The Adam & Eve, Ham Green - March 2010

[Tumbles]

This is something I've been meaning to visit for many a year. Located jsut up the hill from where I was born. I grew up exploring the hospital when I was blisfully unaware of the term UE but the Adam & Eve was never visited. Access down to the gate and potential tunnels in the middle are somewhat difficult at the moment due to spring tides making the area very slippy. One misplaced step would have seen me falling into the river. Not something I was keen on!




Along the River Avon is a stretch of wall known as ‘Hung Road’ – it was this part of the river leading into central Bristol that ships were literally hung by there masts at low tide to prevent themselves keeling over. In the wall there are still visable signs of large iron rings fixings. Beside this resides a small white building with two towers and a gate between them.



It was most likely a water gate for Ham Green House which is located further up the bank. Set either side of the gate are two statues of a man and a woman. Part graf’d part warn away they are only reconisable up close. These two statues give the building its name – The Adam & Eve.






Local stories tell of a tunnel that runs from the gated entrance to Ham Green House. The area around Hung Road was for centuries a den of smugglers and notorious river pilots who were known as the Pill Sharks. There are other hiding places along the stretch of Hung Road. In 1798 a serach by customs unearthed huge stocks of of brand and rum from the tunnels around.

Ham Green House use later in life was as part of the isolation hospital (Ham Green Hospital) that treated tropical and infectious diseases. In the early days of the hospital it was likely that the sick were transported by boat and probably disenbarked at the Adam & Eve.



Nurses working at the hospital often used walk down to the Adam & Eve to sit in the sun. In the 1920’s two nurses were swept away and drowed in the wake of a passing ship, and ever since access to the Adam & Eve has been closed off.