Bristol

Bristol was founded by 1000; by about 1020, it was a trading centre with a mint producing silver pennies bearing its name.[21] By 1067, Brycgstow was a well-fortified burh, and that year the townsmen beat back a raiding party from Ireland led by three of Harold Godwinson's sons.[21] Under Norman rule, the town had one of the strongest castles in southern England.[22] Bristol was the place of exile for Diarmait Mac Murchada, the Irish king of Leinster, after being overthrown. The Bristol merchants subsequently played a prominent role in funding Richard Strongbow de Clare and the Norman invasion of Ireland.[23]

Robert Ricart's map of Bristol, drawn when he became common clerk of the town in 1478. At the centre, it shows the High Cross.[24]

The port developed in the 11th century around the confluence of the Rivers Frome and Avon, adjacent to Bristol Bridge just outside the town walls.[25] By the 12th century, there was an important Jewish community in Bristol which survived through to the late 13th century when all Jews were expelled from England.[26] The stone bridge built in 1247 was replaced by the current bridge during the 1760s.[27] The town incorporated neighbouring suburbs and became a county in 1373,[28] the first town in England to be given this status.[29][30][31] During this period, Bristol became a shipbuilding and manufacturing centre.[32] By the 14th century, Bristol, York and Norwich were England's largest medieval towns after London.[33] One-third to one-half of the population died in the Black Death of 1348–49,[34] which checked population growth, and its population remained between 10,000 and 12,000 for most of the 15th and 16th centuries.[35]

West front of Bristol Cathedral

During the 15th century, Bristol was the second most important port in the country, trading with Ireland,[36] Iceland[37] and Gascony.[32] It was the starting point for many voyages, including Robert Sturmy's (1457–58) unsuccessful attempt to break the Italian monopoly of Eastern Mediterranean trade.[38] New exploration voyages were launched by Venetian John Cabot, who in 1497 made landfall in North America.[39] A 1499 voyage, led by merchant William Weston of Bristol, was the first expedition commanded by an Englishman to North America.[40] During the first decade of the 16th century Bristol's merchants undertook a series of exploration voyages to North America and even founded a commercial organisation, 'The Company Adventurers to the New Found Land', to assist their endeavours.[41] However, they seem to have lost interest in North America after 1509, having incurred great expenses and made little profit.

During the 16th century, Bristol merchants concentrated on developing trade with Spain and its American colonies.[42] This included the smuggling of prohibited goods, such as food and guns, to Iberia[43] during the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604).[44] Bristol's illicit trade grew enormously after 1558, becoming integral to its economy.[45]

The original Diocese of Bristol was founded in 1542,[46] when the former Abbey of St. Augustine (founded by Robert Fitzharding four hundred years earlier)[47] became Bristol Cathedral. Bristol also gained city status that year.[48] During the English Civil War in the 1640s the city was occupied by Royalists, who built the Royal Fort House on the site of an earlier Parliamentarian stronghold.[49]

The 17th-century Old Dutch House, High Street, Bristol, before destruction in the Blitz, 1940

Fishermen from Bristol, who had fished the Grand Banks of Newfoundland since the 16th century,[50] began settling Newfoundland permanently in larger numbers during the 17th century, establishing colonies at Bristol's Hope and Cuper's Cove. Growth of the city and trade came with the rise of England's American colonies in the 17th century. Bristol's location on the west side of Great Britain gave its ships an advantage in sailing to and from the New World, and the city's merchants made the most of it, with the city becoming one of the two leading outports in all of England by the middle of the 18th century.[51] Bristol was the slave capital of England: In 1755, it had the largest number of slave traders in the country with 237, as against London's 147.[52] It was a major supplier of slaves to South Carolina before 1750.[53]

An 1873 engraving showing Colston Hall, the port and cathedral of Bristol

The 18th century saw an expansion of Bristol's population (45,000 in 1750)[54] and its role in the Atlantic trade in Africans taken for slavery to the Americas. Bristol and later Liverpool became centres of the Triangular Trade.[55] Manufactured goods were shipped to West Africa and exchanged for Africans; the enslaved captives were transported across the Atlantic to the Americas in the Middle Passage under brutal conditions.[56] Plantation goods such as sugar, tobacco, rum, rice, cotton and a few slaves (sold to the aristocracy as house servants) returned across the Atlantic to England.[56] Some household slaves were baptised in the hope this would lead them to be freed. The Somersett Case of 1772 clarified that slavery was illegal in England.[57] At the height of the Bristol slave trade from 1700 to 1807, more than 2,000 slave ships carried a conservatively estimated 500,000 people from Africa to slavery in the Americas.[58]

