Ashley Down

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Ashley Down

Coordinates: 51.4739° N 2.5819° W
Population	11,168^[1]
OS grid reference	ST598755
Unitary authority	Bristol
Ceremonial county	Bristol
Region	South West
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BRISTOL
Postcode district	BS
Dial code	0117
Police	Avon and Somerset
Fire	Avon
Ambulance	Great Western
UK Parliament	Bristol West
European Parliament	South West England
List of places: UK • England

Ashley Down is a small area of Bristol sandwiched between Bishopston, Horfield and St Werburghs. The main artery is the Ashley Down Road.

Its centre piece is the City of Bristol College, Brunel Campus. This has in its past been used as the film set for the BBC television series Casualty, and started out in life as an orphanage.

In 1845 George Müller entered into a contract for the purchase of 7 acres (28,000 m²) of ground at £120 per acre (£0.03/m²) for the accommodation, feeding, clothing and education of 300 destitute and orphan children. On 18 June 1849 the orphans transferred to the new building, designed by local architect Thomas Foster. By 1886 Müller had received £700,000 through prayer and had over 2,000 children in his care. Whilst these buildings stand mainly whole today they are being slowly converted into flats and other affordable housing.

In 1958 the children and organisation headquarters had moved from Ashley Down and the buildings became Bristol College of Science and Technology (more recently changed to City of Bristol College, Brunel Campus).

As an aside, Muller Road which runs near the site of the orphanage and is named after its founder, is the longest road in Bristol without a pub on it.

The majority of Ashley Down's residents are students but this is only apocryphal as the area is not included in the Census statistics being included in the larger area of Bishopston.

Ashley Down Old Boys' RFC is a rugby club playing in Gloucestershire League II. They are members of the Bristol Combination. It is also the location of the Gloucestershire County Cricket Club ground.