Editing Bristol (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of Bristol|Timeline of Bristol}}

[[Archaeological]] finds, including flint tools believed to be between 300,000 and 126,000{{nbsp}}years old made with the [[Levallois technique]], indicate the presence of [[Neanderthal]]s in the [[Shirehampton]] and [[Brislington West (ward)|St Annes]] areas of Bristol during the [[Middle Palaeolithic]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Bates |first1=M.R. |last2=Wenban-Smith |first2=F.F. |title=Palaeolithic Research Framework for the Bristol Avon Basin |url=http://www.bristol.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/planning_and_building_regulations/archaeology/Palaeolithic%20Research%20Framework%20for%20the%20Bristol%20Avon%20basin.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404082939/http://www.bristol.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/planning_and_building_regulations/archaeology/Palaeolithic%20Research%20Framework%20for%20the%20Bristol%20Avon%20basin.pdf |archive-date=4 April 2013 |access-date=12 June 2014 |publisher=Bristol City Council}}</ref> [[Iron Age]] [[hill fort]]s near the city are at [[Leigh Woods]] and [[Clifton Down]], on the side of the [[Avon Gorge]], and on [[Kings Weston Hill]] near [[Henbury, Bristol|Henbury]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bristol in the Iron Age |url=http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/content/Leisure-Culture/Local-History-Heritage/archaeology/bristol-in-the-iron-age.en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520074522/http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/content/Leisure-Culture/Local-History-Heritage/archaeology/bristol-in-the-iron-age.en |archive-date=20 May 2011 |access-date=10 March 2007 |publisher=Bristol City Council}}</ref> A [[Roman Britain|Roman]] settlement, Abona,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Abona – Major Romano-British Settlement |url=http://www.roman-britain.co.uk/places/abona/ |access-date= |publisher=Roman-Britain.co.uk}}</ref> existed at what is now [[Sea Mills, Bristol|Sea Mills]] (connected to [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] by a [[Roman road]]); another was at the present-day [[Filwood (ward)#Inns Court|Inns Court]]. Isolated [[Roman villa]]s and small [[Castra|forts]] and settlements were also scattered throughout the area.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bristol in the Roman Period |url=http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/content/Leisure-Culture/Local-History-Heritage/archaeology/bristol-in-the-roman-period.en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520075145/http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/content/Leisure-Culture/Local-History-Heritage/archaeology/bristol-in-the-roman-period.en |archive-date=20 May 2011 |access-date=10 March 2007 |publisher=Bristol City Council}}</ref>

=== Middle Ages ===
Bristol was founded by 1000; by about 1020, it was a trading centre with a [[Mint (coin)|mint]] producing silver pennies bearing its name.{{sfn|Lobel|Carus-Wilson|1975|pp=2–3}} By 1067, Brycgstow was a well-fortified ''[[burh]]'', and that year the townsmen beat back a raiding party from Ireland led by three of [[Harold Godwinson]]'s sons.{{sfn|Lobel|Carus-Wilson|1975|pp=2–3}} Under [[Normans|Norman]] rule, the town had one of the strongest [[Bristol Castle|castles]] in [[southern England]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Impregnable City |url=http://www.buildinghistory.org/bristol/castle.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615133941/http://www.buildinghistory.org/bristol/castle.shtml |archive-date=15 June 2008 |access-date=7 October 2007 |publisher=Bristol Past}}</ref> Bristol was the place of exile for [[Diarmait Mac Murchada]], the Irish [[king of Leinster]], after being overthrown. The Bristol merchants subsequently played a prominent role in funding [[Richard Strongbow de Clare]] and the [[Norman invasion of Ireland]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Bristol merchants funded Anglo-Norman invasion |work=Irish Times |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/bristol-merchants-funded-anglo-norman-invasion-1.91225 |url-status=live |access-date=7 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625165804/http://www.irishtimes.com/news/bristol-merchants-funded-anglo-norman-invasion-1.91225 |archive-date=25 June 2016}}</ref>
[[File:Robert Ricart's map of Bristol.png|thumb|alt=Fifteenth-century pictorial map of Bristol, radiating from the town centre|[[The Maire of Bristowe is Kalendar|Robert Ricart]]'s map of Bristol, drawn when he became common clerk of the town in 1478. At the centre, it shows the [[Bristol High Cross|High Cross]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jean Manco |year=2006 |title=Ricart's View of Bristol |url=http://www.buildinghistory.org/bristol/ricart.shtml |url-status=live |journal=Bristol Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150914150549/http://www.buildinghistory.org/bristol/ricart.shtml |archive-date=14 September 2015 |access-date=15 October 2015}}</ref>]]

