Bristol () is a
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
,
ceremonial county
The counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies, also referred to as the lieutenancy areas of England and informally known as ceremonial counties, are areas of England to which lords-lieutenant are appointed. Legally, the areas i ...
and
unitary authority
A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...
in England. Situated on the
River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
to the north and
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in
South West England
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities and ...
.
The wider
Bristol Built-up Area
Greater Bristol is a term used for the conurbation which contains and surrounds the city of Bristol in the South West of England. There is no official "Greater Bristol" authority, but the term is sometimes used by local, regional and national au ...
is the
eleventh most populous urban area in the United Kingdom.
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
hillfort
A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...
s and
Roman villa
A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions.
Typology and distribution
Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...
s were built near the
confluence
In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
of the rivers
Frome
Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in eastern Somerset, England. The town is built on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, and centres on the River Frome. The town, about south of Bath, is the largest in the Mendip d ...
and
Avon. Around the beginning of the 11th century, the settlement was known as (
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
: 'the place at the bridge'). Bristol received a
royal charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...
in 1155 and was
historically
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
divided between
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
and
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
until 1373 when it became a
county corporate
A county corporate or corporate county was a type of subnational division used for local government in England, Wales, and Ireland.
Counties corporate were created during the Middle Ages, and were effectively small self-governing county, county-e ...
. From the 13th to the 18th century, Bristol was among the top three English cities, after London, in tax receipts.
A major
port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
, Bristol was a starting place for early voyages of exploration to the New World. On a ship out of Bristol in 1497,
John Cabot
John Cabot ( it, Giovanni Caboto ; 1450 – 1500) was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is the earliest-known European exploration of coastal North ...
, a
Venetian, became the first European to land on mainland North America. In 1499,
William Weston, a Bristol merchant, was the first Englishman to lead an exploration to North America. At the height of the
Bristol slave trade
upStatue of slave trader toppled_in_2020_.html" ;"title="The Centre, Bristol">The Centre, Bristol, erected in 1895, Statue of Edward Colston#Toppling and removal">toppled in 2020 ">The Centre, Bristol">The Centre, Bristol, erected in 1895, Statu ...
, from 1700 to 1807, more than 2,000 slave ships carried an estimated 500,000 people from Africa to slavery in the Americas. The
Port of Bristol
The Port of Bristol comprises the commercial docks situated in and near the city of Bristol in England. They are now operated by the Bristol Port Company, which owns both Avonmouth and Royal Portbury Docks. Until 1991 the Port of Bristol Authori ...
has since moved from
Bristol Harbour
Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of . It is the former natural tidal river Avon through the city but was made into its current form in 1809 when the tide was prevented from going out per ...
in the city centre to the
Severn Estuary
The Severn Estuary ( cy, Aber Hafren) is the estuary of the River Severn, flowing into the Bristol Channel between South West England and South Wales. Its high tidal range, approximately , means that it has been at the centre of discussions in t ...
at
Avonmouth
Avonmouth is a port and outer suburb of Bristol, England, facing two rivers: the reinforced north bank of the final stage of the Avon which rises at sources in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Somerset; and the eastern shore of the Severn Estuar ...
and
Royal Portbury Dock
The Royal Portbury Dock is part of the Port of Bristol, in England. It is situated near the village of Portbury on the southern side of the mouth of the River Avon, Bristol, Avon, where the river joins the Severn estuary — the Avonmouth ...
.
Bristol's modern economy is built on the creative media, electronics and
aerospace
Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...
industries; the city-centre docks have been redeveloped as centres of heritage and culture. The city has the largest circulating
community currency
A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, town ...
in the UK, the
Bristol Pound
The Bristol pound (£B) was a form of local, complementary, and/or community currency launched in Bristol, UK on 19 September 2012. Its objective is to encourage people to spend their money with local, independent businesses in Bristol, and f ...
, which is
pegged to the
pound sterling
Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and t ...
. The city has two universities: the
University of Bristol
, mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'')
, established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter
, type ...
and the
University of the West of England
The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a public research university, located in and around Bristol, England.
The institution was know as the Bristol Polytechnic in 1970; it received university status in 1992 and ...
(UWE Bristol). There are a variety of artistic and sporting organisations and venues including the
Royal West of England Academy
The Royal West of England Academy (RWA) is Bristol's oldest art gallery, located in Clifton, Bristol, near the junction of Queens Road and Whiteladies Road. Situated in a Grade 2* listed building, it hosts five galleries and an exhibition program ...
, the
Arnolfini
Arnolfini is an international arts centre and gallery in Bristol, England. It has a programme of contemporary art exhibitions, artist's performance, music and dance events, poetry and book readings, talks, lectures and cinema. There is also a ...
,
Spike Island,
Ashton Gate and the
Memorial Stadium. It is connected to London and other major UK cities by road and rail, and to the world by sea and air: road, by the
M5 and
M4 (which connect to the city centre by the
Portway and
M32); rail, via
Bristol Temple Meads
Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is located away from London Paddington. It is an important transport hub for public transport in the city; there are bus services to many parts of the city ...
and
Bristol Parkway mainline rail stations; and
Bristol Airport
Bristol Airport , at Lulsgate Bottom, on the northern slopes of the Mendip Hills, in North Somerset, is the commercial airport serving the city of Bristol, England, and the surrounding area. It is southwest of Bristol city centre. Built on ...
.
Bristol was named the best city in Britain in which to live in 2014 and 2017; it won the
European Green Capital Award
The European Green Capital Award is an award for a European city based on its environmental record. The award was launched on 22 May 2008 and the first award was given to Stockholm for the year 2010. The European Commission has long recognised ...
in 2015.
Etymology
Early recorded place names in the Bristol area include the Roman-era
British Celtic
Insular Celtic languages are the group of Celtic languages of Brittany, Great Britain, Ireland, and the Isle of Man. All surviving Celtic languages are in the Insular group, including Breton, which is spoken on continental Europe in Brittany, ...
''Abona'' (derived from the name of the
Avon) and the
archaic Welsh ('fort on the chasm'), which may have been
calque
In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language wh ...
d as the modern English ''Clifton''.
The current name "Bristol" derives from the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
form , which is typically etymologised as 'place at the bridge'. It has also been suggested that means "the place called Bridge by the place called Stow", the Stow in question referring to an early religious meeting place at what is now
College Green College Green or The College Green may refer to:
* College Green, Adelaide outdoor venue at the University of Adelaide
* College Green, Bristol, England
* College Green (Dartmouth College), New Hampshire, primarily known as "the Green"
* College ...
.
However, other derivations have been proposed. It appears that the form prevailed until 1204, and the ''
Bristolian 'L''' (the tendency for the local dialect to add the sound "L" to many words ending in a neutral vowel) is what eventually changed the name to ''Bristol''.
The original form of the name survives as the surname
Bristow Bristow, or Bristowe, can refer to the following.
People
* Bristow (surname)
* W.S. Bristowe (1901–1979), English naturalist
Places
;In the United States
* Bristow, Indiana
* Bristow, Iowa
* Bristow, Mississippi
* Bristow, Missouri
* Bristow ...
, which is derived from the city.
History
Archaeological
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
finds, including flint tools believed to be between 300,000 and 126,000years old made with the
Levallois technique
The Levallois technique () is a name given by archaeologists to a distinctive type of stone knapping developed around 250,000 to 300,000 years ago during the Middle Palaeolithic period. It is part of the Mousterian stone tool industry, and was u ...
, indicate the presence of
Neanderthal
Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While th ...
s in the
Shirehampton
Shirehampton is a district of Bristol in England, near Avonmouth, at the northwestern edge of the city.
It originated as a separate village, retains a High Street with a parish church and shops, and is still thought of as a village by many of it ...
and
St Annes
Lytham St Annes () is a seaside town in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is on the Fylde coast, directly south of Blackpool on the Ribble Estuary. The population at the 2011 census was 42,954. The town is almost contiguous with B ...
areas of Bristol during the
Middle Palaeolithic
The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Paleoli ...
.
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
hill fort
A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...
s near the city are at
Leigh Woods
Leigh Woods is a area of woodland on the south-west side of the Avon Gorge, close to the Clifton Suspension Bridge, within North Somerset opposite the English city of Bristol and north of the Ashton Court estate, of which it formed a part. S ...
and
Clifton Down
Clifton Down is an area of public open space in Bristol, England, north of the village of Clifton. With its neighbour Durdham Down to the northeast, it constitutes the large area known as The Downs, much used for leisure including walking and t ...
, on the side of the
Avon Gorge
The Avon Gorge () is a 1.5-mile (2.5-kilometre) long gorge on the River Avon in Bristol, England. The gorge runs south to north through a limestone ridge west of Bristol city centre, and about 3 miles (5 km) from the mouth of the r ...
, and on
Kings Weston Hill
Kings Weston Hill () is a hill in the north of Bristol, England. It forms a ridge about long, extending from Henbury to Shirehampton and separating Lawrence Weston to the north from Coombe Dingle to the south. The hill is a public open space ...
near
Henbury
Henbury is a suburb of Bristol, England, approximately north west of the city centre. It was formerly a village in Gloucestershire and is now bordered by Westbury-on-Trym to the south; Brentry to the east and the Blaise Castle Estate, Blaise Ha ...
. A
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
settlement, Abona, existed at what is now
Sea Mills (connected to
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
by a
Roman road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
); another was at the present-day
Inns Court. Isolated
Roman villa
A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions.
Typology and distribution
Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...
s and small
forts
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
and settlements were also scattered throughout the area.
Middle Ages
Bristol was founded by 1000; by about 1020, it was a trading centre with a
mint
MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaAES g ...
producing silver pennies bearing its name. By 1067, Brycgstow was a well-fortified ''
burh
A burh () or burg was an Old English fortification or fortified settlement. In the 9th century, raids and invasions by Vikings prompted Alfred the Great to develop a network of burhs and roads to use against such attackers. Some were new constru ...
'', and that year the townsmen beat back a raiding party from Ireland led by three of
Harold Godwinson
Harold Godwinson ( – 14 October 1066), also called Harold II, was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon English king. Harold reigned from 6 January 1066 until his death at the Battle of Hastings, fighting the Norman invaders led by William the C ...
's sons. Under
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
rule, the town had one of the strongest
castles
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
in
southern England
Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes G ...
. Bristol was the place of exile for
Diarmait Mac Murchada
Diarmait Mac Murchada (Modern Irish: Diarmaid Mac Murchadha), anglicised as Dermot MacMurrough, Dermod MacMurrough, or Dermot MacMorrogh (c. 1110 – c. 1 May 1171), was a King of Leinster in Ireland. In 1167, he was deposed by the High King ...
