Old City, Bristol
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Bristol City Centre is the commercial, cultural and business 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 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 ...
. It is the area north of the New Cut of the River Avon, bounded by Clifton Wood and
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 ...
to the north-west, Kingsdown and Cotham to the north, and
St Pauls St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...
,
Lawrence Hill Lawrence Hill (born January 24, 1957) is a Canadian novelist, essayist, and memoirist. He is known for his 2007 novel '' The Book of Negroes,'' inspired by the Black Loyalists given freedom and resettled in Nova Scotia by the British after the A ...
and St Phillip's Marsh to the east. The Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
, the main campus of 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 ...
, the Crown and Magistrate's Courts, Temple Meads railway station,
Bristol bus station Bristol Bus and Coach Station serves the city of Bristol in the west of England. It is situated on Marlborough Street, near the Broadmead shopping area. The original bus station and onsite depot were opened in 1958 by the Bristol Omnibus Compan ...
, the Park Street,
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 ...
and Cabot Circus shopping areas together with numerous music venues, theatres and restaurants are located in this area. The area consists of the council wards of Central, Hotwells & Harbourside, and part of Lawrence Hill.


Historic centre

The mediaeval heart of the city was immediately north of
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 ...
, between the River Frome and the River Avon, at the
High Cross A high cross or standing cross ( ga, cros ard / ardchros, gd, crois àrd / àrd-chrois, cy, croes uchel / croes eglwysig) is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval traditi ...
where the four cross streets High Street, Wine Street, Broad Street and
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 an ...
meet. The traditional view that this was also the
Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
centre was challenged in the 1970s by archaeology suggesting that Bristol's origins lay to the east of High Street in the area that is now Castle Park, but recent Saxon finds around Small Street favour the earlier view. This was Bristol's pre-war central shopping district, a knot of ancient narrow streets including Wine Street, Mary le Port Street and Castle Street, which was severely damaged in 1940 during the Bristol Blitz. The area to the north and west of Castle Park, around Broad Street, Corn Street and
St Nicholas Market St Nicholas Market is a market in Corn Street, Bristol, England in The Exchange in the Bristol City Centre. It is also home to the Bristol Farmers' Market, the Nails Market, and the Slow Food Market, all of which are located in front of the Exc ...
largely survived, and contains many historic buildings.


The Centre

The course of the River Frome, immediately to the west of the historic centre, was covered over in stages, in the second half of the 19th century. The area became the hub of the city's tramway network, and was known as the Tramways Centre. It was so called long after the last trams left in 1941, but is now known simply as The Centre. Between 1936 and 1938, the Centre was enlarged when more of the River Frome, between Broad Quay and St Augustine's Parade, was covered in, making way for the Inner Circuit Road. The western side of the Inner Circuit Road has since been largely decommissioned, and recent works have rebalanced The Centre in favour of pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users.


Broadmead

The area northeast of the historic area, around Broadmead, was redeveloped after the war despite overwhelming public opinion against it, and the streets and shops in Broadmead became the main shopping district of the city. Like many 1950s buildings in Britain, affordable but architecturally uninteresting utilitarian buildings form the bulk of the Broadmead area. In the 1980s, some of these were demolished to make way for the Galleries shopping centre, which is a three level covered street. In 2008, the shopping area was extended over the central ring road to produce a new shopping centre, Cabot Circus, which opened in September 2008.


Harbourside

The City Docks were immediately south of the Centre. Although most ships used Avonmouth Docks after the Royal Edward Dock was opened in 1908, ocean-going ships were regularly seen at the Centre until the 1960s. In 1972 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 ...
was opened, and the City Docks were closed. The harbour buildings, including the tobacco warehouses, became redundant. The harbourside has been regenerated in the 1990s and 2000s, with the refurbishment of warehouses as bars, restaurants, the
Watershed Media Centre Watershed opened in June 1982 as the United Kingdom's first dedicated media centre. Based in former warehouses on the harbourside at Bristol, it hosts three cinemas, a café/bar, events/conferencing spaces, the Pervasive Media Studio, and offi ...
and the Arnolfini art gallery, as well as the creation of the At-Bristol science centre (later rebranded as
We the Curious We The Curious (previously At-Bristol or "@Bristol") is a science centre, science and arts centre and Charitable organization, educational charity in Bristol, England. It features over 250 interactive exhibits over two floors, and members of t ...
).


Gallery

Image:river.avon.from.balloon.bristol.arp.jpg, The channelled River Avon (the Floating Harbour) flows through the city centre; most of the central part of the City of Bristol is shown here Image:bristol city centre from bottom of park street arp.jpg, The Centre, seen from the bottom of Park Street Image:The Galleries Shopping Centre.JPG, The North Entrance to the Galleries Shopping Centre, Broadmead Image:St. Augustine's Reach.JPG, St. Augustine's Reach, Bristol Harbour Image:New Build.JPG, Radisson Blu Hotel and Broad Quay Serviced Apartments, The Centre File:Corn Street, Bristol - geograph.org.uk - 1756889.jpg, Corn Street, heart of the Old City File:Hammerbeam roof in the Great Hall of the Wills Memorial Building.JPG, Hammerbeam roof in the Great Hall of the Wills Memorial Building, University of Bristol File:BBC Bristol TV Studios, Whiteladies Road - geograph.org.uk - 149571.jpg, BBC Bristol TV Studios, Whiteladies Road File:Bristol Children's Hospital Sculpture.jpg, Sculpture outside Bristol Children's Hospital File:Small Street, Bristol, 2018.jpg, Crown Court, Small Street File:Bristol TM, Booking Offices, north-west end.jpg, Booking Office, Temple Meads Station File:Bristol Bus Station.jpg, Bristol Bus Station File:Park Street, Bristol - geograph.org.uk - 1756895.jpg, Park Street and Wills Memorial Building


References


External links


Bristol Old City websiteBroadmead Bristol website The future of Broadmead and Merchants Quarter
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060707155822/http://www.bristolcitycentre.com/default.asp?PageID=1 Bristol City Centre expansion websitebr>Map of Bristol City Centre circa 1900
{{Areas of Bristol Areas of Bristol Central business districts in the United Kingdom