In 1739, John Wesley founded the first Methodist chapel, the New Room, in Bristol.[59] Wesley, along with his brother Charles Wesley and George Whitefield, preached to large congregations in Bristol and the neighbouring village of Kingswood, often in the open air.[60][61]

Wesley published a pamphlet on slavery, titled Thoughts Upon Slavery, in 1774[62] and the Society of Friends began lobbying against slavery in Bristol in 1783. The city's scions remained nonetheless strongly anti-abolitionist. Thomas Clarkson came to Bristol to study the slave trade and gained access to the Society of Merchant Venturers records.[63] One of his contacts was the owner of the Seven Stars public house, who boarded sailors Clarkson sought to meet. Through these sailors he was able to observe how slaver captains and first mates "plied and stupefied seamen with drink" to sign them up.[63][64] Other informants included ship surgeons and seamen seeking redress. When William Wilberforce began his parliamentary abolition campaign on 12 May 1788, he recalled the history of the Irish slave trade from Bristol, which he provocatively claimed continued into the reign of Henry VII.[63] Hannah More, originally from Bristol, and a good friend of both Wilberforce and Clarkson, published "Slavery, A Poem" in 1788, just as Wilberforce began his parliamentary campaign.[65] His major speech on 2 April 1792 likewise described the Bristol slave trade specifically, and led to the arrest, trial and subsequent acquittal of a local slaver captain named Kimber.[63]

The city was associated with Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who designed the Great Western Railway between Bristol and London Paddington, two pioneering Bristol-built oceangoing steamships (SS Great Britain and SS Great Western), and the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The new railway replaced the Kennet and Avon Canal, which had fully opened in 1810 as the main route for the transport of goods between Bristol and London.[66] Competition from Liverpool (beginning around 1760), disruptions of maritime commerce due to war with France (1793) and the abolition of the slave trade (1807) contributed to Bristol's failure to keep pace with the newer manufacturing centres of Northern England and the West Midlands. The tidal Avon Gorge, which had secured the port during the Middle Ages, had become a liability. An 1804–09 plan to improve the city's port with a floating harbour designed by William Jessop was a costly error, requiring high harbour fees.[67]

Black-and-white etching showing the towers of St Stephen's Church, St Augustine the Less Church and Bristol Cathedral, published c. 1850

During the 19th century, Samuel Plimsoll, known as "the sailor's friend," campaigned to make the seas safer; shocked by overloaded vessels, he successfully fought for a compulsory load line on ships.[68]

By 1867, ships were getting larger and the meanders in the river Avon prevented boats over 300 feet (90 m) from reaching the harbour, resulting in falling trade.[69] The port facilities were migrating downstream to Avonmouth and new industrial complexes were founded there.[70] Some of the traditional industries including copper and brass manufacture went into decline,[71] but the import and processing of tobacco flourished with the expansion of the W.D. & H.O. Wills business.[72]

Supported by new industry and growing commerce, Bristol's population (66,000 in 1801), quintupled during the 19th century,[73] resulting in the creation of new suburbs such as Clifton and Cotham. These provide architectural examples from the Georgian to the Regency style, with many fine terraces and villas facing the road, and at right angles to it. In the early 19th century, the romantic medieval gothic style appeared, partially as a reaction against the symmetry of Palladianism, and can be seen in buildings such as the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery,[74] the Royal West of England Academy,[75] and The Victoria Rooms.[76] Riots broke out in 1793[77] and 1831; the first over the renewal of tolls on Bristol Bridge, and the second against the rejection of the second Reform Bill by the House of Lords.[78] The population by 1841 had reached 140,158.[79]

The Diocese of Bristol had undergone several boundary changes by 1897 when it was "reconstituted" into the configuration which has lasted into the 21st century.[80]

