Harbour railway track beside the Avon New Cut

Spike Island is an

inner city The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists some ...

and harbour area of the English port city 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 ...

, adjoining the city centre. It comprises the strip of land between the

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 perm ...

to the north and the

tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

New Cut of the River Avon to the south, from the dock entrance to the west to Bathurst Basin in the east. The island forms part of Cabot ward. The area between the Docks and New cut to the east of Bathurst Basin is in the neighbourhoods of Redcliffe and St Philip's Marsh.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS Explorer Map 155 – Bristol & Bath''. . Spike Island was created 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 ...

in the early 19th century, when he constructed the New Cut and converted the former course of the River Avon into the Floating Harbour. Until the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

, a lock connected Bathurst Basin with the New Cut, and Spike Island was a genuine island surrounded on all sides by water. However, fears that an aerial attack on this lock at low tide could lead to a disastrous dewatering of the docks led to the lock being filled in. Historically, Spike Island was the site of working quays, shipyards, warehousing and other associated dockside industry. The Bristol Harbour Railway runs the length of the island, and formerly connected these working areas with the railway network. With the redevelopment of the docks, the Island has become an area popular with developers looking to create prime dock side housing such as ''Baltic Wharf'', ''The Point'' and ''Perretts Court''. There are also a few restaurants and popular pubs such as ''The Orchard Inn'' and ''The Cottage''. Other formerly dock-related buildings have become cultural venues or museums. These include: * Spike Island Artspace, a collective of artists' studios located in a former tea-packing factory * M Shed, the museum of Bristol, on the site of the former Bristol Industrial Museum, in a former dockside transit shed * Bristol Archives in B Bond Warehouse, a former tobacco warehouse * Brunel's SS ''Great Britain'', preserved in the dry dock in which she was built * CREATE Centre, also in B Bond Warehouse, an ecological art exhibition and Ecohome Other historic buildings have been converted into office space, housing small businesses and legal and financial companies such as Creditcall. The path of the harbour railway across Spike Island is proposed for a £38 million rapid transit bus route from Ashton Vale to the city centre. The existing steam railway would be retained, but buses would gain a congestion-free journey into the city. Subject to planning permission and finances, work could start 2012 with services running 2014.

References

External links

* {{Areas of Bristol Areas of Bristol Redeveloped ports and waterfronts in England