Montpelier Conservation Group
Montpelier Conservation Group is concerned primarily with issues relating to the built environment of Montpelier and its neighbouring areas.
What do we do?
Much of our time is taken with considering planning applications for buildings and attending related meetings. But we have also worked on bringing Montpelier Park to life, on improving road layouts and street furniture, and setting up the MontpelierPages online directory.
Conservation Areas and Listed Buildings – what do these mean?
Montpelier is a Conservation Area and, as well, many of the properties are Listed.
Historic England has relevant advice.
It is worth remembering that Conservation Area regulations include trees. For instance, conservation area consent is generally required to work on a tree which has a trunk diameter of 75mm or above at 1.5 metres from the ground – see Bristol City Council page about trees in conservation areas.
Minutes of our Meetings
Minutes of our meetings are available to download from the MCG Minutes page.
Other sites of interest
Know Your Place enables you to explore Montpelier through historic maps, images and linked information.
Bristol Pinpoint has a range of information layers, which include environment, planning, housing and property.
For planning matters see Bristol City Council planning and building regulations. Here you will also find a link to the Montpelier Character Appraisal which was adopted in 2009 and to Licensing (scroll down to the pdfs).
Other information Bristol-wide is available on the Bristol Civic Society website.
Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways
St Pauls Nursery School and Children's Centre
The MCG newsletter archive
The newsletters from 1991 to 1994 are available to download from the MCG Newsletter page.
Trivia Quiz
Test your Montpelier knowledge here, complete with revealable answers!
Why not contribute to the next MCG meeting?
Montpelier Conservation Group usually meets once a month – at present this is via video link.
Proposed meeting dates for 2024 are:
15 January
19 February
18 March
15 April
20 May
17 June
15 July
19 August
16 September
21 October
18 November
16 December
This was the MCG stand at the last Montpelier Bean Feast in Montpelier Park. We were selling the book Montpelier - a Bristol suburb by Mary Wright. If you would like to buy one, use the contact link above. No need to wait for the next Bean Feast!
Mentions of Montpelier
We are transcribing articles and letters which have appeared over the years in newspapers, starting with:
- Bristol Evening World 1935
- Bristol Evening Post 1937
- Bristol Evening Post 1969
- Bristol Evening Post 1973
Westmorland House story project
The Heritage Lottery Fund awarded funding to explore memories of Westmorland House (now demolished). The project details are here.
Photo: David Walker
Montpelier history notes
If you have researched any of the history of Montpelier or if you have memories of living in Montpelier many years ago, we would be interested to hear about them.
Peter Cullimore has written a history piece about Rennison's Baths – now the site of Montpelier Health Centre:
Thomas Rennison and his Grand Pleasure Bath (2.6MB pdf).
A former resident of Goodrich House has some interesting notes from 1976:
Study of Goodrich House (500KB pdf).
Peter and Sue Cullimore delved into the stories of people who have lived at 60 Fairfield Road. Their book is available for £10 from them: phone 07730 493872 or email Peter. The book is called:
Saints, Crooks & Slavers (Bristol Books website).
Gladys Newton, who lived for a long time in Paradise Cottage, shared some of her memories:
Montpelier before the War (70KB pdf).
A thorough study of the history of Paradise Cottage was written prior to its sale in 2013:
Looking for Paradise Cottage (9MB pdf).