A 1946 map of Bristol

From a population of about 330,000 in 1901, Bristol grew steadily during the 20th century, peaking at 428,089 in 1971.[81] Its Avonmouth docklands were enlarged during the early 1900s by the Royal Edward Dock.[82] Another new dock, the Royal Portbury Dock, opened across the river from Avonmouth during the 1970s.[83] As air travel grew in the first half of the century, aircraft manufacturers built factories.[84] The unsuccessful Bristol International Exhibition was held on Ashton Meadows in the Bower Ashton area in 1914.[85] After the premature closure of the exhibition the site was used, until 1919, as barracks for the Gloucestershire Regiment during World War I.[86][87]

St Mary le Port Church, destroyed on 24 November 1940

Bristol was heavily damaged by Luftwaffe raids during World War II; about 1,300 people living or working in the city were killed and nearly 100,000 buildings were damaged, at least 3,000 beyond repair.[88][89] The original central shopping area, near the bridge and castle, is now a park containing two bombed churches and fragments of the castle. A third bomb-damaged church nearby, St Nicholas was restored and after a period as a museum has now re-opened as a church.[90] It houses a 1756 William Hogarth triptych painted for the high altar of St Mary Redcliffe. The church also has statues of King Edward I (moved from Arno's Court Triumphal Arch) and King Edward III (taken from Lawfords' Gate in the city walls when they were demolished about 1760), and 13th-century statues of Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester (builder of Bristol Castle) [91] and Geoffrey de Montbray (who built the city's walls) from Bristol's Newgate.[92]

Ambrose Road, in the Cliftonwood neighbourhood

The rebuilding of Bristol city centre was characterised by 1960s and 1970s skyscrapers, mid-century modern architecture and road building. Beginning in the 1980s some main roads were closed, the Georgian-era Queen Square and Portland Square were restored, the Broadmead shopping area regenerated, and one of the city centre's tallest mid-century towers was demolished.[93] Bristol's road infrastructure changed dramatically during the 1960s and 1970s with the development of the M4 and M5 motorways, which meet at the Almondsbury Interchange just north of the city and link Bristol with London (M4 eastbound), Swansea (M4 westbound across the Severn Estuary), Exeter (M5 southbound) and Birmingham (M5 northbound).[94] Bristol was bombed twice by the IRA, in 1974 and again in 1978.[95]

The 20th-century relocation of the docks to Avonmouth Docks and Royal Portbury Dock, 7 miles (11 km) downstream from the city centre, has allowed the redevelopment of the old dock area (the Floating Harbour).[96] Although the docks' existence was once in jeopardy (since the area was seen as a derelict industrial site), the inaugural 1996 International Festival of the Sea held in and around the docks affirmed the area as a leisure asset of the city.[97]

From 2018, there were lively discussions about a new explicative plaque under a commemorative statue of one of the city's major benefactors in the 17th and 18th centuries. The plaque was meant to replace an original which made no reference to Edward Colston's past with the Royal Africa Company and the Bristol Slave Trade.[98] On 7 June 2020 a statue of Colston was pulled down from its plinth by protestors and pushed into Bristol Harbour.[99] The statue was recovered on 11 June and has become a museum exhibit.[100]

On 1 April 1974, Bristol became a local government district of the county of Avon.[120] On 1 April 1996, Avon was abolished and Bristol became a unitary authority.[121]

The former Avon area, called Greater Bristol by the Government Office of the South West (now abolished) and others,[122] refers to the city and the three neighbouring local authorities‍—‌Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire previously in Avon.

The North Fringe of Bristol, a developed area between the Bristol city boundary and the M4, M5 and M32 motorways (now in South Gloucestershire) was so named as part of a 1987 plan prepared by the Northavon District Council of Avon county.[123]

The West of England Combined Authority was created on 9 February 2017.[124] Covering Bristol and the rest of the old Avon county with the exception of North Somerset, the new combined authority has responsibility for regional planning, roads, and local transport, and to a lesser extent, education and business investment. The authority's first mayor, Tim Bowles, was elected in May 2017.[125] One of the first actions of the new authority was the announcement of a new train station to be built at Portway.[126]

Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge

Bristol's boundaries can be defined in several ways, including those of the city itself, the developed area, or Greater Bristol.

