Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan fans know well the iconic image of him captured waiting at the Aust ferry terminal in 1966. The series of atmospheric photographs, taken by American photographer Barry Feinstein, feature the somber looking figure of Dylan with the nearly completed Severn Bridge, built to replace the ferry service, in the background.

One of these photos became known as the cover for the album ‘No Direction Home’, the soundtrack to Martin Scorcese’s 2005 documentary about the rock legend.

A team hoping to restore the Old Princess Severn Ferry for use as a museum hope to use the photographs as part of the permanent exhibition there.

Mako and Billy Vunipola
Part of a rugby dynasty, the brothers are the sons of Fe’ao Moe Laru Vunipola (born 6 January 1969), a Tongan former international rugby union player, who participated at the 1995 and 1999 Rugby World Cups, and their mother, Methodist Minister, Rev. Iesinga Vunipola.

Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Billy and Mark Vunipola were raised for much of their childhood in Wales. From there they moved to Thornbury, South Gloucestershire, where they attended the local comprehensive, The Castle School.
Both players are now mainstays for Saracens Rugby club and the England International Rugby team, Mako at prop and his brother Billy at No 8.

Lee Evans
Lee Evans was born in Avonmouth to Irish mother, Shirley Hunt, and Welsh father, nightclub performer, Dave Evans.
Evans’ career as a comedian gained momentum during the 1990s until he ended up as one of Britain’s highest selling stand-up comedians.

A successful career as a film actor followed, with roles in major Hollywood productions such as ‘There’s something about Mary’, ‘Funny Bones’ and the ‘Fifth Element’ among others.

He is also a singer and musician who is able to play the guitar, bass guitar, electronic keyboard, piano, mandolin, ukulele as well as the drums.

The Miles Family
The Miles family were already extremely influential in Bristol society when Philip John Miles bought Kings Weston Hall in 1834, with a family fortune built primarily on shipping and banking.

As the owners of the land around the docks they were responsible for the development of much of Avonmouth village from the original railway through to the 20th century. There are reminders everywhere today, in street names, the Miles Arms pub, and in an ornate carved family coat of arms facing the old dock gates on the Royal Hotel.

Philip’s son, Philip William Skinner Miles, continued the family tradition of industrial entrepreneurship conceiving of a new dock for Bristol to be located at the mouth of the Avon. After resistance from the city council the dock finally opened on February 24, 1877 with the old basin still forming part of the modern dock.

Frederick Bligh Bond
Much of the rich Edwardian architecture in and around Avonmouth was designed by the architect Frederick Bligh Bond, who undertook a number of commissions for Phillip Napier Miles including buildings on the Kings Weston estate, a number of substantial houses in Shirehampton, the Miles Arms public house in Avonmouth, the now-demolished Kings Weston estate office, and the public hall in Shirehampton.

Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke, one of Britain’s most prominent early scientists, is most famous for his work ‘Micrographia,’ a scientific bestseller that was the sensation of the time. Sir Robert Southwell who owned Kings Weston House in 1693 was president of the Royal Society and got his friend Hooke to design the elaborate sea walls, sluices and wharfs that defended the estate from the Severn tides. The line of these historic sea walls can still be traced through parts of Avonmouth.