From The Journal of Botany: British and Foreign, Vol. XXVII, 1889
Scilla Autumnalis on St. Vincent’s Rocks. — It is gratifying to be able to announce that the hope expressed in the ‘Flora’ [of the Bristol Coalfields] (p. 201), that this rare bulb might yet be rediscovered on St. Vincent’s Rocks, has been justified. We are indebted for this pleasure to Mr. J. C. House, who, during a scramble in autumn, came upon a patch of about a hundred plants. It was somewhat perplexing, however, to find that the spot was made ground, the site of ancient quarrying; but this circumstance has been explained and accounted for in a very interesting and satisfactory manner. Mrs. Glennie Smith has kindly furnished information on the matter that was conveyed to her by Mrs. Glennie, widow of Mr. William Glennie, who was engineer, under Brunel, of many great works in the West of England. The account runs as follows:- When Brunel was about to commence the construction of the Suspension Bridge, Mrs. Glennie told him that he was going to destroy the Clifton locality of Scilla autumnalis, as it grew just where the approach on the Gloucestershire side was to be made. The engineer immediately informed himself carefully of the exact spot, and, before the ground was broken, he made some of his workmen dig up the turfs containing the bulbs, and transplant them safely beyond the reach and influence of the works he was about to begin. Mrs. Glennie could not remember if she ever knew the place to which the transference was made, but it seems tolerably clear that Mr. Brunel’s care was effectual in preserving for us a choice plant, the locality for which, when undisturbed, was evidently of very small dimensions.-J. W. WHITE (in Proc. Bristol Nat. Soc. v. iii. 232).