, the Irish
king of Leinster
The kings of Leinster ( ga, Rí Laighín), ruled from the establishment of Kingdom of Leinster, Leinster during the Irish Iron Age, until the 17th century Early Modern Ireland. According to Gaelic traditional history, laid out in works such as th ...
, after being overthrown. The Bristol merchants subsequently played a prominent role in funding
Richard Strongbow de Clare
Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (of the first creation), Lord of Leinster, Justiciar of Ireland (113020 April 1176), also known as Richard FitzGilbert, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman notable for his leading role in the Anglo-Norman invasion ...
and the
Norman invasion of Ireland
The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land from the Irish, over which the kings of England then claimed sovereignty, all allegedly sanc ...
.
![Robert Ricart's map of Bristol](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Robert_Ricart%27s_map_of_Bristol.png)
The port developed in the 11th century around the confluence of the
Rivers Frome and
Avon, adjacent to
Bristol Bridge
Bristol Bridge is a bridge over the floating harbour in Bristol, England. The floating harbour was constructed on the original course of the River Avon, and there has been a bridge on the site since long before the harbour was created by impou ...
just outside the town walls. By the 12th century, there was an important
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
community in Bristol which survived through to the late 13th century when all Jews were
expelled from England. The stone bridge built in 1247 was replaced by the current bridge during the 1760s. The town incorporated neighbouring suburbs and became a
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
in 1373, the first town in England to be given this status. During this period, Bristol became a shipbuilding and manufacturing centre. By the 14th century, Bristol,
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
and
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
were England's largest
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
towns after London. One-third to one-half of the population died in the
Black Death
The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...
of 1348–49, which checked population growth, and its population remained between 10,000 and 12,000 for most of the 15th and 16th centuries.
15th and 16th centuries
![bristol](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Bristol.cathedral.west.front.arp.jpg)
During the 15th century, Bristol was the second most important port in the country, trading with Ireland, Iceland and
Gascony
Gascony (; french: Gascogne ; oc, Gasconha ; eu, Gaskoinia) was a province of the southwestern Kingdom of France that succeeded the Duchy of Gascony (602–1453). From the 17th century until the French Revolution (1789–1799), it was part o ...
. It was the starting point for many voyages, including
Robert Sturmy
Robert Sturmy was a 15th-century Bristol merchant.
In 1445 he sponsored a voyage conveying 200 pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia and in 1447 his ship the ''Cog Anne'' took pilgrims to Jaffa in Palestine but was wrecked off Greece on t ...
's (1457–58) unsuccessful attempt to break the Italian monopoly of Eastern Mediterranean trade. New exploration voyages were launched by Venetian
John Cabot
John Cabot ( it, Giovanni Caboto ; 1450 – 1500) was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is the earliest-known European exploration of coastal North ...
, who in 1497 made landfall in North America. A 1499 voyage, led by merchant
William Weston of Bristol, was the first expedition commanded by an Englishman to North America. During the first decade of the 16th century Bristol's merchants undertook a series of exploration voyages to North America and even founded a commercial organisation, 'The Company Adventurers to the New Found Land', to assist their endeavours. However, they seem to have lost interest in North America after 1509, having incurred great expenses and made little profit.
During the 16th century, Bristol merchants concentrated on developing trade with Spain and its American colonies. This included the
smuggling
Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.
There are various ...
of prohibited goods, such as food and guns, to Iberia during the
Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)
The Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) was an intermittent conflict between the Habsburg Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of England. It was never formally declared. The war included much English privateering against Spanish ships, and several wid ...
. Bristol's illicit trade grew enormously after 1558, becoming integral to its economy.
The original
Diocese of Bristol
The Diocese of Bristol is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Church of England in the Province of Canterbury, England. It is based in the city of Bristol and covers South Gloucestershire and parts of north Wiltshire, as far east ...
was founded in 1542, when the former
Abbey
An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns.
The conce ...
of
St. Augustine (founded by
Robert Fitzharding
Robert Fitzharding (c. 1095–1170) was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman from Bristol who was granted the feudal barony of Berkeley in Gloucestershire. He rebuilt Berkeley Castle, and founded the Berkeley family which still occupies it today. He was a wea ...
four hundred years earlier) became
Bristol Cathedral
Bristol Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is the Church of England cathedral in the city of Bristol, England. Founded in 1140 and consecrated in 1148, it was originally St Augustine's Abbey but after the Dissolu ...
. Bristol also gained
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
status that year. During the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
in the 1640s
the city was occupied by
Royalists
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...
, who built the
Royal Fort House
The Royal Fort House is a historic house in Tyndalls Park, Bristol. The building currently houses the University of Bristol's Faculty of Science offices, the Brigstow Institute, Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research, the Cabot Institu ...
on the site of an earlier
Parliamentarian stronghold.
17th and 18th centuries
![Charles E](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Charles_E._Flower%2C_The_Old_Dutch_House%2C_Bristol.jpg)
Fishermen from Bristol, who had fished the
Grand Banks of Newfoundland
The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a series of underwater plateaus south-east of the island of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. The Grand Banks are one of the world's richest fishing grounds, supporting Atlantic cod, swordf ...
since the 16th century, began settling Newfoundland permanently in larger numbers during the 17th century, establishing colonies at
Bristol's Hope
Division No. 1, Subdivision I is an unorganized subdivision on the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is in Division 1 and contains the unincorporated community of Bristol's Hope.
Bristol's Hope
Bristol's Hope is the mod ...
and
Cuper's Cove
Cuper's Cove, on the southwest shore of Conception Bay on Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula was an early English settlement in the New World, and the third one after Harbour Grace, Newfoundland (1583) and Jamestown, Virginia (1607) to endure for lon ...
. Growth of the city and trade came with the rise of England's
American colonies
The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th centur ...
in the 17th century. Bristol's location on the west side of Great Britain gave its ships an advantage in sailing to and from the New World, and the city's merchants made the most of it, with the city becoming one of the two leading outports in all of England by the middle of the 18th century. Bristol was the slave capital of England: In 1755, it had the largest number of slave traders in the country with 237, as against London's 147. It was a major supplier of slaves to
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
before 1750.
![Bristol 1873](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Bristol_1873.png)
The 18th century saw an expansion of Bristol's population (45,000 in 1750) and its role in the
Atlantic trade in Africans taken for
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
to the Americas. Bristol and later
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
became centres of the
Triangular Trade
Triangular trade or triangle trade is trade between three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come. It has been used to offset t ...
. Manufactured goods were shipped to West Africa and exchanged for Africans; the enslaved captives were transported across the Atlantic to the Americas in the
Middle Passage
The Middle Passage was the stage of the Atlantic slave trade in which millions of enslaved Africans were transported to the Americas as part of the triangular slave trade. Ships departed Europe for African markets with manufactured goods (first ...
under brutal conditions.
Plantation goods such as sugar, tobacco, rum, rice, cotton and a few slaves (sold to the aristocracy as house servants) returned across the Atlantic to England.
Some household slaves were baptised in the hope this would lead them to be freed. The
Somersett Case
''Somerset v Stewart'' (177298 ER 499(also known as ''Somersett's case'', ''v. XX Sommersett v Steuart and the Mansfield Judgment)'' is a judgment of the English Court of King's Bench in 1772, relating to the right of an enslaved person on En ...
of 1772 clarified that slavery was illegal in England. At the height of the
Bristol slave trade
upStatue of slave trader toppled_in_2020_.html" ;"title="The Centre, Bristol">The Centre, Bristol, erected in 1895, Statue of Edward Colston#Toppling and removal">toppled in 2020 ">The Centre, Bristol">The Centre, Bristol, erected in 1895, Statu ...
from 1700 to 1807, more than 2,000 slave ships carried a conservatively estimated 500,000 people from Africa to slavery in the Americas.
In 1739,
John Wesley
John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...
founded the first
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
chapel, the
New Room, in Bristol. Wesley, along with his brother
Charles Wesley
Charles Wesley (18 December 1707 – 29 March 1788) was an English leader of the Methodist movement. Wesley was a prolific hymnwriter who wrote over 6,500 hymns during his lifetime. His works include " And Can It Be", " Christ the Lord Is Risen ...
and
George Whitefield
George Whitefield (; 30 September 1770), also known as George Whitfield, was an Anglican cleric and evangelist who was one of the founders of Methodism and the evangelical movement.
Born in Gloucester, he matriculated at Pembroke College at th ...
, preached to large congregations in Bristol and the neighbouring village of
Kingswood, often in the open air.
Wesley published a pamphlet on slavery, titled ''Thoughts Upon Slavery,'' in 1774 and the
Society of Friends
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...
began lobbying against slavery in Bristol in 1783. The city's scions remained nonetheless strongly anti-abolitionist.
Thomas Clarkson
Thomas Clarkson (28 March 1760 – 26 September 1846) was an English abolitionist, and a leading campaigner against the slave trade in the British Empire. He helped found The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade (also known ...
came to Bristol to study the slave trade and gained access to the
Society of Merchant Venturers
The Society of Merchant Venturers is a charitable organisation in the English city of Bristol.
The society can be traced back to a 13th-century guild which funded the voyage of John Cabot to Canada. In 1552, it gained a monopoly on sea trading ...
records.
One of his contacts was the owner of the
Seven Stars public house
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
, who boarded sailors Clarkson sought to meet. Through these sailors he was able to observe how slaver captains and first mates "plied and stupefied seamen with drink" to sign them up.
Other informants included ship surgeons and seamen seeking redress. When
William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...
began his parliamentary abolition campaign on 12 May 1788, he recalled the history of the
Irish slave trade
Slavery had already existed in Ireland for centuries by the time the Vikings began to establish their coastal settlements, but it was under the Norse-Gael Kingdom of Dublin that it reached its peak, in the 11th century.
History
Gaelic Ireland
...
from Bristol, which he provocatively claimed continued into the reign of
Henry VII.
Hannah More
Hannah More (2 February 1745 – 7 September 1833) was an English religious writer, philanthropist, poet and playwright in the circle of Johnson, Reynolds and Garrick, who wrote on moral and religious subjects. Born in Bristol, she taught at a s ...
, originally from Bristol, and a good friend of both Wilberforce and Clarkson, published "Slavery, A Poem" in 1788, just as Wilberforce began his parliamentary campaign. His major speech on 2 April 1792 likewise described the Bristol slave trade specifically, and led to the arrest, trial and subsequent acquittal of a local slaver captain named Kimber.
19th century
The city was associated with Victorian engineer
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "one ...
, who designed the
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
between Bristol and
London Paddington
Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a London station group, Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services pro ...
