BRISTOL

The most fashionable of all streets perhaps was Small Street There

lived Jlderman Kitchen whose house was sufficiently grand to serve as

lodging for the Earl of Leicester later the Creswick family had a very

fine mansion here where official visitors including royalty were entershy

tained The splendour was maintained even increased after the Restorashytion Colonel Aldworth Town Clerk for one had a mansion in Broad

Street which with its grounds spread over two later streets Nicholas Street was chosen by Alderman Whitson and Aubrey records that he

kept a noble house and did entertain the peers and great persons that

came to the city in a dining-room which was the stateliest of any

Indeed the interiors of the houses of the burghal patriciate were often

far more splendid than their outsides and were as a French visitor and

Aubrey thought like palaces They were the patrons of Bristols craftsshy

men of the men for instance who made Alderman Langtons remarkable

drawing-room on the Welsh Back its pillared doorway was inlaid with ivory and mother of pearl 69 Many of the numerous inns must also have

been fine buildings for the better-class ones were far more than hostelries

being used for all kinds of public occasions such as the taking of deshypositions or the entertainment of distinguished official visitors Often

they were owned by wealthy citizens an Elizabethan city chamberlain

built the Mermaid Tavern in Broad Street and Mayor Oliffe was landshy

lord of the Three Tuns where the Papal Nuncio once dined 70

Intermixed with all the new or re-modelled houses many old-fashioned

and humble ones of two or one storey certainly remained in the less

fashionable main streets and of course in the back streets where they must have prevailed Some were thatched at least as late as 1574 when an

ordinance forbad its use and many could only be described as squalid and out of repair 71 Yet all in all Bristol was a place of great beauty On

this natives and visitors from Roger Barlow onwards were agreed He wrote of the sumptuous bridge Drayton in felicitous verse of the citys

fair building and admirable grace Camden found it so fair that it fully

corresponded to the name of Brightstow and Millerd summed up local

patriotism with a Latin paeon translated here as This city sublime

spacious faithful pleasant and glorious protects the district hates

wrong-doing keeps peace

THE GOLDEN AGE AND AFTER 1700-1828

The eighteenth century opened gloriously for Bristol was soon to outshy

distance her old provincial rivals - York and Norwich - and become in

Defoes words of all cities in the kingdom the greatest the wealthiest

London excepted 72 Already wealthy and in point of commerce superior

to any town apart from the capital the freeing in 1698 of the African

trade from the control of the Royal African Company and the legalization

of the voyages of the interlopers opened immense new fields to her enterprising traders Her geographical position on the West coast gave her an advantage even over London and enabled her to wrest from it the

major share in the development of the transatlantic and African comshymerce 73 Her ships now began to be engaged in the notorious triangular

69 Lat i 53 ii 44-510411523133 14deg9446 Sir Henry Creswickes inventory mentions 13 chambers 2 long galleries the hall dining room and kitchen McGrath (3) no 196 For John Whitsons inventory see ibid no 193 For Langtons house see Nand T i 237 iii 58

70 For inns see Lat ii 338 368 382445 For others see ibid subject index and McGfath (3) Wadley Wills 215 and passim W Leighton in BGAS lxv (1944)

157 sqq 71 Lat i 28 7Z Gregory King (1695) estimated Bristols population at 19403 but Norwichs by an

actual enumeration was c29000 Population in History ed Glass and Eversley 19 2 bull

73 For her commercial superiority and position as the leading port see Minchinton (3) xxvi sqq Lat iii 6 It is not without significance in this connexion that Bristol seems to have been the first city outside London to have a local newspaper probably launched in 17deg2 Lat iii 43 catalogue of Early Bristol Newspapers

(Corpn of Bristol 195 6) p 9

voyages of the African slave traders as well as in direct trading with the

West Indies and with North America especially with the plantation

colonies Because of the severe labour shortage on the plantations the

slave trade was generally accepted as indispensable until the last decades

of the century In 1725 Bristol ships carried about seventeen thousand slaves and for a short period in the mid-century dominated the trade Her

ships carried mixed cargoes of goods - textiles beads trinkets muskets

pistols and so on which were pardy of Bristol manufacture - to the Guinea coast there they loaded up with black slaves crossed the

Atlantic and then returned to Bristol with mixed cargoes principally of tobacco timber cotton rice rum and above all of sugar 74 The addishy

tional wealth derived from this branch of her trade affected every aspect

of the citys life it stimulated the growth of its manufactures of its

European and internal trade of its population and these in turn entailed

the physical expansion and rebuilding of much of the old city beginning even in the early decades of the century

Alongside these new developments the citys traditional European

trade though continually interrupted by war remained prosperous As in earlier periods the Iberian Peninsular and the Mediterranean countries were good customers notably for cargoes of cod and train oil Bristol

ships returned loaded with miscellaneous goods for the use of her own

industries and citizens and for redistribution to the West of England

Northern and Western Europe were other chief centres of trade but

since it was the least affected by war the most constant part of her European trade was that with Ireland especially with the southern ports and Dublin 75

The citys industry advanced equally successfully Because of her

plentiful supplies of coal her heavy industries expanded rapidly - lead works and gunshot making zinc and copper smelting iron founding

for casting cannon and all kinds of iron utensils while at Baptist Mills

the first brass-making foundry in England was set up Her commerce

and the ready accessibility of timber naturally ensured that ship-building

with the related manufactures such as the making of ropes and sail cloth should continue to be a major undertaking For the most part the

vessels built either for commerce or the Royal Navy were small but

before 1815 the shipyards at Canons Marsh and Redcliff had built the St Vincent (four hundred and ninety-three tons) the largest West Indiashy

man so far launched and the Nelson - a monstrous three-decked vessel of six hundred tons Nevertheless the yards had by then been outshy

distanced by those of other ports and Bristol came eighth in the list of

the largest ship-building ports after London 76

Chief among other industries was sugar-refining there were sixteen

refineries and their products were exported all over the world an offshy

shoot were the distilleries some already established at the end of the

seventeenth century Each year thousands of pounds were paid in excise

duty on Bristol spirits The tobacco industry and soap-makers likewise

prospered and glass-making expanded steadily As early as 1739

Alexander Pope recorded having seen twenty odd pyramids smoking over the town The window-glass produced was considered the best in

the country and was exported in great quantities to America as well as to

Bath and other English towns coloured glass and bottles for distilleries

also had a wide market So did pottery and porcelain products of a new

enterprise outstanding among which was Bristols imitation Delft ware

7+ For a general account of the slave trade see C ~L MacInnes England and Slavery (1934) reprinted in McGrath (4)

75 For Atlantic and European Trade see Minchinton (2) ix sqq 13-71 appendix E and passim R Davis A Commercial Revolution (BBHA 1967) 22

76 Rees (as above n 44) 300 345 sqq 502-3 Rhys Jenkins BGAS lxiii (I 942) 162 sqq for coalfields see above n 44 J N Darner Powell Bristol Privateers and Ships of War (1930) 317 MacInnes England and Slavery 10 and The Sea Ports in Trade Winds ed C N Parkinson (1948) 67 39 slavers were built between 1727-69 in 3 years (1787-1800) 176 vessels (total tonnage 22644 tons) were built as well as 14 for the Royal ~avy For rope-making see Matthews Dir (1794)

21

BRISTOL

Chocolate and cocoa-making long to be a staple industry were first

begun in 1731 and salt-refining started soon after The manufacture of cotton seems to date from John Careys promotion of it as a suitable work for the boys in his new work-house but evidence for the commershycial exploitation of the industry dates from the second half of the eightshyeenth century when there were at least three mills at work 77 Nor should

the development of the local brick works and stone quarries and the

expansion of all building crafts be overlooked for the century was notable for its building activity To conclude this brief summary of the citys economy the Trade Directories record that besides the wide range of principal manufactures there was hardly a trade that some enterprising Bristolian did not pursue 78

This commercial and industrial expansion involved the growth of the

city as a centre for consumption and distribution More raw materials and more food poured in china clay and copper from Cornwall copper

from Anglesey kelp and clay for the glass industry from Stourbridge freestone from Bath naval timber from the Forest of Dean as well as

iron and coal to mention the most important Among the food imports were barley and wheat from Gloucestershire and the Midlands cider and perry from Hereford and Devon cheese from Cheshire lia Shrewsbury and the Severn Goods of all kinds were also brought for re-distribution both from English towns and ports and from foreign ones Thus

Bristols exports might consist of English goods her own or those of others and such foreign imports as timber from the Baltic linen from

Germany Mediterranean oil fruit and wine West Indian rum sugar cotton and dyewoods rice and logwood from the Carolinas tobacco

from Virginia timber and skins from New England fish from Newshy

foundland and dairy produce from Ireland The trade by road was equally active Defoe remarked in 1724 that the Bristol shopkeepers in the main wholesale men had carriers just as the London tradesmen did to all the principal Counties and towns from Southampton in the south even to the banks of the Trent north where they drive a very great trade By 1750 there were ninety-four carriers in the city many with

several waggons plying to and from Nottingham Leeds London and

other places and in 1794 Matthews lists daily coaches and waggons leaving for London and the principal towns of the West Country and the Midlands As late as 1774 it was a contemporary view that Bristols domestic trade and inland navigation were without rival 79

Nevertheless the closing years of the eighteenth century heralded a critical period in Bristols history Instead of being second city in the kingdom it now ranked as eighth in regard to numbers and was clearly falling behind in the race for influence and wealth Many factors conshytributed to this Th~ American trade cut off during the war of Indepenshy

dence was never fully recovered Glasgow came to dominate the tobacco trade an increasing tonnage was carried in American ships Liverpools aggressive commercial leaders less hampered by scruples gradually took

over the slave trade from the growing number of humane and benevolent

77 Lat iii7 10 I 123 135 163 177 196239286-7289 etc For a full contemporary list of industries see Matthews Dir (I794) 8-89 Evans Chron records that in 1761 the Duke of York visited 15 Glass houses and Eden wrote (as above n 44 p 183) of near zo in 1797 The Phoenix Glass Flint works was without Temple Gate in 1789 Lat iii 486 There were cotton mills opposite the Hotwell in Temple St and St Anne St S J Jones The Cotton Industry in Bristol (Inst of Brit Geog Publicashytions) 62-7 Lat iii 482505 There was salt-refining in St Peters St 1742 Lat

iii239middot 78 Brick was extensively used for chimneys in the 17th century and there were some

early examples of brick-built houses before the fashion set by Queens Square in 1699 eg the house on Broad Key erected in 1598 Ricart 68 For brick-making sites see Millerds and Rocques maps which show their expansion between 1673 and 1742 For Bristol architects and craftsmen see W Ison The Georgian Buildings ojBristol(19P) 30-49 In 1797 the city had the reputation of being as much a manufacturing as it was a commercial centre Eden op cit Matthews Dir (I794 etc)

79 Minchinton (1)73 sqq and (3) 133 Matthews Dir (I 794)94-8 J Campbell in the Political Survey oj Great Britain cited Minchinton

merchants of Bristol who were revolting against its inhumanity and by 1786 they had obtained a predominant position in all American trade

Much of the Newfoundland and West Indian trade had also passed to them In fact Bristols merchants deceived possibly by the fact that there was no actual decline in the volume of shipping using the port before 1800 and lacking the commercial acumen and vigour of their foreshy

fathers failed to see in time the threat from the better port facilities enshyjoyed by Liverpool or to adapt themselves to the changed conditions in the Midlands 80 The industrial development of towns such as Manchester and Birmingham had been encouraged by the network of canals conshystructed in the North Midlands towards the end of the century and led to a shift of their one-time trade with Bristol to Liverpool The improveshyment in road communications also played a part though Bristol naturally

benefited from this its rivals benefited more for by ending regional isolation it encouraged direct marketing and extended the influence of London 81

A major factor in the citys decline was the fact that its position on the

Avon was no longer the advantage it had once been to her in the Medieval period The narrow Gorge and the tortuous course of the tidal river had become an increasing handicap they practically prohibited ships exceeding about a hundred and fifty tons burden from coming up the river above the Hungroad while there and at the other anchorage of Kingroad ships were immobilized twice a day on mud until the tide took

them off Various attempts were made throughout the century to imshyprove the dock facilities but they were on too small a scale to overcome

the difficulties In 1720 the Corporation built a stone wharf from King Street down towards the Grove later the Merchant Venturers made two

new quays near the end of King Street and on St AugustineS Back in

the 175 os they made a costly floating harbour for forty sail of stout ships and a dry-dock for seventy-four gun ships But these and other improvements compared poorly with the wet dock the only one out of London which Liverpool had had since 1724 Many more ambitious schemes were considered but it was not until 1804-9 that plans for the total modernization of the port were taken in hand and completed The Bristol Dock Company constructed the Floating Harbour and the

New Cut by which two and a half miles of the old course of the Avon were converted into a floating harbour connected with the tidal waters by

means of locks at Cumberland Basin and Bathurst Basin The advantages of these improvements were unfortunately annulled by prohibitive harbour dues and changes in the pattern of trade leading to a world basis for commerce Not until the last quarter of the nineteenth century when with the building of the Avonmouth docks Bristol ceased to be a river port did she recover her former prosperity 82

TOPOGRAPHICAL GROWTH 1700-1828

Inevitably the aspect of the city and its environs was transformed during the eighteenth century and the first three decades of the nineteenth century for it was bound to reflect the commercial and industrial deshyvelopments sketched above and the changes in the social structure Population increased rapidly It more than trebled in the eighteenth century and reached 86043 in the 182 I census (if the inhabitants of the

lt0 Cenms( I 80 I) but it is very probable as Matthews Guide (I 323) p 197 states that for various and peculiar circumstances a general census has never yet been corshy

rectly taken For loss of trade see Minchinton (3) 101-5 130-32 H Heaton L F Horsfall A C Wardle in Trade Winds ed C N Parkinson (1948)194 sqq 248 sqq C t-lt Parkinson TbeRise oj tbe Port ojLiverpool(1952) 84-592 sqq Iatthews Hist (1794) 38 J E Williams Ec H R viii (195 5-6)398

8t Minchinton (2)88 Macinnes in Trade lf7inds 49 For ye Severn and Avon improvements see Willan (above n 4) and index

82 Matthews Hist (1794) 19 Lat iii 317 (Grove Dock) Evans Chron sub anno 1767 (the quay was continued from the new mud dock to the Grove round to the Market House on St Nilteholas Back in 1767) A F Williams Bristol Port Plans in BGAS lxxxi (1962) 138-81

22

BRISTOL

suburbs are included) for Bristol attracted immigrants or so it was

asserted locally from most parts of England and the world and

colonies from Wales Ireland Scotland America and elsewhere had

settled there Indeed by 1828 the date of Ashmeads plan the medieval

walled city was ringed by populous working-class suburbs or by the

Georgian and Regency squares crescents and streets of the well-to-do

residences laid out on the surrounding hills and plains A large part of these suburbs - the extensive parish of Clifton parts of Bedminster and of

the out-parishes of St Paul and of St Philip and St Jacob - were not actushy

ally within the jurisdiction of the city magistrates until 1835 but they

formed an economic cultural and social unit with the city long before

and the story of their growth cannot be divorced from that of the city 83

The whole area by 1828 was nearly circular measuring roughly five

miles from north to south and six or half the length of London and

Westminster from east to west It contrasted startlingly with its appearshy

ance in 1700 Then the road westwards from College Green up to

Clifton a village of about a dozen farms was merely dotted with houses

on the north of the old town the slope from the harbour up to the Royal

Fort was covered with gardens orchards and fields Kingsdown was

still a down on the southern outskirts a clear space of a half-mile

separated the village of Bedminster from the city and Kips engraving

shows the road to it from Redcliff Gate as a mere track through unenshy

closed land outside Temple Gate there were only a few buildings The

only real new suburb was the already mentioned eastern district beyond

Lawfords Gate now populated by weavers colliers and marketshy

gardeners By 1743 such great changes had taken place that Rocque could inscribe on his plan of Bristol that it was enlarged by the addition

of so many fair streets and stately edifices on every side that at present it

is near a third bigger than it was forty years ago And yet an outstanding

feature of this elegant plan is that the citys outskirts still had a semishy

rural character and that there were great open spaces in the suburbs such

as Earls Mead BishopS Park and Brandon Hill Even in the heart of

the densely built up walled city north of the Avon there were still dwellshy

ings with large gardens there was a bowling green large churchyards

planted with avenues of trees so as to make pleasant walks for the

citizens gardens in the Castle Precinct and the busy quays on the Frome with their tall houses and shops were still spacious and beautishyful 84

The first building of the century took place on the Marsh and round

College Green which was levelled and beautified with trees this was

soon followed by buildings in streets running north-west from St

AugustineS Back - Denmark Street (once Gaunts Lane) Hanover Street

(built by a local family) and Orchard Street on the site of the orchard of

Gaunts Hospital The latter was offered as building plots by the Corshy

poration and a bridge was built over the Frome to facilitate the work The houses when built were three-storeyed constructed of brick with

doorways and other features of stone and decorated with ironwork of

fine craftsmanship and taste About the same time speculative building

was going on in the northern and eastern outskirts where St Jamess

Square (I 706-1 6) was laid out on the south bank of the river where

Great and Little George Street Great and Little Anne Street Wade

83 The city boundaries were extended by an Act of 1777 to reach to Rownham Ferry ( mile beyond Hotwell House) and an Act of 1803 added parts between the new and the old course of the river Avon For population see MacGrath (4)208 n 1

who states that in 1801 49000 of the inhabitants lived in the city and 28000 in the suburbs By 1831 the respective figures were 59034 and 45304 The suburbs as defined by the Boundary Commissioners then included the Out-parish of St Philip and St Jacob the Out-parish ofSt James and St Paul Clifton part of Bedminster part of the tything of Stoke Bishop in Westbury upon Trym (Reports from Commissioners on proposed Boundaries ofBoroughs (1832) pt iv 2 I 9)middot

84 J Kip (1717) reproduced in Macinnes Gateway facing p 224 Millerds plan J Ogilbys Road Map (1698) Rocques plan (1 743) Around 1700 houses in Wine St etc had gardens and the less thickly inhabited Temple parish was noted for its

nursery gardens Lat iii 98

Street and others were built Besides the large houses planned on

spacious lines for the merchant class houses of good design and material

but of a less grand kind were put up for those of modest fortunes - the

tradesmen and small manufacturers

The introduction of squares was a planning innovation in imitation of

London and with improved health in view The fashion had been set by

Queens Square begun in 1699 its lay-out together with that of Princes Street was planned by the city surveyor and when the land was leased

conditions were made as in London after the Great Fire for the uniform

building of the houses Brick was extensively used for the first time and

when completed the proportions of the houses and their relation to the

central square with its avenues of trees enhanced by Rysbrachs equesshy

trian statue of William III made it a truly noble construction Here in due

course were erected an imposing Customs House and Excise Office

and in I 78 I the Corporation chose a fine private residence for use as the

mayors Mansion House With the exception of Lincolns Inn Square in

London this square was the largest in the kingdom and a fitting testimony to the public pride and taste of the citys elite and to the skill of the

building crafts and architects It remained one of the most fashionable

parts of Bristol until the merchants deserted it for suburban residences

on the surrounding hills 85

As wealth increased especially just after the end of the Seven Years

War business confidence was reflected in new building schemes both in

the industrial suburbs and the middle-class residential areas Between

I 75 5 and 1769 there were laid out Kings Square on Kingsdown Brunswick Square in St Jamess parish and on the site of the orchard of the Dominican Friary the property of the descendants of the famous

William Penn Penn Street and Philadelphia Street Many other streets

followed Donnes plan of I773 shows that BishopS Park was now built

over that Stokes Croft was more solidly built up also Kingsdown The

American War brought a halt but with the Peace of Paris and the new

Pitt ministry confidence was renewed A great building boom was soon

in progress In I788 and 1791 a local journal reported that houses on the western side of the city - on Brandon Hill in Great George Street Park

Street and College Street - had been developed (in part by the Council in

part by the Bishop) and that ground was taken for more than three

thousand houses Three years later the New History of Bristol recorded

that particularly in the eastern suburbs industrial buildings had sprung

up in profusion and that in the whole city there were upwards of five

hundred squares lanes and streets - more than in any other provincial

city in England It singled out as the most regular beautiful or elegant

streets of the new Town the recent Park Street and College Street

the much earlier Trinity Street (I733) with its brick houses Unity and

Orchard Streets (17I6) and Princes Street (1725) the most spacious of

all Many streets were still being constructed Portland Square in St

Pauls parish and Berkeley Square in Clifton both all of freestone with

several handsome adjacent streets which were in great forwardness and

partly inhabited and much more was planned The planners fully

understood the value of tree-planting since the days when the Council

had planted two hundred and forty trees in Queens Square avenues of

limes or elms seem to have been generally included in each new developshy

ment This speculative building fever was shortlived - it was at its height

between 1763 and 1793 when the French war broke out again and many

builders subsequently suffered ruin and bankruptcy Plans for developshy

ing about sixty-eight acres round the Royal Fort a handsome mansion completed in I761 on the site of the Civil War Fort and various other

projects in Clifton on Kingsdown and St Michaels Hill were abandoned

More than five hundred houses beautiful and elegant piles were left

85 All Gaunts buildings except the chapel were pulled down Bristol Museum Braikenridge ColI MSS x 3 Lat iii 92 114-15449-50 Lat ii 490 For full details of Georgian public buildings and street plans see Ison Georgian Buildings

