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Name:Observatory Hill
Hill number:19295
Height:102m / 335ft
Parent (Ma):2869  Cleeve Hill
RHB Section:39: Central and Eastern England
County/UA:Bristol
Catchment:Avon (Bristol)
Class:Tump (100-199m)
(Tu,1)
Grid ref:ST 56555 73259
Summit feature:no feature: ground on shallow embankment near observatory
Drop:34m
Col:68m  ST587798  
OS map sheet(s):(1:50k) 172
(1:25k) 154 155
Observations:all other ground is lower
Survey:KR 2x Hand Level
Change log:show changes for this hill entry
GPS data:show GPS entries for this hill

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N.B. Some hill summits are on private property or on land where there is no public right of way.  Permission should be sought from the landowner where access to a hill summit is through private land.
Please report via the contact page any logs you see below which describe or encourage acts of trespass.  Please quote the hill number and hill name.

Logged Descriptions  (logged by 101 users, only the latest 50 shown - Show all)ByDate of Ascent
Like others, a loop from the centreMoorponder02/09/2023
Walked from the town centre up to the observatory, then on to Durdham Down.justin_j_evans02/07/2023
AD + TD walking Forest of Avon Community Forest PathFiresidepixie16/04/2023
From the Portwayheath12/02/2023
My third visit, at the end of an 8.5 mile walk from Henbury taking in three hillforts and a possible Bronze Age barrow, following the Community Forest Path. A bit grey and cold, but nice soup from the cafe warmed me up nicely.thesweetcheat28/01/2023
Parked to the North on Clifton Down ST565734. Fee to pay.David Evans07/01/2023
Aling with Durdham Downsturuss23/10/2022
Hill 3 of 4 of Bristol long distance run. Nice view of bridge.matt98p19/09/2022
Also visited the observatory, camera obscura and giants cave. Great views.ekm26/03/2022
Short stroll from Clifton Down (ST565734, parking free for 30 minutes).Tony J19/01/2021
Parked on Clifton Down road, free after 5pm. Visited summit and walked over suspension bridge.PGCE04/01/2021
With M and X to meet Hannah. A lockdown walk around the observatory, over the bridge and around the town. Good takeaway hot chocolates from the observatory cafe.Herbert Anchovy15/11/2020
En route to Mendip hills.summitsup27/09/2020
After a lovely cycle from BathJamesRodliff05/07/2020
Trip down memory lane and geocachingrebornscout03/04/2020
3rd tump after Kings Weston and Durdham Down, completing Bristol Ua. Met Lesley at the Observatory to climb to the top then down to the cave. Continued to Clifton suspension bridge visitor centre then via zigzag path to follow river, continuing to the station via Spike Island passing the Ss Brunel and the M Barn museum.Dazingdale16/02/2020
On a circular walk from Leigh Woods across the bridge and up onto Clifton Down, down to the River and up the zig-zag path with Lyn.Sixtyplus01/02/2020
Redland to Leigh Woods.Smudge12/01/2020
With Bevsimon and co08/08/2019
Third of 3 walks today courtesy of the U2 bus: Hotwells - Observatory Hill - Durdham Down - Clifton.Mark Jackson01/08/2019
A very popular spot and rightly so, superb views of the Clifton Bridge and gorge.Aye Jimmy30/06/2019
With Jules and Jill on a walk from Ashton Court over the Clifton Suspension Bridge to Observatory HillGrey Hare15/03/2019
Walk across the suspension bridgeJazDisney17/02/2019
Family visit. Parked on the road to the north. Also went into the Giant's Cave and wandered over the bridge.Herbert Anchovy12/01/2019
Simple walk up from road by start of bridge. Then walked on to the Downstrimarc217/11/2018
Walked from Durdham Down collecting bench marks on the way. Great views even on a grey day. There's a cut mark on the E side of the Observatory. I was unable to determine by Abney whether mound or bank was the highest, but both man-made.RichardM16/11/2018
Popular and pleasant spot with observatory ( benchmark by door, fee to enter) . HP on grass nearby. Good views of the impressive Clifton Suspension bridge.Denise 16/11/2018
