College Green is a public open space in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The Green takes the form of a segment of a circle with its apex pointing east, and covers . The road named College Green forms the north-eastern boundary of the Green,

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 ...

marks the south side, and

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

(formerly the Council House) closes the Green in an arc to the north-west. College Green is owned by the

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

and Chapter of Bristol Cathedral, and managed by

Bristol City Council Bristol City Council is the local authority of Bristol, England. The council is a unitary authority, and is unusual in the United Kingdom in that its executive function is controlled by a directly elected mayor of Bristol. Bristol has 34 ward ...

History

Originally a small hill north of the River Avon separated from

Brandon Hill Brandon Hill () is the highest mountain in County Kilkenny, Ireland, with an elevation of and prominence at . The South Leinster Way, a long-distance trail, meandering through the Barrow Valley and traverses Brandon Hill. The village of ...

to the north west by a narrow gully, College Green was enclosed to form the precincts of St Augustine's Abbey (now Bristol Cathedral) in the 12th century. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the abbey became a

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a ...

and its precincts thenceforth became known as 'College Green'. Before the

English Reformation The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...

, a chapel named after a saint called

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

stood on the green beside an open-air pulpit. A hymn found in a 15th-century

book of hours The book of hours is a Christian devotional book used to pray the canonical hours. The use of a book of hours was especially popular in the Middle Ages and as a result, they are the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscrip ...

in Bristol suggested Jordan's relics had been entombed in the chapel and were venerated there. After the Reformation, the building was used as a school, and it was finally destroyed in the early 18th century. The

Bristol High Cross Bristol High Cross is a monumental market cross erected in 1373 in the centre of Bristol. It was built in Decorated Gothic style on the site of an earlier Anglo-Saxon cross, to commemorate the granting of a charter by Edward III to make Brist ...

was moved here from its original location at the junction of

High High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift ...

Wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

Broad Broad(s) or The Broad(s) may refer to: People * A slang term for a woman. * Broad (surname), a surname Places * Broad Peak, on the border between Pakistan and China, the 12th highest mountain on Earth * The Broads, a network of mostly na ...

and

Corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

Streets, where it had been considered a traffic hazard, in 1733. In 1762 the Green was levelled and laid out as a raised park with stone boundary walls, wooden railings and formal promenades crossing at its centre. The High Cross was removed and stored in the greater cloister of the cathedral, and in 1764 it was given to

Henry Hoare Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

for use as a garden ornament at Stourhead, where it can still be seen. The name 'College Green' also applied to the road which passed on all three sides of the triangular Green. From 1869, the southern leg of this formed part of the new Deanery Road, being the main route out of Bristol heading to the south-west and separating the Green from the Cathedral, whilst the northern leg (from 1758) led down to a crossroads with Frog Lane and Frogmore Street and up Park Street towards Clifton. In 1851 a replica of the High Cross was erected and placed at the apex of the Green. This remained here until a statue of Queen Victoria (by

Joseph Boehm Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, 1st Baronet, (6 July 1834 – 12 December 1890) was an Austrian-born British medallist and sculptor, best known for the " Jubilee head" of Queen Victoria on coinage, and the statue of the Duke of Wellington at Hyde Par ...

) took its place in 1888, at which time the replica Cross was moved to the centre of the Green, at the intersection of the formal promenades where the original had stood between 1736 and 1762. For the next sixty years the Green remained a leafy oasis, insulated from the busy roads on either side by a double row of tall trees, though slightly diminished by the removal of the outer row of trees on the south side around 1885 and on the north side for road-widening in 1926. In 1950 at the request of

Vincent Harris Emanuel Vincent Harris (26 June 1876 – 1 August 1971), often known as E. Vincent Harris, was an English architect who designed several important public buildings in traditional styles. Early life He was born in Devonport, Devon, and e ...

, controversial architect of City Hall, all remaining trees, the formal promenades, railing, lamps, statue and High Cross were removed and the Green lowered some 4 feet 6 inches, around 75,000 tons of material being taken away. Harris stated that this "would 'make' my building", and considered the removal of the statue and High Cross "a minor detail". Wide new promenades were laid out running parallel to the sides of the Green, with low Portland stone borders. After a period of storage at Redcliffe Wharf during which other locations were considered, and following a campaign for its return, the statue of Queen Victoria was returned to the apex on the Green in 1953. Part of the replica High Cross, vandalised in storage, is now preserved in

Berkeley Square Berkeley Square is a garden square in the West End of London. It is one of the best known of the many squares in London, located in Mayfair in the City of Westminster. It was laid out in the mid 18th century by the architect William Ke ...

