John Loudon McAdam, road engineer, lived here in Berkeley Square from 1805 to 1808. Born in Scotland, McAdam and his family moved south in 1798, first living in Kingsdown, then in a variety of genteel properties near Brandon Hill. Entries in the directories from 1807 for ‘McAdam, James & Co., Manufacturers of Lampblack, Mineral Paints, Oils etc, near the Glass-house, Limekiln Lane’, suggest that Bristol may have offered McAdam a chance to resume his interest in the chemical industry through his second son, James, while maintaining the connection with the British Tar Company.  In 1811 he helped to establish the Bristol Commercial Rooms, becoming the first president, and between 1815 and 1820 he played a leading part in the campaign for a new gaol in the city. Such activities were peripheral to his main interest, however—the improvement of the roads that were so vital for the growing economy—and it was to this end that he became a trustee of the large and important Bristol Turnpike Trust. He devised a new approach to road construction, suggesting that stones should be graded and laid in three levels, with the smallest stones crushed and laid as a top surface. This ensured a smoother well-drained finish. Such roads were said to be 'macadamised'