Bristol

Bristol. A city at the junction of the rivers Avon and Frome, just inland from the Severn estuary. It is not recorded before c.1020, but by 1066 was a flourishing port, shipping slaves to Ireland. The Normans built there one of the key strategic castles of England, and Earl Robert of Gloucester (1107–47) made it his power base in supporting his half-sister Matilda in the civil wars from 1138. The original centre lay between the two rivers, just inside Gloucestershire, but the Redcliffe area south of the Avon (and in Somerset) quickly became an important suburb. By 1216 Bristol was influential enough to have an elected mayor, and by c.1240 enterprising enough to divert the river Frome to make a better harbour. Trade until the 15th cent. was chiefly with Ireland, Gascony, and the Iberian peninsula, with Bordeaux wines the main imports. By 1377 Bristol ranked in the poll tax as the largest provincial town after York; its importance was recognized in 1373 when the king took it out of Gloucestershire and Somerset and made it a county corporate; later its status was further enhanced when it became a cathedral city (1542) and when its traders were incorporated as the Society of Merchant Venturers (1552). Bristol suffered severely in the Civil War of 1642–6, but enjoyed a golden age in the late 17th and 18th cents. as the largest and wealthiest English town after London. Its wealth by then came chiefly from transatlantic trade (especially in slaves) and its associated new industries (sugar and tobacco). By 1800, however, it was overtaken in importance by Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham, and in 1831 it was the scene of serious riots during the passage of the first Reform Bill. More positively, in the 1830s and 1840s I. K. Brunel helped to make Bristol an important terminus for railways and for Atlantic steamships, and from 1868 new docks at Avonmouth helped the city recover prosperity. In the 20th cent. it developed into a large and thriving conurbation.

David M. Palliser