23

BRISTOL

half-finished so that until work was resumed after the restoration of

peace they looked it was said as if they had been bombarded 86

The development of the village of Clifton and its manorial lands which

included the Hotwells was perhaps the most striking of the eighteenthshy

century ventures both from the architectural and social points of view

The Hotwell was about one mile from the citys boundary and near the

entrance to the Avon Gorge it was reputed to have medicinal qualities

and had been one of the citys medieval wonders Its commercial deshy

velopment began after the visit of Catherine of Braganza in 1695 A

Pump Room was built and tree-lined promenades squares streets and

public buildings were constructed to accommodate and entertain the

influx of fashionable and literary visitors Dowry Square was laid out in

the late I720S and from it the main thoroughfare was made through

Dowrv Parade (1763-4) past the Assembly Rooms and on to the river

bank at Rownham Ferry Hotwell Colonnade and the gracefully curved

and tree-lined St Vincents Parade (never completed) built all of freeshy

stone were begun in the 1780s Here too the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens

were laid out On the slopes of Clifton Hill above the Hotwell tier upon

tier of terraces and crescents came into existence most notable among

them being Princes Buildings the Paragon and Windsor Terrace The

village of Clifton itself with its pure and salubrious air where Pope

had found very pretty lodging houses was developed in the first place as an adjunct to the Hotwell and later as a Spa in its own right Within a

short time the speculative builders had erected on the heights a new and

elegant suburb called locally the Montpellier of England Its healthy

and exhilarating situation and its romantic setting above the von

Gorge and the more mundane advantages of cheap coal and ample cheap

provisions rapidly attracted a well-to-do residential population and reshy

placed St Michaels Hill as the home of the commercial diteY In 1828

the number of its inhabitants had reached twelve thousand Its developshy

ment had begun in earnest in the 1 nos when Boyce a builder whose

enterprise eventually led to bankruptcy erected Boyces Buildings as

lodging houses for the wealthy visitors to the Hotwell The Mall was

laid out after 1787 and much else then followed including the splendid Royal York Crescent with its terrace walk raised high above the road

level on a substructure of vaults and basements Here too a pause came

with the collapse of the building boom on the outbreak of war in 1793

As late as 1807 a learned visitor found the abandoned ruins the most

melancholy spectacle within his recollection but construction was soon to be vigorously resumed 88

The great expansion in the citys population and housing brought ever-increasing administrative problems in their train The narrowness

of many main streets was no longer suitable to contemporary needs

Even before the opening of the century the houses between St Thomas Street and Bristol Bridge were pulled down and the road widened b

eight feet In 1733 the cityS Carfax was opened up by the removal to College Green of the beautiful medieval High Cross offensive to some as

a Popish relic and certainly an obstruction to traffic a major improveshyment was carried out when the bridge with about thirt houses and part

of the neighbouring shambles were demolished A wide new threeshy

arched bridge was opened in 1768 Bridge Street itself was widened and

with its stone-built houses four storeys high eventually became one of

the finest of the many new streets and was comparable with Lnion or

Bath Street St Leonards Gate and church were pulled down also Blind

Gate so as to open the approach to the new and elegant Clare Street

R Lat iii 149 185 237 313 372 489 493 -6 [atthews Hist (1794) 93-96 The Manor of Clifton was bought by the lerchant Venturers Society in 1676 and

developed For Hotwell see Lat iii 469 and index Matthcws His (1794)98-107

and Guide (I 828) 209 cf V Waite in 1cGrath (4) 112 sqq Correspondence of Alexander Pope ed G S Sherburn (1956) iv 204 below map 4

Rx jlatthews Guide (I 828) 217 sqq Ison op cit 25 sqq and index Lat iii 400 454

493-4 and passim R H Brentnall in BAC 263-4

(InO) Pithay Gate Queen Street Gate Castle Gate and Lawfords Gate had already gone 89

An old nuisance in the central area from the point of view of cleanlishy

ness and congestion - the open markets in Wine Street Broad Street and High Street - was dealt with drastically Several were moved to the

outskirts - to Temple Street Broadmead the Quay near St StephenS

church and new covered markets were put up The old covered marketshy

house in the middle of Wine Street was moved to a new site in 17z6 and

in 1745 a grand new Market-House was built behind the Exchange in

In6 St Jamess market in Union Street was opened and in the same year a market for provisions from Wales was constructed on the Welsh Back

opposite King Street The age-old struggle with other sanitary problems also continued throughout the century - the maintenance of a pure

water supply the cleansing and paving of streets and the pollution of

the two rivers by glass-makers and others A climax was reached with the

Common Councils proposals in the Streets Improvement Act of 1766

They were of so advanced a kind that they have been deservedly deshyscribed as unprecedented in their magnitude and importance 90

Along with the modernization and expansion of the street plan and the

building of dwelling houses for the growing population went the erection of new public buildings of all kinds - administrative religious

charitable commercial and industrial as well as cultural Affluence and

civic pride demanded finer civic buildings the Council House was

rebuilt in 1704 and again rebuilt by Smirke in 1824-9 so as to include

the site of St Ewens church Most notable as a building was the New

Exchange The long-felt need for the merchants to have a more dignified

meeting place than their Tolzey was finally satisfied in 1743 with the

erection of an elegant structure designed by John Wood the elder of Bath

It was planned to receive comfortably one thousand four hundred and

forty men was faced with white freestone and roofed with blue slate

and blue milled lead - a manufacture lately introduced into Bristol The

building of the Exchange entailed the destruction of the halls of two city

companies the Coopers still had sufficient vitality to want to build a new one in Kings Street the ~ferchant Tailors were also alive enough to

erect a new elegant hall in Broad Street The Barber Surgeons on the

other hand whose hall in Cock Lane was just to the south of the Coopers

allowed it to be converted in 1745 into a Coffee House an institution that

was now fashionable among the merchants The Society of Merchant

Venturers had already rebuilt their Hall in 1719 partly on the site of St Clements chapel where they had met since Edward VIs days but after

the end of the Seven Years War peace was heralded by the elaborate reshy

construction of the building in accordance with the designs of Thomas Paty In the next century when peace again brought a renewal of conshy

fidence C A Busby designed in the Grecian style for the use of the

merchants the fine Commercial Rooms and Coffee House in Corn Street

Apart from these architecturally distinguished civic and merchant buildshy

ings there was a host of utilitarian ones such as banks hotels business

premises inns and taverns 91

Nor were the spiritual needs of the citizens neglected In Bristols

relatively free and rigorous society Nonconformity naturally became a

dominant influence and the vhole period is characterized by the burgeonshy

ing of a multiplicity of chapels Wesleys Room (later known as the New

89 The High Cross had been heightened in 1633 it is illustrated in Nand T ii 181

Lat iii 334-6 351-3391393-4 Evans ebroll Ison op cit 114 sqq

90 Lat iii 88151396422 or For Council House the Company Halls and Corn Exchange see ibid 42 i 9239

247-8 Ison op cit 90-2 94 127 135 sqq N D Harding BGAS xlviii (1926) 229 235 (plans 1795) of alterations to St Ewens church BG AS lxx elc-ations (facing p 158) of Coopers and Merchant Venturers Halls For colfee houses Lat

iii 240-1 by 1750 there were c 12 For banks etc exchange and commercial rooms

opposite see Matthews GlIide(I828) 70-2 etc Ison op cit 95-9134 The principal inns where the gentry put up -ere the Bush the hite Hart or the Vhite Lion in Broad St

24

-

BRISTOL

Room) in Broadmead was the first to be erected It was soon enlarged

for George Whitfield and Wesley made Bristol the centre of their national movement for a religious and humanitarian revival by preaching in the

open air to the half savage miners of Kingswood and to the outcasts of the citys industrial population There followed in rapid succession a Moravian chapel in Upper Maudlin Street a new Friends Meeting House

in the Friars Whitfields Tabernacle (1753) in Penn Street Baptist Inshydependent chapels and so forth with increasing momentum into the next century 92

The Anglican church was in turn stirred to action particularly in the

latter part of the century when it was deeply affected by the Evangelical revival This with the expanding population and increasing wealth were responsible for the rebuilding of several churches in the fashionable

classical style and the erection of new ones Outstanding among the renewals was the replacement of the small Norman tower of All Saints by a tower and cupola considered by many to be worthy to rank with the work of Sir Christopher Wren For the new residential district of Portshyland Square StPaul was built in 1787 in the modern Gothic style It had the distinction of being the first parish church to be consecrated within the citys bounds since the Middle Ages for the now thickly populated

parish of St James had become unmanageable The parish of St Philip and St Jacob had in fact already been divided in 175 I and a new parish church of St George was erected in Kingswood a district which was physically outside the city though economically closely attached to it 93

Charitable institutions of all kinds likewise increased in number at least seven more almshouses were founded of which two - the Presbyshyterian one on Stokes Croft and Blanchards for Baptist spinsters - were specifically for dissenting sects others were enlarged or rebuilt Schools and poor houses were also founded by various members of the nonshyconformist and Anglican communities Notable among them were the Benevolent School for about four hundred boys and girls in the parishes

of St James and St Paul and the Penitentiary for helping unhappy females who have strayed from the path of virtue It was on a nonshysectarian basis however that a major advance was made in dealing with

sickness when the Infirmary was erected by public subscription in 1737 shy

the first of its kind outside London Various laudable efforts were also made to improve the deplorable condition of the prisoners in the dungeons of Newgate and in the Bridewell culminating in the New County Gaol of 18 I 6-20 94

The second half of the century saw the beginnings of marked changes in the outlook of the citys elite which were soon to make it the focus of the cultural life of the West Although the sober influence of the

Quakers Wesleyans and other strict dissenters remained extremely

strong many influential Bristolians including professional as well as

92 Dissenting chapels are listed in Matthews Hist (1794) 79-80 and Guide (128)

161 sqq For individual dates see Latimer iii index sub nomine eg Portland St

chapel (Wesleyan 1792)498 The chapel in Tucker St (see below map 2) was destroyed when Bath St was made The French chapel was opened in 727 after the

loss of St Marks chapel recently taken over as the i1ayors chapel by the Corporashy

tion Lat iii 155 93 Ison op cit 44 (St George Brandon Hill) 52-89 Nand T iii 235 St Leonards

1771 (it stood on Blind Gate and was demolished Lat iii 394) St Augustines

chapel of Ease (1821-3) on NW side of Gt George St Dowry Sq chapel

Matthews Guide (I 828) 159 160 St Werburgs E end obstructed the entry to

Small St so it was removed the church was re-opened in 176 I Lat iii 329 Only the tower of the medieval St Thomass was left when the new church was built in

1790 ibid 487 St Nicholass Gate and church were pulled down in 1762 The church was rebuilt almost on the same site for it was only the chancel approached

by about 20 steps that had extended over the archway of the Gate the ancient

crypt was left ibid 352-3 Other churches at which work was carried out between

1750 and 1793 included St Peters St Ilichael (rebuilt 1775-7) and Christchurch

(rebuilt 1786-90) For these see also N Pevsner op cit 94 For almshouses see map 2 and Appendix II For the Infirmary (new-built 1786shy

1814) see Lat iii 199-200 F H Towill in BAC 300-1 For Gaol and Bridewell see

Matthews Guide (1828)82 the Bridewell was rebuilt in 1722

business men were now abandoning the rigid Puritanism of earlier times

which had laid so much emphasis on the virtues of hard work and applishy

cation to the task in hand and were showing an appreciation of a more leisured life and considerable interest in the promotion of learning and the arts In the first place the patronage of architects and an interest in improving amenities were now more widely spread among the citizens with the result that by the I 820S the ancient city had been largely transshy

formed Popes description of 1739 that the place was very unpleasant and as if Wapping or Southwark were ten times as big had long been a

travesty 1S Eden wrote in 1797 almost half of what is properly called the city had been destroyed to make room for the Exchange the market

and the new streets and it could be truly said that more had been done than in most ancient cities to improve or replace old and dilapidated

houses As for the new town now almost encircling the old there were

ten splendid squares numerous elegant terraces and crescents and many opulent mansions for the wealthy which were greatly admired by the connoisseurs of taste 95

A feature of all this later building was the predominant use of the creamy Bath freestone now easily transported by river after the improveshyment of the navigation of the A von as well as of the multi-coloured

Pennant Sandstone and Millstone Grit dug within the city boundaries The use of these materials besides the once fashionable dark red brick or brick and sandstone together along with the preservation of the best of the half-timbered houses of the Tudor and Stuart period gave Bristols architecture an unrivalled charm and variety The style of building was as varied as the material for though some architects of national fame were employed from time to time most work was done by local men such as the Patys who had a distinguished vernacular style of their own These architects and builders had a host of skilled craftsmen to call on plasterers stonemasons ironworkers and the like as well as gardeners who contributed a notable elegance and variety to the street architecture

and the landscape Furthermore the natural setting for their work was perfect - the rivers and the hills Even in the heart of the city the quay

on the Frome beside the old town wall with houses on both sides and in the middle apparently a street with hundreds of ships on it had always fascinated visitors The sour Pope was once moved to write that it seemed like a dream and Peter Monamy glorified it in paint Everywhere too were the water-lined streets with their numerous bridges thirteen over the Frome alone which prompted the romantic to name the city the Venice of the north The hills especially gave the place exceptional charm

strangers were struck with the sight of a town hanging in continued slope as it were from the very clouds for Kingsdown St Michaels Hill

and Brandon Hill were about 250 feet above the river level and between

them were literally chasms So there were delightful prospects of the city harbour and shipping at almost every turn John Britten in his Picturesque Beauties of England and Wales had to admit that he could not do justice to the jfetropolis of the West so pre-eminent was it in archishytectural antiquities and picturesqueness 96

No wonder then that Southey Coleridge and their circle drew inshyspiration from the city and made it their headquarters and that it had come about that the days when Pope could complain of no civilized

)5 Pope ed Sherburn iv 201 Eden State ofthe Poor 182 Matthews Guide (1828)

Ison op cit 29 iJatthews Dir (1794) lists 5 architects Wm Edney was foremost among blacksmiths his wrought-iron balconies and gates were of great distinction

Thomas Stocking was renowned among plasterers King St was a notable example

of varied architecture until its partial destruction in World War II W Leighton

BGAS Ixv (1944) 157 sqq 96 Pope op cit 201 1Ionamys painting is in the Bristol Art Gallery Matthews

Guide (828) 3-4 Besides the Drawbridge at St Augustines Back (Lat iii 99) there

were the following bridges Penn Traitors Ellbridge Philadelphia Merchant

Union Pithay Needless Bridewell St Johns St Giles Swing Bridge leading to

Bathurst Basin where Gibb Ferry once vas There were the following ferries over

the Avon Queen St to Temple Back the Back to Redcliff the Grove to Guinea

St and one from Rownham

25

BRISTOL

company were gone forever In 1794 Matthews was writing 1fl the

Bristol History with evident satisfaction of the nobility and gentry at

the Hotwell and Clifton of the cits fashionably dressed ladies gentleshy

men and decent ranks who vere able to imitate the haute JJ10nde at Bath

only a short drive away It must be said however that others despised

the new trends and complained that folly had taken possession of all

Wesley for one inveighed against the building of the new Theatre in

1766 It soon acquired a national reputation and so too did the many

fine musical performances some held at the ew Music Room in

Princes Street But besides these activities there was prodsion on a

growing scale for more purely intellectual pursuits a new public Library

had been completed in 1740 there were circulating libraries bookshops

and cultural societies Finally in 1820 a handsome building was erected in

APPENDIX I THE COUtCIL HOUSE AtD TOLZEY (lAPS 2 and 3)

The medieval Tolzey or Mayors court apparently stood at the corner of the small church of St Ewens at the central cross-roads of the early toI-n and on the corner of

Broad St and Corn St Wm of W-orcester describes it as having one side facing the

W door of Christ Church and the other the High St with a Council Chamber abole

(pp 32-3 for a reference to the church and Tolzey in 1356 see CIJllrcb Bk ofst EIIens [ 454- I Jj 4 ed B R Masters and E Ralph Be 15 Rec Section vi (1967) 256 and see

also pp xiii-xiv and as above p 14 n 32) In 155 I the Corporation purchased the S aisle and chapel of St John the Baptist in St Ewens from the Fraternity of Tailors (The whole length of the church is given as twenty-two yards bmiddot X-m of middotorcester)

On this site was built a two-storied Council House with an adjoining penthouse

against the S wall ie a covered walk where the Councill()rs could stroll and talk

This was reconstructed in 1617 (Lac ii 275 J Ricart 49 52-3 79) in 1657 the Council purchased an adjacent tenement on the corner of Broad and Corn Streets with

a view to a further extension The whole building was replaced in 1706 The union of St Eens parish with that of Christ Church bv- the Act of 1788 v-as a preliminan to

plans for a further extension but nothing vas done until 1827 (sec above p 24 and

n 91) Lat iii 467 470-71 rm Barrett History of Alltiqllities of tbe City of Bristol

(17 89)476 -7

APPENDIX II 1l0SPITLS AND ALISHOUSES (IPS 2 and 3)

The following medieval institutions survived the Reformation (I) All Saints Almshouse in All Saints Lane (see abo-e p I I n 15) The SE

part of the Exchange vas built in 1739 on its site and a new almshouse was built in

1740-1 adjoining Stranges or St Johns Almshouse it -as removed again in 1813 to

All Saints St (2) Burtons Almshouse in Long Row off Temple St an almshouse or hospital

is first r~corded at the end of the 14th century (1385-94) in adley IIills 152543 39 and in 1389 in LRB i 224 The traditional attribution of its foundation to Simon

Burton in 1292 was regarded as mythical by Nicholls and Taylor (0 and T i 149

n 2 iii 254) It is possible that it as re-endowed by John Burton mayor in 1424

etc and that Leland (vo 93) had him in mind It vas rebuilt in 1606 and 172 I (3) Wm Canynges Almhouse on Redcliff Hill (see aboye p 14) Tanner (-otilia

1737) notes that there were 17 almspeoplc then and 14 were recorded in 1803 The

original building stood on the XX side of Redcliff Hill but when the tew Cut was made in 1805 the site was shifted a little so as to face S it was then known as The

Poor House (4) John Fosters Almshouse and the chapel of the Three Kings of Cologne in

Steep St was founded in 1492 (see above p 14 and n 33) and rebuilt on the same site

in 1702 (5) Merchant Tailors Almshouse in Merchant St (later called farshall St) was

new-built in 170 I Its early history is obscure will of 1558 (adler 1FtIs 19 I)

appears to refer to poor people in the Tailors Hall for bequests of 1587 and 1599 sec Barrett op cit 616 448 It is possible that this was a post-Reformation foundation

though it would be surprising in view of the Tailors wealth (6) Wm Spencers (or Spensers) Almshouse was founded soon after 1474 on

Rocques map it is called Poor House (7) Stranges or St Johns Almshouse on St Johns Steep Robert Strange three

times mayor gave land for an almshouse of St John the Baptist C1490 It was

rebuilt in 172 r

(8) The two Trinity Hospitals on either side of Lawfords Gate date from the

foundation of John Barstaple of 1395 (see above p I r) the building on the ~ side

was added to in the 18th century and that Oil the S side (including the chapel) then

called Dials House was extensively rebuilt (9) Roger lagdalens of Nonney or Nunney apparently founded an almshouse

before Lelands day since he refers to it (Itin V 93) It was rebuilt in 1675 and in 1793

had 16 occupants It was described as just outside Temple Gate and is probably to

be identified with RedcliffHospital depicted on Millerds map The 1803 Gliide appears to refer to it as a Poor House without Temple Gate

Park Street for the Philosophical and Literary Institute Eight years later

Matthews wrote of its astonishing progress and boasted that the city

provided every gratification and amusement that a rational person can

desire Not without reason Bristolians forgetting their own one-time

single-minded devotion to business were now inclined to sneer at the

indiscriminate urge for commerce and for getting money at all events

and at the total lack of science displayed by their chief rival Liverpool97

97 Pope op cit 205 the Alagna Britannia et Hibernia (1727) also commented on the ill-bred manners of the citizens and the lack of gaiety Ison op cit 108 123 sqq

R 1 James in BAC 237 sqq for earlier theatres see Lat iii 6 I -3 40 I ibid (circulating library 1723) 210 (ne Library) fatthews Hist (1794) 91 and Guide

(If28) 174-9

(10) Chesters Almshouse - The Gift House as it was called later - on St Jamess

Back is dated as 1537 in Lvans Cbron it had six inmates in 1803 and was perhaps never large An unnamed building depicted by Millerd has been tentatively adopted as a likely site

(I I-I 2) The Fullers and eavers each supported a fcw poor women underneath

their respecti-e Halls in the 15th century and Leland records the existence of these

almshouses in the next century Barrett states that there were 4 poor women in the Weavers Almshouse in his day It is not clear vhich of these institutions -ere the

ten almshouses to which Robert Thorne left be4uests in 1574 adley Wills 216 The following institutions failed to survive the Reformation

(13) King Johns Leper 1louse of St Lawrence outside Lawford Gate

(14) The Lazar house hospital and chapel of St Catherine Brightbnw at BrightbOv

Bridge (For Brightbov- see map 5) (15) The Lazar House of St lary ~lagdalen Brightbow see above p 8 Wm

