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WHAT DO WE DO?

The FAM are a voluntary group concerned with helping to ensure the conservation and enjoyment of the built & documented heritage of Ashton Court Mansion, past, present and future.

  • Bring together volunteer skills, knowledge and enthusiasm for Ashton Court Mansion to the mutual advantage and enjoyment of all. 

  • Help ensure the safety & security of ACM through its continued use and occupation. 

  • Build a greater awareness of the importance of Ashton Court Mansion, its setting and its role in history for the people of Bristol and North Somerset and help develop its potential for all users. 

  • Develop a visual record of the Mansion, past and present. 

  • Research, record and present our findings about the building and its history to the general public. 

  • Provide public and private group tours of the Mansion. 

  • Provide an opportunity for the public to share and record their memories of Ashton Court Mansion. 

  • Monitor the external and internal condition with a visual and written record, notifying responsible bodies when urgent action is required. 

  • Work for the development of a strategy for the full Greening of Ashton Court Mansion from the inception of all projects. 

  • Provide a greater awareness of Artspace Lifespace work at Ashton Court Mansion, including the considerable opportunities, responsibilities and limitations created by the Mansion. 

  • Support the aims of the Council in its search for appropriate, reliable long term funders & users who will expertly conserve and restore the building to sustainable uses while allowing some ongoing public access.

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MANSION TOURS

The Friends of Ashton Court Mansion working with Artspace Lifespace give you the inside scoop on Ashton Court twice a year.

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HISTORY RESEARCH

We research, record and present our findings about the building and its history to the general public.

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Image: AC/PL/86 BRO (Bristol Records Office). Digitised by Peter Poland.

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CONDITION MONITORING

Monitoring the external and internal condition, maintaining a visual and written record, notifying responsible bodies when urgent action is required.

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SUPPORT

To support the aims of the council in its search for appropriate, reliable long term funders & users who will expertly conserve and restore the building to a sustainable use. Helping provide a greater awareness of Artspace Lifespace work at Ashton Court Mansion, including the considerable opportunities, responsibilities and limitations created by the Mansion.

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MEMORIES

Providing an opportunity for the public to share and record their memories of Ashton Court Mansion which we will be sharing with Bristol Archives to capture Ashton Court's more recent history for future generations.

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Archaeological Dig

FAM VOLUNTEERS ACTIVITIES 2021-2022

We are pleased to say that despite Covid ...

We have done all of the things listed in What FAM Volunteers Do.

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Many of the results can be seen on our exhibition boards & website.

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Apart from still running restricted Open Days, other activities included:                                                       

  • Showing people around the mansion who have family links and records to share.

  • Gaining new information from the City Museum, archives & library.

  • Receiving anonymously donated historic records that we handed into the City Archives.

  • Developing personal interests and skills in different areas of research & presentation.

  • Assisting student projects using 360 photography.

  • Showing other historic fabric specialists around the mansion.

  • Assisting with other arts events including the hugely successful Show of Strength performances at Ashton Court and the Artspace We are from Dust installations.

  • Keeping a weather eye on the water leaks & ‘opening windows’ and recording condition.

  • Attending  Prince’s Foundation Workshops at the Mansion.


Some of the things we said & others we never managed to say at the Ashton Court Mansion Visioning Workshop 23rd Sept 2021.

  • FAM Applaud aims of the Princes Foundation & the City Council at resolving the city needs as well as its built heritage..

  • Mansion Friends & Volunteers are advocates for the building which with a 1000 years of history & 600 years of surviving structures is an object lesson in past ways of living & building & beautifying for the many not just the few and should be seen as a living memorial to all those who worked & slaved to create it.

  • There are a variety of views expressed by the Friends but the main concern is that something must be done with the building together with surprise at how bad much of it is inside.

  • Generally there is a mix of curiosity from new comers with sentimental attachment for those who have attended functions here in past.

  • Some level of future public access is usually expressed as desirable but a secondary concern, with a whole spectrum of ideas as to how the building could or should be re used. These are rarely guided by knowledge of the annual running costs & need for full sustainability.

  • Future plans for the Mansion, within its grade II* park & rural location should be informed by what the Mansion has to offer. Ideas on how to resolve other city issues should adapt to the possibilities & limits of a full and high quality restoration of the Mansion & not vice versa. If both can be achieved it is a bonus. Staged works may allow for fundraising and a variety of interim uses but the whole building must be kept weather tight.

  • Ashton Court was once the centre of a rural community, it cannot replicate a city community & for most Bristolians it is inaccessible - an unwalkable distance, with limited parking, zero public transport & and has an image problem due to its municipal flavour, underfunding & failed enterprises. The mansion is like an adopted child still full of possibilities despite years of neglect.



FAM Vision :

The transformation of Ashton Court Mansion from the tired old mongrel that it is today, to the uniquely rich tapestry of architectural styles, textures and tones that it could be in the foreseeable future.                                                                                                                         

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