, two pioneering Bristol-built oceangoing
steamships
A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ca ...
( and ), and the
Clifton Suspension Bridge
The Clifton Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Avon Gorge and the River Avon, linking Clifton in Bristol to Leigh Woods in North Somerset. Since opening in 1864, it has been a toll bridge, the income from which provides fun ...
. The new railway replaced the
Kennet and Avon Canal
The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the cent ...
, which had fully opened in 1810 as the main route for the transport of goods between Bristol and London. Competition from Liverpool (beginning around 1760), disruptions of maritime commerce due to war with France (1793) and the abolition of the slave trade (1807) contributed to Bristol's failure to keep pace with the newer manufacturing centres of
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
and the
West Midlands
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
. The tidal Avon Gorge, which had secured the port during the Middle Ages, had become a liability. An 1804–09 plan to improve the city's port with a
floating harbour
Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of . It is the former natural tidal river Avon through the city but was made into its current form in 1809 when the tide was prevented from going out per ...
designed by
William Jessop
William Jessop (23 January 1745 – 18 November 1814) was an English civil engineer, best known for his work on canals, harbours and early railways in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Early life
Jessop was born in Devonport, Devon, the ...
was a costly error, requiring high harbour fees.
During the 19th century,
Samuel Plimsoll
Samuel Plimsoll (10 February 1824 – 3 June 1898) was a British politician and social reformer, now best remembered for having devised the Plimsoll line (a line on a ship's hull indicating the maximum safe draught, and therefore the minimum fr ...
, known as "the sailor's friend," campaigned to make the seas safer; shocked by overloaded vessels, he successfully fought for a compulsory
load line Load line may refer to:
* Ship's load line, related to ship construction
* Load line (electronics)
In graphical analysis of nonlinear electronic circuits, a load line is a line drawn on the characteristic curve, a graph of the current vs. the v ...
on ships.
By 1867, ships were getting larger and the meanders in the river Avon prevented boats over from reaching the harbour, resulting in falling trade. The port facilities were migrating downstream to
Avonmouth
Avonmouth is a port and outer suburb of Bristol, England, facing two rivers: the reinforced north bank of the final stage of the Avon which rises at sources in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Somerset; and the eastern shore of the Severn Estuar ...
and new industrial complexes were founded there. Some of the traditional industries including copper and brass manufacture went into decline, but the import and processing of
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
flourished with the expansion of the
W.D. & H.O. Wills business.
Supported by new industry and growing commerce, Bristol's population (66,000 in 1801), quintupled during the 19th century, resulting in the creation of new suburbs such as
Clifton
Clifton may refer to:
People
*Clifton (surname)
*Clifton (given name)
Places
Australia
* Clifton, Queensland, a town
**Shire of Clifton
*Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong
*Clifton, Western Australia
Canada
*Clifton, Nova Scotia ...
and
Cotham. These provide architectural examples from the Georgian to the Regency style, with many fine terraces and villas facing the road, and at right angles to it. In the early 19th century, the romantic
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
style appeared, partially as a reaction against the
symmetry
Symmetry (from grc, συμμετρία "agreement in dimensions, due proportion, arrangement") in everyday language refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, "symmetry" has a more precise definit ...
of
Palladianism
Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
, and can be seen in buildings such as the
Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is a large museum and art gallery in Bristol, England. The museum is situated in Clifton, about from the city centre. As part of Bristol Culture it is run by the Bristol City Council with no entrance fee. It holds ...
, the
Royal West of England Academy
The Royal West of England Academy (RWA) is Bristol's oldest art gallery, located in Clifton, Bristol, near the junction of Queens Road and Whiteladies Road. Situated in a Grade 2* listed building, it hosts five galleries and an exhibition program ...
, and
The Victoria Rooms
The Victoria Rooms, also known as the Vic Rooms, houses the University of Bristol's music department in Clifton, Bristol, England, on a prominent site at the junction of Queens Road and Whiteladies Road. The building, originally assembly rooms ...
.
Riots
A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people.
Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targeted ...
broke out in 1793 and 1831; the first over the renewal of
tolls on Bristol Bridge, and the second against the rejection of the second
Reform Bill
In the United Kingdom, Reform Act is most commonly used for legislation passed in the 19th century and early 20th century to enfranchise new groups of voters and to redistribute seats in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...
by the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
. The population by 1841 had reached 140,158.
The Diocese of Bristol had undergone several boundary changes by 1897 when it was "reconstituted" into the configuration which has lasted into the 21st century.
20th century
![Bristol map 1946](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Bristol_map_1946.jpg)
From a population of about 330,000 in 1901, Bristol grew steadily during the 20th century, peaking at 428,089 in 1971.
[ Its Avonmouth docklands were enlarged during the early 1900s by the Royal Edward Dock. Another new dock, the ]Royal Portbury Dock
The Royal Portbury Dock is part of the Port of Bristol, in England. It is situated near the village of Portbury on the southern side of the mouth of the River Avon, Bristol, Avon, where the river joins the Severn estuary — the Avonmouth ...
, opened across the river from Avonmouth during the 1970s. As air travel grew in the first half of the century, aircraft manufacturers built factories. The unsuccessful Bristol International Exhibition
The Bristol International Exhibition was held on Ashton Meadows in the Bower Ashton area of Bristol, England in 1914. The exhibition which had been planned since 1912 was a commercial venture and not fully supported by the civic dignitaries of th ...
was held on Ashton Meadows in the Bower Ashton
Bower Ashton is a small district in south west Bristol on the western boundary with North Somerset, lying within the Southville, Bristol, Southville ward, approximately two miles from the city centre. Ashton Court estate, a recreational area ow ...
area in 1914. After the premature closure of the exhibition the site was used, until 1919, as barracks
Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...
for the Gloucestershire Regiment
The Gloucestershire Regiment, commonly referred to as the Glosters, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 until 1994. It traced its origins to Colonel Gibson's Regiment of Foot, which was raised in 1694 and later became the ...
during World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
Bristol was heavily damaged by Luftwaffe raids during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
; about 1,300 people living or working in the city were killed and nearly 100,000 buildings were damaged, at least 3,000 beyond repair. The original central shopping area, near the bridge and castle, is now a park containing two bombed churches and fragments of the castle. A third bomb-damaged church nearby, St Nicholas
Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-da ...
was restored and after a period as a museum has now re-opened as a church. It houses a 1756 William Hogarth
William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, social critic, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like s ...
triptych
A triptych ( ; from the Greek language, Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) t ...
painted for the high altar of St Mary Redcliffe
St Mary Redcliffe is an Anglican parish church located in the Redcliffe district of Bristol, England. The church is a short walk from Bristol Temple Meads station. The church building was constructed from the 12th to the 15th centuries, and it ...
. The church also has statues of King Edward I
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassa ...
(moved from Arno's Court Triumphal Arch
Arnos Court Triumphal Arch () is an 18th-century monument in Junction Road, Brislington, Bristol, England.
Description
The arch was built around 1760 by James Bridges, for William Reeve, a prominent local Quaker and businessman. It is built ...
) and King Edward III
Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring ro ...
(taken from Lawfords' Gate in the city walls when they were demolished about 1760), and 13th-century statues of Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester
Robert FitzRoy, 1st Earl of Gloucester (c. 1090 – 31 October 1147 David Crouch, 'Robert, first earl of Gloucester (b. c. 1090, d. 1147)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 200Retrieved ...
(builder of Bristol Castle
Bristol Castle was a Norman castle built for the defence of Bristol. Remains can be seen today in Castle Park near the Broadmead Shopping Centre, including the sally port. Built during the reign of William the Conqueror, and later owned by Rob ...
) and Geoffrey de Montbray
Geoffrey de Montbray (Montbrai, Mowbray) (died 1093), bishop of Coutances ( la, Constantiensis), also known as Geoffrey of Coutances, was a Norman nobleman, trusted adviser of William the Conqueror and a great secular prelate, warrior and adminis ...
(who built the city's walls) from Bristol's Newgate.
The rebuilding of Bristol city centre
Bristol City Centre is the commercial, cultural and business centre of Bristol, England. It is the area north of the New Cut of the River Avon, bounded by Clifton Wood and Clifton to the north-west, Kingsdown and Cotham to the north, and S ...
was characterised by 1960s and 1970s skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...
s, mid-century modern architecture and road building
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types of ...
. Beginning in the 1980s some main roads were closed, the Georgian-era Queen Square and Portland Square were restored, the Broadmead
Broadmead is a street in the Bristol city centre, central area of Bristol, England, which has given its name to the principal shopping district of the city. It is part of Bristol Shopping Quarter.
History
The name of the street was first rec ...
shopping area regenerated, and one of the city centre's tallest mid-century towers was demolished. Bristol's road infrastructure changed dramatically during the 1960s and 1970s with the development of the M4 and M5 motorway
The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...
s, which meet at the Almondsbury Interchange
The Almondsbury Interchange in South Gloucestershire, is one of the United Kingdom's largest motorway stack interchanges. The interchange is one of only three four-level stacks in the UK, spanning a range (including slip roads) of 1 km ...
just north of the city and link Bristol with London (M4 eastbound), Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe).
The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
(M4 westbound across the Severn Estuary
The Severn Estuary ( cy, Aber Hafren) is the estuary of the River Severn, flowing into the Bristol Channel between South West England and South Wales. Its high tidal range, approximately , means that it has been at the centre of discussions in t ...
), Exeter
Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...
(M5 southbound) and Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
(M5 northbound). Bristol was bombed twice by the IRA
Ira or IRA may refer to:
*Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name
*Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name
*Iran, UNDP code IRA
Law
*Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...
, in 1974
Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...
and again in 1978
Events January
* January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
* January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...
.
The 20th-century relocation of the docks to Avonmouth Docks
The Avonmouth Docks are part of the Port of Bristol, in England. They are situated on the northern side of the mouth of the River Avon, opposite the Royal Portbury Dock on the southern side, where the river joins the Severn estuary, within Avon ...
and Royal Portbury Dock
The Royal Portbury Dock is part of the Port of Bristol, in England. It is situated near the village of Portbury on the southern side of the mouth of the River Avon, Bristol, Avon, where the river joins the Severn estuary — the Avonmouth ...
, downstream from the city centre, has allowed the redevelopment of the old dock area (the Floating Harbour). Although the docks' existence was once in jeopardy (since the area was seen as a derelict industrial site), the inaugural 1996 International Festival of the Sea
The International Festivals of the Sea were a series of maritime festivals, which were held in various British port cities between 1996 and 2005. The festivals were intended to be celebrations of the sea, bringing together sailors, musicians, arti ...
held in and around the docks affirmed the area as a leisure asset of the city.