The city council boundary is the narrowest definition of the city itself. However, it unusually includes a large, roughly rectangular section of the western Severn Estuary ending at (but not including) the islands of Flat Holm (in Cardiff, Wales) and Steep Holm.[127] This "seaward extension" can be traced back to the original boundary of the County of Bristol laid out in the charter granted to the city by Edward III in 1373.[128]

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has defined a Bristol Urban Area, which includes developed areas adjoining Bristol but outside the city-council boundary, such as Kingswood, Mangotsfield, Stoke Gifford, Winterbourne, Almondsbury, Easton in Gordano, Whitchurch village, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, but excludes undeveloped areas within that boundary.[129]

Avon Gorge and Clifton Suspension Bridge, looking towards the city of Bristol

Bristol lies within a limestone area running from the Mendip Hills in the south to the Cotswolds in the northeast.[130] The rivers Avon and Frome cut through the limestone to the underlying clay, creating Bristol's characteristically hilly landscape. The Avon flows from Bath in the east, through flood plains and areas which were marshes before the city's growth. To the west the Avon cuts through the limestone to form the Avon Gorge, formed largely by glacial meltwater after the last ice age.[131]

The gorge, which helped protect Bristol Harbour, has been quarried for stone to build the city, and its surrounding land has been protected from development as The Downs and Leigh Woods. The Avon estuary and the gorge form the county boundary with North Somerset, and the river flows into the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth. A smaller gorge, cut by the Hazel Brook which flows into the River Trym, crosses the Blaise Castle estate in northern Bristol.[131]

Bristol is sometimes described, by its inhabitants, as being built on seven hills. From 18th century guidebooks, these 7 hills were known as simply Bristol (the Old Town), Castle Hill, College Green, Kingsdown, St Michaels Hill, Brandon Hill and Redcliffe Hill.[132] Other local hills include Red Lion Hill, Barton Hill, Lawrence Hill, Black Boy Hill, Constitution Hill, Staple Hill, Windmill Hill, Malborough Hill, Nine Tree Hill, Talbot, Brook Hill and Granby Hill.

Bristol is 106 miles (171 km) west of London, 77 miles (124 km) south-southwest of Birmingham and 26 miles (42 km) east of the Welsh capital Cardiff. Areas adjoining the city fall within a loosely defined area known as Greater Bristol. Bath is located 11 miles (18 km) south east of the city centre, Weston-super-Mare is 18 miles (29 km) to the south west, and the Welsh city of Newport is 19 miles (31 km) to the north west.

The climate is oceanic (Köppen: Cfb), milder than most places in England and United Kingdom.[133][134] Located in southern England, Bristol is one of the warmest cities in the UK with a mean annual temperature of approximately 10.5 °C (50.9 °F).[135][136] It is among the sunniest, with 1,541–1,885 hours of sunshine per year.[137] Although the city is partially sheltered by the Mendip Hills, it is exposed to the Severn Estuary and the Bristol Channel. Annual rainfall increases from north to south, with totals north of the Avon in the 600–900 mm (24–35 in) range and 900–1,200 mm (35–47 in) south of the river.[138] Rain is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, with autumn and winter the wetter seasons. The Atlantic Ocean influences Bristol's weather, keeping its average temperature above freezing throughout the year, but winter frosts are frequent and snow occasionally falls from early November to late April. Summers are warm and drier, with variable sunshine, rain and clouds, and spring weather is unsettled.[139]

The weather stations nearest Bristol for which long-term climate data are available are Long Ashton (about 5 miles (8 km) south west of the city centre) and Bristol Weather Station, in the city centre. Data collection at these locations ended in 2002 and 2001, respectively, and Filton Airfield is currently the nearest weather station to the city.[140] Temperatures at Long Ashton from 1959 to 2002 ranged from 33.5 °C (92.3 °F) in July 1976[141] to −14.4 °C (6.1 °F) in January 1982.[142] Monthly high temperatures since 2002 at Filton exceeding those recorded at Long Ashton include 25.7 °C (78.3 °F) in April 2003,[143] 34.5 °C (94.1 °F) in July 2006[144] and 26.8 °C (80.2 °F) in October 2011.[145] The lowest recent temperature at Filton was −10.1 °C (13.8 °F) in December 2010.[146] Although large cities in general experience an urban heat island effect, with warmer temperatures than their surrounding rural areas, this phenomenon is minimal in Bristol.[147]