The port developed in the 11th century around the confluence of the [[River Frome, Bristol|Rivers Frome]] and [[River Avon (Bristol)|Avon]], adjacent to [[Bristol Bridge]] just outside the town walls.{{sfn|Brace|1976|pp=13–15}} By the 12th century, there was an important [[History of the Jews in England|Jewish]] community in Bristol which survived through to the late 13th century when all Jews were [[Edict of Expulsion|expelled]] from England.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Jewish Community of Bristol |url=https://dbs.bh.org.il/place/bristol |publisher=[[The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot]] |access-date=2 July 2018 |archive-date=2 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702175707/https://dbs.bh.org.il/place/bristol |url-status=dead }}</ref> The stone bridge built in 1247 was replaced by the current bridge during the 1760s.<ref>{{NHLE |num=1204252 |desc=Bristol Bridge |access-date=27 August 2015}}</ref> The town incorporated neighbouring suburbs and became a [[county corporate|county]] in 1373,{{sfn|Liddy|2005|p=13}} the first town in England to be given this status.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |year=2011 |title=High Sheriff&nbsp;– City of Bristol County History |url=http://www.highsheriffs.com/City%20of%20Bristol/City%20of%20BristolHistory.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526160040/http://www.highsheriffs.com/City%20of%20Bristol/City%20of%20BristolHistory.htm |archive-date=26 May 2011 |access-date=19 June 2011 |publisher=High Sheriffs Association of England and Wales}}</ref>{{sfn|Rayfield|1985|pp=17–23}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Myers |first=A. R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jRsLUVOCqbkC&q=bristol |title=English Historical Documents 1327–1485 |publisher=Routledge |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-415-14369-1 |editor-last=Douglas|editor-first=David C. |edition=Second |volume=IV |location=London and New York |page=560}}</ref> During this period, Bristol became a shipbuilding and manufacturing centre.{{sfn|Carus-Wilson|1933|pp=183–246}} By the 14th century, Bristol, [[York]] and [[Norwich]] were England's largest [[medieval]] towns after London.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Manco |first=Jean |date=25 July 2009 |title=The Ranking of Provincial Towns in England 1066–1861 |url=http://www.buildinghistory.org/town-rank.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091204184227/http://www.buildinghistory.org/town-rank.shtml |archive-date=4 December 2009 |access-date=13 January 2010 |website=Delving into building history |publisher=Jean Manco}}</ref> One-third to one-half of the population died in the [[Black Death]] of 1348–49,{{sfn|McCulloch|1839|pp=398–399}} which checked population growth, and its population remained between 10,000 and 12,000 for most of the 15th and 16th centuries.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History in Bristol |url=http://www.discoverbristol.co.uk/bristol-history |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505142934/http://www.discoverbristol.co.uk/bristol-history |archive-date=5 May 2014 |access-date=5 May 2014 |publisher=Discover Bristol}}</ref>

=== 15th and 16th centuries ===
[[File:bristol.cathedral.west.front.arp.jpg|thumb|alt=A stone built Victorian Gothic building with two square towers and a central arched entrance underneath a circular ornate window. A Victorian street lamp stands in front of the building and on the right part of a leafless tree, with blue skies behind.|West front of [[Bristol Cathedral]]]]

During the 15th century, Bristol was the second most important port in the country, trading with Ireland,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Childs |first=Wendy R. |date=1982 |title=Ireland's trade with England in the Later Middle Ages |journal=Irish Economic and Social History |volume=IX |pages=5–33 |doi=10.1177/033248938200900101 |s2cid=165038092}}</ref> Iceland{{sfn|Carus-Wilson|1933|pp=155–182}} and [[Gascony]].{{sfn|Carus-Wilson|1933|pp=183–246}} It was the starting point for many voyages, including [[Robert Sturmy]]'s (1457–58) unsuccessful attempt to break the Italian [[monopoly]] of Eastern Mediterranean trade.{{sfn|Jenks|2006|p=1}} New exploration voyages were launched by Venetian [[John Cabot]], who in 1497 made landfall in North America.{{sfn|Jones|Condon|2016}} A 1499 voyage, led by merchant [[William Weston (explorer)|William Weston]] of Bristol, was the first expedition commanded by an Englishman to [[North America]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jones |first=Evan T. |date=August 2010 |title=Henry VII and the Bristol expeditions to North America: the Condon documents |journal=Historical Research |volume=83 |issue=221 |pages=444–454 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-2281.2009.00519.x|doi-access=}}</ref> During the first decade of the 16th century Bristol's merchants undertook a series of exploration voyages to North America and even founded a commercial organisation, 'The Company Adventurers to the New Found Land', to assist their endeavours.{{sfn|Jones|Condon|2016|pp=57–70}} However, they seem to have lost interest in North America after 1509, having incurred great expenses and made little profit.