21st century
From 2018, there were lively discussions about a new explicative plaque under a commemorative statue of one of the city's major benefactors in the 17th and 18th centuries. The plaque was meant to replace an original which made no reference to Edward Colston
Edward Colston (2 November 1636 – 11 October 1721) was an English merchant, slave trader, philanthropist, and Tory Member of Parliament.
Colston followed his father in the family business becoming a sea merchant, initially trading in wine ...
's past with the Royal Africa Company
The Royal African Company (RAC) was an English mercantile (trading) company set up in 1660 by the royal Stuart family and City of London merchants to trade along the west coast of Africa. It was led by the Duke of York, who was the brother o ...
and the Bristol Slave Trade
upStatue of slave trader toppled_in_2020_.html" ;"title="The Centre, Bristol">The Centre, Bristol, erected in 1895, Statue of Edward Colston#Toppling and removal">toppled in 2020 ">The Centre, Bristol">The Centre, Bristol, erected in 1895, Statu ...
. On 7 June 2020 a statue of Colston was pulled down from its plinth by protestors and pushed into Bristol Harbour. The statue was recovered on 11 June and has become a museum exhibit.
Government
Bristol City council consists of 70 councillors representing 35 wards, with between one and three per ward serving four-year terms. Councillors are elected in thirds, with elections held in three years out of every four-year period. Thus, since wards do not have both councillors up for election at the same time, two-thirds of the wards participate in each election. Although the council was long dominated by the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats have grown strong in the city and (as the largest party) took minority control of the council after the 2005 United Kingdom general election
The 2005 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 5 May 2005, to elect List of MPs elected in the 2005 United Kingdom general election, 646 members to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. The Labour Party (U ...
. In 2007, Labour and the Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
united to defeat the Liberal Democrat administration; Labour ruled the council as a minority administration, with Helen Holland as council leader.
In February 2009, the Labour group resigned and the Liberal Democrats re-entered office with a minority administration. In the June 2009 council elections the Liberal Democrats gained four seats and, for the first time, overall control of the city council. In 2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
they increased their representation to 38 seats, giving them a majority of 6. In 2011, they lost their majority; leading to a hung council. In the 2013 local elections, in which a third of the city's wards were up for election, Labour gained 7seats and the Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
doubled their seats from 2to 4. The Liberal Democrats lost 10 seats.
These trends were continued into the next election in May 2014, in which Labour gained three seats to take their total to 31, the Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
won two more seats, the Conservative party gained one seat, and UKIP
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest pa ...
won their first-ever seat on the council. The Liberal Democrats lost a further seven seats.
On 3 May 2012, Bristol held a referendum on the question of a directly elected mayor replacing one elected by the council. There were 41,032 votes in favour of a directly elected mayor and 35,880 votes against, with a 24% turnout. An election for the new post was held on 15 November 2012, and Independent candidate George Ferguson became Mayor of Bristol
The Mayor of Bristol is the head of government of Bristol and the chief executive of the Bristol City Council. The mayor is a directly elected politician who, along with the 70 members of Bristol City Council, is responsible for the strategic ...
. In May 2022 the city voted to abolish the position in a referendum, replacing it with a committee system. Marvin Rees
Marvin Rees (born April 1972) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Mayor of Bristol since 2016.
Early life and education
Marvin Rees was brought up in Bristol, partly in Lawrence Weston and Easton, by his British mother. ...
, mayor in 2022, will hold the post until 2024.
The Lord Mayor of Bristol, not to be confused with the Mayor of Bristol, is a figurehead elected each May by the city council. Councillor Faruk Choudhury was selected by his fellow councillors for the position in 2013. At 38, he was the youngest person to serve as Lord Mayor of Bristol and the first Muslim elected to the office. The current Lord Mayor is Councillor Paula O'Rourke.
Bristol constituencies in the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
also included parts of other local authority areas until the 2010 general election, when their boundaries were aligned with the county boundary. The city is divided into Bristol West
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...
, East
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...
, South
South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
and North West
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
. At the 2017 general election
This national electoral calendar for 2017 lists the national/federal elections held in 2017 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*5 November ...
, Labour won all four of the Bristol constituencies, gaining the Bristol North West seat, seven years after losing it to the Conservatives.
The city has a tradition of political activism. Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_ NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style"> ...
, MP for the Bristol constituency for six years beginning in 1774, insisted that he was a Member of Parliament first and a representative of his constituents' interests second. Women's-rights advocate Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence
Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Baroness Pethick-Lawrence (; 21 October 1867 – 11 March 1954) was a British women's rights activist and suffragette.
Early life
Pethick-Lawrence was born in Bristol as Emmeline Pethick. Her father, Henry Pethick, w ...
(1867–1954) was born in Bristol, and the left-winger Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. ...
served as MP for Bristol South East (UK Parliament constituency), Bristol South East in 1950–1960 and again from 1963 to 1983. In 1963 the Bristol Bus Boycott, following the Bristol Omnibus Company's refusal to hire black drivers and conductors, drove the passage of the UK's 1965 Race Relations Act 1965, Race Relations Act. The 1980 St. Pauls riot protested against racism and police harassment and showed mounting dissatisfaction with the socioeconomic circumstances of the city's Afro-Caribbean residents. Local support of fair trade was recognised in 2005, when Bristol became a Fairtrade Town, fairtrade zone.
Bristol is both a city and a county, since King Edward III granted it a county charter in 1373. The county was expanded in 1835 to include suburbs such as Clifton
Clifton may refer to:
People
*Clifton (surname)
*Clifton (given name)
Places
Australia
* Clifton, Queensland, a town
**Shire of Clifton
*Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong
*Clifton, Western Australia
Canada
*Clifton, Nova Scotia ...
, and it was named a county borough in 1889 when that designation was introduced.
Former county of Avon
On 1 April 1974, Bristol became a local government district of the county of Avon (county), Avon. On 1 April 1996, Avon was abolished and Bristol became a unitary authority
A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...
.
The former Avon area, called Greater Bristol by the Government Office of the South West (now abolished) and others, refers to the city and the three neighbouring local authoritiesBath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire previously in Avon.
The North Fringe of Bristol, a developed area between the Bristol city boundary and the M4, M5 and M32 motorways (now in South Gloucestershire) was so named as part of a 1987 local plan, plan prepared by the Northavon District Council of Avon county.
West of England Combined Authority
The West of England Combined Authority was created on 9 February 2017. Covering Bristol and the rest of the old Avon county with the exception of North Somerset, the new combined authority has responsibility for regional planning, roads, and local transport, and to a lesser extent, education and business investment. The authority's first Mayor of the West of England, mayor, Tim Bowles (politician), Tim Bowles, was elected in May 2017. One of the first actions of the new authority was the announcement of a new train station to be built at Portway.
Geography and environment
Boundaries
Bristol's boundaries can be defined in several ways, including those of the city itself, the developed area, or Greater Bristol.
The Politics of Bristol, city council boundary is the narrowest definition of the city itself. However, it unusually includes a large, roughly rectangular section of the western Severn Estuary
The Severn Estuary ( cy, Aber Hafren) is the estuary of the River Severn, flowing into the Bristol Channel between South West England and South Wales. Its high tidal range, approximately , means that it has been at the centre of discussions in t ...
ending at (but not including) the islands of Flat Holm (in Cardiff, Wales) and Steep Holm. This "seaward extension" can be traced back to the original boundary of the County of Bristol laid out in the charter granted to the city by Edward III of England, Edward III in 1373.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has defined a Bristol Urban Area, which includes developed areas adjoining Bristol but outside the city-council boundary, such as Kingswood, Mangotsfield, Stoke Gifford, Winterbourne, Gloucestershire, Winterbourne, Almondsbury, Easton in Gordano, Whitchurch, Bristol, Whitchurch village, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, but excludes undeveloped areas within that boundary.
Geography
Bristol lies within a limestone area running from the Mendip Hills in the south to the Cotswolds in the northeast. The rivers Avon and Frome cut through the limestone to the underlying clay, creating Bristol's characteristically hilly landscape. The Avon flows from Bath in the east, through Floodplain, flood plains and areas which were marshes before the city's growth. To the west the Avon cuts through the limestone to form the Avon Gorge, formed largely by glacial meltwater after the Quaternary glaciation, last ice age.
The gorge, which helped protect Bristol Harbour, has been quarried for stone to build the city, and its surrounding land has been protected from development as The Downs, Bristol, The Downs and Leigh Woods. The Avon estuary and the gorge form the county boundary with North Somerset, and the river flows into the Severn Estuary
The Severn Estuary ( cy, Aber Hafren) is the estuary of the River Severn, flowing into the Bristol Channel between South West England and South Wales. Its high tidal range, approximately , means that it has been at the centre of discussions in t ...
at Avonmouth
Avonmouth is a port and outer suburb of Bristol, England, facing two rivers: the reinforced north bank of the final stage of the Avon which rises at sources in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Somerset; and the eastern shore of the Severn Estuar ...
. A smaller gorge, cut by the Hazel Brook which flows into the River Trym, crosses the Blaise Castle estate in northern Bristol.
Bristol is sometimes described, by its inhabitants, as being built on seven hills. From 18th century guidebooks, these 7 hills were known as simply Bristol (the Old Town), Castle Hill, College Green, Kingsdown, St Michaels Hill, Brandon Hill, Bristol, Brandon Hill and Redcliffe Hill. Other local hills include Red Lion Hill, Barton Hill, Bristol, Barton Hill, Lawrence Hill, Bristol, Lawrence Hill, Black Boy Hill, Constitution Hill, Staple Hill, Gloucestershire, Staple Hill, Windmill Hill, Bristol, Windmill Hill, Malborough Hill, Nine Tree Hill, Talbot, Brook Hill and Granby Hill.
Bristol is west of London, south-southwest of Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
and east of the Welsh capital Cardiff. Areas adjoining the city fall within a loosely defined area known as Greater Bristol. Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
is located south east of the city centre, Weston-super-Mare is to the south west, and the Welsh city of Newport, Wales, Newport is to the north west.
Climate
The climate is Oceanic climate, oceanic (Köppen climate classification, Köppen: ''Cfb)'', milder than most places in England and United Kingdom. Located in southern England, Bristol is one of the warmest cities in the UK with a mean annual temperature of approximately . It is among the sunniest, with 1,541–1,885hours of sunshine per year. Although the city is partially sheltered by the Mendip Hills, it is exposed to the Severn Estuary and the Bristol Channel. Annual rainfall increases from north to south, with totals north of the Avon in the range and south of the river. Rain is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, with autumn and winter the wetter seasons. The Atlantic Ocean influences Bristol's weather, keeping its average temperature above freezing throughout the year, but winter frosts are frequent and snow occasionally falls from early November to late April. Summers are warm and drier, with variable sunshine, rain and clouds, and spring weather is unsettled.
