Avon Weir
There used to be a mill by the Avon weir; it was one of several mills on a short stretch of the river, from Seagry to Kellaways. The 1840 map show Avon Mill on the eastern (Christian Malford) side of what is now the weir. The image also shows the 'crossroads' on Sutton Lane, where the bridleway goes west to today's Sutton Lane Meadows, and east to the weir and Christian Malford.
Not shown on this image, just to the east, the map shows the proposed line of the Great Western Railway, which was built a few years later.
The 1885 map shows Avon Mill still in operation, with a house to the east of the Mill, and south of the bridleway.
The mill was demolished sometime in the early 1900s, and the weir was rebuilt in about 1935.
The attached notes were provided by the Environment Agency in 2023.
Creation of Bridleway; 1778
It seems strange to find a Planning Application dating from 1778; it is interesting to note that there actually was a legal process in place to divert a public right of way and create a new bridleway in the 'olden days'.
Documents and sketch maps from 1778 show that the original route from the Avon Mill to Sutton Lane took a zig-zag route across the fields and the old allotments. The straight-line bridleway was only created in that year, as a '17ft wide new road'.
The 'old' route still exists today as a Public Right of Way / footpath.