People were living in what we now know as the Brislington area as far back as the Neolithic era (c. 4000–2500 B.C.). It is possible that the site of St Luke’s Church was once used for pagan ritual and worship. Neolithic flint log scrapers were dug up in the back garden of 9 Martingale Road in 1931. A flint blade was discovered in the back garden of 35 West Town Park in the 1990s, and flint tools and arrowheads were found in the Brislington Meadows area above Victory Park in 2021. Evidence of a Roman glass‑making industry was also discovered on the site in 2022. Seventy‑two glass beads and fragments of glass waste were identified, dating from no later than the 4th century A.D.
Brislington Roman Villa, dating from around 270–300 A.D., was discovered when Winchester Road was being built in 1899. Tessellated pavements and underfloor heating were uncovered, as well as items including a stone hand mill, roof finial and roof tiles, pottery and pewter flagons, coins, a bronze brooch, key and bracelet, and a bone pin. Skeletal remains were found, and it is believed the villa was destroyed by fire after being attacked by Irish raiders in about 367 A.D. It may have been the home of a retired Roman army officer and his family. The villa is said to have been the first “rescue dig” by Bristol Museum, and many of the items are now held there, including parts of the floor mosaic depicting a wine cup, dolphins, and flowers of red, white and blue.
Chipped flints suggest Neolithic tribes once occupied the site. Village tradition says the walls of the villa were once visible and the area was known as “Roman Paddock”. In the 1880s–90s, Roman pottery was discovered nearby in the garden of “Lynwood” (625 Bath Road), and mosaic pavement was found on the lawn of Wick House in Wick Road.
Copper coins of Constantine I (312–337 A.D.), the first Roman emperor to tolerate Christianity in 313 A.D., were discovered in 1828 in the Ironmould Lane area by workmen employed by Dr Edward Long Fox of Brislington House Asylum. The following year Dr Fox presented the 23 coins and the copper vessel in which they were placed to Bristol Philosophical Institution, and they were later passed to Bristol Museum. In 1937, a hoard of 1,476 1st‑century silver denarii was discovered by workmen building houses in Rochester Road, St Anne’s Park. These coins are now on display at Bristol Museum.
In 1987, “Roman Walk” off Bath Road, near the site of Brislington Roman Villa, was named by Brislington Conservation & History Society, perpetuating the memory of those Romano‑British “Brislingtonians” of 1,700 years ago.
Brislington Community News 