Bristol was ranked as Britain's most sustainable city (based on its environmental performance, quality of life, future-proofing and approaches to climate change, recycling and biodiversity), topping environmental charity Forum for the Future's 2008 Sustainable Cities Index.[150][151] Local initiatives include Sustrans (creators of the National Cycle Network, founded as Cyclebag in 1977)[152] and Resourcesaver, a non-profit business established in 1988 by Avon Friends of the Earth.[153] In 2014 The Sunday Times named it as the best city in Britain in which to live.[154] The city received the 2015 European Green Capital Award, becoming the first UK city to receive this award.[155]

In 2019 Bristol City Council voted in favour of banning all privately owned diesel cars from the city centre.[156] Since then, the plans have been revised in favour of a clean air zone whereby older and more polluting vehicles will be charged to drive through the city centre. The Clean Air Zone is currently due to come into effect in Summer 2022.[157]

The city has green belt mainly along its southern fringes, taking in small areas within the Ashton Court Estate, South Bristol crematorium and cemetery, High Ridge common and Whitchurch, with a further area around Frenchay Farm. The belt extends outside the city boundaries into surrounding counties and districts, for several miles in places, to afford a protection from urban sprawl to surrounding villages and towns.

The Runnymede Trust found in 2017 that Bristol "ranked 7th out of the 348 districts of England & Wales (1=worst) on the Index of Multiple Inequality."[167] In terms of employment, the report found that "ethnic minorities are disadvantaged compared to white British people nationally, but this is to a greater extent in Bristol, particularly for black groups." Black people in Bristol experience the 3rd highest level of educational inequality in England and Wales.[167]

The population of Bristol's contiguous urban area was put at 551,066 by the ONS based on Census 2001 data.[168] In 2006 the ONS estimated Bristol's urban-area population at 587,400,[169] making it England's sixth-most populous city and tenth-most populous urban area.[168] At 3,599 inhabitants per square kilometre (9,321/sq mi) it has the seventh-highest population density of any English district.[170] According to data from 2019, the urban area has the 11th-largest population in the UK with a population of 670,000.[171]

In 2007 the European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON) defined Bristol's functional urban area as including Weston-super-Mare, Bath and Clevedon with a total population of 1.04 million, the twelfth largest of the UK.[172]

The Coopers Hall, entrance to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Royal complex

Site of the former Bristol Industrial Museum, now the M Shed

Well Hung Lover, one of many Banksy artworks in the city, which has since been vandalised with blue paint (partially cleaned by the city council)

Bristol has a thriving current and historical arts scene. Some of the modern venues and modern digital production companies have merged with legacy production companies based in old buildings around the city. In 2008 the city was a finalist for the 2008 European Capital of Culture, although the title was awarded to Liverpool.[211] The city was designated "City of Film" by UNESCO in 2017 and has been a member of the Creative Cities Network since then.[212]

The Bristol Old Vic, founded in 1946 as an offshoot of The Old Vic in London, occupies the 1766 Theatre Royal (607 seats) on King Street; the 150-seat New Vic (a studio-type theatre), and a foyer and bar in the adjacent Coopers' Hall (built in 1743). The Theatre Royal, a grade I listed building,[213][214] is the oldest continuously operating theatre in England.[215] The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (which originated in King Street) is a separate company, and the Bristol Hippodrome is a 1,951-seat theatre for national touring productions. Other smaller theatres include the Tobacco Factory, QEH, the Redgrave Theatre at Clifton College and the Alma Tavern. Bristol's theatre scene features several companies as well as the Old Vic, including Show of Strength, Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory and Travelling Light. Theatre Bristol is a partnership between the city council, Arts Council England and local residents to develop the city's theatre industry.[216] Several organisations support Bristol theatre; the Residence (an artist-led community) provides office, social and rehearsal space for theatre and performance companies,[217] and Equity has a branch in the city.[218]