Iiore 85 (16) St Bartholomews IIospital became the Free Grammar School in 15 F see

above p 20 (17) The Chapel of the Holy Spirit in the churchvard of St lary Redcliff had a

leper annex which the Hospital of St Johil the Baptist undertook in 1254 to sene or prmide with a secular chaplain It became a Grammar School in Elizabeths reign

was taken down in 1763 as it was an obstruction to the S vie- of the church and

has left no trace BGAI xxiv- 174 117m lJ7orc I 16 (18) The Hospital of St John the Baptist for both men and women in the 13th

and 14th centuries was suppressed in 1544 -m of orcester gives the measurements

of its hall and cloister and describes its church as sited opposite St ~rary Redcliff

He also describes a Hermitage on the XX side of the church in the rocks and a lane on

the XX side of the church also icholls and Taylor considered that the Hospitals

precincts were probably detined by the vall of the Friends cemetery where the traditional site of the Hermitage could be seen in the cliff (OS map 2( r 880-2)

For help in plotting the site of the Hospital and lane -e are indebted to Mrs F tealc (see her forthcoming edition of the Bristol section of -m of Xorcesters Itinermy in

BGAS Records Section 1976) (19) Richard Fosters Almshouse by Redcliff Gate has left no post-Reformation

record see above p 14 Bickley Deeds no 287 adley Wills 109 145

(20) Spicers Almshouse by Temple Gate Its site is uncertain A deed of 1393 mentions an unnamed almshouse ithin Temple Gate opposite the housc of the

Augustinians (cited by Barrett p_ 555) which seems to refer to it as does the bequest

of 1397 to an almshouse next the Temple Frerys adley Ifills 59 and see above

p II Of the eleven principal post-Reformation almshouses St Peters is the only one

that will not be found on the maps Founded by Robert Ald-orth (d 1634) it was ncar the churchyard of St Peters and Aldworths mansion (formerly Nortons see

map 2) The n-idence is insufficient to locate it For additional references see Barrett

op cit (as in pp T un indexed) pp 403 and map (1780) 435 443 448 45 8 487 49 2

505536555556560561599613620 and indexes to Lat i ii iii t and T i ii iii BGAlxxxii 86 104 107 The -eu Bristol Gllide (Illo J) pub Sheppard Bristol

APPEtDIX III (a) Site of tbe Austill Friars Priory (maps 2 and 3)

The difficulty of interpreting Wm of -orcesters account of this building has led

Bristols past historians to choose various sites (eg Seyer ii map betw-een pp 42-3 Nand T i 129 X Hunt Bristol (I 887) frontispiece) Hunt accepted a statement of

r 3 I 8 that the Friary was against Temple Gate and placed it on the E side of Temple St Mrs F teales work on the topography of the area supports this m of Worcesshyter gives the measurements of the Friarys church chapter-house cloister and belfry

(b) Site of tbe Friars of the 5ack The only clue to the site comes from a deed of 1322 (Bickley Deeds no 63) which

states that a tenement outside Temple Gate lies between the lane going towards the

church of the Friars and another curtilage

26

-

BRISTOL

Chocolate and cocoa-making long to be a staple industry were first

begun in 1731 and salt-refining started soon after The manufacture of cotton seems to date from John Careys promotion of it as a suitable work for the boys in his new work-house but evidence for the commershycial exploitation of the industry dates from the second half of the eightshyeenth century when there were at least three mills at work 77 Nor should

the development of the local brick works and stone quarries and the

expansion of all building crafts be overlooked for the century was notable for its building activity To conclude this brief summary of the citys economy the Trade Directories record that besides the wide range of principal manufactures there was hardly a trade that some enterprising Bristolian did not pursue 78

This commercial and industrial expansion involved the growth of the

city as a centre for consumption and distribution More raw materials and more food poured in china clay and copper from Cornwall copper

from Anglesey kelp and clay for the glass industry from Stourbridge freestone from Bath naval timber from the Forest of Dean as well as

iron and coal to mention the most important Among the food imports were barley and wheat from Gloucestershire and the Midlands cider and perry from Hereford and Devon cheese from Cheshire lia Shrewsbury and the Severn Goods of all kinds were also brought for re-distribution both from English towns and ports and from foreign ones Thus

Bristols exports might consist of English goods her own or those of others and such foreign imports as timber from the Baltic linen from

Germany Mediterranean oil fruit and wine West Indian rum sugar cotton and dyewoods rice and logwood from the Carolinas tobacco

from Virginia timber and skins from New England fish from Newshy

foundland and dairy produce from Ireland The trade by road was equally active Defoe remarked in 1724 that the Bristol shopkeepers in the main wholesale men had carriers just as the London tradesmen did to all the principal Counties and towns from Southampton in the south even to the banks of the Trent north where they drive a very great trade By 1750 there were ninety-four carriers in the city many with

several waggons plying to and from Nottingham Leeds London and

other places and in 1794 Matthews lists daily coaches and waggons leaving for London and the principal towns of the West Country and the Midlands As late as 1774 it was a contemporary view that Bristols domestic trade and inland navigation were without rival 79

Nevertheless the closing years of the eighteenth century heralded a critical period in Bristols history Instead of being second city in the kingdom it now ranked as eighth in regard to numbers and was clearly falling behind in the race for influence and wealth Many factors conshytributed to this Th~ American trade cut off during the war of Indepenshy

dence was never fully recovered Glasgow came to dominate the tobacco trade an increasing tonnage was carried in American ships Liverpools aggressive commercial leaders less hampered by scruples gradually took

over the slave trade from the growing number of humane and benevolent

77 Lat iii7 10 I 123 135 163 177 196239286-7289 etc For a full contemporary list of industries see Matthews Dir (I794) 8-89 Evans Chron records that in 1761 the Duke of York visited 15 Glass houses and Eden wrote (as above n 44 p 183) of near zo in 1797 The Phoenix Glass Flint works was without Temple Gate in 1789 Lat iii 486 There were cotton mills opposite the Hotwell in Temple St and St Anne St S J Jones The Cotton Industry in Bristol (Inst of Brit Geog Publicashytions) 62-7 Lat iii 482505 There was salt-refining in St Peters St 1742 Lat

iii239middot 78 Brick was extensively used for chimneys in the 17th century and there were some

early examples of brick-built houses before the fashion set by Queens Square in 1699 eg the house on Broad Key erected in 1598 Ricart 68 For brick-making sites see Millerds and Rocques maps which show their expansion between 1673 and 1742 For Bristol architects and craftsmen see W Ison The Georgian Buildings ojBristol(19P) 30-49 In 1797 the city had the reputation of being as much a manufacturing as it was a commercial centre Eden op cit Matthews Dir (I794 etc)

79 Minchinton (1)73 sqq and (3) 133 Matthews Dir (I 794)94-8 J Campbell in the Political Survey oj Great Britain cited Minchinton

merchants of Bristol who were revolting against its inhumanity and by 1786 they had obtained a predominant position in all American trade

Much of the Newfoundland and West Indian trade had also passed to them In fact Bristols merchants deceived possibly by the fact that there was no actual decline in the volume of shipping using the port before 1800 and lacking the commercial acumen and vigour of their foreshy

fathers failed to see in time the threat from the better port facilities enshyjoyed by Liverpool or to adapt themselves to the changed conditions in the Midlands 80 The industrial development of towns such as Manchester and Birmingham had been encouraged by the network of canals conshystructed in the North Midlands towards the end of the century and led to a shift of their one-time trade with Bristol to Liverpool The improveshyment in road communications also played a part though Bristol naturally

benefited from this its rivals benefited more for by ending regional isolation it encouraged direct marketing and extended the influence of London 81

A major factor in the citys decline was the fact that its position on the

Avon was no longer the advantage it had once been to her in the Medieval period The narrow Gorge and the tortuous course of the tidal river had become an increasing handicap they practically prohibited ships exceeding about a hundred and fifty tons burden from coming up the river above the Hungroad while there and at the other anchorage of Kingroad ships were immobilized twice a day on mud until the tide took

them off Various attempts were made throughout the century to imshyprove the dock facilities but they were on too small a scale to overcome

the difficulties In 1720 the Corporation built a stone wharf from King Street down towards the Grove later the Merchant Venturers made two

new quays near the end of King Street and on St AugustineS Back in

the 175 os they made a costly floating harbour for forty sail of stout ships and a dry-dock for seventy-four gun ships But these and other improvements compared poorly with the wet dock the only one out of London which Liverpool had had since 1724 Many more ambitious schemes were considered but it was not until 1804-9 that plans for the total modernization of the port were taken in hand and completed The Bristol Dock Company constructed the Floating Harbour and the

New Cut by which two and a half miles of the old course of the Avon were converted into a floating harbour connected with the tidal waters by

means of locks at Cumberland Basin and Bathurst Basin The advantages of these improvements were unfortunately annulled by prohibitive harbour dues and changes in the pattern of trade leading to a world basis for commerce Not until the last quarter of the nineteenth century when with the building of the Avonmouth docks Bristol ceased to be a river port did she recover her former prosperity 82

TOPOGRAPHICAL GROWTH 1700-1828

Inevitably the aspect of the city and its environs was transformed during the eighteenth century and the first three decades of the nineteenth century for it was bound to reflect the commercial and industrial deshyvelopments sketched above and the changes in the social structure Population increased rapidly It more than trebled in the eighteenth century and reached 86043 in the 182 I census (if the inhabitants of the

lt0 Cenms( I 80 I) but it is very probable as Matthews Guide (I 323) p 197 states that for various and peculiar circumstances a general census has never yet been corshy

rectly taken For loss of trade see Minchinton (3) 101-5 130-32 H Heaton L F Horsfall A C Wardle in Trade Winds ed C N Parkinson (1948)194 sqq 248 sqq C t-lt Parkinson TbeRise oj tbe Port ojLiverpool(1952) 84-592 sqq Iatthews Hist (1794) 38 J E Williams Ec H R viii (195 5-6)398

8t Minchinton (2)88 Macinnes in Trade lf7inds 49 For ye Severn and Avon improvements see Willan (above n 4) and index

82 Matthews Hist (1794) 19 Lat iii 317 (Grove Dock) Evans Chron sub anno 1767 (the quay was continued from the new mud dock to the Grove round to the Market House on St Nilteholas Back in 1767) A F Williams Bristol Port Plans in BGAS lxxxi (1962) 138-81

22

BRISTOL

suburbs are included) for Bristol attracted immigrants or so it was

asserted locally from most parts of England and the world and

colonies from Wales Ireland Scotland America and elsewhere had

settled there Indeed by 1828 the date of Ashmeads plan the medieval

walled city was ringed by populous working-class suburbs or by the

Georgian and Regency squares crescents and streets of the well-to-do

residences laid out on the surrounding hills and plains A large part of these suburbs - the extensive parish of Clifton parts of Bedminster and of

the out-parishes of St Paul and of St Philip and St Jacob - were not actushy

ally within the jurisdiction of the city magistrates until 1835 but they

formed an economic cultural and social unit with the city long before

and the story of their growth cannot be divorced from that of the city 83

The whole area by 1828 was nearly circular measuring roughly five

miles from north to south and six or half the length of London and

Westminster from east to west It contrasted startlingly with its appearshy

ance in 1700 Then the road westwards from College Green up to

Clifton a village of about a dozen farms was merely dotted with houses

on the north of the old town the slope from the harbour up to the Royal

Fort was covered with gardens orchards and fields Kingsdown was

still a down on the southern outskirts a clear space of a half-mile

separated the village of Bedminster from the city and Kips engraving

shows the road to it from Redcliff Gate as a mere track through unenshy

closed land outside Temple Gate there were only a few buildings The

only real new suburb was the already mentioned eastern district beyond

Lawfords Gate now populated by weavers colliers and marketshy

gardeners By 1743 such great changes had taken place that Rocque could inscribe on his plan of Bristol that it was enlarged by the addition

of so many fair streets and stately edifices on every side that at present it

is near a third bigger than it was forty years ago And yet an outstanding

feature of this elegant plan is that the citys outskirts still had a semishy

rural character and that there were great open spaces in the suburbs such

as Earls Mead BishopS Park and Brandon Hill Even in the heart of

the densely built up walled city north of the Avon there were still dwellshy

ings with large gardens there was a bowling green large churchyards

planted with avenues of trees so as to make pleasant walks for the

citizens gardens in the Castle Precinct and the busy quays on the Frome with their tall houses and shops were still spacious and beautishyful 84

The first building of the century took place on the Marsh and round

College Green which was levelled and beautified with trees this was

soon followed by buildings in streets running north-west from St

AugustineS Back - Denmark Street (once Gaunts Lane) Hanover Street

(built by a local family) and Orchard Street on the site of the orchard of

Gaunts Hospital The latter was offered as building plots by the Corshy

poration and a bridge was built over the Frome to facilitate the work The houses when built were three-storeyed constructed of brick with

doorways and other features of stone and decorated with ironwork of

fine craftsmanship and taste About the same time speculative building

was going on in the northern and eastern outskirts where St Jamess

Square (I 706-1 6) was laid out on the south bank of the river where

Great and Little George Street Great and Little Anne Street Wade

83 The city boundaries were extended by an Act of 1777 to reach to Rownham Ferry ( mile beyond Hotwell House) and an Act of 1803 added parts between the new and the old course of the river Avon For population see MacGrath (4)208 n 1

who states that in 1801 49000 of the inhabitants lived in the city and 28000 in the suburbs By 1831 the respective figures were 59034 and 45304 The suburbs as defined by the Boundary Commissioners then included the Out-parish of St Philip and St Jacob the Out-parish ofSt James and St Paul Clifton part of Bedminster part of the tything of Stoke Bishop in Westbury upon Trym (Reports from Commissioners on proposed Boundaries ofBoroughs (1832) pt iv 2 I 9)middot

84 J Kip (1717) reproduced in Macinnes Gateway facing p 224 Millerds plan J Ogilbys Road Map (1698) Rocques plan (1 743) Around 1700 houses in Wine St etc had gardens and the less thickly inhabited Temple parish was noted for its

nursery gardens Lat iii 98

Street and others were built Besides the large houses planned on

spacious lines for the merchant class houses of good design and material

but of a less grand kind were put up for those of modest fortunes - the

tradesmen and small manufacturers

The introduction of squares was a planning innovation in imitation of

London and with improved health in view The fashion had been set by

Queens Square begun in 1699 its lay-out together with that of Princes Street was planned by the city surveyor and when the land was leased

conditions were made as in London after the Great Fire for the uniform

building of the houses Brick was extensively used for the first time and

when completed the proportions of the houses and their relation to the

central square with its avenues of trees enhanced by Rysbrachs equesshy

trian statue of William III made it a truly noble construction Here in due

course were erected an imposing Customs House and Excise Office

and in I 78 I the Corporation chose a fine private residence for use as the

mayors Mansion House With the exception of Lincolns Inn Square in

London this square was the largest in the kingdom and a fitting testimony to the public pride and taste of the citys elite and to the skill of the

building crafts and architects It remained one of the most fashionable

parts of Bristol until the merchants deserted it for suburban residences

on the surrounding hills 85

As wealth increased especially just after the end of the Seven Years

War business confidence was reflected in new building schemes both in

the industrial suburbs and the middle-class residential areas Between

I 75 5 and 1769 there were laid out Kings Square on Kingsdown Brunswick Square in St Jamess parish and on the site of the orchard of the Dominican Friary the property of the descendants of the famous

William Penn Penn Street and Philadelphia Street Many other streets

followed Donnes plan of I773 shows that BishopS Park was now built

over that Stokes Croft was more solidly built up also Kingsdown The

American War brought a halt but with the Peace of Paris and the new

Pitt ministry confidence was renewed A great building boom was soon

in progress In I788 and 1791 a local journal reported that houses on the western side of the city - on Brandon Hill in Great George Street Park

Street and College Street - had been developed (in part by the Council in

part by the Bishop) and that ground was taken for more than three

thousand houses Three years later the New History of Bristol recorded

that particularly in the eastern suburbs industrial buildings had sprung

up in profusion and that in the whole city there were upwards of five

hundred squares lanes and streets - more than in any other provincial

city in England It singled out as the most regular beautiful or elegant

streets of the new Town the recent Park Street and College Street

the much earlier Trinity Street (I733) with its brick houses Unity and

Orchard Streets (17I6) and Princes Street (1725) the most spacious of

all Many streets were still being constructed Portland Square in St

Pauls parish and Berkeley Square in Clifton both all of freestone with

several handsome adjacent streets which were in great forwardness and

partly inhabited and much more was planned The planners fully

understood the value of tree-planting since the days when the Council

had planted two hundred and forty trees in Queens Square avenues of

limes or elms seem to have been generally included in each new developshy

ment This speculative building fever was shortlived - it was at its height

between 1763 and 1793 when the French war broke out again and many

builders subsequently suffered ruin and bankruptcy Plans for developshy

ing about sixty-eight acres round the Royal Fort a handsome mansion completed in I761 on the site of the Civil War Fort and various other

projects in Clifton on Kingsdown and St Michaels Hill were abandoned

More than five hundred houses beautiful and elegant piles were left

85 All Gaunts buildings except the chapel were pulled down Bristol Museum Braikenridge ColI MSS x 3 Lat iii 92 114-15449-50 Lat ii 490 For full details of Georgian public buildings and street plans see Ison Georgian Buildings

23

BRISTOL

half-finished so that until work was resumed after the restoration of

peace they looked it was said as if they had been bombarded 86

The development of the village of Clifton and its manorial lands which

included the Hotwells was perhaps the most striking of the eighteenthshy

century ventures both from the architectural and social points of view

The Hotwell was about one mile from the citys boundary and near the

entrance to the Avon Gorge it was reputed to have medicinal qualities

and had been one of the citys medieval wonders Its commercial deshy

velopment began after the visit of Catherine of Braganza in 1695 A

Pump Room was built and tree-lined promenades squares streets and

public buildings were constructed to accommodate and entertain the

influx of fashionable and literary visitors Dowry Square was laid out in

the late I720S and from it the main thoroughfare was made through

Dowrv Parade (1763-4) past the Assembly Rooms and on to the river

bank at Rownham Ferry Hotwell Colonnade and the gracefully curved

and tree-lined St Vincents Parade (never completed) built all of freeshy

stone were begun in the 1780s Here too the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens

were laid out On the slopes of Clifton Hill above the Hotwell tier upon

tier of terraces and crescents came into existence most notable among

them being Princes Buildings the Paragon and Windsor Terrace The

village of Clifton itself with its pure and salubrious air where Pope

had found very pretty lodging houses was developed in the first place as an adjunct to the Hotwell and later as a Spa in its own right Within a

short time the speculative builders had erected on the heights a new and

elegant suburb called locally the Montpellier of England Its healthy

and exhilarating situation and its romantic setting above the von

Gorge and the more mundane advantages of cheap coal and ample cheap

provisions rapidly attracted a well-to-do residential population and reshy

placed St Michaels Hill as the home of the commercial diteY In 1828

the number of its inhabitants had reached twelve thousand Its developshy

ment had begun in earnest in the 1 nos when Boyce a builder whose

enterprise eventually led to bankruptcy erected Boyces Buildings as

lodging houses for the wealthy visitors to the Hotwell The Mall was

laid out after 1787 and much else then followed including the splendid Royal York Crescent with its terrace walk raised high above the road

level on a substructure of vaults and basements Here too a pause came

with the collapse of the building boom on the outbreak of war in 1793

As late as 1807 a learned visitor found the abandoned ruins the most

melancholy spectacle within his recollection but construction was soon to be vigorously resumed 88

The great expansion in the citys population and housing brought ever-increasing administrative problems in their train The narrowness

of many main streets was no longer suitable to contemporary needs

Even before the opening of the century the houses between St Thomas Street and Bristol Bridge were pulled down and the road widened b

eight feet In 1733 the cityS Carfax was opened up by the removal to College Green of the beautiful medieval High Cross offensive to some as

a Popish relic and certainly an obstruction to traffic a major improveshyment was carried out when the bridge with about thirt houses and part

of the neighbouring shambles were demolished A wide new threeshy

arched bridge was opened in 1768 Bridge Street itself was widened and

with its stone-built houses four storeys high eventually became one of

the finest of the many new streets and was comparable with Lnion or

Bath Street St Leonards Gate and church were pulled down also Blind

Gate so as to open the approach to the new and elegant Clare Street

R Lat iii 149 185 237 313 372 489 493 -6 [atthews Hist (1794) 93-96 The Manor of Clifton was bought by the lerchant Venturers Society in 1676 and

developed For Hotwell see Lat iii 469 and index Matthcws His (1794)98-107

and Guide (I 828) 209 cf V Waite in 1cGrath (4) 112 sqq Correspondence of Alexander Pope ed G S Sherburn (1956) iv 204 below map 4

Rx jlatthews Guide (I 828) 217 sqq Ison op cit 25 sqq and index Lat iii 400 454

493-4 and passim R H Brentnall in BAC 263-4

(InO) Pithay Gate Queen Street Gate Castle Gate and Lawfords Gate had already gone 89

