McArthur's Warehouse, Gas Ferry Road, Bristol: Updated Historic Building Record and Archaeological Watching Brief

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Weaver Demolition on behalf of Guinness Developments Ltd, to produce an update to an existing historic building record (HBR) in advance of development works at the former McArthur's Warehouse site, Gas Ferry Road, Bristol; centred on Ordnance Survey National Grid Reference (NGR) 357840 172300. The recording was originally commissioned by Albion Yard Developments Limited, consulting with Nash Partnership (Wessex Archaeology 2011). In addition, a watching brief was to be maintained during the demolition of the standing buildings and removal of the foundations. The phases of work entailed an initial visit to explore local sources for background information followed by an examination of the fabric of the four buildings on the site and detailed photographic survey, commencing in 2008 and completed in 2018. Historic plans dating from a 1947 redevelopment of the main building were supplied in advance and these drawings were annotated on site. In addition, the survey identified and recorded the location of architectural features of interest. Analysis of the buildings on site, together with the historical research, indicates that Building 1 (McArthur's Warehouse) was purpose-built as a malthouse for Bristol United Breweries during the late 19th century and continued in operation until a catastrophic fire in 1938. After lying abandoned during the Second World War, the building was chosen as the new head office and steel storage warehouse for the McArthur's Group in 1946, which redeveloped the building during the late 1940s at a cost of �41,000. McArthur's Group remained in Gas Ferry Road until the late 1970s before moving their operations further afield. In addition to the post-war redevelopment of the former malthouse, a pair of semi-detached houses (Building 2) and outbuildings (Buildings 3-4) were constructed to the west of the warehouse between 1948-54. During the late 20th - early 21st century, Building 1 was occupied by a variety of smaller companies for different purposes. Unfortunately, Building 1 suffered a second major fire in May 2007 which destroyed several former malting floors, following which it lay empty until demolition. Following the demolition of the buildings in 2018, the archaeological monitoring of the groundworks was separated into two parts: the groundworks for the development and seven geotechnical pits. The monitoring revealed layers of demolition rubble, modern features, such as concrete surfaces and a petrol tank, made ground and levelling layers to a depth of 1 m to 1.50 m across the site visible in the geotechnical pits. Some of the features such as a cobbled surface under the former 'Hauling way' and a granite stone floor, could be attributed to the earlier function of the site as Thompson's malthouse. However, all deposits recorded were of a modern date. The groundworks for the new development had a limited impact on the archaeological potential of the area as the depth of works did not exceed a depth of 0.50 m, failing to impact on any layers later than modern levelling and made ground. Only within the geotechnical pits were layers of natural soils revealed. The deposits revealed can be related to previous activities on the site. Any earlier deposits are likely to have been truncated away.