line for Fishponds-built locomotives of the Avonside Locomotive Works to join the main line. The Bristol & Bath Railway Path now runs down the old line, and can be accessed at several points in Fishponds. The Bristol Tramway operated from Old Market to Fishponds tram terminus from 1897 to 1941. The suburb, like most of eastern Bristol, is currently not served by rail. The two nearest stations are Stapleton Road and Filton Abbey. The reopening of the Henbury loop line will include reopening two railway stations in north Bristol: Henbury and North Filton. The latter will be a short distance west of Fishponds. Local government Fishponds is within the city, county and unitary authority of Bristol. Most of it belongs to the Frome Vale council ward, the southern part to the Hillfields ward and the western part to the Eastville ward. Demography The outskirts of Fishponds to the south comprise Chester Park and Mayfield Park. Fishponds is bordered by five suburbs: Downend, Staple Hill, St. George, Eastville and Stapleton. At the 2011 census the Greater Fishponds area had a population of 37,575. History The area of Fishponds was once covered by the Royal Forest of Kingswood. The forest was progressively reduced and developed over the centuries, with Fishponds first recorded as the "Newe Pooles" in 1610, and subsequently "Fish Ponds" by 1734. By the 17th century it was a thriving village with numerous stone-built cottages for miners and quarrymen for coal and pennant stone. The village grew up around the two pools formed from the old quarries, but both were filled in by 1839. However, there is still a fishpond called The Lido in Alcove Road. During the mid-to-late 19th century, Fishponds established a large manufacturing industry along Lodge Causeway and Filwood Road. Engineering and railway Fishponds has been the site of several metal foundries, including George Adlam & Sons founded in the 1830s and Parnall & Sons, a foundry and scale works to manufacture of weights, measures and shop fittings. The company would later fit out ocean liner passenger compartments on the RMS Britannic in 1929 and the famous QE2 in the 1960s. The railway was built through Fishponds in 1835 and later included a shunting line for locomotives of the Avonside Locomotive Works to join the main line. Peckett and Sons also built locomotives at the Atlas Works towards Speedwell, whose engines joined the line at Clay Hill,