Queen Square is a
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
square
In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length adj ...
in the centre of
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.
Following the 1831 riot, Queen Square declined through the latter part of the 19th century, was threatened with a main line railway station, but then bisected by a dual carriageway in the 1930s. By 1991 20,000 vehicles including scheduled buses were crossing the square every day, and over 30% of the buildings around it were vacant.
In 1999, a successful bid for
National Lottery funding allowed Queen Square to be restored to its approximate 1817 layout. The buses were diverted, the dual carriageway was removed, forecourts and railings were restored, and Queen Square re-emerged as a magnificent public space surrounded by high quality commercial accommodation.
History
The site of Queen Square was once part of a large area of marsh land which
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 ...
e (founder of the abbey which is now
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 ...
) included in its endowments. When the marsh was cut in two by the digging of
St Augustine's Reach in the 13th century, the Abbot gave the eastern portion (which became the Town Marsh) to Bristol and retained the western portion (which became
Canon's Marsh
Cabot was a council ward that covered the centre of Bristol, England. It took its name from the Cabot Tower, a memorial tower on Brandon Hill that was built to commemorate John Cabot's voyage and "discovery" of North America. The ward was abolis ...
).
The Town Marsh lay outside a fortified wall which was built to the north of the current line of
King Street; new building work took place to the north of this wall on land made available by blocking the old course of the River Frome.
The Town Marsh became an important open recreation area, with bear-baiting and a bull ring, and was also used to practice weaponry, play bowls, hang pirates, store gunpowder, and dump rubbish. By the 1660s buildings were appearing on King Street and Prince Street.
In 1699 Bristol's Council had debts of £16,000 which they could barely service: a new source of income was required. Town Clerk John Romsey, together with his business crony, Mayor John Batchelor, proposed to address this problem by selling off building plots on the marsh at an annual ground rent of one shilling (£0.05) per of frontage. There was a rush to take out leases, sometimes on more than one property, which the Sheriff and three subsequent mayors all joined. The leases stipulated that the buildings must be of three stories of set heights, and of brick - an unusual material for Bristol at that time, possibly chosen because Romsey had a friend who owned a brick kiln.
The square was named in honour of
Queen Anne, who visited Bristol in 1702, and it became the home of the merchant elite. It was conveniently placed for both arms of the
harbour
A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...
, but its low-lying position surrounded on three sides by a tidal river had disadvantages too: an 'assemblage of nastiness' floated in the river, and when the tide failed to carry this away it offended the eyes and nostrils of those living in the square. This was one of the factors which ultimately led the wealthy to the move up the hill to
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 ...
.
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
Woodes Rogers
Woodes Rogers ( 1679 – 15 July 1732) was an English sea captain, privateer, Atlantic slave trade, slave trader and, from 1718, the first List of colonial heads of the Bahamas, Royal Governor of the Bahamas. He is known as the captain of ...
lived on the west side of the square; a plaque commemorates this on the building that now occupies the site of his former home. Rogers circumnavigated the globe in 1707-1711, rescuing
Alexander Selkirk
Alexander Selkirk (167613 December 1721) was a Scottish privateer and Royal Navy officer who spent four years and four months as a castaway (1704–1709) after being marooned by his captain, initially at his request, on an uninhabited island i ...
(the inspiration for
Dafoe's Robinson Crusoe
''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...
) from
Juan Fernández Island during his voyage.
William Miles (1728–1803), Sheriff of Bristol in 1766, Mayor of Bristol in 1780 and Warden of the Merchant Venturers, lived at number 61 (now renumbered as 69/70/71) and the house became the offices of his family's extensive business interests.
The first overseas US Consulate was established at what is now No.37 Queen Square in 1792.
1831 Riot
In 1831 Queen Square was the focus of a
riot
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 targete ...
, in which half the buildings in the square were destroyed. The trigger for this was the arrival in Bristol of
Recorder
Recorder or The Recorder may refer to:
Newspapers
* ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper
* ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US
* ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...