During the 16th century, Bristol merchants concentrated on developing trade with Spain and its American colonies.{{sfn|Connell-Smith|1954|p=10}} This included the [[smuggling]] of prohibited goods, such as food and guns, to Iberia<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jones |first=Evan T. |date=February 2001 |title=Illicit business: accounting for smuggling in mid-sixteenth-century Bristol |url=https://research-information.bristol.ac.uk/ws/files/3005375/Illicit%20Business%20EcHR.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://research-information.bristol.ac.uk/ws/files/3005375/Illicit%20Business%20EcHR.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |journal=The Economic History Review |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=17–38 |doi=10.1111/1468-0289.00182 |hdl=1983/870}}</ref> during the [[Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Croft |first=Pauline |date=June 1989 |title=Trading with the Enemy 1585–1604 |journal=The Historical Journal |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=281–302 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X00012152 |jstor=2639602 |s2cid=162433225}}</ref> Bristol's illicit trade grew enormously after 1558, becoming integral to its economy.{{sfn|Jones|2012}}

The original [[Diocese of Bristol]] was founded in 1542,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Horn |first=Joyce M |year=1996 |title=Bristol: Introduction |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/fasti-ecclesiae/1541-1847/vol8/pp3-6 |url-status=live |journal=Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541–1857: Volume 8: Bristol, Gloucester, Oxford and Peterborough Dioceses |pages=3–6 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304044250/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/fasti-ecclesiae/1541-1847/vol8/pp3-6 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=8 June 2015}}</ref> when the former [[Abbey]] of [[Augustine of Canterbury|St. Augustine]] (founded by [[Robert Fitzharding]] four hundred years earlier){{sfn|Bettey|1996|pp=1–5}} became [[Bristol Cathedral]]. Bristol also gained [[City status in the United Kingdom|city]] status that year.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3FTAAAAcAAJ&q=bristol+charter+1155&pg=PA1149 |title=Appendix to the First Report of the Commissioners Appointed to inquire into the Municipal Corporations of England and Wales, Part 2: South-Eastern and Southern Cities|year=1835 |page=1158 |access-date=1 July 2024|via=Google Books}}</ref> In the 1640's, during the [[English Civil War]], [[Bristol in the English Civil War|the city]] was occupied by [[Cavalier|Royalists]], who built the [[Royal Fort House]] on the site of an earlier [[Roundhead|Parliamentarian]] stronghold.<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 April 2009 |title=Royal Fort dig |url=http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2009/6291.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328093546/http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2009/6291.html |archive-date=28 March 2012 |access-date=21 July 2011 |publisher=University of Bristol}}</ref>

