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Lincombe, the Valley of the Still Ponds was part of the Kingswood Forest. Earlier spellings of the name Daukenham (1652) and Linkham may possibly relate to the growing of flax for linseed oil production.

There were several watermills along the River Frame and up to 1790 these were used for grinding corn. They were later converted for manufacture of iron implements.

Numerous quarries along the valley produced pennant stone, used locally in older houses and walls.

The Lincombe Meadow on this side of the River Frome (East) between the bridges on Cleeve Wood Rd and Frenchay Rd was converted from rough pasture to form the Great Leaze Meadowland for grazing animals. The first field was named Great Oxleaze on the Mangotsfield map of 1845.

More recently, trees were planted to provide firewood and for ornamental purposes. The whole area was bought by a Bristol banker, Stephen Cave, in 1804. Adding it to his estate of Cleeve Hill. In 1920, the entire estate was sold as  smaller lots for housing development.

The stream running down the valley arises at a pool above the houses on Overndale Rd and alongside Britannia Wood. It runs down the valley to the River Frome and has been dammed to form pools believed to have been fishponds.

Architectural features date the buildings of Lincombe Barn to around 1750. Originally a field barn for Linkham Farm, it was used as a dwelling from the late. 1700s and was rescued from demolition in 1958 by the Downend Residents Association. It was opened as the Downend Folk House in 1971, and the accompanying land was retained by the then Kingswood District Council, now South Gloucestershire Council for recreational use.

The East bank of the Frome( this side of the river) has access to Frenchay Road and Frenchay bridge and onto the Frome Valley walkway, which goes along the West bank of the river. Access is no longer possible from the bridge and the lodge on Cleevewood Rd. A carriage drive can still be seen in the woods running from Cleve Wood House to the Lodge. This was the gardener's house in earlier times.

Cleve Wood House on Cleevewood Rd was owned by the Randall family in the 1920s and was opened up to the public as a pleasure ground, providing tennis courts, fishing and boating. It was possible to walk along the riverside to Frenchay Bridge where there was a Refreshment House.