Sir Charles Wetherell, who misjudged Bristolians' support for some of his earlier positions to mean that they agreed with his opposition to the
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. ...
. Wetherell arrived in Bristol on 29 October 1831 and was received by a mob who jeered and threw stones at him. At the Guildhall, he inflamed the situation by threatening to imprison any member of the mob who could be identified; they followed him to the Mansion House in Queen Square from which he was able to escape in disguise.
The Mayor and Corporation, who actually supported reform, remained trapped in the Mansion House.
Their appeals for help fell on deaf ears; Bristolians despised the Corporation and were not inclined to defend them. To make things worse, as soon as the dignitaries were inside the Mansion House the Special Constables who had been defending them set about getting their own back on the crowd, reviving the disturbance. There followed three days of rioting, looting and arson, fuelled by plentiful supplies of alcohol from the well-stocked cellars of residents, which were finally brought to a halt when Lieutenant-Colonel
Thomas Brereton
Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Brereton (1782–1832) was an officer of the British Army.
Career
He was descended from Sir William Brereton, Chief Justice and Lord High Marshal of Ireland, from the ancient and noble family of Brereton, Cheshire, En ...
of the
14th Dragoons
The 14th King's Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1715. It saw service for two centuries, including the First World War, before being amalgamated with the 20th Hussars to form the 14th/20th King's Hussars in 192 ...
led a charge with drawn swords through the mob. Hundreds were killed and wounded and the mob dispersed. Brereton was later court-martialled for leniency because he had initially refused to open fire on the crowds, but shot himself before the conclusion of his trial.
About 100 people involved were tried in January 1832 by
Chief Justice Tindal.
Four men were hanged, despite a
petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication.
In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offici ...
of 10,000 Bristolian signatures which was given to
King William IV
William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...
.
Decline
The north and west sides of Queen Square were quickly rebuilt after the riots of 1831, but prosperous Bristolians took to the hills and moved to the 'Tory redoubt' of Clifton.
In the early 1860s, when the ''Bristol and Clifton Railway Company'' proposed to build Bristol Central railway station in Queen Square, there was no objection on conservation grounds and the scheme received general approval, supported by 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 ...
and backed by many of the city's business leaders. Ultimately concerns that it would 'divert the commerce of the city', which is to say take trade away from various industries in the docks, led to the scheme's demise. However, in 1937 Bristol Corporation approved the construction of a dual carriageway road diagonally across the square, from the north-west to the south-east corner, destroying its peace and tranquillity. This formed part of the
Inner Circuit Road, connecting Redcliffe Way with
The Centre, and involved the demolition of property in both corners of the Square and the re-alignment of the Rysbrack statue.
Restoration
By 1966 the Corporation were looking at the possibility of reducing the flow of traffic through the square by changing the route of the Inner Circuit Road to pass along The Grove and thence across the mouth of St Augustine's Reach. They even considered it possible that the road across Queen Square might eventually be closed if circumstances permitted.
By the 1980s it was recognised that the dual carriageway was a "massive intrusion" on the amenity of the Square, and plans were made to "put things right".
In 1992 the dual carriageway was closed to through traffic for an initial six-month trial period.
[Queen Square Experimental Closure to Through Traffic, leaflet, Avon County Council and Bristol City Council, 1992] It never reopened. Buses continued to pass around the Square, however, until they were eventually diverted via The Grove and Prince Street.
The square has now been restored to a very high standard. The railings and forecourts of the surrounding buildings have been reinstated, and the central open space with its promenades and equestrian statue restored to their former grandeur. The restoration is recognised as a major success.
Queen Square today
Queen Square is now a popular place for visitors and office workers to relax, and receives an estimated 1.6 million visitors per year. It regularly hosts outdoor theatre and cinema, music concerts, business exhibitions and other major events, and an annual
petanque league run by the Queen Square Association.