The weather stations nearest Bristol for which long-term climate data are available are Long Ashton (about south west of the city centre) and Bristol Weather Station, in the city centre. Data collection at these locations ended in 2002 and 2001, respectively, and Filton Airfield is currently the nearest weather station to the city. Temperatures at Long Ashton from 1959 to 2002 ranged from in July 1976 to in January 1982. Monthly high temperatures since 2002 at Filton exceeding those recorded at Long Ashton include in April 2003, in July 2006 and in October 2011. The lowest recent temperature at Filton was in December 2010. Although large cities in general experience an urban heat island effect, with warmer temperatures than their surrounding rural areas, this phenomenon is minimal in Bristol.
Environment
Bristol was ranked as Britain's most sustainable city (based on its environmental performance, quality of life, Future proof, future-proofing and approaches to climate change, recycling and biodiversity), topping environmental charity Forum for the Future's 2008 Sustainable city, Sustainable Cities Index. Local initiatives include Sustrans (creators of the National Cycle Network, founded as Cyclebag in 1977) and Resourcesaver, a non-profit business established in 1988 by Avon Friends of the Earth. In 2014 ''The Sunday Times'' named it as the best city in Britain in which to live. The city received the 2015 European Green Capital Award
The European Green Capital Award is an award for a European city based on its environmental record. The award was launched on 22 May 2008 and the first award was given to Stockholm for the year 2010. The European Commission has long recognised ...
, becoming the first UK city to receive this award.
In 2019 Bristol City Council voted in favour of banning all privately owned diesel engine, diesel cars from the city centre. Since then, the plans have been revised in favour of a clean air zone whereby older and more polluting vehicles will be charged to drive through the city centre. The Clean Air Zone is currently due to come into effect in Summer 2022.
Green belt
The city has green belt mainly along its southern fringes, taking in small areas within the Ashton Court, Ashton Court Estate, South Bristol crematorium and cemetery, High Ridge common and Whitchurch, with a further area around Frenchay Farm. The belt extends outside the city boundaries into surrounding counties and districts, for several miles in places, to afford a protection from urban sprawl to surrounding villages and towns.
Demographics
In 2014, the Office for National Statistics estimated the Unitary authorities of England, Bristol unitary authority's population at 442,474, making it the List of ceremonial counties of England, 43rd-largest ceremonial county
The counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies, also referred to as the lieutenancy areas of England and informally known as ceremonial counties, are areas of England to which lords-lieutenant are appointed. Legally, the areas i ...
in England.[ The ONS, using United Kingdom Census 2001, Census 2001 data, estimated the city's population at 441,556.]
According to the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census, 84% of the population was White people, White (77.9% White British, 0.9% Irish migration to Great Britain, White Irish, 0.1% Gypsy (term), Gypsy or Irish Travellers and 5.1% Other White); 3.6% Mixed (United Kingdom ethnicity category), mixed-race (1.7% white-and-black Caribbean, 0.4% white-and-black African, 0.8% white and Asian and 0.7% other mixed); 5.5% British Asian, Asian (1.6% British Pakistanis, Pakistani, 1.5% British Indian, Indian, 0.9% British Chinese, Chinese, 0.5% British Bangladeshi, Bangladeshi, and 1% other Asian); 6% Black British, Black (2.8% African, 1.6% British African-Caribbean people, Caribbean, 1.6% Other Black), 0.3% British Arabs, Arab and 0.6% with other heritage. Bristol is unusual among major British towns and cities in its larger black than Asian population. These statistics apply to the Bristol Unitary Authority area, excluding areas of the urban area (2006 estimated population 587,400) in South Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) and North Somerset—such as Kingswood, Mangotsfield, Filton and Warmley. 56.2% of the 209,995 Bristol residents who are employed commute to work using either a car, van, motorbike or taxi, 2.2% commute by rail and 9.8% by bus, while 19.6% walk.
Inequality
The Runnymede Trust found in 2017 that Bristol "ranked 7th out of the 348 districts of England & Wales (1=worst) on the Index of Multiple Inequality." In terms of employment, the report found that "ethnic minorities are disadvantaged compared to white British people nationally, but this is to a greater extent in Bristol, particularly for black groups." Black people in Bristol experience the 3rd highest level of educational inequality in England and Wales.
Bristol conurbation
The population of Bristol Urban Area, Bristol's contiguous urban area was put at 551,066 by the ONS based on Census 2001 data. In 2006 the ONS estimated Bristol's urban-area population at 587,400, making it England's sixth-most populous city and tenth-most populous urban area.
At it has the seventh-highest population density of any English district. According to data from 2019, the urban area has the 11th-largest population in the UK with a population of 670,000.
In 2007 the European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON) defined Bristol's functional urban area as including Weston-super-Mare, Bath and Clevedon with a total population of 1.04 million, the twelfth largest of the UK.
Economy
Bristol has a long history of trade, originally exporting wool cloth and importing fish, wine, grain and dairy products; later imports were tobacco, tropical fruits and plantation goods. Major imports are motor vehicles, grain, timber, produce and petroleum products. Since the 13th century, the rivers have been modified for docks; during the 1240s, the Frome was diverted into a deep, man-made channel (known as Saint Augustine's Reach) which flowed into the River Avon.
Ships occasionally departed Bristol for Iceland as early as 1420, and speculation exists that sailors (fishermen who landed on the Canadian coast to salt/ smoke their catch) from Bristol made landfall in the Americas before Christopher Columbus or John Cabot. Beginning in the early 1480s, the Bristol Society of Merchant Venturers
The Society of Merchant Venturers is a charitable organisation in the English city of Bristol.
The society can be traced back to a 13th-century guild which funded the voyage of John Cabot to Canada. In 1552, it gained a monopoly on sea trading ...
sponsored exploration of the North Atlantic in search of trading opportunities. In 1552, Edward VI of England, Edward VI granted a royal charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...
to the Merchant Venturers to manage the port. Among explorers to depart from the port after Cabot were Martin Frobisher, Thomas James (sea captain), Thomas James, after whom James Bay, on southern coast of Hudson Bay is named, and Martin Pring, who discovered Cape Cod and the southern New England coast in 1603.
By 1670 the city had 6,000tons of shipping (of which half was imported tobacco), and by the late 17th and early 18th centuries shipping played a significant role in the History of slavery, slave trade. During the 18th century, Bristol was Britain's second-busiest port; business was conducted in the trading area around The Exchange, Bristol, The Exchange in Corn Street over bronze tables known as Bristol nail, Nails. Although the Nails are cited as originating the phrase "cash on the nail" (immediate payment), the phrase was probably in use before their installation.
The city's economy also relies on the aerospace
Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...
, defence, media, information technology, financial services and tourism industries. The Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence (MoD)'s Procurement Executive, later known as the Defence Procurement Agency and Defence Equipment and Support, moved to its headquarters to Abbey Wood, Filton, in 1995. This organisation, with a staff of 12,000 to 13,000, procures and supports MoD equipment. One of the UK's most popular tourist destinations, Bristol was selected in 2009 as one of the world's top-ten cities by international travel publishers Dorling Kindersley in their ''Eyewitness Books, Eyewitness'' guides for young adults.
Bristol is one of the eight-largest regional English cities that make up the Core Cities Group, and is ranked as a Gamma level global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, the fourth-highest-ranked English city. In 2017 Bristol's gross domestic product was £88.448billion.[ Its per capita GDP was £46,000 ($65,106, €57,794), which was some 65% above the national average, the third-highest of any English city (after London and Nottingham) and the sixth-highest of any city in the United Kingdom (behind London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast and Nottingham).] According to the 2011 census, Bristol's unemployment rate (claiming Jobseeker's Allowance) was three per cent, compared with two per cent for South West England
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities and ...
and the national average of four per cent.
Although Bristol's economy no longer relies upon its Port of Bristol, port, which was moved to docks at Avonmouth during the 1870s and to the Royal Portbury Dock in 1977 as ship size increased, it is the largest importer of cars to the UK. Until 1991, the port was publicly owned; it is leased, with £330million invested and its annual tonnage increasing from 3.9million long tons (4million tonnes) to 11.8million (12million). Tobacco importing and cigarette manufacturing have ceased, but the importation of wine and spirits continues.
The financial services sector employs 59,000 in the city, and 50 micro-electronics and silicon design companies employ about 5,000. In 1983 Hewlett-Packard opened its national research laboratory in Bristol. In 2014 the city was ranked seventh in the "top 10 UK destinations" by TripAdvisor.
During the 20th century, Bristol's manufacturing activities expanded to include aircraft production at Filton by the Bristol Aeroplane Company and aircraft-engine manufacturing by Bristol Aero Engines (later Rolls-Royce Holdings, Rolls-Royce) at Patchway. Bristol Aeroplane was known for their World War I Bristol F.2 Fighter, Bristol Fighter and World War II Bristol Blenheim, Blenheim and Bristol Beaufighter, Beaufighter planes. During the 1950s they were a major English manufacturer of civilian aircraft, known for the Bristol Freighter, Freighter, Bristol Britannia, Britannia and Bristol Brabazon, Brabazon. The company diversified into automobile manufacturing during the 1940s, producing hand-built, Luxury vehicle, luxury Bristol Cars at their factory in Filton, and the Bristol Cars company was spun off in 1960. The city also gave its name to Bristol buses, which were manufactured in the city from 1908 to 1983: by Bristol Tramways until 1955, and from 1955 to 1983 by Bristol Commercial Vehicles.
Filton played a key role in the Anglo-French Concorde supersonic airliner project during the 1960s. The British Concorde prototype made its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford on 9 April 1969, five weeks after the French test flight. In 2003 British Airways and Air France decided to discontinue Concorde flights, retiring the aircraft to locations (primarily museums) worldwide. On 26 November 2003 Concorde 216 made the final Concorde flight, returning to Bristol Filton Airport as the centrepiece of a proposed air museum which is planned to include the existing Bristol Aero collection (including a Bristol Britannia).
The aerospace industry remains a major sector of the local economy. Major aerospace companies in Bristol include BAE Systems, a merger of Marconi Electronic Systems and British Aerospace, BAe (the latter a merger of BAC, Hawker Siddeley and Scottish Aviation). Airbus and Rolls-Royce are also based at Filton, and aerospace engineering is an area of research at the University of the West of England. Another aviation company in the city is Cameron Balloons, who manufacture hot air balloons; each August the city hosts the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, one of Europe's largest hot-air balloon festivals.
