Bristol - Bristol-Oporto Association Website

Go to content

Bristol

Bristol - West Country hub


Bristol has a history every bit as long and illustrious as Porto. It is now a centre for the aerospace industry (Airbus) and home to many IT companies. However, its history is still evident when walking around the city (see slideshow below). There are excellent markets and historic sites. St Mary Redcliffe was described by Elizabeth I (1533-1603) as "The fairest, goodliest, and most famous parish church in England."  It is very much worth a visit.
Unfortunately, much of the old part of Bristol was destroyed during WWII, but there is still much that remains of interest. The Llandoger Trow pub dates from 1664 and Christmas Steps dates from 1669. The old port of Bristol was converted into a cultural space housing restaurants, educational resources (@Bristol) and a centre for cinema, as well as much else. Bristol is also home to Aardman Animations, makers of ‘Wallace and Gromit’.
The construction of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Great Western Railway (know, when built in 1833, as ‘God’s Wonderful Railway) linked Bristol to London and all towns in between. Brunel also designed the famous suspension bridge over Clifton Gorge, but died before it was finished. His SS Great Britain, the largest ship in the world when launched (1843), is still moored in Bristol and is now a worthy visitor attraction.


Bristol has recently been named by B24/7 as one of the best places to visit virtually, see it here.


Bristol’s medieval cellars.... some local history!!.
 
In medieval times Bristol's merchants traded in wines from France, Spain and Portugal. Back in the 12th century French wines from Gascony in particular attracted less duty and Bristol was in pole position as a port to take full advantage of this trade. Water was not that drinkable and beer not yet popular which helped a lot. Ships carrying the local red wool cloth would set off to trade and to bring back wines for storage in cellars in the old town. This started Bristol's successful place as a great trader in wine, sherry and port over the centuries.
 
Where was the wine stored as there were no warehouses at this time?
 
The answer was in cellars built under the medieval properties. They also had a second use as they provided a firm foundation for the wooden buildings above. These cellars belonged to the city churches, religious institutions and others were under the merchants' private homes. Constructed of stone, some were designed in ecclesiastic style with decorated stone vaults and columns. They had the advantage of being safe from fire and as good as a bank
when wealth was counted in goods rather than cash. There are fine examples under the High Street and beneath John Foster's house in Small Street as well as in Broad Street, High Street, and Wine Street. In total 169 cellars have been listed in the heart of the old city alone! The most prized cellars had access to river frontage but to access others sleds drawn by horses or dogs had to be hired to carry the barrels through the streets. No carts were allowed as the concentrated pressure and vibration of the wheels could make the cellar roofs collapse onto the precious contents below. Pavements became worn and you can see today the metalled edges used to strengthen them.
 
Why do we not know more about them?
 
Many were lost for good when Victorians enjoying a great building boom in the 1880s demolished the old timber framed houses and disposed of the rubbish by throwing most of the rubble into the cellar space. This made charting the old cellar network extremely difficult. However many still exist, for example the extraordinarily deep cellars in Frogmore Street and under Avery's Wine Company. Until recently Harvey's cellars and museum were a well-known local attraction. The Colston Hall once the site of Colston's Great House has two-storey cellars which have been in recent use. Unsurprisingly there are cellars also under King St and Prince Street as well.
 
If you have anything you can add please do let us know as we are finding this topic of great interest.
 
Porto unsurprisingly has underground wine cellars too and one especially has been turned into a major tourist attraction. Jeremy Irons does a voice over introduction here.
 
Martin our Webmaster has also been investigating Bristol's medieval underground cellars and passageways which weave their way through the old town, city centre and harbour areas and has come up with interesting links and YouTube videos. Over to Martin.............


What is under your feet?
Well, maybe the floorboards and then, deeper down, utility pipes. But what if you look deeper?
If you live in central Bristol (or one of many other cities in the world) there may be more than you know. It was common practice in medieval times to excavate a vault below your property to safeguard valuables. Many of these still exist.
In Bristol, near St. Nicholas Market, there is a small obelisk. What is it for? Find out here. There are also tunnels under the centre, which covers the River Frome here and here. Famously, there are caverns under the supports of Clifton Suspension Bridge, only recently discovered here.
Some of the tunnels in the centre lead down to the river, for the owner’s convenience. Barrels of wine could be unloaded direct from the importing ship into the tunnels. This may have also avoided the Customs and Excise.
A cursory search on the internet will bring up many fascinating results relating to these tunnels and vaults. None of which offer a way to avoid legally due taxes (as far as I can find out).
An interesting book on this subject is; Secret Underground Bristol, Watson, Sally, 2002 ISBN 1-874092-95-8

Other books on the history of Bristol are listed below:
Bristol; A People’s History, Aughton, Peter, 2000, ISBN 1-85936-097-1
A Darker History of Bristol, Robinson, Derek, 2005ISBN 1-85306-930-2
Central Bristol Through Time, Beeson, Anthony, 2012, ISBN978-1-4456-0825-9
A History of Bristol, and Gloucestershire, Smith, Brian and Ralph, Elizabeth, 1996 ISBN 0-85033-993-6
Photographic Memories of Bristol, Hardy, Clive, 2006 ISBN 978-1-84546-376-2

                                 


A selection of links with information on Bristol follows:


A recent article in "The Guardian" newspaper emphasises how much Bristol is progressing in the forefront of technology as a city.

In short, there is much to see and experience in Bristol, not the least of which is the Bristol accent/dialect. See the You Tube clip here.

For further information, see the Wikipedia page at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol

For tourism, please see visitbristol.co.uk

For a fascinating history of Bristol in interactive maps,
please visit: bristol.gov.uk/page/planning-and-building-regulations/know-your-place


A wonderful site, full of information on Old Bristol, may be found here.


Bristol recently celebrated the 150th Anniversary of the iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge. A link to the BBC website story is here.

More information and a selection of pictures and a video are at the Bristol Post website here.


Bristol's hi-tech initiatives have featured in the presitigious magazine/website "Wired". See the article here.


Bristol is now the European Green Capital. See links here and here and here.


A large part of Bristol and the nearby city of Bath was destroyed during the Second World War 'blitz'. An interesting clip (59min) released by the British Film Institute of the devasation caused may be seen here.


A charity initiative starring Aardman Animation's "Shaun the Sheep" is currently very popular in Bristol. See details here.


That venerable journal, "The New York Times" recently published a travel article on Bristol. Read here.

These sites open in new windows.

Now see the slideshow of Bristol photos (autoplay):

The safest cities in the UK? Try Bristol. Out of 18 cities in the UK, Bristol was number 2. Why would you not want to visit?

During WWII, Bristol suffered as badly with some 15,000 bombs dropped on the city in one night. There were six major air raids in total, with 85,000 buldings destroyed and 1,299 people killed. The link will take you to a fascinating story of what happened to all the rubble that resulted.


Back to content