=== 17th and 18th centuries ===
[[File:Charles E. Flower, The Old Dutch House, Bristol.jpg|thumb|The 17th-century Old Dutch House, High Street, Bristol, before destruction in the Blitz, 1940]]
Fishermen from Bristol, who had fished the [[Grand Banks of Newfoundland]] since the 16th century,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cathcart |first=Brian |date=19 March 1995 |title=Rear Window: Newfoundland: Where fishes swim, men will fight |work=The Independent |location=London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters/rear-window-newfoundland-where-fishes-swim-men-will-fight-1611892.html |url-status=live |access-date=27 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219234612/http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters/rear-window-newfoundland-where-fishes-swim-men-will-fight-1611892.html |archive-date=19 December 2013}}</ref> began settling Newfoundland permanently in larger numbers during the 17th century, establishing colonies at [[Bristol's Hope]] and [[Cuper's Cove]]. Growth of the city and trade came with the rise of England's [[European colonization of the Americas|American colonies]] in the 17th century. Bristol's location on the west side of Great Britain gave its ships an advantage in sailing to and from the New World, and the city's merchants made the most of it, with the city becoming one of the two leading outports in all of England by the middle of the 18th century.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Morgan |first1=Kenneth |date=July 1989 |title=Shipping Patterns and the Atlantic Trade of Bristol, 1749–1770 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1922354 |journal=The William and Mary Quarterly |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=506–538 |doi=10.2307/1922354 |jstor=1922354 |access-date=28 April 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Bristol was the slave capital of England: In 1755, it had the largest number of slave traders in the country with 237, as against London's 147.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Horton |first=Richard |date=2022-10-29 |title=Offline: The slave trade—medicine's necessary remorse |journal=The Lancet |language=English |volume=400 |issue=10362 |pages=1499 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02119-5 |pmid=36522200 |s2cid=253176012 |issn=0140-6736|doi-access=free }}</ref> It was a major supplier of slaves to [[South Carolina]] before 1750.<ref>[[Madge Dresser]]: ''Slavery Obscured: The Social History of the Slave Trade in an English Provincial Port.'' Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016, page 108.</ref>
[[File:Bristol 1873.png|thumb|alt= An engraving showing at the top a sailing ship and paddle steamer in a harbour, with sheds and a church spire. On either side arched gateways, all above a scroll with the word "Bristol". Below a street scene showing pedestrians and a horse-drawn carriage outside a large ornate building with a colonnade and arched windows above. A grand staircase with two figures ascending and other figures on a balcony. A caption reading "Exterior, [[Edward Colston|Colston]] Hall" and Staircase, Colston Hall". Below, two street scenes and a view of a large stone building with flying buttresses and a square tower, with the caption "Bristol cathedral". At the bottom views of a church interior, a cloister with a man mowing grass and archways with two men in conversation.|An 1873 engraving showing [[Edward Colston|Colston]] Hall, the port and cathedral of Bristol]]

The 18th century saw an expansion of Bristol's population (45,000 in 1750)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peal |first=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zXUNEAAAQBAJ |title=Meet the Georgians: Epic Tales from Britain's Wildest Century |date=2021-07-08 |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |isbn=978-0-00-843704-6 |language=en}}</ref> and its role in the [[Atlantic slave trade|Atlantic trade]] in Africans taken for [[slavery]] to the Americas. Bristol and later [[Liverpool]] became centres of the [[Triangular Trade]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=David Richardson |date=1985 |title=Slave Traders: A Collective Portrait |url=http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/History/bristolrecordsociety/publications/bha060.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/History/bristolrecordsociety/publications/bha060.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |website=Bristol Record Society |publisher=University of Bristol}}</ref> Manufactured goods were shipped to West Africa and exchanged for Africans; the enslaved captives were transported across the Atlantic to the Americas in the [[Middle Passage]] under brutal conditions.<ref name="nmm">{{Cite web |title=Triangular trade |url=http://www.understandingslavery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=308:atlantic-crossing&catid=125:themes&Itemid=153 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720111640/http://www.understandingslavery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=308%3Aatlantic-crossing&catid=125%3Athemes&Itemid=153 |archive-date=20 July 2011 |access-date=22 March 2009 |publisher=National Maritime Museum}}</ref> Plantation goods such as sugar, tobacco, rum, rice, cotton and a few slaves (sold to the aristocracy as house servants) returned across the Atlantic to England.<ref name=nmm /> Some household slaves were baptised in the hope this would lead them to be freed. The [[Somersett Case]] of 1772 clarified that slavery was illegal in England.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Black Lives in England : The Slave Trade and Abolition |date=27 November 2009 |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/the-slave-trade-and-abolition/sites-of-memory/black-lives-in-england/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151124135304/https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/the-slave-trade-and-abolition/sites-of-memory/black-lives-in-england/ |archive-date=24 November 2015 |access-date=23 November 2015 |publisher=English Heritage}}</ref> At the height of the [[Bristol slave trade]] from 1700 to 1807, more than 2,000 slave ships carried a conservatively estimated 500,000 people from Africa to slavery in the Americas.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Marking The End Of The Slave Trade – Abolition 200 Events In Bristol |url=http://www.culture24.org.uk/places-to-go/south-west/bristol/art44473 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928194740/http://www.culture24.org.uk/places-to-go/south-west/bristol/art44473 |archive-date=28 September 2015 |access-date=27 September 2015 |publisher=Culture 24}}</ref>

