Preservation Society News

Tuckett Field

Last month’s edition (August) of Community News contained a special report by FRA on Biodiversity in Frenchay, including a brief reference to Tuckett Field as ‘Area 3’ of that report.

So, I thought it would be very appropriate to follow-up with an extract from the book entitled “A Grand Tour of Frenchay” by John Lucena, which was first published by FPS some 40 years ago in 1981 and produced in association with Winterbourne Parish Council.

Tuckett Field features quite prominently on the map in the centre-fold, although the book’s title obscures it on the famous green covers. Anyway, here is the relevant extract from page 22:

49) Tuckett Field: on your left is a Ha Ha (see 3) - on the map. Francis Tuckett (1803-68) owned all this open space down to the river and replaced the hedge with a sunken wall and ditch to open up this magnificent vista across to the woods on the other side of the Frome which provide such a dramatic backdrop to much of Frenchay. He was an expert botanist and raised and imported many of the fine trees in the Frenchay and Downend area - a tradition continued by his son, Francis Fox Tuckett (1834-1913) in whose memory the Saddleback field was left to the people of Frenchay for their enjoyment in perpetuity. The National Trust property starts at the hedge. The trees just inside the field are three Atlas Cedars and an Austrian pine. Much use has been made of Holm Oaks, an evergreen oak much beloved by landscape gardeners in the past. The old English Oak standing on its own near the brow of the hill has a lightning scar right up its trunk.

Readers may also be interested in two other sources of reference: “The Tuckett Family of Frenchay” (Chronicles No. 15) and “Winterbourne, Gloucestershire” by C.H.B. Elliott. All three books are available from Frenchay Village Museum.

Hugh Whatley (Chair - FPS and the Tuckett Society)