Winsley

The area was probably farmed in Roman times, as it lay between the town of Aquae Sulis (now Bath) and a villa complex at Bradford. where from 1803 stone for the canal was carried by wagons down a wooden railway. The 1841 census found 105 labourers working in stone quarries at Winsley. Later in that century, with transport of stone made easier by the railways, several stone mining firms operated in the area including Randell & Saunders at Murhill Down. By 1929 it was known as Winsley Chest Hospital, and by 1934 had been enlarged to house 134 patients; from 1948 patients with mental handicaps were treated. The hospital closed in 1982. Avonpark retirement village was built there in 1994 using…