The Downs are an area of public open

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

downland Downland, chalkland, chalk downs or just downs are areas of open chalk hills, such as the North Downs. This term is used to describe the characteristic landscape in southern England where chalk is exposed at the surface. The name "downs" is deriv ...

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. They consist of

Durdham Down Durdham Down is an area of public open space in Bristol, England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and ...

to the north and east and Clifton Down to the south. They are used for leisure, walking, team sports and sightseeing (especially at the Avon Gorge cliff edge). A grey concrete

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...

of 1954 stands on the Downs near the top of Blackboy Hill, with a long, low, covered

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

alongside it.

Durdham Down

Durdham Down is the north and east part of the Downs, extending to Westbury Park and

Henleaze Henleaze is a suburb in the north of the city of Bristol in South West England. It is an almost entirely residential interwar development, with Edwardian streets on its southern fringes. Its main neighbours are Westbury on Trym, Horfield, ...

, with an area of . It is owned by

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 ...

for the benefit of the people of Bristol.

Clifton Down

Clifton Down is the southern part of the Downs, next to Clifton and extending to the edge of the

Avon Gorge The Avon Gorge () is a 1.5-mile (2.5-kilometre) long Canyon, gorge on the River Avon (Bristol), River Avon in Bristol, England. The gorge runs south to north through a limestone ridge west of Bristol city centre, and about 3 miles (5&nbs ...

, with an area of . It is owned by the Society of Merchant Venturers.

Management

Since an Act of Parliament in 1861, when Bristol Corporation acquired Durdham Down, the Downs have been managed as a single unit by the Downs Committee, a joint committee of the corporation and the Merchant Venturers. They have been designated

common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

since the early 1970s by Bristol City Council.

Events

There are permanent football pitches, used by the Bristol Downs Football League. There are also temporary attractions on the Downs, such as

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

es and (until 2006) the annual Bristol Flower Show. Since 2016 it has been the site of The Downs Festival, an annual music festival with both local and nationally known bands attending. In 1982 6,000 people assembled on the Downs in response to a local newspaper advertisement placed by the makers of the new breakfast television show

TV-am TV-am was a TV company that broadcast the ITV franchise for breakfast television in the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 until 31 December 1992. The station was the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchise ...

. The 6,000 people were used to make the words 'Good', 'Morning' and 'Britain', used for the opening titles of the show. It took 2 hours to get them into place and another 2 hours to shoot.

In popular culture

The Downs played a significant role in

Jack Thorne Jack Thorne FRSL (born 6 December 1978) is a British playwright, television writer, screenwriter, and producer. A massive fan of hard science fiction, he is best known for writing the stage play '' Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'', the fil ...

's 2018

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

mini-series '' Kiri''.

Gallery

Image:Clifton Down - The Observatory (750px).jpg, The Observatory on Clifton Down gives a dramatic view of the Avon Gorge Image:Bristol cd 041004 kites.jpg, Kites on the Downs in early autumn Image:Bristol, Avon Gorge from Clifton Down.jpg, The Avon Gorge from the Downs

References

External links

Bristol City Council page on the Downs
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Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife ProjectMinutes of the Downs Committee
{{DEFAULTSORT:Downs Areas of Bristol Parks and open spaces in Bristol Sports venues in Bristol Severn Beach Line