In 2005 Bristol was named by the UK government one of England's six science cities. A £500million shopping centre, Cabot Circus, opened in 2008 amidst predictions by developers and politicians that the city would become one of England's top ten retail destinations. The Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone, focused on creative, high-tech and low-carbon industries around Bristol Temple Meads railway station, was announced in 2011 and launched the following year.[ The Urban Enterprise Zone has streamlined planning permission, planning procedures and reduced business rates in England and Wales, business rates. Rates generated by the zone are channelled to five other designated enterprise areas in the region: Avonmouth, Bath, Bristol and Bath Science Park in Emersons Green, Filton, and Weston-super-Mare. Bristol is the only big city whose wealth per capita is higher than that of Britain as a whole. With a highly skilled workforce drawn from its universities, Bristol claims to have the largest cluster of computer chip designers and manufacturers outside Silicon Valley . The wider region has one of the biggest aerospace hubs in the UK, centred on Airbus, Rolls-Royce and GKN at Filton airfield.
]
Culture
Arts
Bristol has a thriving current and historical arts scene. Some of the modern venues and modern digital production companies have merged with legacy production companies based in old buildings around the city. In 2008 the city was a finalist for the 2008 European Capital of Culture, although the title was awarded to Liverpool. The city was designated "City of Film" by UNESCO in 2017 and has been a member of the Creative Cities Network since then.
The Bristol Old Vic, founded in 1946 as an offshoot of The Old Vic in London, occupies the 1766 Theatre Royal (607 seats) on King Street, Bristol, King Street; the 150-seat New Vic (a studio-type theatre), and a foyer and bar in the adjacent Coopers' Hall (built in 1743). The Theatre Royal, a grade I listed building, is the oldest continuously operating theatre in England. The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (which originated in King Street) is a separate company, and the Bristol Hippodrome is a 1,951-seat theatre for national touring productions. Other smaller theatres include the Tobacco Factory, Queen Elizabeth's Hospital, QEH, the Redgrave Theatre at Clifton College, The Wardrobe Theatre, Bristol Improv Theatre, and the Alma Tavern. Bristol's theatre scene features several companies as well as the Old Vic, including Show of Strength Theatre Company, Show of Strength, Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory and Travelling Light. Theatre Bristol is a partnership between the city council, Arts Council England and local residents to develop the city's theatre industry. Several organisations support Bristol theatre; the Residence (an artist-led community) provides office, social and rehearsal space for theatre and performance companies, and Equity (trade union), Equity has a branch in the city.
The city has many venues for live music, its largest the 2,000-seat Bristol Beacon, previously Colston Hall, named after Edward Colston
Edward Colston (2 November 1636 – 11 October 1721) was an English merchant, slave trader, philanthropist, and Tory Member of Parliament.
Colston followed his father in the family business becoming a sea merchant, initially trading in wine ...
. Others include the O2 Academy Bristol, Bristol Academy, Wool Hall, Bristol, The Fleece, The Croft (music venue), The Croft, the Exchange, Fiddlers, the Victoria Rooms, Bristol, Victoria Rooms, Rough Trade, Trinity Centre, St George's Church, Brandon Hill, St George's Bristol and several pubs, from the jazz-oriented The Old Duke to rock at the Fleece and independent music, indie bands at the Louisiana. In 2010 PRS for Music called Bristol the UK's most musical city, based on the number of its members born there relative to the city's population. Since the late 1970s Bristol has been home to bands combining Punk rock, punk, Funk rock, funk, Dub music, dub and political consciousness. With trip hop and Bristol underground scene, Bristol Sound artists such as Tricky (musician), Tricky, Portishead (band), Portishead and Massive Attack, the list of bands from Bristol is extensive. The city is a stronghold of drum and bass, with artists such as Roni Size, Roni Size's Mercury Prize-winning Reprazent, as Krust, DJ Krust, Rob Smith (British musician), More Rockers and TC (musician), TC. Trip hop and drum & bass music, in particular, is part of the Bristol urban-culture scene which received international media attention during the 1990s. The Downs Festival is also a yearly occurrence where both local and well-known bands play. Since its inception in 2016, it has become a major event in the city.
The Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery houses a collection encompassing natural history, archaeology, local glassware, Chinese ceramics and art. The M Shed museum opened in 2011 on the site of the former Bristol Industrial Museum. Both are operated by Bristol Culture and Creative Industries, which also runs three historic housesthe Red Lodge Museum, Bristol, Tudor Red Lodge, the Georgian House, Bristol, Georgian House and Blaise Castle Estate, Blaise Castle House; and Bristol Archives. The 18th- and 19th-century portrait painter Thomas Lawrence, 19th-century architect Francis Greenway (designer of many of Sydney's first buildings) were born in the city. The graffiti artist Banksy is believed to be from Bristol, and many of his works are on display in the city.
The Watershed (Bristol), Watershed Media Centre and Arnolfini, Arnolfini gallery (both in dockside warehouses) exhibit contemporary art, photography and cinema, and the city's oldest gallery is at the Royal West of England Academy
The Royal West of England Academy (RWA) is Bristol's oldest art gallery, located in Clifton, Bristol, near the junction of Queens Road and Whiteladies Road. Situated in a Grade 2* listed building, it hosts five galleries and an exhibition program ...
in Clifton. The nomadic Antlers Gallery opened in 2010, moving into empty spaces on Park Street, Bristol, Park Street, on Whiteladies Road and in the Purifier House on Bristol's Harbourside. Stop motion, Stop-motion animation films and commercials (produced by Aardman Animations) are made in Bristol. Robert Newton, Bobby Driscoll and other cast members of the 1950 Walt Disney film ''Treasure Island (1950 film), Treasure Island'' (some scenes were filmed along the Bristol Harbour, harbourside) were visitors to the city along with Walt Disney himself. Bristol is home to the Broadcasting House, Bristol, regional headquarters of BBC West and the BBC Natural History Unit. Locations in and around Bristol have featured in the BBC's natural-history programmes, including ''Animal Magic (TV series), Animal Magic'' (filmed at Bristol Zoo).
Bristol is the birthplace of 18th-century poets Robert Southey and Thomas Chatterton. Southey (born on Wine Street, Bristol, Wine Street in 1774) and his friend, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, married the Fricker sisters from the city. William Wordsworth spent time in Bristol, where Joseph Cottle published ''Lyrical Ballads'' in 1798. Actor Cary Grant was born in Bristol, and comedians from the city include Justin Lee Collins, Lee Evans (comedian), Lee Evans, Russell Howard and writer-comedian Stephen Merchant.
The author John Betjeman wrote a poem called "Bristol".
It begins:
Architecture
Bristol has 51 Grade I listed buildings in Bristol, Grade I, 500 Grade II* listed buildings in Bristol, Grade II* and over 3,800 Grade II listed buildings in Bristol, Grade II listed Categories of listed building, buildings in a variety of Architecture, architectural styles, from Medieval architecture, medieval to modern. During the mid-19th century Bristol Byzantine, a style unique to the city, was developed, and several examples have survived. Buildings from most History of architecture, architectural periods of the United Kingdom can be seen in the city. Surviving elements of the fortifications and castle date to the medieval period, and the Church of St James dates back to the 12th century.
The oldest Grade I listed buildings in Bristol are religious. St James' Priory, Bristol, St James' Priory was founded in 1129 as a Benedictine priory by Earl Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, Robert of Gloucester, the illegitimate son of Henry I of England, Henry I. The second-oldest is Bristol Cathedral and its associated The Great Gatehouse, Great Gatehouse. Founded in 1140, the church became the seat of the bishop and cathedral of the new Diocese of Bristol in 1542. Most of the medieval stonework, particularly the Elder Lady Chapel, is made from limestone taken from quarries around Dundry and Felton, Somerset, Felton with Bath stone being used in other areas. Amongst the other churches included in the list is the 12th-century St Mary Redcliffe which is the tallest building in Bristol. The church was described by Queen Elizabeth I as "the fairest, goodliest, and most famous parish church in England."
Secular buildings include Red Lodge Museum, Bristol, The Red Lodge, built in 1580 for John Yonge as a gatehouse, lodge for a larger house that once stood on the site of the present Bristol Beacon (previously known as Colston Hall). It was subsequently added to in Georgian architecture, Georgian times and restored in the early 20th century. St Bartholomew's Hospital, Bristol, St Bartholomew's Hospital is a 12th-century town house which was incorporated into a monastery hospital founded in 1240 by Earl De La Warr, Sir John la Warr, 2nd Baron De La Warr (), and became Bristol Grammar School from 1532 to 1767, and then Queen Elizabeth's Hospital 1767–1847. The round piers predate the hospital, and may come from an aisled hall, the earliest remains of domestic architecture in the city, which was then adapted to form the hospital chapel. Three 17th-century town houses which were attached to the hospital were incorporated into model workers' flats in 1865, and converted to offices in 1978. St Nicholas's Almshouses were built in 1652 to provide care for the poor. Several public houses were also built in this period, including the Llandoger Trow on King Street and the Hatchet Inn, Bristol, Hatchet Inn.
Manor houses include Goldney Hall, where the highly decorated Grotto at Goldney House, Grotto dates from 1739. Commercial buildings such as the Exchange and Old Post Office, Bristol, Old Post Office from the 1740s are also included in the list. Residential buildings include the Georgian Portland Square and the complex of small cottages around a green at Blaise Hamlet, which was built around 1811 for retired employees of Quaker banking, banker and philanthropy, philanthropist John Scandrett Harford, who owned Blaise Castle House. The 18th-century Kings Weston House, in northern Bristol, was designed by John Vanbrugh and is the only Vanbrugh building in any UK city outside London. Almshouses and pubs from the same period intermingle with modern development. Several Georgian Garden square, squares were designed for the middle class as prosperity increased during the 18th century. During World War II, the city centre was heavily bombed during the Bristol Blitz. The central shopping area near Castle Park, Bristol, Wine Street and Castle Street was particularly hard-hit, and The Dutch House, Bristol, the Dutch House and St Peter's Hospital, Bristol, St Peter's Hospital were destroyed. Nevertheless, in 1961 John Betjeman called Bristol "the most beautiful, interesting and distinguished city in England".
Sport
Bristol is represented by professional teams in all the major national sports. Bristol City FC, Bristol City and Bristol Rovers FC, Bristol Rovers are the city's main Association football, football clubs. Bristol Bears (rugby union) and Gloucestershire County Cricket Club are also based in the city.
