Barton Hill is an area 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 ...

, just to the east of the city centre and

Bristol Temple Meads railway station Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is located away from London Paddington. It is an important transport hub for public transport in the city; there are bus services to many parts of the city ...

. It includes residential, retail and industrial premises and is crossed by major roads, railway tracks and the feeder canal leading to

Bristol 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 River Avon, Bristol, Avon through the city but was made into its current form in 1809 when the tide was preven ...

Geology

The solid geology of Barton Hill is

Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...

Redcliffe sandstone.

History

Barton was a manor just outside Bristol mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

as ''Bertune apud Bristov'', and later in 1220 as ''Berton Bristoll''. In

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 ...

and early Norman times the manor was held by the king, and was known as Barton Regis. The manor gave its name to Barton Regis Hundred, the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

. Sloping ground at the southern end of the hundred, leading down to St Philip's Marsh, became known as Barton Hill. Cotton-mill-1837

The Great Western Cotton Factory on Great Western Lane was designed by

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel ( ; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history", "one of the 19th-century engi ...

in the early 19th century. Great Western Cotton factory opened in 1838 and closed in 1925. From a plan of 1839 the sheds are seen to have contained up to 1600 looms. The main spinning mill was demolished in 1968. After World War 2, many homes in Barton Hill, Lawrence Hill, Easton and St. Paul's were destroyed due to being bombed. A large housing estate was built in the area during the 1950s and 1960s to house many of the homeless residents of inner city Bristol. Nine tower blocks and two blocks of maisonettes were constructed during this period of time. The oldest of these, Barton House, opened on 23 July 1958 and is the oldest tower block in Bristol. Many residents of this area and other inner city Bristol areas could not all be housed in these estates and had to be moved to other newly built larger outlying estates such as Southmead, Lawrence Weston, Knowle West and Hartcliffe.

Barton House evacuation

In November 2023, residents were evacuated from Barton House after a major structural fault was discovered. Bristol City Council said that Barton House was not constructed according to plans and that issues were found with its concrete sections, with the evacuation a precaution to allow for more in depth surveys of the structure. Residents complained that they did not receive enough support following the short-notice evacuation, and held a protest at

Bristol City Hall City Hall (formerly the Council House) was built as the seat of government of the city of Bristol, in the south west of England, opening in 1956. Designed in the 1930s, with construction delayed by the Second World War, it is in a restrained ...

Music

*Barton Hill is a stronghold of drum and bass with notable artist and Mercury Prize-winning

Roni Size Ryan Owen Granville Williams (born 29 October 1969), better known by his stage name Roni Size, is an English DJ and record producer. He came to prominence in 1997 as the founder and frontman of Roni Size & Reprazent, a drum and bass collective. ...

/Reprazent having a studio in the area, with his album Return of V showing Barton Hill on the cover. *During 1977 and 1978 Barton Hill Youth Centre was a popular venue for

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and new wave acts to play. Among the bands that appeared were

Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees ( ) were a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. Post-punk pioneers, they were widely influential, both over their contemporaries and later ...

, Subway Sect, Slaughter and the Dogs,

Adam and the Ants Adam and the Ants were an English Rock music, rock band that formed in London in 1977. The band existed in two versions, both fronted by Adam Ant, between 1977 and 1982. The first phase began when the band were founded in May 1977 and were call ...

, Cocksparrer, Wayne County and the Electric Chairs and local acts including The Media, The Pigs and The Pop Group. It was probably Bristol's first live punk venue. However escalating violence at the gigs contributed to its short lifespan as a concert venue.

Arts

*In Bristol Studio is an Art and design studio which has been based in the old Cotton Mill on Great Western Lane since 2006. The Cotton Mill has been converted into work space for artists, designers and makers. Also providing workshops for ceramics, printmaking and woodwork. *Barton Hill Artists are a free collective of locally based artists who specialise in community art activism and community based public installation. Their work includes a mosaic on the Ducie Road railway bridge in the area, and a mural in Gaunts Ham Park, in nearby

Lawrence Hill, Bristol Lawrence Hill is an electoral ward of Bristol, United Kingdom and includes the districts of Barton Hill, St Philips Marsh and Redcliffe, Temple Meads and parts of Easton and the Broadmead shopping area. Lawrence Hill takes its name from a ...

. * The Twisted Pixie, who produces

psychedelic art Psychedelic art (also known as psychedelia) is art, graphics or visual displays related to or inspired by psychedelic experiences and hallucinations known to follow the ingestion of psychedelic drugs such as lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, psil ...

for part of Bristol's psytrance scene, also resides in Barton Hill. * Travelling Light is a children's theatre company based at Wellspring Settlement, formerly Barton Hill Settlement. * For

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a Christian martyrs, martyr named Saint Valentine, Valentine, and ...

2020 a

Banksy Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive ep ...

artwork appeared on the side wall of a house in Marsh Lane. Shortly after, it was vandalised.

References

External links

* Th
Wellspring Settlement
is a community resource for people in Barton Hill. Among other services it offers adult education classes on a variety of subjects, and runs a creche.
In Bristol Studio
is work space based in Barton Hill for artist, designers and makers.
Barton Hill Advice Service
{{Areas of Bristol Areas of Bristol Places formerly in Gloucestershire