In 1739, [[John Wesley]] founded the first [[Methodist]] chapel, the [[New Room]], in Bristol.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wesley's New Room |url=http://www.lookingatbuildings.org.uk/default.asp?Document=3.C.2,5 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927235114/http://www.lookingatbuildings.org.uk/default.asp?Document=3.C.2%2C5 |archive-date=27 September 2007 |access-date=18 October 2015 |website=Looking at Buildings from the Pevsner Architectural Guides}}</ref> Wesley, along with his brother [[Charles Wesley]] and [[George Whitefield]], preached to large congregations in Bristol and the neighbouring village of [[Kingswood, South Gloucestershire|Kingswood]], often in the open air.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hanham Mount |url=http://www.methodistheritage.org.uk/hanhammount.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123030104/http://www.methodistheritage.org.uk/hanhammount.htm |archive-date=23 November 2015 |access-date=22 November 2015 |publisher=Methodist Heritage}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reist |first=Irwin W. |date=1975 |title=John Wesley and George Whitefield: A Study in the Integrity of Two Theologies of Grace |url=http://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/eq/1975-1_026.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Evangelical Quarterly |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=26–40 |doi=10.1163/27725472-04701006 |s2cid=251871039 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161027173230/https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/eq/1975-1_026.pdf |archive-date=27 October 2016}}</ref>

Wesley published a pamphlet on slavery, titled ''Thoughts Upon Slavery,'' in 1774<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wesley |first=John |url=https://docsouth.unc.edu/church/wesley/wesley.html |title=Thoughts Upon Slavery |publisher=University of North Carolina |year=1774 |location=London}}</ref> and the [[Society of Friends]] began lobbying against slavery in Bristol in 1783. The city's scions remained nonetheless strongly anti-abolitionist. [[Thomas Clarkson]] came to Bristol to study the slave trade and gained access to the [[Society of Merchant Venturers]] records.<ref name="BRS#1">{{Cite web |last=Peter Marshall |date=1968 |title=The Anti-slave Trade Movement in Bristol |url=http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/History/bristolrecordsociety/publications/bha020.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/History/bristolrecordsociety/publications/bha020.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |website=Bristol Record Society |publisher=University of Bristol}}</ref> One of his contacts was the owner of the [[Seven Stars, Bristol|Seven Stars]] [[public house]], who boarded sailors Clarkson sought to meet. Through these sailors he was able to observe how slaver captains and first mates "plied and stupefied seamen with drink" to sign them up.<ref name=BRS#1 /><ref>{{Cite web |title=The history of the Seven Stars |url=http://www.7stars.co.uk/history |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927110940/http://www.7stars.co.uk/History |archive-date=27 September 2015 |access-date=25 August 2015 |publisher=Seven Stars}}</ref> Other informants included ship surgeons and seamen seeking redress. When [[William Wilberforce]] began his parliamentary abolition campaign on 12 May 1788, he recalled the history of the [[Irish slave trade]] from Bristol, which he provocatively claimed continued into the reign of [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]].<ref name="BRS#1" /> [[Hannah More]], originally from Bristol, and a good friend of both Wilberforce and Clarkson, published "Slavery, A Poem" in 1788, just as Wilberforce began his parliamentary campaign.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2009 |title=Hannah More (1745–1833): The Poet & Writer |url=http://abolition.e2bn.org/people_60.html |website=The Abolition Project |publisher=e2bn.org}}</ref> His major speech on 2 April 1792 likewise described the Bristol slave trade specifically, and led to the arrest, trial and subsequent acquittal of a local slaver captain named Kimber.<ref name="BRS#1" />

=== 19th century ===
The city was associated with Victorian engineer [[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]], who designed the [[Great Western Railway]] between Bristol and [[London Paddington]], two pioneering Bristol-built oceangoing [[Steamboat|steamships]] ({{SS|Great Britain}} and {{SS|Great Western}}), and the [[Clifton Suspension Bridge]]. The new railway replaced the [[Kennet and Avon Canal]], which had fully opened in 1810 as the main route for the transport of goods between Bristol and London.{{sfn| Clew |1970 |pp=79–80}} Competition from Liverpool (beginning around 1760), disruptions of maritime commerce due to war with France (1793) and the abolition of the slave trade (1807) contributed to Bristol's failure to keep pace with the newer manufacturing centres of [[Northern England]] and the [[West Midlands (region)|West Midlands]]. The tidal Avon Gorge, which had secured the port during the Middle Ages, had become a liability. An 1804–09 plan to improve the city's port with a [[Bristol Harbour|floating harbour]] designed by [[William Jessop]] was a costly error, requiring high harbour fees.{{sfn|Buchanan|Cossons|1969|pp=32–33}}
[[File:Bristol Harbour (St Stephen's Church, St Augustine the Less Church, Bristol Cathedral), BRO Picbox-7-PBA-22, 1250x1250.jpg|thumb|left|Black-and-white etching showing the towers of [[St Stephen's Church, Bristol|St Stephen's Church]], [[St Augustine the Less Church, Bristol|St Augustine the Less Church]] and [[Bristol Cathedral]], published {{Circa|1850}}]]