The two The Football League, Football League clubs are Bristol City and Bristol Roversthe former being the only club from the city to play in the precursor to the Premier League. National League System, Non-league clubs include Bristol Manor Farm FC, Bristol Manor Farm, Hengrove Athletic FC, Hengrove Athletic, Brislington FC, Brislington, Roman Glass St George FC, Roman Glass St George and Bristol Telephones F.C., Bristol Telephones. Bristol City, formed in 1894, were Division One runners-up in 1907 and lost the FA Cup final in 1909. In the First Division in 1976, they then sank to the bottom professional tier before reforming after a 1982 bankruptcy. 28 October 2000 is a date of significance in the city as it is the last time Bristol Rovers were above Bristol City in the Football league. Bristol City were promoted to the second tier of English football in 2007, losing to Hull City AFC, Hull City in the playoff for promotion to the Premier League that season. Bristol City WFC, Bristol City Women are based at Twerton Park.
Bristol Rovers, the oldest professional football team in the city, were formed in 1883 and promoted back into the football league in 2015. They were third-tier champions twice (Football League Third Division South, Division Three South in 1952–53 and Football League Third Division, Division Three in 1989–90), Watney Cup Winners (1972) and runners-up for the Football League Trophy, Johnstone's Paint Trophy (2006–07) although have never played in England's top Division. The club has planning permission for a new 21,700-capacity all-seater stadium at the University of the West of England's Frenchay campus. Construction was due to begin in mid-2014, but in March 2015 the sale of the Memorial Stadium site (needed to finance the new stadium) was in jeopardy.
Bristol Manor Farm FC, Bristol Manor Farm are the highest-ranked non-league club within the city boundaries. They play their games at The Creek, Sea Mills, in the north of Bristol. Formed in 1960, the club currently play in the Southern Football League, Southern League Division One South having finished the 2016–17 Western Football League, 2016–17 Western League season as champions. They reached the quarter finals of the FA Vase in 2015-16 FA Vase, 2015–16.
The city is also home to Bristol Bears, formed in 1888 as Bristol Football Club by the merger of the Carlton club with rival Redland Park. Westbury Park declined the merger and folded, with many of its players joining what was then Bristol Rugby. Bristol Rugby has often competed at the highest level of the sport since its formation in 1888. The club played at the Memorial Stadium (Bristol), Memorial Ground, which it shared with Bristol Rovers from 1996. Although Bristol Rugby owned the stadium when the football club arrived, a decline in the rugby club's fortunes led to a transfer of ownership to Bristol Rovers. In 2014 Bristol Rugby moved to their new home, Ashton Gate Stadium (home to Bristol Rovers' rivals Bristol City), for the 2014–15 season. They changed their name from Bristol Rugby to Bristol Bears to coincide with their return to Premiership Rugby in 2018-19 English Premiership, 2018–19.
Dating from 1901, the Bristol and District Rugby Football Combination, Bristol Combination and its 53 clubs promote rugby union in the city and help support Bristol Bears. The most prominent of Bristol's smaller rugby clubs include Clifton Rugby Football Club, Clifton Rugby, Dings Crusaders Rugby Football Club, Dings Crusaders, and Cleve RFC, Cleve. Rugby league is represented in Bristol by the Bristol Sonics.
The first-class cricket club Gloucestershire County Cricket Club has its headquarters and plays the majority of its home games at the Bristol County Ground, the only major international sports venue in the south-west of England. It was formed by the family of W. G. Grace. The club is arguably Bristol's most successful, achieving a period of success between 1999 and 2006 when it won nine trophies and became the most formidable one-day outfit in England, including winning a "double double" in 1999 and 2000 (both the Benson and Hedges Cup and the C&G Trophy), and the Sunday League in 2000. Gloucestershire CCC also won the Royal London One-Day Cup in 2015.
The Bristol Flyers basketball team have competed in the British Basketball League, the UK's premier professional basketball league, since 2014. Bristol Aztecs play in Britain's premier American football competition, the BAFA National Leagues. In 2009 ice hockey returned to Bristol after a 17-year absence, with the Bristol Pitbulls playing at Bristol Ice Rink; after its closure, it shared a venue with Oxford City Stars. Bristol sponsors an annual Bristol Half Marathon, half marathon and hosted the 2001 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. Athletic clubs in Bristol include Bristol and West AC, Bitton Road Runners and Westbury Harriers. Bristol has staged finishes and starts of the Tour of Britain cycle race and facilities in the city were used as training camps for the 2012 London Olympics. The Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, a major UK hot-air ballooning event, is held each summer at Ashton Court.
Dialect
A dialect of English (West Country English), known as Bristolian, is spoken by longtime residents, who are known as Bristolians. Bristol natives have a Rhoticity in English, rhotic accent, in which the post-vocalic ''r'' in ''car'' and ''card'' is pronounced (unlike in Received Pronunciation). The unique feature of this accent is the 'Bristol (or terminal) l', in which ''l'' is appended to words ending in ''a'' or ''o''. Whether this is a broad ''l'' or a ''w'' is a subject of debate, with ''area'' pronounced 'areal' or 'areaw'. The ending of ''Bristol'' is another example of the Bristol ''l''. Bristolians pronounce ''-a'' and ''-o'' at the end of a word as ''-aw'' (''cinemaw''). To non-natives, the pronunciation suggests an ''l'' after the vowel.
Until recently, Bristolese was characterised by retention of the second-person singular, as in the doggerel "Cassn't see what bist looking at? Cassn't see as well as couldst, casst? And if couldst, 'ouldn't, 'ouldst?" The West Saxon ''bist'' is used for the English ''art'', and children were admonished with "Thee and thou, the Welshman's cow". In Bristolian, as in French and German, the second-person singular was not used when speaking to a superior (except by the egalitarian Quakers). The pronoun ''thee'' is also used in the subject position ("What bist thee doing?"), and ''I'' or ''he'' in the object position ("Give he to I."). Linguist Stanley Ellis (linguist), Stanley Ellis, who found that many dialect words in the Filton area were linked to aerospace work, described Bristolian as "a cranky, crazy, crab-apple tree of language and with the sharpest, juiciest flavour that I've heard for a long time".
Religion
In the 2011 United Kingdom census, 46.8% of Bristol's population identified as Christians, Christian and 37.4% said they were not religious; the English averages were 59.4% and 24.7%, respectively. Islam is observed by 5.1% of the population, Buddhism by 0.6%, Hinduism by 0.6%, Sikhism by 0.5%, Judaism by 0.2% and other religions by 0.7%; 8.1% did not identify with a religion.
Among the notable List of churches in Bristol, Christian churches are the Anglicanism, Anglican Bristol Cathedral
Bristol Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is the Church of England cathedral in the city of Bristol, England. Founded in 1140 and consecrated in 1148, it was originally St Augustine's Abbey but after the Dissolu ...
and St Mary Redcliffe
St Mary Redcliffe is an Anglican parish church located in the Redcliffe district of Bristol, England. The church is a short walk from Bristol Temple Meads station. The church building was constructed from the 12th to the 15th centuries, and it ...
and the Roman Catholic Clifton Cathedral. Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist chapels include Buckingham Baptist Chapel and John Wesley's New Room in Broadmead. After St James' Presbyterian Church of England, Bristol, St James' Presbyterian Church was The Blitz, bombed on 24 November 1940, it was never again used as a church; although its bell tower remains, its nave was converted into offices. The city has eleven mosques, several Buddhist meditation centres, a Hindu temple, Movement for Reform Judaism, Reform and Orthodox-Jewish synagogues and four Gurdwara, Sikh temples.
Bars and nightlife
Bristol has been awarded Purple Flag status on many of its districts, which shows that it meets or surpasses the standards of excellence in managing the evening and night-time economy.
''DJ Mag'' top 100 club list ranked Motion as the 19th-best club in the world in 2016. This is up 5 spots from 2015. Motion is host to some of the world's top DJs, and leading producers. Motion is a complex made up of different rooms, outdoor space and a terrace that looks over the river Avon. In 2011, Motion was transformed from a skate park into the rave spot it is today. In:Motion is an annual series which takes place each autumn and delivers 12 weeks of music and dancing. The club, on Avon Street, behind Temple Meads train station, does not limit itself to playing one genre of music. Party-goers can hear everything from disco, house, techno, grime, drum and bass or hip hop, depending on the night. In 2020 and 2021, Motion adapted many of its indoor events into outdoor events. Some of these included Bingo Lingdo. Other famous clubs in the city include Lakota (club), Lakota and The Thekla, Thekla.
The Attic Bar is a venue located in Stokes Croft. Equipped with a sound system and stage which are used every weekend for gigs of every genre, the bar and the connected Full Moon Pub were rated by ''The Guardian'', a British daily paper, as one of the top ten clubs in the UK. Located by Bristol's harbourside, The Apple is a cider bar which opened in 2004, in a converted Dutch barge, offering a range of 40 different ciders. In 2014, the Great British Pub Awards ranked The Apple as the best cider bar in the UK. Bristol is also home to the pie chain Pieminster started in the Stokes Croft area of the city.
Media
Bristol is home to the regional headquarters of BBC West and the BBC Natural History Unit based at Broadcasting House, which produces television, radio and online content with a natural history or wildlife theme. These include nature documentary, nature documentaries, including ''The Blue Planet'' and ''Planet Earth (franchise), Planet Earth''. The city has a long association with David Attenborough's authored documentaries, including ''Life on Earth (TV series), Life on Earth''. It was made public in 2021 that the BBC was moving the production of many of its programmes from Broadcasting House to Bridgewater House in Finzels Reach in Bristol City Centre.
Bristol has two daily newspapers, the ''Western Daily Press'' and the ''Bristol Post'', (both owned by Reach plc); and a Bristol edition of the free Metro (British newspaper), ''Metro'' newspaper (owned by Daily Mail and General Trust, DMGT). ''The Bristol Cable'' specialises in investigative journalism with a quarterly print edition and website.
Aardman Animations is an Academy Awards, Oscar-winning animation studio founded and still based in Bristol. They created famous characters such as Wallace and Gromit and Morph (animation), Morph. Its Aardman filmography, films include ''Chicken Run'' (2000), ''Early Man (film), Early Man (2018)'', shorts such as ''Creature Comforts'' and ''Adam (1992 film), Adam'' and TV series like ''Shaun the Sheep'' and ''Timmy Time''.
The city has several radio stations, including BBC Radio Bristol. Bristol's television productions include ''BBC Points West, Points West'' for BBC West, Endemol productions such as ''Deal or No Deal'', ''The Crystal Maze'', and ''ITV News West Country'' for ITV West Country. The hospital drama ''Casualty (TV series), Casualty'', formerly filmed in Bristol, moved to Cardiff in 2012. In October 2018, Channel 4 announced that Bristol would be home to one of its 'Creative Hubs', as part of their move to produce more content outside of London.