An old nuisance in the central area from the point of view of cleanlishy

ness and congestion - the open markets in Wine Street Broad Street and High Street - was dealt with drastically Several were moved to the

outskirts - to Temple Street Broadmead the Quay near St StephenS

church and new covered markets were put up The old covered marketshy

house in the middle of Wine Street was moved to a new site in 17z6 and

in 1745 a grand new Market-House was built behind the Exchange in

In6 St Jamess market in Union Street was opened and in the same year a market for provisions from Wales was constructed on the Welsh Back

opposite King Street The age-old struggle with other sanitary problems also continued throughout the century - the maintenance of a pure

water supply the cleansing and paving of streets and the pollution of

the two rivers by glass-makers and others A climax was reached with the

Common Councils proposals in the Streets Improvement Act of 1766

They were of so advanced a kind that they have been deservedly deshyscribed as unprecedented in their magnitude and importance 90

Along with the modernization and expansion of the street plan and the

building of dwelling houses for the growing population went the erection of new public buildings of all kinds - administrative religious

charitable commercial and industrial as well as cultural Affluence and

civic pride demanded finer civic buildings the Council House was

rebuilt in 1704 and again rebuilt by Smirke in 1824-9 so as to include

the site of St Ewens church Most notable as a building was the New

Exchange The long-felt need for the merchants to have a more dignified

meeting place than their Tolzey was finally satisfied in 1743 with the

erection of an elegant structure designed by John Wood the elder of Bath

It was planned to receive comfortably one thousand four hundred and

forty men was faced with white freestone and roofed with blue slate

and blue milled lead - a manufacture lately introduced into Bristol The

building of the Exchange entailed the destruction of the halls of two city

companies the Coopers still had sufficient vitality to want to build a new one in Kings Street the ~ferchant Tailors were also alive enough to

erect a new elegant hall in Broad Street The Barber Surgeons on the

other hand whose hall in Cock Lane was just to the south of the Coopers

allowed it to be converted in 1745 into a Coffee House an institution that

was now fashionable among the merchants The Society of Merchant

Venturers had already rebuilt their Hall in 1719 partly on the site of St Clements chapel where they had met since Edward VIs days but after

the end of the Seven Years War peace was heralded by the elaborate reshy

construction of the building in accordance with the designs of Thomas Paty In the next century when peace again brought a renewal of conshy

fidence C A Busby designed in the Grecian style for the use of the

merchants the fine Commercial Rooms and Coffee House in Corn Street

Apart from these architecturally distinguished civic and merchant buildshy

ings there was a host of utilitarian ones such as banks hotels business

premises inns and taverns 91

Nor were the spiritual needs of the citizens neglected In Bristols

relatively free and rigorous society Nonconformity naturally became a

dominant influence and the vhole period is characterized by the burgeonshy

ing of a multiplicity of chapels Wesleys Room (later known as the New

89 The High Cross had been heightened in 1633 it is illustrated in Nand T ii 181

Lat iii 334-6 351-3391393-4 Evans ebroll Ison op cit 114 sqq

90 Lat iii 88151396422 or For Council House the Company Halls and Corn Exchange see ibid 42 i 9239

247-8 Ison op cit 90-2 94 127 135 sqq N D Harding BGAS xlviii (1926) 229 235 (plans 1795) of alterations to St Ewens church BG AS lxx elc-ations (facing p 158) of Coopers and Merchant Venturers Halls For colfee houses Lat

iii 240-1 by 1750 there were c 12 For banks etc exchange and commercial rooms

opposite see Matthews GlIide(I828) 70-2 etc Ison op cit 95-9134 The principal inns where the gentry put up -ere the Bush the hite Hart or the Vhite Lion in Broad St

24

-

BRISTOL

Room) in Broadmead was the first to be erected It was soon enlarged

for George Whitfield and Wesley made Bristol the centre of their national movement for a religious and humanitarian revival by preaching in the

open air to the half savage miners of Kingswood and to the outcasts of the citys industrial population There followed in rapid succession a Moravian chapel in Upper Maudlin Street a new Friends Meeting House

in the Friars Whitfields Tabernacle (1753) in Penn Street Baptist Inshydependent chapels and so forth with increasing momentum into the next century 92

The Anglican church was in turn stirred to action particularly in the

latter part of the century when it was deeply affected by the Evangelical revival This with the expanding population and increasing wealth were responsible for the rebuilding of several churches in the fashionable

classical style and the erection of new ones Outstanding among the renewals was the replacement of the small Norman tower of All Saints by a tower and cupola considered by many to be worthy to rank with the work of Sir Christopher Wren For the new residential district of Portshyland Square StPaul was built in 1787 in the modern Gothic style It had the distinction of being the first parish church to be consecrated within the citys bounds since the Middle Ages for the now thickly populated

parish of St James had become unmanageable The parish of St Philip and St Jacob had in fact already been divided in 175 I and a new parish church of St George was erected in Kingswood a district which was physically outside the city though economically closely attached to it 93

Charitable institutions of all kinds likewise increased in number at least seven more almshouses were founded of which two - the Presbyshyterian one on Stokes Croft and Blanchards for Baptist spinsters - were specifically for dissenting sects others were enlarged or rebuilt Schools and poor houses were also founded by various members of the nonshyconformist and Anglican communities Notable among them were the Benevolent School for about four hundred boys and girls in the parishes

of St James and St Paul and the Penitentiary for helping unhappy females who have strayed from the path of virtue It was on a nonshysectarian basis however that a major advance was made in dealing with

sickness when the Infirmary was erected by public subscription in 1737 shy

the first of its kind outside London Various laudable efforts were also made to improve the deplorable condition of the prisoners in the dungeons of Newgate and in the Bridewell culminating in the New County Gaol of 18 I 6-20 94

The second half of the century saw the beginnings of marked changes in the outlook of the citys elite which were soon to make it the focus of the cultural life of the West Although the sober influence of the

Quakers Wesleyans and other strict dissenters remained extremely

strong many influential Bristolians including professional as well as

92 Dissenting chapels are listed in Matthews Hist (1794) 79-80 and Guide (128)

161 sqq For individual dates see Latimer iii index sub nomine eg Portland St

chapel (Wesleyan 1792)498 The chapel in Tucker St (see below map 2) was destroyed when Bath St was made The French chapel was opened in 727 after the

loss of St Marks chapel recently taken over as the i1ayors chapel by the Corporashy

tion Lat iii 155 93 Ison op cit 44 (St George Brandon Hill) 52-89 Nand T iii 235 St Leonards

1771 (it stood on Blind Gate and was demolished Lat iii 394) St Augustines

chapel of Ease (1821-3) on NW side of Gt George St Dowry Sq chapel

Matthews Guide (I 828) 159 160 St Werburgs E end obstructed the entry to

Small St so it was removed the church was re-opened in 176 I Lat iii 329 Only the tower of the medieval St Thomass was left when the new church was built in

1790 ibid 487 St Nicholass Gate and church were pulled down in 1762 The church was rebuilt almost on the same site for it was only the chancel approached

by about 20 steps that had extended over the archway of the Gate the ancient

crypt was left ibid 352-3 Other churches at which work was carried out between

1750 and 1793 included St Peters St Ilichael (rebuilt 1775-7) and Christchurch

(rebuilt 1786-90) For these see also N Pevsner op cit 94 For almshouses see map 2 and Appendix II For the Infirmary (new-built 1786shy

1814) see Lat iii 199-200 F H Towill in BAC 300-1 For Gaol and Bridewell see

Matthews Guide (1828)82 the Bridewell was rebuilt in 1722

business men were now abandoning the rigid Puritanism of earlier times

which had laid so much emphasis on the virtues of hard work and applishy

cation to the task in hand and were showing an appreciation of a more leisured life and considerable interest in the promotion of learning and the arts In the first place the patronage of architects and an interest in improving amenities were now more widely spread among the citizens with the result that by the I 820S the ancient city had been largely transshy

formed Popes description of 1739 that the place was very unpleasant and as if Wapping or Southwark were ten times as big had long been a

travesty 1S Eden wrote in 1797 almost half of what is properly called the city had been destroyed to make room for the Exchange the market

and the new streets and it could be truly said that more had been done than in most ancient cities to improve or replace old and dilapidated

houses As for the new town now almost encircling the old there were

ten splendid squares numerous elegant terraces and crescents and many opulent mansions for the wealthy which were greatly admired by the connoisseurs of taste 95

A feature of all this later building was the predominant use of the creamy Bath freestone now easily transported by river after the improveshyment of the navigation of the A von as well as of the multi-coloured

Pennant Sandstone and Millstone Grit dug within the city boundaries The use of these materials besides the once fashionable dark red brick or brick and sandstone together along with the preservation of the best of the half-timbered houses of the Tudor and Stuart period gave Bristols architecture an unrivalled charm and variety The style of building was as varied as the material for though some architects of national fame were employed from time to time most work was done by local men such as the Patys who had a distinguished vernacular style of their own These architects and builders had a host of skilled craftsmen to call on plasterers stonemasons ironworkers and the like as well as gardeners who contributed a notable elegance and variety to the street architecture

and the landscape Furthermore the natural setting for their work was perfect - the rivers and the hills Even in the heart of the city the quay

on the Frome beside the old town wall with houses on both sides and in the middle apparently a street with hundreds of ships on it had always fascinated visitors The sour Pope was once moved to write that it seemed like a dream and Peter Monamy glorified it in paint Everywhere too were the water-lined streets with their numerous bridges thirteen over the Frome alone which prompted the romantic to name the city the Venice of the north The hills especially gave the place exceptional charm

strangers were struck with the sight of a town hanging in continued slope as it were from the very clouds for Kingsdown St Michaels Hill

and Brandon Hill were about 250 feet above the river level and between

them were literally chasms So there were delightful prospects of the city harbour and shipping at almost every turn John Britten in his Picturesque Beauties of England and Wales had to admit that he could not do justice to the jfetropolis of the West so pre-eminent was it in archishytectural antiquities and picturesqueness 96

No wonder then that Southey Coleridge and their circle drew inshyspiration from the city and made it their headquarters and that it had come about that the days when Pope could complain of no civilized

)5 Pope ed Sherburn iv 201 Eden State ofthe Poor 182 Matthews Guide (1828)

Ison op cit 29 iJatthews Dir (1794) lists 5 architects Wm Edney was foremost among blacksmiths his wrought-iron balconies and gates were of great distinction

Thomas Stocking was renowned among plasterers King St was a notable example

of varied architecture until its partial destruction in World War II W Leighton

BGAS Ixv (1944) 157 sqq 96 Pope op cit 201 1Ionamys painting is in the Bristol Art Gallery Matthews

Guide (828) 3-4 Besides the Drawbridge at St Augustines Back (Lat iii 99) there

were the following bridges Penn Traitors Ellbridge Philadelphia Merchant

Union Pithay Needless Bridewell St Johns St Giles Swing Bridge leading to

Bathurst Basin where Gibb Ferry once vas There were the following ferries over

the Avon Queen St to Temple Back the Back to Redcliff the Grove to Guinea

St and one from Rownham

25

BRISTOL

company were gone forever In 1794 Matthews was writing 1fl the

Bristol History with evident satisfaction of the nobility and gentry at

the Hotwell and Clifton of the cits fashionably dressed ladies gentleshy

men and decent ranks who vere able to imitate the haute JJ10nde at Bath

only a short drive away It must be said however that others despised

the new trends and complained that folly had taken possession of all

Wesley for one inveighed against the building of the new Theatre in

1766 It soon acquired a national reputation and so too did the many

fine musical performances some held at the ew Music Room in

Princes Street But besides these activities there was prodsion on a

growing scale for more purely intellectual pursuits a new public Library

had been completed in 1740 there were circulating libraries bookshops

and cultural societies Finally in 1820 a handsome building was erected in

APPENDIX I THE COUtCIL HOUSE AtD TOLZEY (lAPS 2 and 3)

The medieval Tolzey or Mayors court apparently stood at the corner of the small church of St Ewens at the central cross-roads of the early toI-n and on the corner of

Broad St and Corn St Wm of W-orcester describes it as having one side facing the

W door of Christ Church and the other the High St with a Council Chamber abole

(pp 32-3 for a reference to the church and Tolzey in 1356 see CIJllrcb Bk ofst EIIens [ 454- I Jj 4 ed B R Masters and E Ralph Be 15 Rec Section vi (1967) 256 and see

also pp xiii-xiv and as above p 14 n 32) In 155 I the Corporation purchased the S aisle and chapel of St John the Baptist in St Ewens from the Fraternity of Tailors (The whole length of the church is given as twenty-two yards bmiddot X-m of middotorcester)

On this site was built a two-storied Council House with an adjoining penthouse

against the S wall ie a covered walk where the Councill()rs could stroll and talk

This was reconstructed in 1617 (Lac ii 275 J Ricart 49 52-3 79) in 1657 the Council purchased an adjacent tenement on the corner of Broad and Corn Streets with

a view to a further extension The whole building was replaced in 1706 The union of St Eens parish with that of Christ Church bv- the Act of 1788 v-as a preliminan to

plans for a further extension but nothing vas done until 1827 (sec above p 24 and

n 91) Lat iii 467 470-71 rm Barrett History of Alltiqllities of tbe City of Bristol

(17 89)476 -7

APPENDIX II 1l0SPITLS AND ALISHOUSES (IPS 2 and 3)

The following medieval institutions survived the Reformation (I) All Saints Almshouse in All Saints Lane (see abo-e p I I n 15) The SE

part of the Exchange vas built in 1739 on its site and a new almshouse was built in

1740-1 adjoining Stranges or St Johns Almshouse it -as removed again in 1813 to

All Saints St (2) Burtons Almshouse in Long Row off Temple St an almshouse or hospital

is first r~corded at the end of the 14th century (1385-94) in adley IIills 152543 39 and in 1389 in LRB i 224 The traditional attribution of its foundation to Simon

Burton in 1292 was regarded as mythical by Nicholls and Taylor (0 and T i 149

n 2 iii 254) It is possible that it as re-endowed by John Burton mayor in 1424

etc and that Leland (vo 93) had him in mind It vas rebuilt in 1606 and 172 I (3) Wm Canynges Almhouse on Redcliff Hill (see aboye p 14) Tanner (-otilia

1737) notes that there were 17 almspeoplc then and 14 were recorded in 1803 The

original building stood on the XX side of Redcliff Hill but when the tew Cut was made in 1805 the site was shifted a little so as to face S it was then known as The

Poor House (4) John Fosters Almshouse and the chapel of the Three Kings of Cologne in

Steep St was founded in 1492 (see above p 14 and n 33) and rebuilt on the same site

in 1702 (5) Merchant Tailors Almshouse in Merchant St (later called farshall St) was

new-built in 170 I Its early history is obscure will of 1558 (adler 1FtIs 19 I)

appears to refer to poor people in the Tailors Hall for bequests of 1587 and 1599 sec Barrett op cit 616 448 It is possible that this was a post-Reformation foundation

though it would be surprising in view of the Tailors wealth (6) Wm Spencers (or Spensers) Almshouse was founded soon after 1474 on

Rocques map it is called Poor House (7) Stranges or St Johns Almshouse on St Johns Steep Robert Strange three

times mayor gave land for an almshouse of St John the Baptist C1490 It was

rebuilt in 172 r

(8) The two Trinity Hospitals on either side of Lawfords Gate date from the

foundation of John Barstaple of 1395 (see above p I r) the building on the ~ side

was added to in the 18th century and that Oil the S side (including the chapel) then

called Dials House was extensively rebuilt (9) Roger lagdalens of Nonney or Nunney apparently founded an almshouse

before Lelands day since he refers to it (Itin V 93) It was rebuilt in 1675 and in 1793

had 16 occupants It was described as just outside Temple Gate and is probably to

be identified with RedcliffHospital depicted on Millerds map The 1803 Gliide appears to refer to it as a Poor House without Temple Gate

Park Street for the Philosophical and Literary Institute Eight years later

Matthews wrote of its astonishing progress and boasted that the city

provided every gratification and amusement that a rational person can

desire Not without reason Bristolians forgetting their own one-time

single-minded devotion to business were now inclined to sneer at the

indiscriminate urge for commerce and for getting money at all events

and at the total lack of science displayed by their chief rival Liverpool97

97 Pope op cit 205 the Alagna Britannia et Hibernia (1727) also commented on the ill-bred manners of the citizens and the lack of gaiety Ison op cit 108 123 sqq

R 1 James in BAC 237 sqq for earlier theatres see Lat iii 6 I -3 40 I ibid (circulating library 1723) 210 (ne Library) fatthews Hist (1794) 91 and Guide

(If28) 174-9

(10) Chesters Almshouse - The Gift House as it was called later - on St Jamess

Back is dated as 1537 in Lvans Cbron it had six inmates in 1803 and was perhaps never large An unnamed building depicted by Millerd has been tentatively adopted as a likely site

(I I-I 2) The Fullers and eavers each supported a fcw poor women underneath

their respecti-e Halls in the 15th century and Leland records the existence of these

almshouses in the next century Barrett states that there were 4 poor women in the Weavers Almshouse in his day It is not clear vhich of these institutions -ere the

ten almshouses to which Robert Thorne left be4uests in 1574 adley Wills 216 The following institutions failed to survive the Reformation

(13) King Johns Leper 1louse of St Lawrence outside Lawford Gate

(14) The Lazar house hospital and chapel of St Catherine Brightbnw at BrightbOv

Bridge (For Brightbov- see map 5) (15) The Lazar House of St lary ~lagdalen Brightbow see above p 8 Wm

Iiore 85 (16) St Bartholomews IIospital became the Free Grammar School in 15 F see

above p 20 (17) The Chapel of the Holy Spirit in the churchvard of St lary Redcliff had a

leper annex which the Hospital of St Johil the Baptist undertook in 1254 to sene or prmide with a secular chaplain It became a Grammar School in Elizabeths reign

was taken down in 1763 as it was an obstruction to the S vie- of the church and

has left no trace BGAI xxiv- 174 117m lJ7orc I 16 (18) The Hospital of St John the Baptist for both men and women in the 13th

and 14th centuries was suppressed in 1544 -m of orcester gives the measurements

of its hall and cloister and describes its church as sited opposite St ~rary Redcliff

He also describes a Hermitage on the XX side of the church in the rocks and a lane on

the XX side of the church also icholls and Taylor considered that the Hospitals

precincts were probably detined by the vall of the Friends cemetery where the traditional site of the Hermitage could be seen in the cliff (OS map 2( r 880-2)

For help in plotting the site of the Hospital and lane -e are indebted to Mrs F tealc (see her forthcoming edition of the Bristol section of -m of Xorcesters Itinermy in

BGAS Records Section 1976) (19) Richard Fosters Almshouse by Redcliff Gate has left no post-Reformation

record see above p 14 Bickley Deeds no 287 adley Wills 109 145

(20) Spicers Almshouse by Temple Gate Its site is uncertain A deed of 1393 mentions an unnamed almshouse ithin Temple Gate opposite the housc of the

Augustinians (cited by Barrett p_ 555) which seems to refer to it as does the bequest

of 1397 to an almshouse next the Temple Frerys adley Ifills 59 and see above

p II Of the eleven principal post-Reformation almshouses St Peters is the only one

that will not be found on the maps Founded by Robert Ald-orth (d 1634) it was ncar the churchyard of St Peters and Aldworths mansion (formerly Nortons see

map 2) The n-idence is insufficient to locate it For additional references see Barrett

op cit (as in pp T un indexed) pp 403 and map (1780) 435 443 448 45 8 487 49 2

505536555556560561599613620 and indexes to Lat i ii iii t and T i ii iii BGAlxxxii 86 104 107 The -eu Bristol Gllide (Illo J) pub Sheppard Bristol

APPEtDIX III (a) Site of tbe Austill Friars Priory (maps 2 and 3)

The difficulty of interpreting Wm of -orcesters account of this building has led

Bristols past historians to choose various sites (eg Seyer ii map betw-een pp 42-3 Nand T i 129 X Hunt Bristol (I 887) frontispiece) Hunt accepted a statement of

r 3 I 8 that the Friary was against Temple Gate and placed it on the E side of Temple St Mrs F teales work on the topography of the area supports this m of Worcesshyter gives the measurements of the Friarys church chapter-house cloister and belfry

(b) Site of tbe Friars of the 5ack The only clue to the site comes from a deed of 1322 (Bickley Deeds no 63) which

states that a tenement outside Temple Gate lies between the lane going towards the

church of the Friars and another curtilage

26

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BRISTOL

suburbs are included) for Bristol attracted immigrants or so it was

asserted locally from most parts of England and the world and

colonies from Wales Ireland Scotland America and elsewhere had

settled there Indeed by 1828 the date of Ashmeads plan the medieval

walled city was ringed by populous working-class suburbs or by the

Georgian and Regency squares crescents and streets of the well-to-do

residences laid out on the surrounding hills and plains A large part of these suburbs - the extensive parish of Clifton parts of Bedminster and of

the out-parishes of St Paul and of St Philip and St Jacob - were not actushy

ally within the jurisdiction of the city magistrates until 1835 but they

formed an economic cultural and social unit with the city long before

and the story of their growth cannot be divorced from that of the city 83

The whole area by 1828 was nearly circular measuring roughly five

miles from north to south and six or half the length of London and

Westminster from east to west It contrasted startlingly with its appearshy

ance in 1700 Then the road westwards from College Green up to

Clifton a village of about a dozen farms was merely dotted with houses

on the north of the old town the slope from the harbour up to the Royal

Fort was covered with gardens orchards and fields Kingsdown was

still a down on the southern outskirts a clear space of a half-mile

separated the village of Bedminster from the city and Kips engraving

shows the road to it from Redcliff Gate as a mere track through unenshy

closed land outside Temple Gate there were only a few buildings The

only real new suburb was the already mentioned eastern district beyond

Lawfords Gate now populated by weavers colliers and marketshy

gardeners By 1743 such great changes had taken place that Rocque could inscribe on his plan of Bristol that it was enlarged by the addition

of so many fair streets and stately edifices on every side that at present it

is near a third bigger than it was forty years ago And yet an outstanding

feature of this elegant plan is that the citys outskirts still had a semishy

rural character and that there were great open spaces in the suburbs such

as Earls Mead BishopS Park and Brandon Hill Even in the heart of

the densely built up walled city north of the Avon there were still dwellshy

ings with large gardens there was a bowling green large churchyards

planted with avenues of trees so as to make pleasant walks for the

citizens gardens in the Castle Precinct and the busy quays on the Frome with their tall houses and shops were still spacious and beautishyful 84