Sites of interest
* In the centre of the Square is an idealised
equestrian statue of William III by
John Michael Rysbrack
Johannes Michel or John Michael Rysbrack, original name Jan Michiel Rijsbrack, often referred to simply as Michael Rysbrack (24 June 1694 – 8 January 1770), was an 18th-century Flemish sculptor, who spent most of his career in England where h ...
, cast in 1733 and erected in 1736 to signify the city's loyalty. The brass statue is on a Portland ashlar pedestal with a moulded plinth and cornice and is a grade I
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
* The north side contains the ''Custom House'' (1835–37) by
Sydney Smirke
Sydney Smirke (20 December 1797 – 8 December 1877) was a British architect.
Smirke who was born in London, England as the fifth son of painter Robert Smirke and his wife, Elizabeth Russell. He was the younger brother of Sir Robert Smirke ...
, (II* listed),
and a terrace (1833) by Henry Rumley, which are now offices, (II* listed).
*The east side contains some 20th-century buildings and the
Port Authority Office (1889) by
William Venn Gough
William Venn Gough (1842–1918) was an architect responsible for a number of prominent buildings in Bristol. His works include the Cabot Tower, Colston's Girls' School (now Montpelier High School), Trinity Road Library, St Aldhelm's church ...
. The
Sailors Refuge which makes up nos 27–29 dates from 1709–11 and is II* listed.
* The south side contains varied 18th century buildings, which are similar to those nearby in
Queen Charlotte Street and
King Street. Two are by
R.S. Pope.
* The west side was rebuilt in the 1830s after the riot, largely by Henry Rumley, some of which are still private houses but many are offices.
Listed buildings
The majority of buildings on Queen Square are
listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
. Some, like the central statue, are of outstanding value in their own right; others such as No.12 are included mainly for their group value:
Queen Square uses a clockwise-consecutive
house numbering
House numbering is the system of giving a unique number to each building in a street or area, with the intention of making it easier to locate a particular building. The house number is often part of a postal address. The term describes the numb ...
system, with No.1 near the middle of its north side.
Gallery
Image:Queen Square Riot 1831 engraving.jpg, alt=A chaotic scene of a riot in which buildings burn in the background while people are attacked by mounted soldiers with swords, The 1831 Riot in a nineteenth-century engraving
File:1-9 Queen Square, Bristol.jpg, North side of Queen Square
File:Queen Square Bristol Dec09.jpg, Queen Square in winter, December 2009
File:17-24 Queen Square Bristol.jpg, Former Port of Bristol Authority offices and east side of Queen Square
Image:Custom House Queen Sq.jpg, Sydney Smirke's Custom House
File:Sailors Refuge Bristol.jpg, Sailors Refuge, 29 Queen Square
File:Queen square closure leaflet cover May 1992.jpg, Leaflet announcing experimental closure of dual carriageway across the Square, May 1992
File:Queen Square Bristol 5 shilling telegraph stamp 1877.jpg, A telegraph stamp
Telegraph stamps are stamps intended solely for the prepayment of telegraph fees. The customer completed a telegraph form before handing it with payment to the clerk who applied a telegraph stamp and cancelled it to show that payment had been ...
used at the telegraph office in Queen Square in 1877
Image:070522 ukbris qsqs.jpg, Statue of William III William III or William the Third may refer to:
Kings
* William III of Sicily (c. 1186–c. 1198)
* William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702)
* William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg ...
by John Michael Rysbrack
Johannes Michel or John Michael Rysbrack, original name Jan Michiel Rijsbrack, often referred to simply as Michael Rysbrack (24 June 1694 – 8 January 1770), was an 18th-century Flemish sculptor, who spent most of his career in England where h ...
erected in Queen Square in 1736
File:Bristolparks.jpg, Aerial view of central Bristol; Queen Square is seen to the left of the picture
References
Citations
Sources
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{{Culture in Bristol
Parks and open spaces in Bristol
History of Bristol
Grade I listed buildings in Bristol
Grade II listed buildings in Bristol
Grade II* listed buildings in Bristol
Grade I listed monuments and memorials
1727 establishments in England
Garden squares in Bristol