Bank by the Observatory. It made me feel a little weird looking down on the Clifton Suspension Bridge thinking of all the people who have jumped off it.clivevilla10/10/2018
I've been here before and used to belay on the railings just below the observatory after climbing Giants Cave Buttress.Chris Peart07/10/2018
With Tony, Sophie and Nic. Been here lots of times. This time visited the camera obscura and cave. Great views of the suspension bridge.zoob14/07/2018
Visited after an Job Interview at AssystemJbratt9522/05/2018
With Wendyijpowell13/01/2018
Home city recompleted at the age of exactly 18 months. Helped up by Pop and Grandma Singer. Am I the youngest to complete a recompletion? Grandma took 26 photos of me at the top. I know I'm photogenic but there are limits. Strange lady.Charlie Singer18/11/2017
Walked over bridge from Leigh Woods.Herbert Anchovy25/07/2017
Surveyed with hand level. I must have climbed this hill loads of times as a student in the 1970s. Galltywenallt25/06/2017
Parked on The Promenade followed by short walk to the ObervatoryRamblingpaul20/06/2017
Quiet Sunday evening ascent. Excellent views. Bristol recompletion.Bramley21/05/2017
Back bank of the observatory lawn probably The great and the good and the young and the old sunning themselves in the post Easter glowvegibagger18/04/2017
Came across Clifton Suspension bridge, so the bag cost me a quid. You'ld think they have paid for it by now.ngthack11/04/2017
Easy roadside parking nearby, first 30 mins free. popular spot in spring sun.rhalstead25/03/2017
Parked just off main road on Clifton Down (extension from Cecil Rd). 30 minutes free parking. Stunning buildings in the area and a fantastic urban summit with great views of Bristol, the Avon Gorge and Clifton Suspension Bridge. Crowds of people on the Down enjoying the spring sunshine. Bristol now has two delightful TumpsCampbell Singer25/03/2017
From Bridge Valley Road, south along Clifton Down and up to the ramparts and the high point by the towerMariana Trench24/03/2017
Parking is challenging, I ended up in Cecil RoadDC11main17/03/2017
A quick visit from work in my lunchtime to satisfy myself I had indeed visited on a number of previous occasions. Free parking in The Promenade for up to 30 mins, ticket still needed from the machine. Good views of the Suspension bridge and the Avon Gorge. Also visited the Fort Ramparts to the ENE mentioned by RHW which are slightly higher.PeterD10/03/2017
Crossed Clifton Toll Bridge and paid to park just below the Observatory: Great views of the gorge.GordonAdshead09/03/2017
Bagged before 11:00 with IainBrown after some entertaining parking.Dugswell208/03/2017
Building is probably at natural HP with highest hillfort rampart to ENE at ST 56625 73307 a little higher.RHW25/02/2017
Pleasant walk around this part of Bristol with Mrs G on a general trig and benchmark bagging day taking in this hill also, our first visit despite living not too far away for several years.jonglew12/02/2017
An excellent, but tricky to discover new TuMP which I found by painstakingly following hard to see urban map contours in Bristol which nicely rise up to over 30 metes prominence here on this cliff top lookout perched on the edge of the Avon Gorge. There is a grandstand view down onto the Clifton Suspension Bridge, where in 1979 the world first bungee jump took its first plummet by members of The Dangerous Sports Club (see Youtube). Bonington must have come close to summiting here as in his early days he put up new climbs on the cliffs below. I have twice climbed on the crag – Piton Route (in Classic Climbs) but dont think I ever came the few extra steps up to the summit until this evening visit after a work trip to Chepstow finished mid afternoon allowing a Bristol and South Gloucestershire Tump tour. Next on the agenda was a visit and climb up to Cabolt’s Tower which despite being 3m higher than the map spot height is only p28.3mChris Pearson06/02/2017
Climbed up from bridge on brief visit...great viewsFergalh16/06/2016