Mary le Port Street (also known as ''St Mary le Port Street'', ''Maryleport Street'' or ''Maryport Street'') was an important thoroughfare from an early stage in the development of the settlement of

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, England, linking the area around St Peters Church and, later,

Bristol Castle Bristol Castle was a Norman castle established in the late 11th century on the north bank of the River Avon in Bristol. Remains can be seen today in Castle Park near the Broadmead Shopping Centre, including the sally port. Built during the ...

with the Saxon core of the town to the west at

High Street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

, Wine Street,

Corn Street Corn Street, together with Broad Street, Wine Street and High Street, is one of the four cross streets which met at the Bristol High Cross, the heart of Bristol, England when it was a walled medieval town. From this crossroads Corn Street a ...

and Broad Street. It was heavily damaged by aerial bombing in 1940, and was relegated to an unnamed service road and footway in post-war reconstruction of the area. Recent versions of the Bristol Local Plan have sought to re-instate this street and some of the surrounding historic street layout, to improve the link between the shopping area of

Broadmead Broadmead is a street in Bristol city centre in 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 recorded in 1383 as ''Brodem ...

and the St Nicholas Market area.

History

Mary le Port Street originated as a pre-

conquest Conquest involves the annexation or control of another entity's territory through war or Coercion (international relations), coercion. Historically, conquests occurred frequently in the international system, and there were limited normative or ...

hollow way A sunken lane (also hollow way or holloway) is a road or track that is significantly lower than the land on either side, not formed by the (recent) engineering of a road cutting but possibly of much greater age. Holloways may have been formed i ...

. Archaeological excavations in 1962 to 1963 found evidence of late

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

activity on either side of this way, and of a timber building from this period. In the 13th century or later the hollow way was filled in and paved, possibly using material derived from the digging out of cellars in the area. St Mary le Port Church was probably built in Saxon times, and was subsequently enlarged and rebuilt to reach its peak of development in the 15th century. Writing in the 1920s, Charles Wells described ''Maryleport St'' as a place where: Wells described the church as being ''much hidden from view by these old shops'', and ''best viewed from its churchyard behind''. The street made an impression on J. B. Priestley when he visited in 1933: Along with the surrounding ancient streets, Mary le Port Street was bombed on the night of 24 November 1940 and almost completely destroyed. Post-war reconstruction plans for a new Civic Centre – consisting of an art gallery, museum, hotel and exhibition centre, to be built in the area between St Peter's Church and High Street – came to nothing, and the sites on either side of Mary le Port Street were leased to the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...

and the Norwich Union Insurance Company, whose now-derelict buildings still occupy the sites.

Today

Mary le Port Street has disappeared from the map; its carriageway was taken up in October 1963. The ruins of St Mary le Port Church are a scheduled monument, whilst the tower is a listed building. In 2018,

Bristol City Council Bristol City Council is the local authority for the city of Bristol, in South West England. Bristol has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1996 the council has been a unitary authority, being ...

sought to reinstate this street: The site was sold to international investment company Federated Hermes in 2020. Developer MEPC stated that they intended to create "A new memorable and distinctive place that reinstates lost streets and routes that existed before the Second World War". The site of Mary le Port Street is within the Old City and Queen Square

Conservation Area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

Gallery

File:Mary le Port Street, Bristol, 2018.jpg, Remains of Mary le Port Street, looking towards High Street from St Peter's Church File:Looking across High Street into the former Mary le Port Street, Bristol, 2018.jpg, Looking across High Street into the former Mary le Port Street; tower of church is visible on right File:Mediaeval town of Bristol.jpg, Millerd's Map of 1671, showing Mary le Port Street and Church

References

{{reflist, colwidth=30em, refs= {{cite book , title=Mary-le-Port Bristol Excavations 1962/3 , first1=Lorna , last1=Watts , first2=Philip , last2=Rahtz , publisher=City of Bristol Museums and Art Gallery , year=1985 , isbn=0-900199-26-1 {{cite web , url=https://www.bristol.gov.uk/documents/20182/34540/BCAP%20Adopted%20March%202015%20-%20Main%20Document%20&%20Annex%20-%20Web%20PDF.pdf/d05a0c22-ab91-4530-926a-f26160ab72a5 , title=Bristol Local Plan – Bristol Central Area Plan , work=Bristol City Council , accessdate=27 April 2018 {{cite book , title=The Medieval Churches of Bristol , publisher=University of Bristol (Bristol branch of the Historical Association) , author=M Q Smith , date=1970 , page=4 {{cite book , title=Bristol's History , publisher=Reece Winstone , author=Charles Wells , date=1969 , page=27 , isbn=0 900814 29 2 {{cite book , title=English Journey , first=J.B. , last=Priestley , chapter=To Bristol and Swindon , year=1934 , publisher=Heinemann {{cite book , title=West at War , first1=James , last1=Besley , first2=Helen , last2=Reid , publisher=Redcliffe Press Limited , isbn=0 948 265 64 7 , chapter=2 Living Through the Blitz , date=1990 {{cite book, title=The Fight for Bristol, last1=Priest, first1=Gordon, last2=Cobb, first2=Pamela, publisher=Bristol Civic Society and The Redcliffe Press, year=1980, chapter=Open Spaces {{cite book , title=Bristol as it Was 1963–1975 , first=John , last=Winstone , page=17 , year=1990 , isbn=0 900814 70 5 , publisher=Reece Winstone {{National Heritage List for England, num=1208338, desc=Tower of Church of St Mary-le-Port, access-date=2018-04-30 {{National Heritage List for England, num=1021385, desc=St Mary-le-Port Church, access-date=2018-04-30 {{cite web , url=https://bristol.citizenspace.com/growth-regeneration/city-centre-framework/supporting_documents/CCF%20Old%20City%20subarea%20March%202018.pdf , title=The City Centre Framework – Old City – character statement and place plan , work=Bristol City Council City Design Group , year=2018 , access-date=2018-05-10 , pages=4–6 {{cite web , url=https://www.bristol.gov.uk/documents/20182/33832/city-and-queen-square-character-appraisal-red-1.pdf , work=Bristol City Council , access-date=2018-05-03 , title=Conservation Area No.4 – City and Queen Square – Character Appraisal History of Bristol Streets in Bristol Archaeological sites in Bristol