The first building of the century took place on the Marsh and round

College Green which was levelled and beautified with trees this was

soon followed by buildings in streets running north-west from St

AugustineS Back - Denmark Street (once Gaunts Lane) Hanover Street

(built by a local family) and Orchard Street on the site of the orchard of

Gaunts Hospital The latter was offered as building plots by the Corshy

poration and a bridge was built over the Frome to facilitate the work The houses when built were three-storeyed constructed of brick with

doorways and other features of stone and decorated with ironwork of

fine craftsmanship and taste About the same time speculative building

was going on in the northern and eastern outskirts where St Jamess

Square (I 706-1 6) was laid out on the south bank of the river where

Great and Little George Street Great and Little Anne Street Wade

83 The city boundaries were extended by an Act of 1777 to reach to Rownham Ferry ( mile beyond Hotwell House) and an Act of 1803 added parts between the new and the old course of the river Avon For population see MacGrath (4)208 n 1

who states that in 1801 49000 of the inhabitants lived in the city and 28000 in the suburbs By 1831 the respective figures were 59034 and 45304 The suburbs as defined by the Boundary Commissioners then included the Out-parish of St Philip and St Jacob the Out-parish ofSt James and St Paul Clifton part of Bedminster part of the tything of Stoke Bishop in Westbury upon Trym (Reports from Commissioners on proposed Boundaries ofBoroughs (1832) pt iv 2 I 9)middot

84 J Kip (1717) reproduced in Macinnes Gateway facing p 224 Millerds plan J Ogilbys Road Map (1698) Rocques plan (1 743) Around 1700 houses in Wine St etc had gardens and the less thickly inhabited Temple parish was noted for its

nursery gardens Lat iii 98

Street and others were built Besides the large houses planned on

spacious lines for the merchant class houses of good design and material

but of a less grand kind were put up for those of modest fortunes - the

tradesmen and small manufacturers

The introduction of squares was a planning innovation in imitation of

London and with improved health in view The fashion had been set by

Queens Square begun in 1699 its lay-out together with that of Princes Street was planned by the city surveyor and when the land was leased

conditions were made as in London after the Great Fire for the uniform

building of the houses Brick was extensively used for the first time and

when completed the proportions of the houses and their relation to the

central square with its avenues of trees enhanced by Rysbrachs equesshy

trian statue of William III made it a truly noble construction Here in due

course were erected an imposing Customs House and Excise Office

and in I 78 I the Corporation chose a fine private residence for use as the

mayors Mansion House With the exception of Lincolns Inn Square in

London this square was the largest in the kingdom and a fitting testimony to the public pride and taste of the citys elite and to the skill of the

building crafts and architects It remained one of the most fashionable

parts of Bristol until the merchants deserted it for suburban residences

on the surrounding hills 85

As wealth increased especially just after the end of the Seven Years

War business confidence was reflected in new building schemes both in

the industrial suburbs and the middle-class residential areas Between

I 75 5 and 1769 there were laid out Kings Square on Kingsdown Brunswick Square in St Jamess parish and on the site of the orchard of the Dominican Friary the property of the descendants of the famous

William Penn Penn Street and Philadelphia Street Many other streets

followed Donnes plan of I773 shows that BishopS Park was now built

over that Stokes Croft was more solidly built up also Kingsdown The

American War brought a halt but with the Peace of Paris and the new

Pitt ministry confidence was renewed A great building boom was soon

in progress In I788 and 1791 a local journal reported that houses on the western side of the city - on Brandon Hill in Great George Street Park

Street and College Street - had been developed (in part by the Council in

part by the Bishop) and that ground was taken for more than three

thousand houses Three years later the New History of Bristol recorded

that particularly in the eastern suburbs industrial buildings had sprung

up in profusion and that in the whole city there were upwards of five

hundred squares lanes and streets - more than in any other provincial

city in England It singled out as the most regular beautiful or elegant

streets of the new Town the recent Park Street and College Street

the much earlier Trinity Street (I733) with its brick houses Unity and

Orchard Streets (17I6) and Princes Street (1725) the most spacious of

all Many streets were still being constructed Portland Square in St

Pauls parish and Berkeley Square in Clifton both all of freestone with

several handsome adjacent streets which were in great forwardness and

partly inhabited and much more was planned The planners fully

understood the value of tree-planting since the days when the Council

had planted two hundred and forty trees in Queens Square avenues of

limes or elms seem to have been generally included in each new developshy

ment This speculative building fever was shortlived - it was at its height

between 1763 and 1793 when the French war broke out again and many

builders subsequently suffered ruin and bankruptcy Plans for developshy

ing about sixty-eight acres round the Royal Fort a handsome mansion completed in I761 on the site of the Civil War Fort and various other

projects in Clifton on Kingsdown and St Michaels Hill were abandoned

More than five hundred houses beautiful and elegant piles were left

85 All Gaunts buildings except the chapel were pulled down Bristol Museum Braikenridge ColI MSS x 3 Lat iii 92 114-15449-50 Lat ii 490 For full details of Georgian public buildings and street plans see Ison Georgian Buildings

23

BRISTOL

half-finished so that until work was resumed after the restoration of

peace they looked it was said as if they had been bombarded 86

The development of the village of Clifton and its manorial lands which

included the Hotwells was perhaps the most striking of the eighteenthshy

century ventures both from the architectural and social points of view

The Hotwell was about one mile from the citys boundary and near the

entrance to the Avon Gorge it was reputed to have medicinal qualities

and had been one of the citys medieval wonders Its commercial deshy

velopment began after the visit of Catherine of Braganza in 1695 A

Pump Room was built and tree-lined promenades squares streets and

public buildings were constructed to accommodate and entertain the

influx of fashionable and literary visitors Dowry Square was laid out in

the late I720S and from it the main thoroughfare was made through

Dowrv Parade (1763-4) past the Assembly Rooms and on to the river

bank at Rownham Ferry Hotwell Colonnade and the gracefully curved

and tree-lined St Vincents Parade (never completed) built all of freeshy

stone were begun in the 1780s Here too the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens

were laid out On the slopes of Clifton Hill above the Hotwell tier upon

tier of terraces and crescents came into existence most notable among

them being Princes Buildings the Paragon and Windsor Terrace The

village of Clifton itself with its pure and salubrious air where Pope

had found very pretty lodging houses was developed in the first place as an adjunct to the Hotwell and later as a Spa in its own right Within a

short time the speculative builders had erected on the heights a new and

elegant suburb called locally the Montpellier of England Its healthy

and exhilarating situation and its romantic setting above the von

Gorge and the more mundane advantages of cheap coal and ample cheap

provisions rapidly attracted a well-to-do residential population and reshy

placed St Michaels Hill as the home of the commercial diteY In 1828

the number of its inhabitants had reached twelve thousand Its developshy

ment had begun in earnest in the 1 nos when Boyce a builder whose

enterprise eventually led to bankruptcy erected Boyces Buildings as

lodging houses for the wealthy visitors to the Hotwell The Mall was

laid out after 1787 and much else then followed including the splendid Royal York Crescent with its terrace walk raised high above the road

level on a substructure of vaults and basements Here too a pause came

with the collapse of the building boom on the outbreak of war in 1793

As late as 1807 a learned visitor found the abandoned ruins the most

melancholy spectacle within his recollection but construction was soon to be vigorously resumed 88

The great expansion in the citys population and housing brought ever-increasing administrative problems in their train The narrowness

of many main streets was no longer suitable to contemporary needs

Even before the opening of the century the houses between St Thomas Street and Bristol Bridge were pulled down and the road widened b

eight feet In 1733 the cityS Carfax was opened up by the removal to College Green of the beautiful medieval High Cross offensive to some as

a Popish relic and certainly an obstruction to traffic a major improveshyment was carried out when the bridge with about thirt houses and part

of the neighbouring shambles were demolished A wide new threeshy

arched bridge was opened in 1768 Bridge Street itself was widened and

with its stone-built houses four storeys high eventually became one of

the finest of the many new streets and was comparable with Lnion or

Bath Street St Leonards Gate and church were pulled down also Blind

Gate so as to open the approach to the new and elegant Clare Street

R Lat iii 149 185 237 313 372 489 493 -6 [atthews Hist (1794) 93-96 The Manor of Clifton was bought by the lerchant Venturers Society in 1676 and

developed For Hotwell see Lat iii 469 and index Matthcws His (1794)98-107

and Guide (I 828) 209 cf V Waite in 1cGrath (4) 112 sqq Correspondence of Alexander Pope ed G S Sherburn (1956) iv 204 below map 4

Rx jlatthews Guide (I 828) 217 sqq Ison op cit 25 sqq and index Lat iii 400 454

493-4 and passim R H Brentnall in BAC 263-4

(InO) Pithay Gate Queen Street Gate Castle Gate and Lawfords Gate had already gone 89

An old nuisance in the central area from the point of view of cleanlishy

ness and congestion - the open markets in Wine Street Broad Street and High Street - was dealt with drastically Several were moved to the

outskirts - to Temple Street Broadmead the Quay near St StephenS

church and new covered markets were put up The old covered marketshy

house in the middle of Wine Street was moved to a new site in 17z6 and

in 1745 a grand new Market-House was built behind the Exchange in

In6 St Jamess market in Union Street was opened and in the same year a market for provisions from Wales was constructed on the Welsh Back

opposite King Street The age-old struggle with other sanitary problems also continued throughout the century - the maintenance of a pure

water supply the cleansing and paving of streets and the pollution of

the two rivers by glass-makers and others A climax was reached with the

Common Councils proposals in the Streets Improvement Act of 1766

They were of so advanced a kind that they have been deservedly deshyscribed as unprecedented in their magnitude and importance 90

Along with the modernization and expansion of the street plan and the

building of dwelling houses for the growing population went the erection of new public buildings of all kinds - administrative religious

charitable commercial and industrial as well as cultural Affluence and

civic pride demanded finer civic buildings the Council House was

rebuilt in 1704 and again rebuilt by Smirke in 1824-9 so as to include

the site of St Ewens church Most notable as a building was the New

Exchange The long-felt need for the merchants to have a more dignified

meeting place than their Tolzey was finally satisfied in 1743 with the

erection of an elegant structure designed by John Wood the elder of Bath

It was planned to receive comfortably one thousand four hundred and

forty men was faced with white freestone and roofed with blue slate

and blue milled lead - a manufacture lately introduced into Bristol The

building of the Exchange entailed the destruction of the halls of two city

companies the Coopers still had sufficient vitality to want to build a new one in Kings Street the ~ferchant Tailors were also alive enough to

erect a new elegant hall in Broad Street The Barber Surgeons on the

other hand whose hall in Cock Lane was just to the south of the Coopers

allowed it to be converted in 1745 into a Coffee House an institution that

was now fashionable among the merchants The Society of Merchant

Venturers had already rebuilt their Hall in 1719 partly on the site of St Clements chapel where they had met since Edward VIs days but after

the end of the Seven Years War peace was heralded by the elaborate reshy

construction of the building in accordance with the designs of Thomas Paty In the next century when peace again brought a renewal of conshy

fidence C A Busby designed in the Grecian style for the use of the

merchants the fine Commercial Rooms and Coffee House in Corn Street

Apart from these architecturally distinguished civic and merchant buildshy

ings there was a host of utilitarian ones such as banks hotels business

premises inns and taverns 91

Nor were the spiritual needs of the citizens neglected In Bristols

relatively free and rigorous society Nonconformity naturally became a

dominant influence and the vhole period is characterized by the burgeonshy

ing of a multiplicity of chapels Wesleys Room (later known as the New

89 The High Cross had been heightened in 1633 it is illustrated in Nand T ii 181

Lat iii 334-6 351-3391393-4 Evans ebroll Ison op cit 114 sqq

90 Lat iii 88151396422 or For Council House the Company Halls and Corn Exchange see ibid 42 i 9239

247-8 Ison op cit 90-2 94 127 135 sqq N D Harding BGAS xlviii (1926) 229 235 (plans 1795) of alterations to St Ewens church BG AS lxx elc-ations (facing p 158) of Coopers and Merchant Venturers Halls For colfee houses Lat

iii 240-1 by 1750 there were c 12 For banks etc exchange and commercial rooms

opposite see Matthews GlIide(I828) 70-2 etc Ison op cit 95-9134 The principal inns where the gentry put up -ere the Bush the hite Hart or the Vhite Lion in Broad St

24

-

BRISTOL

Room) in Broadmead was the first to be erected It was soon enlarged

for George Whitfield and Wesley made Bristol the centre of their national movement for a religious and humanitarian revival by preaching in the

open air to the half savage miners of Kingswood and to the outcasts of the citys industrial population There followed in rapid succession a Moravian chapel in Upper Maudlin Street a new Friends Meeting House

in the Friars Whitfields Tabernacle (1753) in Penn Street Baptist Inshydependent chapels and so forth with increasing momentum into the next century 92

The Anglican church was in turn stirred to action particularly in the

latter part of the century when it was deeply affected by the Evangelical revival This with the expanding population and increasing wealth were responsible for the rebuilding of several churches in the fashionable

classical style and the erection of new ones Outstanding among the renewals was the replacement of the small Norman tower of All Saints by a tower and cupola considered by many to be worthy to rank with the work of Sir Christopher Wren For the new residential district of Portshyland Square StPaul was built in 1787 in the modern Gothic style It had the distinction of being the first parish church to be consecrated within the citys bounds since the Middle Ages for the now thickly populated

parish of St James had become unmanageable The parish of St Philip and St Jacob had in fact already been divided in 175 I and a new parish church of St George was erected in Kingswood a district which was physically outside the city though economically closely attached to it 93

Charitable institutions of all kinds likewise increased in number at least seven more almshouses were founded of which two - the Presbyshyterian one on Stokes Croft and Blanchards for Baptist spinsters - were specifically for dissenting sects others were enlarged or rebuilt Schools and poor houses were also founded by various members of the nonshyconformist and Anglican communities Notable among them were the Benevolent School for about four hundred boys and girls in the parishes

of St James and St Paul and the Penitentiary for helping unhappy females who have strayed from the path of virtue It was on a nonshysectarian basis however that a major advance was made in dealing with

sickness when the Infirmary was erected by public subscription in 1737 shy

the first of its kind outside London Various laudable efforts were also made to improve the deplorable condition of the prisoners in the dungeons of Newgate and in the Bridewell culminating in the New County Gaol of 18 I 6-20 94

The second half of the century saw the beginnings of marked changes in the outlook of the citys elite which were soon to make it the focus of the cultural life of the West Although the sober influence of the

Quakers Wesleyans and other strict dissenters remained extremely

strong many influential Bristolians including professional as well as

92 Dissenting chapels are listed in Matthews Hist (1794) 79-80 and Guide (128)

161 sqq For individual dates see Latimer iii index sub nomine eg Portland St

chapel (Wesleyan 1792)498 The chapel in Tucker St (see below map 2) was destroyed when Bath St was made The French chapel was opened in 727 after the

loss of St Marks chapel recently taken over as the i1ayors chapel by the Corporashy

tion Lat iii 155 93 Ison op cit 44 (St George Brandon Hill) 52-89 Nand T iii 235 St Leonards

1771 (it stood on Blind Gate and was demolished Lat iii 394) St Augustines

chapel of Ease (1821-3) on NW side of Gt George St Dowry Sq chapel

Matthews Guide (I 828) 159 160 St Werburgs E end obstructed the entry to

Small St so it was removed the church was re-opened in 176 I Lat iii 329 Only the tower of the medieval St Thomass was left when the new church was built in

1790 ibid 487 St Nicholass Gate and church were pulled down in 1762 The church was rebuilt almost on the same site for it was only the chancel approached

by about 20 steps that had extended over the archway of the Gate the ancient

crypt was left ibid 352-3 Other churches at which work was carried out between

1750 and 1793 included St Peters St Ilichael (rebuilt 1775-7) and Christchurch

(rebuilt 1786-90) For these see also N Pevsner op cit 94 For almshouses see map 2 and Appendix II For the Infirmary (new-built 1786shy

1814) see Lat iii 199-200 F H Towill in BAC 300-1 For Gaol and Bridewell see

Matthews Guide (1828)82 the Bridewell was rebuilt in 1722

business men were now abandoning the rigid Puritanism of earlier times

which had laid so much emphasis on the virtues of hard work and applishy

cation to the task in hand and were showing an appreciation of a more leisured life and considerable interest in the promotion of learning and the arts In the first place the patronage of architects and an interest in improving amenities were now more widely spread among the citizens with the result that by the I 820S the ancient city had been largely transshy

formed Popes description of 1739 that the place was very unpleasant and as if Wapping or Southwark were ten times as big had long been a

travesty 1S Eden wrote in 1797 almost half of what is properly called the city had been destroyed to make room for the Exchange the market

and the new streets and it could be truly said that more had been done than in most ancient cities to improve or replace old and dilapidated

houses As for the new town now almost encircling the old there were

ten splendid squares numerous elegant terraces and crescents and many opulent mansions for the wealthy which were greatly admired by the connoisseurs of taste 95

A feature of all this later building was the predominant use of the creamy Bath freestone now easily transported by river after the improveshyment of the navigation of the A von as well as of the multi-coloured

Pennant Sandstone and Millstone Grit dug within the city boundaries The use of these materials besides the once fashionable dark red brick or brick and sandstone together along with the preservation of the best of the half-timbered houses of the Tudor and Stuart period gave Bristols architecture an unrivalled charm and variety The style of building was as varied as the material for though some architects of national fame were employed from time to time most work was done by local men such as the Patys who had a distinguished vernacular style of their own These architects and builders had a host of skilled craftsmen to call on plasterers stonemasons ironworkers and the like as well as gardeners who contributed a notable elegance and variety to the street architecture

and the landscape Furthermore the natural setting for their work was perfect - the rivers and the hills Even in the heart of the city the quay

on the Frome beside the old town wall with houses on both sides and in the middle apparently a street with hundreds of ships on it had always fascinated visitors The sour Pope was once moved to write that it seemed like a dream and Peter Monamy glorified it in paint Everywhere too were the water-lined streets with their numerous bridges thirteen over the Frome alone which prompted the romantic to name the city the Venice of the north The hills especially gave the place exceptional charm

strangers were struck with the sight of a town hanging in continued slope as it were from the very clouds for Kingsdown St Michaels Hill

and Brandon Hill were about 250 feet above the river level and between

them were literally chasms So there were delightful prospects of the city harbour and shipping at almost every turn John Britten in his Picturesque Beauties of England and Wales had to admit that he could not do justice to the jfetropolis of the West so pre-eminent was it in archishytectural antiquities and picturesqueness 96

No wonder then that Southey Coleridge and their circle drew inshyspiration from the city and made it their headquarters and that it had come about that the days when Pope could complain of no civilized

)5 Pope ed Sherburn iv 201 Eden State ofthe Poor 182 Matthews Guide (1828)

Ison op cit 29 iJatthews Dir (1794) lists 5 architects Wm Edney was foremost among blacksmiths his wrought-iron balconies and gates were of great distinction

Thomas Stocking was renowned among plasterers King St was a notable example

of varied architecture until its partial destruction in World War II W Leighton

BGAS Ixv (1944) 157 sqq 96 Pope op cit 201 1Ionamys painting is in the Bristol Art Gallery Matthews

Guide (828) 3-4 Besides the Drawbridge at St Augustines Back (Lat iii 99) there

were the following bridges Penn Traitors Ellbridge Philadelphia Merchant

Union Pithay Needless Bridewell St Johns St Giles Swing Bridge leading to

Bathurst Basin where Gibb Ferry once vas There were the following ferries over

the Avon Queen St to Temple Back the Back to Redcliff the Grove to Guinea

St and one from Rownham

25

BRISTOL

company were gone forever In 1794 Matthews was writing 1fl the

Bristol History with evident satisfaction of the nobility and gentry at

the Hotwell and Clifton of the cits fashionably dressed ladies gentleshy

men and decent ranks who vere able to imitate the haute JJ10nde at Bath

only a short drive away It must be said however that others despised

the new trends and complained that folly had taken possession of all

Wesley for one inveighed against the building of the new Theatre in

1766 It soon acquired a national reputation and so too did the many

fine musical performances some held at the ew Music Room in

Princes Street But besides these activities there was prodsion on a

growing scale for more purely intellectual pursuits a new public Library

had been completed in 1740 there were circulating libraries bookshops

and cultural societies Finally in 1820 a handsome building was erected in

APPENDIX I THE COUtCIL HOUSE AtD TOLZEY (lAPS 2 and 3)

