at or around 1800? I looked for it on the map Steel Camel provided, but didn't see anything there.
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Re: Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

Post by csheehan »

PS: Steel Camel, the map you linked to here is from the late 19th century, right? Is there any similar map that shows this area around 1800? Thanks!
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Re: Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

Post by SteelCamel »

csheehan wrote: Sat Jul 17, 2021 13:21 PS: Steel Camel, the map you linked to here is from the late 19th century, right? Is there any similar map that shows this area around 1800? Thanks!
Sorry, I don't know of any other map sources beyond the National Library of Scotland and SABRE maps. As far as I can tell, the only earlier maps that may exist are the very first Ordnance Survey one-inch maps - and I don't know of those being available in electronic form. Apart from being 20-30 years later than what you're looking for, at one-inch scale you may not see much detail. It doesn't seem that anyone was making maps in the era you're looking for - any that do exist will be one-offs and not easy to track down.
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Re: Dixon Gardens in Weston/Bath, Somerset

Post by SteelCamel »

csheehan wrote: Sat Jul 17, 2021 13:19 Finally, does anyone know if the name "Campbell" played a part in the geography of Weston/Bath at or around 1800? I looked for it on the map Steel Camel provided, but didn't see anything there.
Not sure on the geography. The Campbells are one of the biggest and most influential Scottish clans, and show up pretty much everywhere, particularly in politics. But there's this...

Pryse Campbell 17th Thane of Cawdor MP (1727-68).... "He died intestate on 14 December 1768 at Bath and was buried at Weston Church nearby, to the great distress of his father". The ancestral family home is Cawdor (near Inverness) and he seems to have been living at Stackpole in Pembrokeshire, so how he ended up dying in Bath is unclear. But John Campbell MP FRS 18th Thane of Cawdor 1st Baron Cawdor (1755-1821) also died in Bath (but was buried at Bath Abbey not Weston), and his son married a daughter of the Marquess of Bath. So possibly there is some connection.
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