Publishers in the city have included 18th-century Bristolian Joseph Cottle, who helped introduce Romanticism by publishing the works of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. During the 19th century, J.W. Arrowsmith published the Victorian comedies ''Three Men in a Boat'' (by Jerome K. Jerome) and ''The Diary of a Nobody'' by George Grossmith, George and Weedon Grossmith. The contemporary Redcliffe Press has published over 200 books covering all aspects of the city. Bristol is home to YouTube video developers and stylists The Yogscast, with founders Simon Lane and Lewis Brindley moving their operations from Reading, Berkshire, Reading to Bristol in 2012.
Education
Bristol has two major institutions of higher education: the University of Bristol
, mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'')
, established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter
, type ...
, a Red brick university, redbrick chartered in 1909; and the University of the West of England
The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a public research university, located in and around Bristol, England.
The institution was know as the Bristol Polytechnic in 1970; it received university status in 1992 and ...
, opened as Bristol Institute of technology, Polytechnic in 1969, which became a university in 1992. The University of Law also has a campus in the city. Bristol has two further education institutions (City of Bristol College and South Gloucestershire and Stroud College) and two Theology, theological colleges: Trinity College, Bristol, Trinity College, and Baptists Together, Bristol Baptist College. The city has 129 Infant school, infant, Junior school, junior and primary schools,
List of schools in Bristol, 17 secondary schools, and three learning centres. After a section of north London, Bristol has England's second-highest number of Independent school (United Kingdom), independent school places. Independent schools in the city include Clifton College, Clifton High School, Bristol, Clifton High School, Badminton School, Bristol Grammar School, Queen Elizabeth's Hospital (the only all-boys school) and the Redmaids' High School, Redmaids' School (founded in 1634 by John Whitson, which claims to be England's oldest girls' school).
In 2005, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown named Bristol one of six English 'science cities',
and a £300million science park was planned at Emersons Green. Research is conducted at the two universities, the Bristol Royal Infirmary and Southmead Hospital, and science outreach is practised at We The Curious, the Bristol Zoo, the Bristol Festival of Nature and the CREATE Centre.
The city has produced a number of scientists, including 19th-century chemist Humphry Davy (who worked in Hotwells). Physicist Paul Dirac (from Bishopston, Bristol, Bishopston) received the 1933 Nobel Prize for his contributions to quantum mechanics. C. F. Powell, Cecil Frank Powell was the Melvill Wills Professor of Physics at the University of Bristol when he received the 1950 Nobel Prize for, among other discoveries, his photographic method of studying nuclear processes. Colin Pillinger was the planetary scientist behind the Beagle 2 project, and neuropsychologist Richard Gregory founded the Exploratory (a hands-on science centre which was the predecessor of At-Bristol/We The Curious).
Initiatives such as the Flying Start Challenge encourage an interest in science and engineering in Bristol secondary-school pupils; links with aerospace companies impart technical information and advance student understanding of design.
The Bloodhound SSC project to break the land speed record is based at the Bloodhound Technology Centre on the city's harbourside.
Transport
Rail
Bristol has two principal railway stations. Bristol Temple Meads
Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is located away from London Paddington. It is an important transport hub for public transport in the city; there are bus services to many parts of the city ...
(near the city centre) has Great Western Railway (train operating company), Great Western Railway services which include high-speed trains to Paddington railway station, London Paddington and local, regional and CrossCountry trains. Bristol Parkway, north of the city centre, has high-speed Great Western Railway services to Swansea railway station, Swansea, Cardiff Central railway station, Cardiff Central and London Paddington and CrossCountry services to Birmingham New Street railway station, Birmingham and Northern England, east of Northern England. A limited service to London Waterloo railway station, London Waterloo, via Clapham Junction railway station, Clapham Junction, from Temple Meads is operated by South Western Railway (train operating company), South Western Railway and there are scheduled coach links to most major UK cities.
Bristol's principal surviving suburban railway is the Severn Beach Line to Avonmouth and Severn Beach. Although Portishead Railway, Portishead Railway's passenger service was a casualty of the Beeching cuts, freight service to the Royal Portbury Dock was restored from 2000 to 2002 with a Strategic Rail Authority rail-freight grant. The MetroWest (Bristol), MetroWest scheme, formerly known as The Greater Bristol Metro, proposes to increase the city's rail capacity including the restoration of a further of track on the Portishead Railway, line to Portishead, Somerset, Portishead (a Commuter town, dormitory town with one connecting road), and a further commuter rail line from Bristol Temple Meads
Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is located away from London Paddington. It is an important transport hub for public transport in the city; there are bus services to many parts of the city ...
to Henbury
Henbury is a suburb of Bristol, England, approximately north west of the city centre. It was formerly a village in Gloucestershire and is now bordered by Westbury-on-Trym to the south; Brentry to the east and the Blaise Castle Estate, Blaise Ha ...
, on an Henbury Loop Line, existing freight line. Following numerous delays, the two lines are due to be opened in 2026.
Roads
The M4 motorway connects the city on an east–west axis from London to West Wales, and the M5 is a north–south west axis from Birmingham to Exeter. The M49 motorway is a shortcut between the M5 in the south and the M4 Second Severn Crossing, Severn Crossing in the west, and the M32 is a spur from the M4 to the city centre. The Portway connects the M5 to the city centre, and was the most expensive road in Britain when opened in 1926.
As of 2019, Bristol is working on plans for a Clean Air Zone to reduce pollution, which could involve charging the most polluting vehicles to enter the city centre.
Several road-construction plans, including re-routing and improving the South Bristol (UK), South Bristol A4174 road, Ring Road, are supported by the city council.
Private car use is high in the city, leading to traffic congestion costing an estimated £350million per year.
Bristol allows motorcycles to use most of the city's bus lanes and provides secure, free parking for them.
Public transport
Public transport in the city consists primarily of a First West of England Buses in Bristol, bus network. Other providers are Abus, Stagecoach West, Stagecoach South West and until its sale to Stagecoach West, Wessex Bus. Bristol's bus service has been criticised as unreliable and expensive, and in 2005 FirstGroup was fined for delays and safety violations.
Although the city council has included a light rail system in its local transport plan since 2000, it has not yet funded the project; Bristol was offered European Union funding for the system, but the Department for Transport did not provide the required additional funding. As of 2019, a four-line Light rail in Bristol, mass transit network with potential underground sections radiating from Bristol Temple Meads is proposed; a southern line to Bristol Airport
Bristol Airport , at Lulsgate Bottom, on the northern slopes of the Mendip Hills, in North Somerset, is the commercial airport serving the city of Bristol, England, and the surrounding area. It is southwest of Bristol city centre. Built on ...
, a northern line to Aztec West, a northeastern line Bristol & Bath Science Park and a southeastern line to Brislington or Keynsham.
In 2006, a project to develop a bus rapid transit system (BRT) named MetroBus (Bristol), MetroBus was started, with the purpose of providing a faster and more reliable service than buses, improving transport infrastructure and reducing congestion. The project was approved by the Department for Transport, government in December 2013, and in June 2017, it was announced that First West of England, First would operate the buses. MetroBus services commenced in 2018, with the opening of a route from Emersons Green to Bristol city centre, Bristol City Centre (route m3). Further routes were subsequently introduced from Cribbs Causeway to Hengrove Park (route m1), and from Long Ashton Park and ride bus services in the United Kingdom, Park and Ride to Bristol city centre, Bristol City Centre (route m2). In May 2022, it was announced that a fourth route would open in Spring the following year to connect Cribbs Causeway with Bristol Parkway railway station, Bristol Parkway Railway Station (route m4).
Three park and ride sites serve Bristol.
The city centre has water transport operated by Bristol Ferry Boats, Bristol Packet Boat Trips and Number Seven Boat Trips, providing leisure and commuter service in the harbour.
Cycling
Bristol was designated as England's first "cycling city" in 2008 and one of England's 12 "Cycling demonstration" areas. It is home to Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity. The Bristol and Bath Railway Path links it to Bath, and was the first part of the National Cycle Network. The city also has urban cycle routes and links with National Cycle Network routes to The rest of the Country. Cycling trips increased by 21% from 2001 to 2005.
Air
The runway, terminal and other facilities at Bristol Airport
Bristol Airport , at Lulsgate Bottom, on the northern slopes of the Mendip Hills, in North Somerset, is the commercial airport serving the city of Bristol, England, and the surrounding area. It is southwest of Bristol city centre. Built on ...
(BRS), Lulsgate Plateau, Lulsgate, have been upgraded since 2001. In 2019 it was ranked the eighth Busiest airports in the United Kingdom by total passenger traffic, busiest airport in the United Kingdom, handling nearly 8.9 million passengers, an over 3% increase compared with 2018.
International relations
Bristol was among the first cities to adopt Twin towns and sister cities, town twinning after World War II. Twin towns include:
* Bordeaux, France (since 1947)
* Hanover, Germany (since 1947; one of the first post-war twinnings of British and German cities)
* Porto, Portugal (since 1984)
* Tbilisi, Georgia (since 1988)
* Puerto Morazán, Nicaragua (since 1989)
* Beira, Mozambique (since 1990)
* Guangzhou, China (since 2001)
Freedom of the City
People and military units receiving the Freedom of the City of Bristol include:
* Billy Hughes: 20 May 1916.
* Kipchoge Keino: 5 July 2012.
* Peter Higgs: 4 July 2013.
* Sir David Attenborough: 17 December 2013.
* The Rifles: 2007, 2015.
* 39 (Skinners) Signal Regiment, 39 Signal Regiment: 20 March 2019.
See also
*Atlantic history
*Bristol Christian Fellowship
*Bristol Pound
The Bristol pound (£B) was a form of local, complementary, and/or community currency launched in Bristol, UK on 19 September 2012. Its objective is to encourage people to spend their money with local, independent businesses in Bristol, and f ...
*Bristol power stations
*Healthcare in Bristol
*Parks of Bristol
*Subdivisions of Bristol
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Visit Bristol
official tourism website
Bristol City Council
*
Know your Place: Bristol
historic maps website.
{{Coord, 51, 27, N, 2, 35, W, type:city_region:GB-BST, display=title
Bristol,
Populated places on the River Severn
Unitary authority districts of England
Port cities and towns in South West England
Staple ports
County towns in England
Cities in South West England
Populated places in Bristol (county)
Local government districts of South West England
River Avon, Bristol
Counties of England established in 1373
Counties of England disestablished in 1974
Counties of England established in 1996
Counties in South West England
Unparished areas
Boroughs in England