The medieval Tolzey or Mayors court apparently stood at the corner of the small church of St Ewens at the central cross-roads of the early toI-n and on the corner of

Broad St and Corn St Wm of W-orcester describes it as having one side facing the

W door of Christ Church and the other the High St with a Council Chamber abole

(pp 32-3 for a reference to the church and Tolzey in 1356 see CIJllrcb Bk ofst EIIens [ 454- I Jj 4 ed B R Masters and E Ralph Be 15 Rec Section vi (1967) 256 and see

also pp xiii-xiv and as above p 14 n 32) In 155 I the Corporation purchased the S aisle and chapel of St John the Baptist in St Ewens from the Fraternity of Tailors (The whole length of the church is given as twenty-two yards bmiddot X-m of middotorcester)

On this site was built a two-storied Council House with an adjoining penthouse

against the S wall ie a covered walk where the Councill()rs could stroll and talk

This was reconstructed in 1617 (Lac ii 275 J Ricart 49 52-3 79) in 1657 the Council purchased an adjacent tenement on the corner of Broad and Corn Streets with

a view to a further extension The whole building was replaced in 1706 The union of St Eens parish with that of Christ Church bv- the Act of 1788 v-as a preliminan to

plans for a further extension but nothing vas done until 1827 (sec above p 24 and

n 91) Lat iii 467 470-71 rm Barrett History of Alltiqllities of tbe City of Bristol

(17 89)476 -7

APPENDIX II 1l0SPITLS AND ALISHOUSES (IPS 2 and 3)

The following medieval institutions survived the Reformation (I) All Saints Almshouse in All Saints Lane (see abo-e p I I n 15) The SE

part of the Exchange vas built in 1739 on its site and a new almshouse was built in

1740-1 adjoining Stranges or St Johns Almshouse it -as removed again in 1813 to

All Saints St (2) Burtons Almshouse in Long Row off Temple St an almshouse or hospital

is first r~corded at the end of the 14th century (1385-94) in adley IIills 152543 39 and in 1389 in LRB i 224 The traditional attribution of its foundation to Simon

Burton in 1292 was regarded as mythical by Nicholls and Taylor (0 and T i 149

n 2 iii 254) It is possible that it as re-endowed by John Burton mayor in 1424

etc and that Leland (vo 93) had him in mind It vas rebuilt in 1606 and 172 I (3) Wm Canynges Almhouse on Redcliff Hill (see aboye p 14) Tanner (-otilia

1737) notes that there were 17 almspeoplc then and 14 were recorded in 1803 The

original building stood on the XX side of Redcliff Hill but when the tew Cut was made in 1805 the site was shifted a little so as to face S it was then known as The

Poor House (4) John Fosters Almshouse and the chapel of the Three Kings of Cologne in

Steep St was founded in 1492 (see above p 14 and n 33) and rebuilt on the same site

in 1702 (5) Merchant Tailors Almshouse in Merchant St (later called farshall St) was

new-built in 170 I Its early history is obscure will of 1558 (adler 1FtIs 19 I)

appears to refer to poor people in the Tailors Hall for bequests of 1587 and 1599 sec Barrett op cit 616 448 It is possible that this was a post-Reformation foundation

though it would be surprising in view of the Tailors wealth (6) Wm Spencers (or Spensers) Almshouse was founded soon after 1474 on

Rocques map it is called Poor House (7) Stranges or St Johns Almshouse on St Johns Steep Robert Strange three

times mayor gave land for an almshouse of St John the Baptist C1490 It was

rebuilt in 172 r

(8) The two Trinity Hospitals on either side of Lawfords Gate date from the

foundation of John Barstaple of 1395 (see above p I r) the building on the ~ side

was added to in the 18th century and that Oil the S side (including the chapel) then

called Dials House was extensively rebuilt (9) Roger lagdalens of Nonney or Nunney apparently founded an almshouse

before Lelands day since he refers to it (Itin V 93) It was rebuilt in 1675 and in 1793

had 16 occupants It was described as just outside Temple Gate and is probably to

be identified with RedcliffHospital depicted on Millerds map The 1803 Gliide appears to refer to it as a Poor House without Temple Gate

Park Street for the Philosophical and Literary Institute Eight years later

Matthews wrote of its astonishing progress and boasted that the city

provided every gratification and amusement that a rational person can

desire Not without reason Bristolians forgetting their own one-time

single-minded devotion to business were now inclined to sneer at the

indiscriminate urge for commerce and for getting money at all events

and at the total lack of science displayed by their chief rival Liverpool97

97 Pope op cit 205 the Alagna Britannia et Hibernia (1727) also commented on the ill-bred manners of the citizens and the lack of gaiety Ison op cit 108 123 sqq

R 1 James in BAC 237 sqq for earlier theatres see Lat iii 6 I -3 40 I ibid (circulating library 1723) 210 (ne Library) fatthews Hist (1794) 91 and Guide

(If28) 174-9

(10) Chesters Almshouse - The Gift House as it was called later - on St Jamess

Back is dated as 1537 in Lvans Cbron it had six inmates in 1803 and was perhaps never large An unnamed building depicted by Millerd has been tentatively adopted as a likely site

(I I-I 2) The Fullers and eavers each supported a fcw poor women underneath

their respecti-e Halls in the 15th century and Leland records the existence of these

almshouses in the next century Barrett states that there were 4 poor women in the Weavers Almshouse in his day It is not clear vhich of these institutions -ere the

ten almshouses to which Robert Thorne left be4uests in 1574 adley Wills 216 The following institutions failed to survive the Reformation

(13) King Johns Leper 1louse of St Lawrence outside Lawford Gate

(14) The Lazar house hospital and chapel of St Catherine Brightbnw at BrightbOv

Bridge (For Brightbov- see map 5) (15) The Lazar House of St lary ~lagdalen Brightbow see above p 8 Wm

Iiore 85 (16) St Bartholomews IIospital became the Free Grammar School in 15 F see

above p 20 (17) The Chapel of the Holy Spirit in the churchvard of St lary Redcliff had a

leper annex which the Hospital of St Johil the Baptist undertook in 1254 to sene or prmide with a secular chaplain It became a Grammar School in Elizabeths reign

was taken down in 1763 as it was an obstruction to the S vie- of the church and

has left no trace BGAI xxiv- 174 117m lJ7orc I 16 (18) The Hospital of St John the Baptist for both men and women in the 13th

and 14th centuries was suppressed in 1544 -m of orcester gives the measurements

of its hall and cloister and describes its church as sited opposite St ~rary Redcliff

He also describes a Hermitage on the XX side of the church in the rocks and a lane on

the XX side of the church also icholls and Taylor considered that the Hospitals

precincts were probably detined by the vall of the Friends cemetery where the traditional site of the Hermitage could be seen in the cliff (OS map 2( r 880-2)

For help in plotting the site of the Hospital and lane -e are indebted to Mrs F tealc (see her forthcoming edition of the Bristol section of -m of Xorcesters Itinermy in

BGAS Records Section 1976) (19) Richard Fosters Almshouse by Redcliff Gate has left no post-Reformation

record see above p 14 Bickley Deeds no 287 adley Wills 109 145

(20) Spicers Almshouse by Temple Gate Its site is uncertain A deed of 1393 mentions an unnamed almshouse ithin Temple Gate opposite the housc of the

Augustinians (cited by Barrett p_ 555) which seems to refer to it as does the bequest

of 1397 to an almshouse next the Temple Frerys adley Ifills 59 and see above

p II Of the eleven principal post-Reformation almshouses St Peters is the only one

that will not be found on the maps Founded by Robert Ald-orth (d 1634) it was ncar the churchyard of St Peters and Aldworths mansion (formerly Nortons see

map 2) The n-idence is insufficient to locate it For additional references see Barrett

op cit (as in pp T un indexed) pp 403 and map (1780) 435 443 448 45 8 487 49 2

505536555556560561599613620 and indexes to Lat i ii iii t and T i ii iii BGAlxxxii 86 104 107 The -eu Bristol Gllide (Illo J) pub Sheppard Bristol

APPEtDIX III (a) Site of tbe Austill Friars Priory (maps 2 and 3)

The difficulty of interpreting Wm of -orcesters account of this building has led

Bristols past historians to choose various sites (eg Seyer ii map betw-een pp 42-3 Nand T i 129 X Hunt Bristol (I 887) frontispiece) Hunt accepted a statement of

r 3 I 8 that the Friary was against Temple Gate and placed it on the E side of Temple St Mrs F teales work on the topography of the area supports this m of Worcesshyter gives the measurements of the Friarys church chapter-house cloister and belfry

(b) Site of tbe Friars of the 5ack The only clue to the site comes from a deed of 1322 (Bickley Deeds no 63) which

states that a tenement outside Temple Gate lies between the lane going towards the

church of the Friars and another curtilage

26

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BRISTOL

half-finished so that until work was resumed after the restoration of

peace they looked it was said as if they had been bombarded 86

The development of the village of Clifton and its manorial lands which

included the Hotwells was perhaps the most striking of the eighteenthshy

century ventures both from the architectural and social points of view

The Hotwell was about one mile from the citys boundary and near the

entrance to the Avon Gorge it was reputed to have medicinal qualities

and had been one of the citys medieval wonders Its commercial deshy

velopment began after the visit of Catherine of Braganza in 1695 A

Pump Room was built and tree-lined promenades squares streets and

public buildings were constructed to accommodate and entertain the

influx of fashionable and literary visitors Dowry Square was laid out in

the late I720S and from it the main thoroughfare was made through

Dowrv Parade (1763-4) past the Assembly Rooms and on to the river

bank at Rownham Ferry Hotwell Colonnade and the gracefully curved

and tree-lined St Vincents Parade (never completed) built all of freeshy

stone were begun in the 1780s Here too the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens

were laid out On the slopes of Clifton Hill above the Hotwell tier upon

tier of terraces and crescents came into existence most notable among

them being Princes Buildings the Paragon and Windsor Terrace The

village of Clifton itself with its pure and salubrious air where Pope

had found very pretty lodging houses was developed in the first place as an adjunct to the Hotwell and later as a Spa in its own right Within a

short time the speculative builders had erected on the heights a new and

elegant suburb called locally the Montpellier of England Its healthy

and exhilarating situation and its romantic setting above the von

Gorge and the more mundane advantages of cheap coal and ample cheap

provisions rapidly attracted a well-to-do residential population and reshy

placed St Michaels Hill as the home of the commercial diteY In 1828

the number of its inhabitants had reached twelve thousand Its developshy

ment had begun in earnest in the 1 nos when Boyce a builder whose

enterprise eventually led to bankruptcy erected Boyces Buildings as

lodging houses for the wealthy visitors to the Hotwell The Mall was

laid out after 1787 and much else then followed including the splendid Royal York Crescent with its terrace walk raised high above the road

level on a substructure of vaults and basements Here too a pause came

with the collapse of the building boom on the outbreak of war in 1793

As late as 1807 a learned visitor found the abandoned ruins the most

melancholy spectacle within his recollection but construction was soon to be vigorously resumed 88

The great expansion in the citys population and housing brought ever-increasing administrative problems in their train The narrowness

of many main streets was no longer suitable to contemporary needs

Even before the opening of the century the houses between St Thomas Street and Bristol Bridge were pulled down and the road widened b

eight feet In 1733 the cityS Carfax was opened up by the removal to College Green of the beautiful medieval High Cross offensive to some as

a Popish relic and certainly an obstruction to traffic a major improveshyment was carried out when the bridge with about thirt houses and part

of the neighbouring shambles were demolished A wide new threeshy

arched bridge was opened in 1768 Bridge Street itself was widened and

with its stone-built houses four storeys high eventually became one of

the finest of the many new streets and was comparable with Lnion or

Bath Street St Leonards Gate and church were pulled down also Blind

Gate so as to open the approach to the new and elegant Clare Street

R Lat iii 149 185 237 313 372 489 493 -6 [atthews Hist (1794) 93-96 The Manor of Clifton was bought by the lerchant Venturers Society in 1676 and

developed For Hotwell see Lat iii 469 and index Matthcws His (1794)98-107

and Guide (I 828) 209 cf V Waite in 1cGrath (4) 112 sqq Correspondence of Alexander Pope ed G S Sherburn (1956) iv 204 below map 4

Rx jlatthews Guide (I 828) 217 sqq Ison op cit 25 sqq and index Lat iii 400 454

493-4 and passim R H Brentnall in BAC 263-4

(InO) Pithay Gate Queen Street Gate Castle Gate and Lawfords Gate had already gone 89

An old nuisance in the central area from the point of view of cleanlishy

ness and congestion - the open markets in Wine Street Broad Street and High Street - was dealt with drastically Several were moved to the

outskirts - to Temple Street Broadmead the Quay near St StephenS

church and new covered markets were put up The old covered marketshy

house in the middle of Wine Street was moved to a new site in 17z6 and

in 1745 a grand new Market-House was built behind the Exchange in

In6 St Jamess market in Union Street was opened and in the same year a market for provisions from Wales was constructed on the Welsh Back

opposite King Street The age-old struggle with other sanitary problems also continued throughout the century - the maintenance of a pure

water supply the cleansing and paving of streets and the pollution of

the two rivers by glass-makers and others A climax was reached with the

Common Councils proposals in the Streets Improvement Act of 1766

They were of so advanced a kind that they have been deservedly deshyscribed as unprecedented in their magnitude and importance 90

Along with the modernization and expansion of the street plan and the

building of dwelling houses for the growing population went the erection of new public buildings of all kinds - administrative religious

charitable commercial and industrial as well as cultural Affluence and

civic pride demanded finer civic buildings the Council House was

rebuilt in 1704 and again rebuilt by Smirke in 1824-9 so as to include

the site of St Ewens church Most notable as a building was the New

Exchange The long-felt need for the merchants to have a more dignified

meeting place than their Tolzey was finally satisfied in 1743 with the

erection of an elegant structure designed by John Wood the elder of Bath

It was planned to receive comfortably one thousand four hundred and

forty men was faced with white freestone and roofed with blue slate

and blue milled lead - a manufacture lately introduced into Bristol The

building of the Exchange entailed the destruction of the halls of two city

companies the Coopers still had sufficient vitality to want to build a new one in Kings Street the ~ferchant Tailors were also alive enough to

erect a new elegant hall in Broad Street The Barber Surgeons on the

other hand whose hall in Cock Lane was just to the south of the Coopers

allowed it to be converted in 1745 into a Coffee House an institution that

was now fashionable among the merchants The Society of Merchant

Venturers had already rebuilt their Hall in 1719 partly on the site of St Clements chapel where they had met since Edward VIs days but after

the end of the Seven Years War peace was heralded by the elaborate reshy

construction of the building in accordance with the designs of Thomas Paty In the next century when peace again brought a renewal of conshy

fidence C A Busby designed in the Grecian style for the use of the

merchants the fine Commercial Rooms and Coffee House in Corn Street

Apart from these architecturally distinguished civic and merchant buildshy

ings there was a host of utilitarian ones such as banks hotels business

premises inns and taverns 91

Nor were the spiritual needs of the citizens neglected In Bristols

relatively free and rigorous society Nonconformity naturally became a

dominant influence and the vhole period is characterized by the burgeonshy

ing of a multiplicity of chapels Wesleys Room (later known as the New

89 The High Cross had been heightened in 1633 it is illustrated in Nand T ii 181

Lat iii 334-6 351-3391393-4 Evans ebroll Ison op cit 114 sqq

90 Lat iii 88151396422 or For Council House the Company Halls and Corn Exchange see ibid 42 i 9239

247-8 Ison op cit 90-2 94 127 135 sqq N D Harding BGAS xlviii (1926) 229 235 (plans 1795) of alterations to St Ewens church BG AS lxx elc-ations (facing p 158) of Coopers and Merchant Venturers Halls For colfee houses Lat

iii 240-1 by 1750 there were c 12 For banks etc exchange and commercial rooms

opposite see Matthews GlIide(I828) 70-2 etc Ison op cit 95-9134 The principal inns where the gentry put up -ere the Bush the hite Hart or the Vhite Lion in Broad St

24

-

BRISTOL

Room) in Broadmead was the first to be erected It was soon enlarged

for George Whitfield and Wesley made Bristol the centre of their national movement for a religious and humanitarian revival by preaching in the

open air to the half savage miners of Kingswood and to the outcasts of the citys industrial population There followed in rapid succession a Moravian chapel in Upper Maudlin Street a new Friends Meeting House

in the Friars Whitfields Tabernacle (1753) in Penn Street Baptist Inshydependent chapels and so forth with increasing momentum into the next century 92

The Anglican church was in turn stirred to action particularly in the

latter part of the century when it was deeply affected by the Evangelical revival This with the expanding population and increasing wealth were responsible for the rebuilding of several churches in the fashionable

classical style and the erection of new ones Outstanding among the renewals was the replacement of the small Norman tower of All Saints by a tower and cupola considered by many to be worthy to rank with the work of Sir Christopher Wren For the new residential district of Portshyland Square StPaul was built in 1787 in the modern Gothic style It had the distinction of being the first parish church to be consecrated within the citys bounds since the Middle Ages for the now thickly populated

parish of St James had become unmanageable The parish of St Philip and St Jacob had in fact already been divided in 175 I and a new parish church of St George was erected in Kingswood a district which was physically outside the city though economically closely attached to it 93

Charitable institutions of all kinds likewise increased in number at least seven more almshouses were founded of which two - the Presbyshyterian one on Stokes Croft and Blanchards for Baptist spinsters - were specifically for dissenting sects others were enlarged or rebuilt Schools and poor houses were also founded by various members of the nonshyconformist and Anglican communities Notable among them were the Benevolent School for about four hundred boys and girls in the parishes

of St James and St Paul and the Penitentiary for helping unhappy females who have strayed from the path of virtue It was on a nonshysectarian basis however that a major advance was made in dealing with

sickness when the Infirmary was erected by public subscription in 1737 shy

the first of its kind outside London Various laudable efforts were also made to improve the deplorable condition of the prisoners in the dungeons of Newgate and in the Bridewell culminating in the New County Gaol of 18 I 6-20 94

The second half of the century saw the beginnings of marked changes in the outlook of the citys elite which were soon to make it the focus of the cultural life of the West Although the sober influence of the

Quakers Wesleyans and other strict dissenters remained extremely

strong many influential Bristolians including professional as well as

92 Dissenting chapels are listed in Matthews Hist (1794) 79-80 and Guide (128)

161 sqq For individual dates see Latimer iii index sub nomine eg Portland St

chapel (Wesleyan 1792)498 The chapel in Tucker St (see below map 2) was destroyed when Bath St was made The French chapel was opened in 727 after the

loss of St Marks chapel recently taken over as the i1ayors chapel by the Corporashy

tion Lat iii 155 93 Ison op cit 44 (St George Brandon Hill) 52-89 Nand T iii 235 St Leonards

1771 (it stood on Blind Gate and was demolished Lat iii 394) St Augustines

chapel of Ease (1821-3) on NW side of Gt George St Dowry Sq chapel

Matthews Guide (I 828) 159 160 St Werburgs E end obstructed the entry to

Small St so it was removed the church was re-opened in 176 I Lat iii 329 Only the tower of the medieval St Thomass was left when the new church was built in

1790 ibid 487 St Nicholass Gate and church were pulled down in 1762 The church was rebuilt almost on the same site for it was only the chancel approached

by about 20 steps that had extended over the archway of the Gate the ancient

crypt was left ibid 352-3 Other churches at which work was carried out between

1750 and 1793 included St Peters St Ilichael (rebuilt 1775-7) and Christchurch

(rebuilt 1786-90) For these see also N Pevsner op cit 94 For almshouses see map 2 and Appendix II For the Infirmary (new-built 1786shy

1814) see Lat iii 199-200 F H Towill in BAC 300-1 For Gaol and Bridewell see

Matthews Guide (1828)82 the Bridewell was rebuilt in 1722

business men were now abandoning the rigid Puritanism of earlier times

which had laid so much emphasis on the virtues of hard work and applishy

cation to the task in hand and were showing an appreciation of a more leisured life and considerable interest in the promotion of learning and the arts In the first place the patronage of architects and an interest in improving amenities were now more widely spread among the citizens with the result that by the I 820S the ancient city had been largely transshy

formed Popes description of 1739 that the place was very unpleasant and as if Wapping or Southwark were ten times as big had long been a

travesty 1S Eden wrote in 1797 almost half of what is properly called the city had been destroyed to make room for the Exchange the market

and the new streets and it could be truly said that more had been done than in most ancient cities to improve or replace old and dilapidated

houses As for the new town now almost encircling the old there were

ten splendid squares numerous elegant terraces and crescents and many opulent mansions for the wealthy which were greatly admired by the connoisseurs of taste 95

A feature of all this later building was the predominant use of the creamy Bath freestone now easily transported by river after the improveshyment of the navigation of the A von as well as of the multi-coloured

