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Friends of Troopers Hill Forum - www.friends-forum.org.uk

Messages are welcome on any subject relating to Troopers Hill Local Nature Reserve; the surrounding area of St George and Crews Hole or any of Bristol's Parks and Green Spaces.


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Viewing Page 1 of 1 (Total Posts: 4)


Author Comment    
Dick



May 20, 08 - 8:53 AM
Air Balloon Hill

Hello from Fiji where we're being deluged at present.

A question ............ does anybody know the origin
of the Air Balloon name in St. George. Did one land
or take off from there ? ? ?

Regards
Dick
Rob

BS5


May 23rd, 2008 - 6:37 PM
Re: Air Balloon Hill

Dick,

The name comes from a balloon landing, the following is taken from 'Houses and People of Old St George' by William Sanigar which was published in 1936.

"Imagine the excitment then, when at 3 o'clock on Saturday afternoon, January 10, 1784, a balloon was seen to be descending on the high ground in St George! Two had been liberated from Bath at 12 o'clock the same day by Dr Parry and Mr Dinwiddie. The fate of the doctor's is unknown, but the other had the distinction of comming down in St George. It was one of the first balloons ever seen in this country, and the impression that the event made can be guaged from the fact that the place became known, and is still known, as Air Balloon Hill.
Dick



May 24th, 2008 - 5:51 AM
Re: Air Balloon Hill

Thanks Rob. Mr Dinwiddle must have been some kind of hero to go ballooning in January. On the other hand there would have been more lift on a cold day ! ! Wonder
what happened to the doctor ? I used to be around that area frequently up to the age of about 22 but never queried the name before.
Rob

BS5


May 24th, 2008 - 11:03 AM
Re: Air Balloon Hill

There is more information on the Fishponds Local History site here:
Ballooning in the Bristol region, 1784 to 1786 by John Penny.

This corrects the take-off time for 'our' balloon to just before 2 o'clock so the flight was just over an hour.

As you will see from the article no-one actually flew in a balloon until September 15th 1784. The balloon that landed in St George was an unmanned demonstration. It also seems that it was probably a hydrogen balloon since John Panny tells us that up until about 1790 when "Inflammable Air" was renamed hydrogen by the French chemist Lavosier, balloons of either type were generally refered to as "Air Balloons".

I guess we are now so used to the idea of flying that it is difficult to imagine the impact that even a relatively small balloon would have had as it landed in St George.


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