The city has many venues for live music, its largest the 2,000-seat Bristol Beacon, previously Colston Hall, named after Edward Colston. Others include the Bristol Academy, The Fleece, The Croft, the Exchange, Fiddlers, the Victoria Rooms, Rough Trade, Trinity Centre, St George's Bristol and several pubs, from the jazz-oriented The Old Duke to rock at the Fleece and indie bands at the Louisiana.[219][220] In 2010 PRS for Music called Bristol the UK's most musical city, based on the number of its members born there relative to the city's population.[221] Since the late 1970s Bristol has been home to bands combining punk, funk, dub and political consciousness. With trip hop and Bristol Sound artists such as Tricky,[222] Portishead[223] and Massive Attack,[224] the list of bands from Bristol is extensive. The city is a stronghold of drum and bass, with artists such as Roni Size's Mercury Prize-winning Reprazent,[225] as DJ Krust,[226] More Rockers[227] and TC.[228] Trip hop and drum & bass music, in particular, is part of the Bristol urban-culture scene which received international media attention during the 1990s.[229] The Downs Festival is also a yearly occurrence where both local and well-known bands play. Since its inception in 2016, it has become a major event in the city.

The Bristol Museum and Art Gallery houses a collection encompassing natural history, archaeology, local glassware, Chinese ceramics and art. The M Shed museum opened in 2011 on the site of the former Bristol Industrial Museum.[230] Both are operated by Bristol Culture and Creative Industries, which also runs three historic houses‍—‌the Tudor Red Lodge, the Georgian House and Blaise Castle House; and Bristol Archives.[231] The 18th- and 19th-century portrait painter Thomas Lawrence, 19th-century architect Francis Greenway (designer of many of Sydney's first buildings) were born in the city. The graffiti artist Banksy is believed to be from Bristol, and many of his works are on display in the city.

The Watershed Media Centre and Arnolfini gallery (both in dockside warehouses) exhibit contemporary art, photography and cinema, and the city's oldest gallery is at the Royal West of England Academy in Clifton.[232] The nomadic Antlers Gallery opened in 2010, moving into empty spaces on Park Street, on Whiteladies Road and in the Purifier House on Bristol's Harbourside.[233] Stop-motion animation films and commercials (produced by Aardman Animations) are made in Bristol.[234] Robert Newton, Bobby Driscoll and other cast members of the 1950 Walt Disney film Treasure Island (some scenes were filmed along the harbourside) were visitors to the city along with Walt Disney himself. Bristol is home to the regional headquarters of BBC West and the BBC Natural History Unit.[235] Locations in and around Bristol have featured in the BBC's natural-history programmes, including Animal Magic (filmed at Bristol Zoo).[236]

Bristol is the birthplace of 18th-century poets Robert Southey[237] and Thomas Chatterton.[238] Southey (born on Wine Street in 1774) and his friend, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, married the Fricker sisters from the city.[239] William Wordsworth spent time in Bristol,[240] where Joseph Cottle published Lyrical Ballads in 1798. Actor Cary Grant was born in Bristol, and comedians from the city include Justin Lee Collins,[241] Lee Evans,[242] Russell Howard[243] and writer-comedian Stephen Merchant.[244]

The author John Betjeman wrote a poem called "Bristol". [245] It begins:

Green upon the flooded Avon shone the after-storm-wet-sky,
Quick the struggling withy branches let the leaves of autumn fly,
And a star shone over Bristol, wonderfully far and high.

Garden front of John Vanbrugh's Kings Weston House, Bristol

The Llandoger Trow, a historic Bristol pub

Bristol has 51 Grade I,[214] 500 Grade II* and over 3,800 Grade II listed buildings[246] in a variety of architectural styles, from medieval to modern. During the mid-19th century Bristol Byzantine, a style unique to the city, was developed, and several examples have survived. Buildings from most architectural periods of the United Kingdom can be seen in the city. Surviving elements of the fortifications and castle date to the medieval period,[247] and the Church of St James dates back to the 12th century.[248]

The oldest Grade I listed buildings in Bristol are religious. St James' Priory was founded in 1129 as a Benedictine priory by Earl Robert of Gloucester, the illegitimate son of Henry I.[249] The second-oldest is Bristol Cathedral and its associated Great Gatehouse.[250] Founded in 1140, the church became the seat of the bishop and cathedral of the new Diocese of Bristol in 1542. Most of the medieval stonework, particularly the Elder Lady Chapel, is made from limestone taken from quarries around Dundry and Felton with Bath stone being used in other areas.[251] Amongst the other churches included in the list is the 12th-century St Mary Redcliffe which is the tallest building in Bristol. The church was described by Queen Elizabeth I as "the fairest, goodliest, and most famous parish church in England."[252]