Pennant Sandstone and Millstone Grit dug within the city boundaries The use of these materials besides the once fashionable dark red brick or brick and sandstone together along with the preservation of the best of the half-timbered houses of the Tudor and Stuart period gave Bristols architecture an unrivalled charm and variety The style of building was as varied as the material for though some architects of national fame were employed from time to time most work was done by local men such as the Patys who had a distinguished vernacular style of their own These architects and builders had a host of skilled craftsmen to call on plasterers stonemasons ironworkers and the like as well as gardeners who contributed a notable elegance and variety to the street architecture

and the landscape Furthermore the natural setting for their work was perfect - the rivers and the hills Even in the heart of the city the quay

on the Frome beside the old town wall with houses on both sides and in the middle apparently a street with hundreds of ships on it had always fascinated visitors The sour Pope was once moved to write that it seemed like a dream and Peter Monamy glorified it in paint Everywhere too were the water-lined streets with their numerous bridges thirteen over the Frome alone which prompted the romantic to name the city the Venice of the north The hills especially gave the place exceptional charm

strangers were struck with the sight of a town hanging in continued slope as it were from the very clouds for Kingsdown St Michaels Hill

and Brandon Hill were about 250 feet above the river level and between

them were literally chasms So there were delightful prospects of the city harbour and shipping at almost every turn John Britten in his Picturesque Beauties of England and Wales had to admit that he could not do justice to the jfetropolis of the West so pre-eminent was it in archishytectural antiquities and picturesqueness 96

No wonder then that Southey Coleridge and their circle drew inshyspiration from the city and made it their headquarters and that it had come about that the days when Pope could complain of no civilized

)5 Pope ed Sherburn iv 201 Eden State ofthe Poor 182 Matthews Guide (1828)

Ison op cit 29 iJatthews Dir (1794) lists 5 architects Wm Edney was foremost among blacksmiths his wrought-iron balconies and gates were of great distinction

Thomas Stocking was renowned among plasterers King St was a notable example

of varied architecture until its partial destruction in World War II W Leighton

BGAS Ixv (1944) 157 sqq 96 Pope op cit 201 1Ionamys painting is in the Bristol Art Gallery Matthews

Guide (828) 3-4 Besides the Drawbridge at St Augustines Back (Lat iii 99) there

were the following bridges Penn Traitors Ellbridge Philadelphia Merchant

Union Pithay Needless Bridewell St Johns St Giles Swing Bridge leading to

Bathurst Basin where Gibb Ferry once vas There were the following ferries over

the Avon Queen St to Temple Back the Back to Redcliff the Grove to Guinea

St and one from Rownham

25

BRISTOL

company were gone forever In 1794 Matthews was writing 1fl the

Bristol History with evident satisfaction of the nobility and gentry at

the Hotwell and Clifton of the cits fashionably dressed ladies gentleshy

men and decent ranks who vere able to imitate the haute JJ10nde at Bath

only a short drive away It must be said however that others despised

the new trends and complained that folly had taken possession of all

Wesley for one inveighed against the building of the new Theatre in

1766 It soon acquired a national reputation and so too did the many

fine musical performances some held at the ew Music Room in

Princes Street But besides these activities there was prodsion on a

growing scale for more purely intellectual pursuits a new public Library

had been completed in 1740 there were circulating libraries bookshops

and cultural societies Finally in 1820 a handsome building was erected in

APPENDIX I THE COUtCIL HOUSE AtD TOLZEY (lAPS 2 and 3)

The medieval Tolzey or Mayors court apparently stood at the corner of the small church of St Ewens at the central cross-roads of the early toI-n and on the corner of

Broad St and Corn St Wm of W-orcester describes it as having one side facing the

W door of Christ Church and the other the High St with a Council Chamber abole

(pp 32-3 for a reference to the church and Tolzey in 1356 see CIJllrcb Bk ofst EIIens [ 454- I Jj 4 ed B R Masters and E Ralph Be 15 Rec Section vi (1967) 256 and see

also pp xiii-xiv and as above p 14 n 32) In 155 I the Corporation purchased the S aisle and chapel of St John the Baptist in St Ewens from the Fraternity of Tailors (The whole length of the church is given as twenty-two yards bmiddot X-m of middotorcester)

On this site was built a two-storied Council House with an adjoining penthouse

against the S wall ie a covered walk where the Councill()rs could stroll and talk

This was reconstructed in 1617 (Lac ii 275 J Ricart 49 52-3 79) in 1657 the Council purchased an adjacent tenement on the corner of Broad and Corn Streets with

a view to a further extension The whole building was replaced in 1706 The union of St Eens parish with that of Christ Church bv- the Act of 1788 v-as a preliminan to

plans for a further extension but nothing vas done until 1827 (sec above p 24 and

n 91) Lat iii 467 470-71 rm Barrett History of Alltiqllities of tbe City of Bristol

(17 89)476 -7

APPENDIX II 1l0SPITLS AND ALISHOUSES (IPS 2 and 3)

The following medieval institutions survived the Reformation (I) All Saints Almshouse in All Saints Lane (see abo-e p I I n 15) The SE

part of the Exchange vas built in 1739 on its site and a new almshouse was built in

1740-1 adjoining Stranges or St Johns Almshouse it -as removed again in 1813 to

All Saints St (2) Burtons Almshouse in Long Row off Temple St an almshouse or hospital

is first r~corded at the end of the 14th century (1385-94) in adley IIills 152543 39 and in 1389 in LRB i 224 The traditional attribution of its foundation to Simon

Burton in 1292 was regarded as mythical by Nicholls and Taylor (0 and T i 149

n 2 iii 254) It is possible that it as re-endowed by John Burton mayor in 1424

etc and that Leland (vo 93) had him in mind It vas rebuilt in 1606 and 172 I (3) Wm Canynges Almhouse on Redcliff Hill (see aboye p 14) Tanner (-otilia

1737) notes that there were 17 almspeoplc then and 14 were recorded in 1803 The

original building stood on the XX side of Redcliff Hill but when the tew Cut was made in 1805 the site was shifted a little so as to face S it was then known as The

Poor House (4) John Fosters Almshouse and the chapel of the Three Kings of Cologne in

Steep St was founded in 1492 (see above p 14 and n 33) and rebuilt on the same site

in 1702 (5) Merchant Tailors Almshouse in Merchant St (later called farshall St) was

new-built in 170 I Its early history is obscure will of 1558 (adler 1FtIs 19 I)

appears to refer to poor people in the Tailors Hall for bequests of 1587 and 1599 sec Barrett op cit 616 448 It is possible that this was a post-Reformation foundation

though it would be surprising in view of the Tailors wealth (6) Wm Spencers (or Spensers) Almshouse was founded soon after 1474 on

Rocques map it is called Poor House (7) Stranges or St Johns Almshouse on St Johns Steep Robert Strange three

times mayor gave land for an almshouse of St John the Baptist C1490 It was

rebuilt in 172 r

(8) The two Trinity Hospitals on either side of Lawfords Gate date from the

foundation of John Barstaple of 1395 (see above p I r) the building on the ~ side

was added to in the 18th century and that Oil the S side (including the chapel) then

called Dials House was extensively rebuilt (9) Roger lagdalens of Nonney or Nunney apparently founded an almshouse

before Lelands day since he refers to it (Itin V 93) It was rebuilt in 1675 and in 1793

had 16 occupants It was described as just outside Temple Gate and is probably to

be identified with RedcliffHospital depicted on Millerds map The 1803 Gliide appears to refer to it as a Poor House without Temple Gate

Park Street for the Philosophical and Literary Institute Eight years later

Matthews wrote of its astonishing progress and boasted that the city

provided every gratification and amusement that a rational person can

desire Not without reason Bristolians forgetting their own one-time

single-minded devotion to business were now inclined to sneer at the

indiscriminate urge for commerce and for getting money at all events

and at the total lack of science displayed by their chief rival Liverpool97

97 Pope op cit 205 the Alagna Britannia et Hibernia (1727) also commented on the ill-bred manners of the citizens and the lack of gaiety Ison op cit 108 123 sqq

R 1 James in BAC 237 sqq for earlier theatres see Lat iii 6 I -3 40 I ibid (circulating library 1723) 210 (ne Library) fatthews Hist (1794) 91 and Guide

(If28) 174-9

(10) Chesters Almshouse - The Gift House as it was called later - on St Jamess

Back is dated as 1537 in Lvans Cbron it had six inmates in 1803 and was perhaps never large An unnamed building depicted by Millerd has been tentatively adopted as a likely site

(I I-I 2) The Fullers and eavers each supported a fcw poor women underneath

their respecti-e Halls in the 15th century and Leland records the existence of these

almshouses in the next century Barrett states that there were 4 poor women in the Weavers Almshouse in his day It is not clear vhich of these institutions -ere the

ten almshouses to which Robert Thorne left be4uests in 1574 adley Wills 216 The following institutions failed to survive the Reformation

(13) King Johns Leper 1louse of St Lawrence outside Lawford Gate

(14) The Lazar house hospital and chapel of St Catherine Brightbnw at BrightbOv

Bridge (For Brightbov- see map 5) (15) The Lazar House of St lary ~lagdalen Brightbow see above p 8 Wm

Iiore 85 (16) St Bartholomews IIospital became the Free Grammar School in 15 F see

above p 20 (17) The Chapel of the Holy Spirit in the churchvard of St lary Redcliff had a

leper annex which the Hospital of St Johil the Baptist undertook in 1254 to sene or prmide with a secular chaplain It became a Grammar School in Elizabeths reign

was taken down in 1763 as it was an obstruction to the S vie- of the church and

has left no trace BGAI xxiv- 174 117m lJ7orc I 16 (18) The Hospital of St John the Baptist for both men and women in the 13th

and 14th centuries was suppressed in 1544 -m of orcester gives the measurements

of its hall and cloister and describes its church as sited opposite St ~rary Redcliff

He also describes a Hermitage on the XX side of the church in the rocks and a lane on

the XX side of the church also icholls and Taylor considered that the Hospitals

precincts were probably detined by the vall of the Friends cemetery where the traditional site of the Hermitage could be seen in the cliff (OS map 2( r 880-2)

For help in plotting the site of the Hospital and lane -e are indebted to Mrs F tealc (see her forthcoming edition of the Bristol section of -m of Xorcesters Itinermy in

BGAS Records Section 1976) (19) Richard Fosters Almshouse by Redcliff Gate has left no post-Reformation

record see above p 14 Bickley Deeds no 287 adley Wills 109 145

(20) Spicers Almshouse by Temple Gate Its site is uncertain A deed of 1393 mentions an unnamed almshouse ithin Temple Gate opposite the housc of the

Augustinians (cited by Barrett p_ 555) which seems to refer to it as does the bequest

of 1397 to an almshouse next the Temple Frerys adley Ifills 59 and see above

p II Of the eleven principal post-Reformation almshouses St Peters is the only one

that will not be found on the maps Founded by Robert Ald-orth (d 1634) it was ncar the churchyard of St Peters and Aldworths mansion (formerly Nortons see

map 2) The n-idence is insufficient to locate it For additional references see Barrett

op cit (as in pp T un indexed) pp 403 and map (1780) 435 443 448 45 8 487 49 2

505536555556560561599613620 and indexes to Lat i ii iii t and T i ii iii BGAlxxxii 86 104 107 The -eu Bristol Gllide (Illo J) pub Sheppard Bristol

APPEtDIX III (a) Site of tbe Austill Friars Priory (maps 2 and 3)

The difficulty of interpreting Wm of -orcesters account of this building has led

Bristols past historians to choose various sites (eg Seyer ii map betw-een pp 42-3 Nand T i 129 X Hunt Bristol (I 887) frontispiece) Hunt accepted a statement of

r 3 I 8 that the Friary was against Temple Gate and placed it on the E side of Temple St Mrs F teales work on the topography of the area supports this m of Worcesshyter gives the measurements of the Friarys church chapter-house cloister and belfry

(b) Site of tbe Friars of the 5ack The only clue to the site comes from a deed of 1322 (Bickley Deeds no 63) which

states that a tenement outside Temple Gate lies between the lane going towards the

church of the Friars and another curtilage

26

-

BRISTOL

Room) in Broadmead was the first to be erected It was soon enlarged

for George Whitfield and Wesley made Bristol the centre of their national movement for a religious and humanitarian revival by preaching in the

open air to the half savage miners of Kingswood and to the outcasts of the citys industrial population There followed in rapid succession a Moravian chapel in Upper Maudlin Street a new Friends Meeting House

in the Friars Whitfields Tabernacle (1753) in Penn Street Baptist Inshydependent chapels and so forth with increasing momentum into the next century 92

The Anglican church was in turn stirred to action particularly in the

latter part of the century when it was deeply affected by the Evangelical revival This with the expanding population and increasing wealth were responsible for the rebuilding of several churches in the fashionable

classical style and the erection of new ones Outstanding among the renewals was the replacement of the small Norman tower of All Saints by a tower and cupola considered by many to be worthy to rank with the work of Sir Christopher Wren For the new residential district of Portshyland Square StPaul was built in 1787 in the modern Gothic style It had the distinction of being the first parish church to be consecrated within the citys bounds since the Middle Ages for the now thickly populated

parish of St James had become unmanageable The parish of St Philip and St Jacob had in fact already been divided in 175 I and a new parish church of St George was erected in Kingswood a district which was physically outside the city though economically closely attached to it 93

Charitable institutions of all kinds likewise increased in number at least seven more almshouses were founded of which two - the Presbyshyterian one on Stokes Croft and Blanchards for Baptist spinsters - were specifically for dissenting sects others were enlarged or rebuilt Schools and poor houses were also founded by various members of the nonshyconformist and Anglican communities Notable among them were the Benevolent School for about four hundred boys and girls in the parishes

of St James and St Paul and the Penitentiary for helping unhappy females who have strayed from the path of virtue It was on a nonshysectarian basis however that a major advance was made in dealing with

sickness when the Infirmary was erected by public subscription in 1737 shy

the first of its kind outside London Various laudable efforts were also made to improve the deplorable condition of the prisoners in the dungeons of Newgate and in the Bridewell culminating in the New County Gaol of 18 I 6-20 94

The second half of the century saw the beginnings of marked changes in the outlook of the citys elite which were soon to make it the focus of the cultural life of the West Although the sober influence of the

Quakers Wesleyans and other strict dissenters remained extremely

strong many influential Bristolians including professional as well as

92 Dissenting chapels are listed in Matthews Hist (1794) 79-80 and Guide (128)

161 sqq For individual dates see Latimer iii index sub nomine eg Portland St

chapel (Wesleyan 1792)498 The chapel in Tucker St (see below map 2) was destroyed when Bath St was made The French chapel was opened in 727 after the

loss of St Marks chapel recently taken over as the i1ayors chapel by the Corporashy

tion Lat iii 155 93 Ison op cit 44 (St George Brandon Hill) 52-89 Nand T iii 235 St Leonards

1771 (it stood on Blind Gate and was demolished Lat iii 394) St Augustines

chapel of Ease (1821-3) on NW side of Gt George St Dowry Sq chapel

Matthews Guide (I 828) 159 160 St Werburgs E end obstructed the entry to

Small St so it was removed the church was re-opened in 176 I Lat iii 329 Only the tower of the medieval St Thomass was left when the new church was built in

1790 ibid 487 St Nicholass Gate and church were pulled down in 1762 The church was rebuilt almost on the same site for it was only the chancel approached

by about 20 steps that had extended over the archway of the Gate the ancient

crypt was left ibid 352-3 Other churches at which work was carried out between

1750 and 1793 included St Peters St Ilichael (rebuilt 1775-7) and Christchurch

(rebuilt 1786-90) For these see also N Pevsner op cit 94 For almshouses see map 2 and Appendix II For the Infirmary (new-built 1786shy

1814) see Lat iii 199-200 F H Towill in BAC 300-1 For Gaol and Bridewell see

Matthews Guide (1828)82 the Bridewell was rebuilt in 1722

business men were now abandoning the rigid Puritanism of earlier times

which had laid so much emphasis on the virtues of hard work and applishy

cation to the task in hand and were showing an appreciation of a more leisured life and considerable interest in the promotion of learning and the arts In the first place the patronage of architects and an interest in improving amenities were now more widely spread among the citizens with the result that by the I 820S the ancient city had been largely transshy

formed Popes description of 1739 that the place was very unpleasant and as if Wapping or Southwark were ten times as big had long been a

travesty 1S Eden wrote in 1797 almost half of what is properly called the city had been destroyed to make room for the Exchange the market

and the new streets and it could be truly said that more had been done than in most ancient cities to improve or replace old and dilapidated

houses As for the new town now almost encircling the old there were

ten splendid squares numerous elegant terraces and crescents and many opulent mansions for the wealthy which were greatly admired by the connoisseurs of taste 95

A feature of all this later building was the predominant use of the creamy Bath freestone now easily transported by river after the improveshyment of the navigation of the A von as well as of the multi-coloured

Pennant Sandstone and Millstone Grit dug within the city boundaries The use of these materials besides the once fashionable dark red brick or brick and sandstone together along with the preservation of the best of the half-timbered houses of the Tudor and Stuart period gave Bristols architecture an unrivalled charm and variety The style of building was as varied as the material for though some architects of national fame were employed from time to time most work was done by local men such as the Patys who had a distinguished vernacular style of their own These architects and builders had a host of skilled craftsmen to call on plasterers stonemasons ironworkers and the like as well as gardeners who contributed a notable elegance and variety to the street architecture

and the landscape Furthermore the natural setting for their work was perfect - the rivers and the hills Even in the heart of the city the quay

on the Frome beside the old town wall with houses on both sides and in the middle apparently a street with hundreds of ships on it had always fascinated visitors The sour Pope was once moved to write that it seemed like a dream and Peter Monamy glorified it in paint Everywhere too were the water-lined streets with their numerous bridges thirteen over the Frome alone which prompted the romantic to name the city the Venice of the north The hills especially gave the place exceptional charm

strangers were struck with the sight of a town hanging in continued slope as it were from the very clouds for Kingsdown St Michaels Hill

and Brandon Hill were about 250 feet above the river level and between

them were literally chasms So there were delightful prospects of the city harbour and shipping at almost every turn John Britten in his Picturesque Beauties of England and Wales had to admit that he could not do justice to the jfetropolis of the West so pre-eminent was it in archishytectural antiquities and picturesqueness 96

No wonder then that Southey Coleridge and their circle drew inshyspiration from the city and made it their headquarters and that it had come about that the days when Pope could complain of no civilized

)5 Pope ed Sherburn iv 201 Eden State ofthe Poor 182 Matthews Guide (1828)

Ison op cit 29 iJatthews Dir (1794) lists 5 architects Wm Edney was foremost among blacksmiths his wrought-iron balconies and gates were of great distinction

Thomas Stocking was renowned among plasterers King St was a notable example

of varied architecture until its partial destruction in World War II W Leighton

BGAS Ixv (1944) 157 sqq 96 Pope op cit 201 1Ionamys painting is in the Bristol Art Gallery Matthews

Guide (828) 3-4 Besides the Drawbridge at St Augustines Back (Lat iii 99) there

were the following bridges Penn Traitors Ellbridge Philadelphia Merchant

Union Pithay Needless Bridewell St Johns St Giles Swing Bridge leading to

Bathurst Basin where Gibb Ferry once vas There were the following ferries over

the Avon Queen St to Temple Back the Back to Redcliff the Grove to Guinea

St and one from Rownham

25

BRISTOL

company were gone forever In 1794 Matthews was writing 1fl the

Bristol History with evident satisfaction of the nobility and gentry at

the Hotwell and Clifton of the cits fashionably dressed ladies gentleshy

men and decent ranks who vere able to imitate the haute JJ10nde at Bath

only a short drive away It must be said however that others despised

the new trends and complained that folly had taken possession of all

Wesley for one inveighed against the building of the new Theatre in

1766 It soon acquired a national reputation and so too did the many

fine musical performances some held at the ew Music Room in

Princes Street But besides these activities there was prodsion on a

growing scale for more purely intellectual pursuits a new public Library

had been completed in 1740 there were circulating libraries bookshops

and cultural societies Finally in 1820 a handsome building was erected in

APPENDIX I THE COUtCIL HOUSE AtD TOLZEY (lAPS 2 and 3)

The medieval Tolzey or Mayors court apparently stood at the corner of the small church of St Ewens at the central cross-roads of the early toI-n and on the corner of

Broad St and Corn St Wm of W-orcester describes it as having one side facing the

W door of Christ Church and the other the High St with a Council Chamber abole

(pp 32-3 for a reference to the church and Tolzey in 1356 see CIJllrcb Bk ofst EIIens [ 454- I Jj 4 ed B R Masters and E Ralph Be 15 Rec Section vi (1967) 256 and see

also pp xiii-xiv and as above p 14 n 32) In 155 I the Corporation purchased the S aisle and chapel of St John the Baptist in St Ewens from the Fraternity of Tailors (The whole length of the church is given as twenty-two yards bmiddot X-m of middotorcester)

On this site was built a two-storied Council House with an adjoining penthouse

against the S wall ie a covered walk where the Councill()rs could stroll and talk

This was reconstructed in 1617 (Lac ii 275 J Ricart 49 52-3 79) in 1657 the Council purchased an adjacent tenement on the corner of Broad and Corn Streets with

a view to a further extension The whole building was replaced in 1706 The union of St Eens parish with that of Christ Church bv- the Act of 1788 v-as a preliminan to

plans for a further extension but nothing vas done until 1827 (sec above p 24 and

n 91) Lat iii 467 470-71 rm Barrett History of Alltiqllities of tbe City of Bristol