. In 1991 the eastern end of Deanery Road was closed to motor traffic and grassed over for much of its length, reuniting the Cathedral with its Green as it had been before 1709. A short section of the eastern end of Deanery road was retained to give access to the Royal Hotel and numbers 4–7 College Green to the east of the Cathedral, re-laid with reclaimed

setts A sett, also known as a block or Belgian block, is a broadly rectangular quarried stone used in paving roads and walkways. Formerly in widespread use, particularly on steeper streets because setts provided horses' hooves with better grip tha ...

. As part of this enhancement scheme, a circular seating area was laid out near the apex and reclaimed cast-iron lamp posts were installed.

Sites of interest

College Green is surrounded by a number of historic and important public buildings, including

, the

Lord Mayor's Chapel St Mark's Church is an ancient church on the north-east side of College Green, Bristol, College Green, Bristol, England, built c. 1230. Better known to mediaeval and Tudor historians as the Gaunt's Chapel, it has also been known within Bri ...

, the

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

and the Abbey Gatehouse. Queen Victoria's statue stands at the apex of the Green, and in the south-western corner near the Central Library is a statue of social reformer

Raja Rammohun Roy Raja Ram Mohan Roy ( bn, রামমোহন রায়; 22 May 1772 – 27 September 1833) was an Indian reformer who was one of the founders of the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, the precursor of the Brahmo Samaj, a social-religious reform m ...

Events

College Green is a popular meeting place for young people, particularly

street sports A street game or street sport is a sport or game that is played on city streets rather than a prepared field. Street games are usually simply play time activities for children in the most convenient venue. Some street games have risen to the l ...

enthusiasts. This has led to tensions, and in 2007 a Group Dispersal Order was served on the area to allow the police to prevent groups of young people congregating. With its proximity to

, College Green is often the focus of protests against local or national government policy. On 15 October 2011, it became the site for Occupy Bristol, a camp established as part of the worldwide

"Occupy" protests The Occupy movement was an international populist Social movement, socio-political movement that expressed opposition to Social equality, social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of "real democracy" around the world. It aimed prim ...

against social and economic inequality. Following the removal of the protesters, and after nearly two months and £20,000 of remedial work, the Green was re-opened on 4 April 2012. College Green is a regular venue for media launches, press calls, charity fundraisers and product launches. On 29 February 2020, a protest by Bristol Youth Strike 4 Climate attended by over 30,000, including

Greta Thunberg Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg (; born 3 January 2003) is a Swedish environmental activist who is known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation. Thunberg's activism began when she persuaded ...

, was held on the Green. Due to recent damp weather, the area became trampled into mud. An appeal for money to repair the damage quickly raised about £15,000 although, as it turned out, only minor interventions were needed to restore the grass. Some of the money was used in April 2021 to create a wildflower area near the cathedral, and the rest of the funds were passed to a local charity, the Bristol and Bath Parks Foundation, for use elsewhere in the city.

Gallery

Image:Lord Mayor's Chapel and tower.JPG, St Mark's Church Image:Victoria statue.jpg, Queen Victoria Statue Image:Bristol Cathedral west end.JPG,

Image:Bristolcentrallibrary.jpg,

Bristol Central Library Bristol Central Library is a historic building on the south side of College Green, Bristol, England. It contains the main collections of Bristol's public library. Built in 1906 by Charles Holden, its design was influential in the development ...

Image:Great Gatehouse north side.jpg,

The Great Gatehouse The Great Gatehouse (), also known as the Abbey Gatehouse, is a historic building on the south side of College Green in Bristol, England. Its earliest parts date back to around 1170. It was the gatehouse for St Augustine's Abbey, which was the pr ...

Image:Ram Mohan Roy.JPG, Statue of

Ram Mohan Roy Raja Ram Mohan Roy ( bn, রামমোহন রায়; 22 May 1772 – 27 September 1833) was an Indian reformer who was one of the founders of the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, the precursor of the Brahmo Samaj, a social-religious reform ...

Image:Bristol council house.jpg,

In popular culture

The Green was a filming location for scenes for the 2007–2013 E4 drama series ''Skins'', and the 2008

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, curre ...

comedy-drama '' Being Human.'' College Green is mentioned in "Wash Away", a song by Bristol-based band

Coasts The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

from their 2016 debut album '

References

* Andrew Foyle, ''Bristol'', Pevsner Architectural Guides (2004)

External links

{{Culture in Bristol Parks and open spaces in Bristol Squares in Bristol Bristol Cathedral