Secular buildings include The Red Lodge, built in 1580 for John Yonge as a lodge for a larger house that once stood on the site of the present Bristol Beacon (previously known as Colston Hall). It was subsequently added to in Georgian times and restored in the early 20th century.[253] St Bartholomew's Hospital is a 12th-century town house which was incorporated into a monastery hospital founded in 1240 by Sir John la Warr, 2nd Baron De La Warr (c. 1277–1347), and became Bristol Grammar School from 1532 to 1767, and then Queen Elizabeth's Hospital 1767–1847. The round piers predate the hospital, and may come from an aisled hall, the earliest remains of domestic architecture in the city, which was then adapted to form the hospital chapel.[254] Three 17th-century town houses which were attached to the hospital were incorporated into model workers' flats in 1865, and converted to offices in 1978. St Nicholas's Almshouses were built in 1652[255] to provide care for the poor. Several public houses were also built in this period, including the Llandoger Trow[256] on King Street and the Hatchet Inn.[257]

A colour photo of Corn Street in Bristol showing the now destroyed Dutch House. (C.1930-1940)

Manor houses include Goldney Hall, where the highly decorated Grotto dates from 1739.[258] Commercial buildings such as the Exchange[259] and Old Post Office[260] from the 1740s are also included in the list. Residential buildings include the Georgian Portland Square[261] and the complex of small cottages around a green at Blaise Hamlet, which was built around 1811 for retired employees of Quaker banker and philanthropist John Scandrett Harford, who owned Blaise Castle House.[262] The 18th-century Kings Weston House, in northern Bristol, was designed by John Vanbrugh and is the only Vanbrugh building in any UK city outside London. Almshouses[263] and pubs from the same period[264] intermingle with modern development. Several Georgian squares were designed for the middle class as prosperity increased during the 18th century.[265] During World War II, the city centre was heavily bombed during the Bristol Blitz.[266] The central shopping area near Wine Street and Castle Street was particularly hard-hit, and the Dutch House and St Peter's Hospital were destroyed. Nevertheless, in 1961 John Betjeman called Bristol "the most beautiful, interesting and distinguished city in England".[267]

Railways in the Bristol area
Cross Country Route Thornbury branch line Yate South Wales Main Line New Passage Pier Westerleigh Junction New Passage Halt Cross Hands Halt South Wales Main Line Pilning Severn Beach Coalpit Heath Severn View Industrial Park Winterbourne Chittening Industrial Estate Bristol Parkway Patchway Smoke Lane Industrial Estate Ram Hill Colliery Chittening Platform Hallen Halt Avonmouth Docks Henbury St Andrews Road Charlton Halt Avonmouth (BPR&P) North Filton Platform Stoke Gifford depot Avonmouth (Royal Edward) Westerleigh Goods Depot Avonmouth Docks Avonmouth Filton Junction Avonmouth Light Railway Filton Avonmouth Docks Filton Abbey Wood Shirehampton Horfield Sea Mills Ashley Hill Clifton Down Tunnel Mangotsfield (1845–1869) Clifton Down Mangotsfield (1869–1966) Redland Staple Hill Montpelier Fishponds Hotwells Halt Warmley Hotwells Narroways Hill Junction Stapleton Road sidings Grey line represents Stapleton Road boundary of Bristol Oldland Common unitary authority area Avon Valley Railway Lawrence Hill Waste depot Bitton Bristol St Philip's Barton Hill Depot St Mary Redcliffe tunnel Avon Riverside Bristol Temple Meads Bristol Temple Meads Princes' Wharf Kelston Bristol Harbour Railway St Philip's Marsh T&RSMD SS Great Britain East Depot Bristol Docks (North) Bedminster Bristol Docks (South) Parson Street CREATE Centre Mangotsfield branch line South Liberty Lane Depot Ashton Gate St Anne's Park Clifton Bridge Brislington Nightingale Valley Halt Long Ashton Ham Green Halt Bristol–Exeter line Pill Whitchurch Halt Portbury shipyard Keynsham Royal Portbury Dock Bristol & North Somerset Rly Portbury Shipyard Saltford Portbury Great Western Main Line (1954–1964) Portishead Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Light Railway (1879–1954) Portishead Portishead Pier