(17 89)476 -7

APPENDIX II 1l0SPITLS AND ALISHOUSES (IPS 2 and 3)

The following medieval institutions survived the Reformation (I) All Saints Almshouse in All Saints Lane (see abo-e p I I n 15) The SE

part of the Exchange vas built in 1739 on its site and a new almshouse was built in

1740-1 adjoining Stranges or St Johns Almshouse it -as removed again in 1813 to

All Saints St (2) Burtons Almshouse in Long Row off Temple St an almshouse or hospital

is first r~corded at the end of the 14th century (1385-94) in adley IIills 152543 39 and in 1389 in LRB i 224 The traditional attribution of its foundation to Simon

Burton in 1292 was regarded as mythical by Nicholls and Taylor (0 and T i 149

n 2 iii 254) It is possible that it as re-endowed by John Burton mayor in 1424

etc and that Leland (vo 93) had him in mind It vas rebuilt in 1606 and 172 I (3) Wm Canynges Almhouse on Redcliff Hill (see aboye p 14) Tanner (-otilia

1737) notes that there were 17 almspeoplc then and 14 were recorded in 1803 The

original building stood on the XX side of Redcliff Hill but when the tew Cut was made in 1805 the site was shifted a little so as to face S it was then known as The

Poor House (4) John Fosters Almshouse and the chapel of the Three Kings of Cologne in

Steep St was founded in 1492 (see above p 14 and n 33) and rebuilt on the same site

in 1702 (5) Merchant Tailors Almshouse in Merchant St (later called farshall St) was

new-built in 170 I Its early history is obscure will of 1558 (adler 1FtIs 19 I)

appears to refer to poor people in the Tailors Hall for bequests of 1587 and 1599 sec Barrett op cit 616 448 It is possible that this was a post-Reformation foundation

though it would be surprising in view of the Tailors wealth (6) Wm Spencers (or Spensers) Almshouse was founded soon after 1474 on

Rocques map it is called Poor House (7) Stranges or St Johns Almshouse on St Johns Steep Robert Strange three

times mayor gave land for an almshouse of St John the Baptist C1490 It was

rebuilt in 172 r

(8) The two Trinity Hospitals on either side of Lawfords Gate date from the

foundation of John Barstaple of 1395 (see above p I r) the building on the ~ side

was added to in the 18th century and that Oil the S side (including the chapel) then

called Dials House was extensively rebuilt (9) Roger lagdalens of Nonney or Nunney apparently founded an almshouse

before Lelands day since he refers to it (Itin V 93) It was rebuilt in 1675 and in 1793

had 16 occupants It was described as just outside Temple Gate and is probably to

be identified with RedcliffHospital depicted on Millerds map The 1803 Gliide appears to refer to it as a Poor House without Temple Gate

Park Street for the Philosophical and Literary Institute Eight years later

Matthews wrote of its astonishing progress and boasted that the city

provided every gratification and amusement that a rational person can

desire Not without reason Bristolians forgetting their own one-time

single-minded devotion to business were now inclined to sneer at the

indiscriminate urge for commerce and for getting money at all events

and at the total lack of science displayed by their chief rival Liverpool97

97 Pope op cit 205 the Alagna Britannia et Hibernia (1727) also commented on the ill-bred manners of the citizens and the lack of gaiety Ison op cit 108 123 sqq

R 1 James in BAC 237 sqq for earlier theatres see Lat iii 6 I -3 40 I ibid (circulating library 1723) 210 (ne Library) fatthews Hist (1794) 91 and Guide

(If28) 174-9

(10) Chesters Almshouse - The Gift House as it was called later - on St Jamess

Back is dated as 1537 in Lvans Cbron it had six inmates in 1803 and was perhaps never large An unnamed building depicted by Millerd has been tentatively adopted as a likely site

(I I-I 2) The Fullers and eavers each supported a fcw poor women underneath

their respecti-e Halls in the 15th century and Leland records the existence of these

almshouses in the next century Barrett states that there were 4 poor women in the Weavers Almshouse in his day It is not clear vhich of these institutions -ere the

ten almshouses to which Robert Thorne left be4uests in 1574 adley Wills 216 The following institutions failed to survive the Reformation

(13) King Johns Leper 1louse of St Lawrence outside Lawford Gate

(14) The Lazar house hospital and chapel of St Catherine Brightbnw at BrightbOv

Bridge (For Brightbov- see map 5) (15) The Lazar House of St lary ~lagdalen Brightbow see above p 8 Wm

Iiore 85 (16) St Bartholomews IIospital became the Free Grammar School in 15 F see

above p 20 (17) The Chapel of the Holy Spirit in the churchvard of St lary Redcliff had a

leper annex which the Hospital of St Johil the Baptist undertook in 1254 to sene or prmide with a secular chaplain It became a Grammar School in Elizabeths reign

was taken down in 1763 as it was an obstruction to the S vie- of the church and

has left no trace BGAI xxiv- 174 117m lJ7orc I 16 (18) The Hospital of St John the Baptist for both men and women in the 13th

and 14th centuries was suppressed in 1544 -m of orcester gives the measurements

of its hall and cloister and describes its church as sited opposite St ~rary Redcliff

He also describes a Hermitage on the XX side of the church in the rocks and a lane on

the XX side of the church also icholls and Taylor considered that the Hospitals

precincts were probably detined by the vall of the Friends cemetery where the traditional site of the Hermitage could be seen in the cliff (OS map 2( r 880-2)

For help in plotting the site of the Hospital and lane -e are indebted to Mrs F tealc (see her forthcoming edition of the Bristol section of -m of Xorcesters Itinermy in

BGAS Records Section 1976) (19) Richard Fosters Almshouse by Redcliff Gate has left no post-Reformation

record see above p 14 Bickley Deeds no 287 adley Wills 109 145

(20) Spicers Almshouse by Temple Gate Its site is uncertain A deed of 1393 mentions an unnamed almshouse ithin Temple Gate opposite the housc of the

Augustinians (cited by Barrett p_ 555) which seems to refer to it as does the bequest

of 1397 to an almshouse next the Temple Frerys adley Ifills 59 and see above

p II Of the eleven principal post-Reformation almshouses St Peters is the only one

that will not be found on the maps Founded by Robert Ald-orth (d 1634) it was ncar the churchyard of St Peters and Aldworths mansion (formerly Nortons see

map 2) The n-idence is insufficient to locate it For additional references see Barrett

op cit (as in pp T un indexed) pp 403 and map (1780) 435 443 448 45 8 487 49 2

505536555556560561599613620 and indexes to Lat i ii iii t and T i ii iii BGAlxxxii 86 104 107 The -eu Bristol Gllide (Illo J) pub Sheppard Bristol

APPEtDIX III (a) Site of tbe Austill Friars Priory (maps 2 and 3)

The difficulty of interpreting Wm of -orcesters account of this building has led

Bristols past historians to choose various sites (eg Seyer ii map betw-een pp 42-3 Nand T i 129 X Hunt Bristol (I 887) frontispiece) Hunt accepted a statement of

r 3 I 8 that the Friary was against Temple Gate and placed it on the E side of Temple St Mrs F teales work on the topography of the area supports this m of Worcesshyter gives the measurements of the Friarys church chapter-house cloister and belfry

(b) Site of tbe Friars of the 5ack The only clue to the site comes from a deed of 1322 (Bickley Deeds no 63) which

states that a tenement outside Temple Gate lies between the lane going towards the

church of the Friars and another curtilage

26

-

BRISTOL

company were gone forever In 1794 Matthews was writing 1fl the

Bristol History with evident satisfaction of the nobility and gentry at

the Hotwell and Clifton of the cits fashionably dressed ladies gentleshy

men and decent ranks who vere able to imitate the haute JJ10nde at Bath

only a short drive away It must be said however that others despised

the new trends and complained that folly had taken possession of all

Wesley for one inveighed against the building of the new Theatre in

1766 It soon acquired a national reputation and so too did the many

fine musical performances some held at the ew Music Room in

Princes Street But besides these activities there was prodsion on a

growing scale for more purely intellectual pursuits a new public Library

had been completed in 1740 there were circulating libraries bookshops

and cultural societies Finally in 1820 a handsome building was erected in

APPENDIX I THE COUtCIL HOUSE AtD TOLZEY (lAPS 2 and 3)

The medieval Tolzey or Mayors court apparently stood at the corner of the small church of St Ewens at the central cross-roads of the early toI-n and on the corner of

Broad St and Corn St Wm of W-orcester describes it as having one side facing the

W door of Christ Church and the other the High St with a Council Chamber abole

(pp 32-3 for a reference to the church and Tolzey in 1356 see CIJllrcb Bk ofst EIIens [ 454- I Jj 4 ed B R Masters and E Ralph Be 15 Rec Section vi (1967) 256 and see

also pp xiii-xiv and as above p 14 n 32) In 155 I the Corporation purchased the S aisle and chapel of St John the Baptist in St Ewens from the Fraternity of Tailors (The whole length of the church is given as twenty-two yards bmiddot X-m of middotorcester)

On this site was built a two-storied Council House with an adjoining penthouse

against the S wall ie a covered walk where the Councill()rs could stroll and talk

This was reconstructed in 1617 (Lac ii 275 J Ricart 49 52-3 79) in 1657 the Council purchased an adjacent tenement on the corner of Broad and Corn Streets with

a view to a further extension The whole building was replaced in 1706 The union of St Eens parish with that of Christ Church bv- the Act of 1788 v-as a preliminan to

plans for a further extension but nothing vas done until 1827 (sec above p 24 and

n 91) Lat iii 467 470-71 rm Barrett History of Alltiqllities of tbe City of Bristol

(17 89)476 -7

APPENDIX II 1l0SPITLS AND ALISHOUSES (IPS 2 and 3)

The following medieval institutions survived the Reformation (I) All Saints Almshouse in All Saints Lane (see abo-e p I I n 15) The SE

part of the Exchange vas built in 1739 on its site and a new almshouse was built in

1740-1 adjoining Stranges or St Johns Almshouse it -as removed again in 1813 to

All Saints St (2) Burtons Almshouse in Long Row off Temple St an almshouse or hospital

is first r~corded at the end of the 14th century (1385-94) in adley IIills 152543 39 and in 1389 in LRB i 224 The traditional attribution of its foundation to Simon

Burton in 1292 was regarded as mythical by Nicholls and Taylor (0 and T i 149

n 2 iii 254) It is possible that it as re-endowed by John Burton mayor in 1424

etc and that Leland (vo 93) had him in mind It vas rebuilt in 1606 and 172 I (3) Wm Canynges Almhouse on Redcliff Hill (see aboye p 14) Tanner (-otilia

1737) notes that there were 17 almspeoplc then and 14 were recorded in 1803 The

original building stood on the XX side of Redcliff Hill but when the tew Cut was made in 1805 the site was shifted a little so as to face S it was then known as The

Poor House (4) John Fosters Almshouse and the chapel of the Three Kings of Cologne in

Steep St was founded in 1492 (see above p 14 and n 33) and rebuilt on the same site

in 1702 (5) Merchant Tailors Almshouse in Merchant St (later called farshall St) was

new-built in 170 I Its early history is obscure will of 1558 (adler 1FtIs 19 I)

appears to refer to poor people in the Tailors Hall for bequests of 1587 and 1599 sec Barrett op cit 616 448 It is possible that this was a post-Reformation foundation

though it would be surprising in view of the Tailors wealth (6) Wm Spencers (or Spensers) Almshouse was founded soon after 1474 on

Rocques map it is called Poor House (7) Stranges or St Johns Almshouse on St Johns Steep Robert Strange three

times mayor gave land for an almshouse of St John the Baptist C1490 It was

rebuilt in 172 r

(8) The two Trinity Hospitals on either side of Lawfords Gate date from the

foundation of John Barstaple of 1395 (see above p I r) the building on the ~ side

was added to in the 18th century and that Oil the S side (including the chapel) then

called Dials House was extensively rebuilt (9) Roger lagdalens of Nonney or Nunney apparently founded an almshouse

before Lelands day since he refers to it (Itin V 93) It was rebuilt in 1675 and in 1793

had 16 occupants It was described as just outside Temple Gate and is probably to

be identified with RedcliffHospital depicted on Millerds map The 1803 Gliide appears to refer to it as a Poor House without Temple Gate

Park Street for the Philosophical and Literary Institute Eight years later

Matthews wrote of its astonishing progress and boasted that the city

provided every gratification and amusement that a rational person can

desire Not without reason Bristolians forgetting their own one-time

single-minded devotion to business were now inclined to sneer at the

indiscriminate urge for commerce and for getting money at all events

and at the total lack of science displayed by their chief rival Liverpool97

97 Pope op cit 205 the Alagna Britannia et Hibernia (1727) also commented on the ill-bred manners of the citizens and the lack of gaiety Ison op cit 108 123 sqq

R 1 James in BAC 237 sqq for earlier theatres see Lat iii 6 I -3 40 I ibid (circulating library 1723) 210 (ne Library) fatthews Hist (1794) 91 and Guide

(If28) 174-9

(10) Chesters Almshouse - The Gift House as it was called later - on St Jamess

Back is dated as 1537 in Lvans Cbron it had six inmates in 1803 and was perhaps never large An unnamed building depicted by Millerd has been tentatively adopted as a likely site

(I I-I 2) The Fullers and eavers each supported a fcw poor women underneath

their respecti-e Halls in the 15th century and Leland records the existence of these

almshouses in the next century Barrett states that there were 4 poor women in the Weavers Almshouse in his day It is not clear vhich of these institutions -ere the

ten almshouses to which Robert Thorne left be4uests in 1574 adley Wills 216 The following institutions failed to survive the Reformation

(13) King Johns Leper 1louse of St Lawrence outside Lawford Gate

(14) The Lazar house hospital and chapel of St Catherine Brightbnw at BrightbOv

Bridge (For Brightbov- see map 5) (15) The Lazar House of St lary ~lagdalen Brightbow see above p 8 Wm

Iiore 85 (16) St Bartholomews IIospital became the Free Grammar School in 15 F see

above p 20 (17) The Chapel of the Holy Spirit in the churchvard of St lary Redcliff had a

leper annex which the Hospital of St Johil the Baptist undertook in 1254 to sene or prmide with a secular chaplain It became a Grammar School in Elizabeths reign

was taken down in 1763 as it was an obstruction to the S vie- of the church and

has left no trace BGAI xxiv- 174 117m lJ7orc I 16 (18) The Hospital of St John the Baptist for both men and women in the 13th

and 14th centuries was suppressed in 1544 -m of orcester gives the measurements

of its hall and cloister and describes its church as sited opposite St ~rary Redcliff

He also describes a Hermitage on the XX side of the church in the rocks and a lane on

the XX side of the church also icholls and Taylor considered that the Hospitals

precincts were probably detined by the vall of the Friends cemetery where the traditional site of the Hermitage could be seen in the cliff (OS map 2( r 880-2)

For help in plotting the site of the Hospital and lane -e are indebted to Mrs F tealc (see her forthcoming edition of the Bristol section of -m of Xorcesters Itinermy in

BGAS Records Section 1976) (19) Richard Fosters Almshouse by Redcliff Gate has left no post-Reformation

record see above p 14 Bickley Deeds no 287 adley Wills 109 145

(20) Spicers Almshouse by Temple Gate Its site is uncertain A deed of 1393 mentions an unnamed almshouse ithin Temple Gate opposite the housc of the

Augustinians (cited by Barrett p_ 555) which seems to refer to it as does the bequest

of 1397 to an almshouse next the Temple Frerys adley Ifills 59 and see above

p II Of the eleven principal post-Reformation almshouses St Peters is the only one

that will not be found on the maps Founded by Robert Ald-orth (d 1634) it was ncar the churchyard of St Peters and Aldworths mansion (formerly Nortons see

map 2) The n-idence is insufficient to locate it For additional references see Barrett

op cit (as in pp T un indexed) pp 403 and map (1780) 435 443 448 45 8 487 49 2

505536555556560561599613620 and indexes to Lat i ii iii t and T i ii iii BGAlxxxii 86 104 107 The -eu Bristol Gllide (Illo J) pub Sheppard Bristol

APPEtDIX III (a) Site of tbe Austill Friars Priory (maps 2 and 3)

The difficulty of interpreting Wm of -orcesters account of this building has led

Bristols past historians to choose various sites (eg Seyer ii map betw-een pp 42-3 Nand T i 129 X Hunt Bristol (I 887) frontispiece) Hunt accepted a statement of

r 3 I 8 that the Friary was against Temple Gate and placed it on the E side of Temple St Mrs F teales work on the topography of the area supports this m of Worcesshyter gives the measurements of the Friarys church chapter-house cloister and belfry

(b) Site of tbe Friars of the 5ack The only clue to the site comes from a deed of 1322 (Bickley Deeds no 63) which

states that a tenement outside Temple Gate lies between the lane going towards the

church of the Friars and another curtilage

26

-

BRISTOL

(c) Tbe Castle (maps 23 and 6) The following is a brief summary of the four distinct phases of the construction of

the Castle building

Construction (i) 107deg-8o () of a ringwork with a stone curtain wall 4ft thick and E gate it had a massive clay and sandstone rampart (map 6) (ii) 1080-1147 of the motte at the W end of the Castle peninsular on the highest part of the site (iii) of the keep (approx 81ft E to Xi 85ft N to S) by Robert of Gloucester (d1 147) To make way for it the motte was partly demolished and thrown into the ditch The W curtain wall may have been constructed then (iv) C1225 a new barbican gate was built in the SXi corner and D-bastions added to the walls In 13deg5 Newgate was probably built This note has been kindly supplied by l W Ponsford Field Archshyaeologist see Med Arch xiii (1969)255-258 xiv (1970) 176 and his Bristol Castle (City Museum duplicated 1971) and forthcoming Research [onograph (d) Afediezd Street Names (map 7) The street names of c I 300 are derived from sources (mostly printed) ranging from 1100 to C 1310 except for a few cases where names only found in the I 340S have been judg~d as probably in use earlier (a detailed list of references has been deposited in the BRO with the kind consent of Miss M Williams) The spelling of all names varies considerably and some are only found in the Latin or French form where possible an English form has been selected A few of the variations will be found in the PlaceshyNames of Gloucestershire (xl pt 3 (1964) ed A H Smith) but most of the material used was of the later Middle Ages or after

Many streets have two names - an early one often overlapping with a later one eg La Markette or Feria (12th and 13th century) Knyfsmyth St alias Christmas St No attempt has been made to put all the alternatives on the map Many lanes are unnamed and are described as going from one place to another eg the lane leading from Small St to St Lawrence church or the lane from the Key to Knyfesmythstret (GRB i 210) Many other examples occur in Wm of Worcesters account and conshysequently the Street-Name Map gives a picture of the main street pattern but not of the multiplicity oflanes existing in 1300 and later

In contrast with many other towns (eg Cambridge) family names were little used to designate streets exceptions seem to be Hore St and Wrington (or W ryntones) Lane Wm Hore or Hoor was Mayor in 1312 (Wm Wore 52-3 note cfLRB ii 74) For the 14th-century Wryngton family see Bickley Deeds index and LRB index and cJ~

Wryntouniscroft in the 1373 charter Charters ii 161

A name of special significance is Wortbeslippestret - the earliest form found of the 13th-century U7 orcbesopstrete (c I 200-1 220) If it means the wharf slipway as seems likely it would support the tradition that the early Saxon and Norman harbour lay below St Mary-Ie-Port church

A number of crafts had special areas assigned to them in High St (Aurifabria Draperia VicllS Cocor1lm)Xvnch St (lJarmelitaria) and elsewhere perhaps (eg Corderia

ReRrateria La Ropsede) part from Cooks Row (Vims CocorIim in 1306 Arch jnl lviii 170) there is no good evidence for the date when what were probably just sites for stalls were converted into built-up rows of shops and dwellings The precise relative position of most of the sites is uncertain (see GRE i 98 LRB i 6 103 St Harks Cart 171 Cal 1n1 fisc ii no 47 BAD 5137 (17) 5139 (13) etc The Aurifabria is described as Goldsmiths place by St Nicholas church before 1237 (Glam Cartae iii 890-3 c1 the stall there in the corner nearest the church Afargam Abbey (as on p 3 n 14) 203 In 1472 it appears as Goldsmith St in High St jnl Arcb Ass xxxi 263

In compiling the maps and plans reference has been made to documenshytary sources and printed works cited in the historical commentary to engravings and to a variety of maps of which the following are the prinshycipal Wm Smiths small-scale plan of Bristol (r 568)(BM Sloane MSS 2596 f 77 reproduced in colour in LRB i frontispiece) a plan attrishybuted to J oris Hoefnagle in Braun and Hohenbergs Civitates Orbis

TerrartlJJJ iii (15 8r) ] Speed Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain (r6 II)

Jacobus Millerd (r673 a splendid detailed perspective plan by a Bristol

Mercer)] Rocque (1742 publ 1743) Benjamin Donne (1773 and later editions) W Matthews (r794) Benjamin Donne the younger (1800 edn before the Avon New Cut and 1806 and 1826 edns) John Plumley and George C Ashmead(r828) OS Plan of the City of Bristol 12500 (1876) OS map of Roman Britain (3rd edn 1956) J Ogilby Itinerarium Angliae

(r675)] Cary New and Correct Atlas(r793)

27