During the 19th century, [[Samuel Plimsoll]], known as "the sailor's friend", campaigned to make the seas safer; shocked by overloaded vessels, he successfully fought for a compulsory [[Load line (vessel)|load line]] on ships.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Samuel Plimsoll&nbsp;– the seaman's friend |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/articles/2008/05/14/plimsoll_feature.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110825071302/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/articles/2008/05/14/plimsoll_feature.shtml |archive-date=25 August 2011 |access-date=16 March 2009 |publisher=BBC&nbsp;– Bristol&nbsp;– History}}</ref>

By 1867, ships were getting larger and the meanders in the river Avon prevented boats over {{cvt|300|ft|-1}} from reaching the harbour, resulting in falling trade.{{sfn|Coules|2006|pp=194–195}} The port facilities were migrating downstream to [[Avonmouth]] and new industrial complexes were founded there.{{sfn|Buchanan|Cossons|1969|pp=224–225}} Some of the traditional industries including copper and brass manufacture went into decline,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Day |first=Joan M. |date=1988 |title=The Bristol brass industry: Furnace structures and their associated remains |url=http://www.brassmill.com/linked/1988_-_bristol_brass_furnaces_-_day.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Journal of the Historical Metallurgy Society |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=24– |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151122225918/http://www.brassmill.com/linked/1988_-_bristol_brass_furnaces_-_day.pdf |archive-date=22 November 2015}}</ref> but the import and processing of [[tobacco]] flourished with the expansion of the [[W.D. & H.O. Wills]] business.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bristol's early nineteenth century staple industries. |url=http://humanities.uwe.ac.uk/bhr/Main/industry/2_industry.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009201834/http://humanities.uwe.ac.uk/bhr/Main/industry/2_industry.htm |archive-date=9 October 2014 |access-date=18 October 2015 |publisher=University of the West of England}}</ref>

Supported by new industry and growing commerce, Bristol's population (66,000 in 1801), quintupled during the 19th century,<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Harvey |first1=Charles |last2=Press |first2=Jon |title=Industrial Change in Bristol Since 1800. Introduction |url=http://humanities.uwe.ac.uk/bhr/Main/industry/intro_industry.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140504223425/http://humanities.uwe.ac.uk/bhr/Main/industry/intro_industry.htm |archive-date=4 May 2014 |access-date=29 March 2014 |website=Bristol Historical Resource |publisher=University of the West of England}}</ref> resulting in the creation of new suburbs such as [[Clifton, Bristol|Clifton]] and [[Cotham, Bristol|Cotham]]. These provide architectural examples from the Georgian to the Regency style, with many fine terraces and villas facing the road, and at right angles to it. In the early 19th century, the romantic [[medieval]] [[Gothic revival|gothic]] style appeared, partially as a reaction against the [[symmetry]] of [[Palladianism]], and can be seen in buildings such as the [[Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery]],<ref>{{NHLE|desc=City Museum and Art Gallery and attached front walls |num=1202478 |access-date=10 March 2007 |fewer-links=yes }}</ref> the [[Royal West of England Academy]],<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Royal West of England Academy |num=1282156 |access-date=9 May 2006 |fewer-links=yes }}</ref> and [[The Victoria Rooms]].<ref name="Victoria_Rooms">{{NHLE|desc=Victoria Rooms and attached railings and gates |num=1202480 |access-date=23 March 2007 |fewer-links=yes }}</ref> [[Bristol riots|Riots]] broke out in 1793{{sfn|Hunt|1818}} and 1831; the first over the renewal of [[toll road|tolls]] on Bristol Bridge, and the second against the rejection of the second [[Reform Act 1832|Reform Bill]] by the [[House of Lords]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=BBC&nbsp;– Made in Bristol&nbsp;– 1831 Riot facts |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/madeinbristol/2004/04/riot/riot.shtml |url-status=live |access-date=15 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422105101/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/madeinbristol/2004/04/riot/riot.shtml |archive-date=22 April 2009}}</ref> The population by 1841 had reached 140,158.<ref>The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge, Vol III, (1847), London, Charles Knight, p.815</ref>