Bristol has two principal railway stations. Bristol Temple Meads (near the city centre) has Great Western Railway services which include high-speed trains to London Paddington and local, regional and CrossCountry trains. Bristol Parkway, north of the city centre, has high-speed Great Western Railway services to Swansea, Cardiff Central and London Paddington and CrossCountry services to Birmingham and east of Northern England. A limited service to London Waterloo, via Clapham Junction, from Temple Meads is operated by South Western Railway and there are scheduled coach links to most major UK cities.[342]

Bristol Temple Meads station

Bristol's principal surviving suburban railway is the Severn Beach Line to Avonmouth and Severn Beach. Although Portishead Railway's passenger service was a casualty of the Beeching cuts, freight service to the Royal Portbury Dock was restored from 2000 to 2002 with a Strategic Rail Authority rail-freight grant. The MetroWest scheme, formerly known as The Greater Bristol Metro, proposes to increase the city's rail capacity[343] including the restoration of a further 3 miles (5 km) of track on the line to Portishead (a dormitory town with one connecting road), is due to open in 2023.[344] A further commuter rail line from Bristol Temple Meads to Henbury, on an existing freight line, is due to open in 2021.[345]

The M4 motorway connects the city on an east–west axis from London to West Wales, and the M5 is a north–south west axis from Birmingham to Exeter. The M49 motorway is a shortcut between the M5 in the south and the M4 Severn Crossing in the west, and the M32 is a spur from the M4 to the city centre.[342] The Portway connects the M5 to the city centre, and was the most expensive road in Britain when opened in 1926.[346][347]

As of 2019, Bristol is working on plans for a Clean Air Zone to reduce pollution, which could involve charging the most polluting vehicles to enter the city centre.[348][349]

Several road-construction plans, including re-routing and improving the South Bristol Ring Road, are supported by the city council.[350]

Port of Bristol

Private car use is high in the city, leading to traffic congestion costing an estimated £350 million per year.[351] Bristol allows motorcycles to use most of the city's bus lanes and provides secure, free parking for them.[352]

Public transport in the city consists primarily of a First West of England bus network. Other providers are Abus,[353] Stagecoach West, Stagecoach South West and until its sale to Stagecoach West, Wessex Bus.[354][355] Bristol's bus service has been criticised as unreliable and expensive, and in 2005 FirstGroup was fined for delays and safety violations.[356][357]

Although the city council has included a light rail system in its local transport plan since 2000, it has not yet funded the project; Bristol was offered European Union funding for the system, but the Department for Transport did not provide the required additional funding.[358] As of 2019, a four-line mass transit network with potential underground sections is proposed to link Bristol city centre with Bristol Airport via South Bristol, the North Fringe, East Bristol and Bath.[359]

A new bus rapid transit system (BRT) called MetroBus, is currently under construction across Bristol, as of 2018, to provide a faster and more reliable service than buses, improve transport infrastructure and reduce congestion. The MetroBus rapid transit scheme will run on both bus lanes and segregated guided busways on three routes; North Fringe to Hengrove (route m1), Ashton Vale to Bristol Temple Meads (route m2), and Emersons Green to The Centre (route m3).[360] MetroBus services started in 2018.[361]

Three park and ride sites serve Bristol.[362] The city centre has water transport operated by Bristol Ferry Boats, Bristol Packet Boat Trips and Number Seven Boat Trips, providing leisure and commuter service in the harbour.[363]

Bristol was designated as England's first "cycling city" in 2008 and one of England's 12 "Cycling demonstration" areas.[364] It is home to Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity. The Bristol and Bath Railway Path links it to Bath, and was the first part of the National Cycle Network. The city also has urban cycle routes and links with National Cycle Network routes to The rest of the Country. Cycling trips increased by 21% from 2001 to 2005.[351]

Bristol Airport, Lulsgate

The runway, terminal and other facilities at Bristol Airport (BRS), Lulsgate, have been upgraded since 2001.[342] In 2019 it was ranked the eighth busiest airport in the United Kingdom, handling nearly 8.9 million passengers, an over 3% increase compared with 2018.[365]