Features / Bristol
Egg rolling, dented railings and panoramic views
Sharp inclines and arduous hills are part of what makes Bristol, well, Bristol.
Finding alternate routes to avoid climbing some of our city’s steepest streets is a rite of passage.
One of these roads, which even got its own Banksy mural last year, is England’s steepest residential street.
is needed now More than ever
Vale Street in Totterdown has a 22-degree gradient incline, which is so severe that in icy weather locals have been known to tie their parked cars to lampposts to prevent their vehicles sliding away.
“I’ve got crampons,” said Benji Appleby-Tyler, 43, a fine arts student at the Bristol School of Art, who lives on Vale Street.
Some people make efficient use of the street in winter, by attempting to ski or slide down on tea trays, added Benji.
Benji Appleby-Tyler has lived on Vale Street for six years. Photo: Caitlin Bowring
Every year on Easter Sunday, Vale Street holds its own egg rolling event. Easter 2020 was the first time in 20 years it didn’t go ahead.
Charlie Low, 25, a data analyst, also lives on Vale Street. One day her car failed to start. It was parked at such an angle that the fuel couldn’t travel into the engine.
“The car was facing up the hill and it was really low on fuel. It wouldn’t start. We thought the battery was dead,” Charlie told Bristol24/7.
“We called the RAC and basically there was so little fuel left in the tank that the angle it was on, it couldn’t get to the engine. And so they had to drive us to a petrol station.”
Charlie is another resident of England’s steepest residential street. Photo: Caitlin Bowring
Brook Hill in Montpelier is another of Bristol’s most precipitous streets. Martin Nicholls lives next to the road, which he says has “a hell of a camber”.
“The lorries often gouge the end house as they go round the corner – the whole vehicle tilts,” said the 66-year-old.
However, it doesn’t seem to have put him off the area; the retired GP surgery manager has lived in the same house for nearly 40 years.
Brook Hill in Montpelier is not for the faint-hearted – photo: Caitlin Bowring
Over in Hotwells, another hill resident is found similarly unperturbed by the challenges of slope-side living.
For the past year and a half, Emily Preston has lived on Granby Hill, which leads up from the Portway to Clifton Village.
Reversing into her drive from the hill can be onerous, and although the actuary says she doesn’t “pop to the shops as frequently as if they were just down the road”, the 22-year-old added that the panoramic views from her top-floor flat more than make up for the drawbacks.
“If I didn’t have that view, the climb up the hill wouldn’t be as worth it.”
The view from Emily’s flat on Granby Hill. Photo: Emily Preston
54-year-old Alison Bell lives on Montague Hill in Kingsdown.
“You get quite fit coming up the hill from Broadmead. It’s a pretty steep gradient,” says the teacher, who works in Westbury-on-Trym.
The awkward placing of her house comes with its inconveniences, such as tricky piano deliveries and builders refusing to attempt work, due to the incline.
Runners use Montague Hill for gradient training. Photo: Caitlin Bowring
Alison says living on Montague Hill has its “charm”. Photo: Caitlin Bowring
Before moving in six years ago, Alison said she “didn’t realise the challenges” of living on such a steep hill and may have been put off the house if she’d been more aware.
“But my husband and children liked the idea of this house very much. And, you know, it’s sort of cute and quirky. It’s got its charm.”
Main photo: Caitlin Bowring
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