The Diocese of Bristol had undergone several boundary changes by 1897 when it was "reconstituted"<!--the exact word used by the Order in Council--> into the configuration which has lasted into the 21st century.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=26871 |date=9 July 1897 |page=3787 |city=London }}</ref>

=== 20th century ===
[[File:Bristol map 1946.jpg|thumb|right|alt=An old ordnance survey map of Bristol, showing roads, railways, rivers and contours.|A 1946 map of Bristol]]

From a population of about 330,000 in 1901, Bristol grew steadily during the 20th century, peaking at 428,089 in 1971.<ref name=visiontime/> Its Avonmouth docklands were enlarged during the early 1900s by the Royal Edward Dock.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Royal Edward Dock, Avonmouth |url=http://www.engineering-timelines.com/scripts/engineeringItem.asp?id=1059 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521184449/https://www.engineering-timelines.com/scripts/engineeringItem.asp?id=1059 |archive-date=21 May 2013 |access-date=27 January 2013 |publisher=Engineering Timelines}}</ref> Another new dock, the [[Royal Portbury Dock]], opened across the river from Avonmouth during the 1970s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wessex Archaeology |date=November 2008 |title=Appendix H Cultural_Heritage |url=https://www.eonenergy.com/~/media/PDFs/Generation/biomass/portbury-dock/Appendix_H_Cultural_Heritage.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106221020/https://www.eonenergy.com/~/media/PDFs/Generation/biomass/portbury-dock/Appendix_H_Cultural_Heritage.pdf |archive-date=6 January 2016 |access-date=28 December 2015 |publisher=eon-uk |page=H–4}}</ref> As air travel grew in the first half of the century, aircraft manufacturers built factories.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |year=2011 |title=BAC 100: 2010–1910s |url=http://www.bac2010.co.uk/1910s.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151122215434/http://www.bac2010.co.uk/1910s.htm |archive-date=22 November 2015 |access-date=15 October 2015 |website=BAC 100 |publisher=BCP}}</ref> The unsuccessful [[Bristol International Exhibition]] was held on Ashton Meadows in the [[Bower Ashton]] area in 1914.<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 July 2013 |title=International exhibition became known as a city |work=Bristol Post |url=http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/International-exhibition-known-city/story-19493585-detail/story.html |url-status=dead |access-date=5 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201192130/http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/International-exhibition-known-city/story-19493585-detail/story.html |archive-date=1 February 2014}}</ref> After the premature closure of the exhibition the site was used, until 1919, as [[barracks]] for the [[Gloucestershire Regiment]] during [[World War I]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ashton Gate Drill Hall |url=http://www.drillhalls.org/Counties/Gloucestershire/TownBristolSupplementary1.htm |access-date=5 April 2016 |publisher=The Drill Hall Project}}</ref>{{sfn|Burlton|2014|pp=60–90}}
[[File:St Mary le Port Church, Bristol, BRO Picbox-3-Blitz-4a, 1250x1250.jpg|thumb|left|St Mary le Port Church, destroyed on 24 November 1940]]

[[Bristol Blitz|Bristol was heavily damaged by Luftwaffe raids]] during [[World War II]]; about 1,300 people living or working in the city were killed and nearly 100,000 buildings were damaged, at least 3,000 beyond repair.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lambert |first=Tim |title=A brief history of Bristol |url=http://www.localhistories.org/bristol.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615130426/http://www.localhistories.org/bristol.html |archive-date=15 June 2011 |access-date=12 June 2011 |publisher=Local Histories}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Penny |first=John |title=The Luftwaffe over Bristol |url=http://fishponds.org.uk/luftbrim.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511144048/http://fishponds.org.uk/luftbrim.html |archive-date=11 May 2011 |access-date=12 June 2011 |publisher=Fishponds Local History Society}}</ref> The original central shopping area, near the bridge and castle, [[Castle Park, Bristol|is now a park]] containing two bombed churches and fragments of the castle. A third bomb-damaged church nearby, [[St Nicholas Church, Bristol|St Nicholas]] was restored and after a period as a museum has now re-opened as a church.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-42788072 |title=St Nicholas Church closed since World War Two to reopen |work=BBC News |date=25 January 2018 |access-date=25 January 2018}}</ref> It houses a 1756 [[William Hogarth]] [[triptych]] painted for the high altar of [[St Mary Redcliffe]]. The church also has statues of [[King Edward I]] (moved from [[Arno's Court Triumphal Arch]]) and [[King Edward III]] (taken from Lawfords' Gate in the city walls when they were demolished about 1760), and 13th-century statues of [[Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester]] (builder of [[Bristol Castle]])<ref>{{Cite book |last=Venning |first=Timothy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PjMRBQAAQBAJ&q=Robert+Bristol+Castle&pg=PT24 |title=Normans and Early Plantagenets |date=2014 |publisher=Pen and Sword |isbn=978-1-4738-3457-6}}</ref> and [[Geoffrey de Montbray]] (who built the city's walls) from Bristol's [[Newgate, Bristol|Newgate]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Four figures on Arno's Gateway |url=http://pmsa.cch.kcl.ac.uk/BL/BR137.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716182625/http://pmsa.cch.kcl.ac.uk/BL/BR137.htm |archive-date=16 July 2011 |access-date=19 March 2007 |website=National Recording Project |publisher=Public Monument and Sculpture Association}}</ref>
[[File:Ambrose Rd, Bristol.jpg|thumb|Ambrose Road, in the Cliftonwood neighbourhood]]

The rebuilding of [[Bristol city centre]] was characterised by 1960s and 1970s [[skyscraper]]s, [[mid-century modern]] architecture and [[20th Century Road Schemes in Bristol|road building]]. Beginning in the 1980s some [[20th Century Road Schemes in Bristol#Queen Square, Redcliffe Way and The Centre|main roads were closed]], the [[Georgian era|Georgian-era]] [[Queen Square, Bristol|Queen Square]] and [[Portland Square, Bristol|Portland Square]] were restored, the [[Broadmead]] shopping area regenerated, and one of the city centre's tallest mid-century towers was demolished.<ref>{{Cite news |date=13 January 2006 |title=Demolition of city tower begins |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bristol/somerset/4608986.stm |url-status=live |access-date=10 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080309120823/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bristol/somerset/4608986.stm |archive-date=9 March 2008}}</ref> Bristol's road infrastructure changed dramatically during the 1960s and 1970s with the development of the [[M4 motorway|M4]] and [[M5 motorway]]s, which meet at the [[Almondsbury Interchange]] just north of the city and link Bristol with London (M4 eastbound), [[Swansea]] (M4 westbound across the [[Severn Estuary]]), [[Exeter]] (M5 southbound) and [[Birmingham]] (M5 northbound).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Almondsbury Interchange |url=http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Almondsbury_Interchange |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906155206/http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Almondsbury_Interchange |archive-date=6 September 2015 |access-date=25 August 2015 |publisher=SABRE}}</ref> Bristol was bombed twice by the [[Provisional IRA|IRA]], in [[1974 Bristol bombing|1974]] and again in [[List of terrorist incidents in Great Britain#1970s|1978]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=12 March 2014 |title='Irish Car Bomb' drink ad censored |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-26543952}}</ref>

The 20th-century relocation of the docks to [[Avonmouth Docks]] and [[Royal Portbury Dock]], {{cvt|7|mi|km|0}} downstream from the city centre, has allowed the redevelopment of the old dock area (the Floating Harbour).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Norwood |first=Graham |date=30 October 2007 |title=Bristol: seemingly unstoppable growth |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/money/2007/oct/30/property |url-status=live |access-date=18 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219164257/http://www.theguardian.com/money/2007/oct/30/property |archive-date=19 December 2013}}</ref> Although the docks' existence was once in jeopardy (since the area was seen as a derelict industrial site), the inaugural 1996 [[International Festival of the Sea, 1996|International Festival of the Sea]] held in and around the docks affirmed the area as a leisure asset of the city.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Atkinson |first1=David |last2=Laurier |first2=David |date=May 1998 |title=A sanitised city? Social exclusion at Bristol's 1996 international festival of the sea |journal=Geoforum |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=199–206 |doi=10.1016/S0016-7185(98)00007-4}}</ref>

=== 21st century ===
[[File:bristol_Waterfront.jpg|thumb|alt=Bristol from Princes Wharf|A view across Bristol from Princes Wharf]]

On 7 June 2020 a [[Statue of Edward Colston]] was pulled down from its city centre plinth by protestors and pushed into the harbour.<ref>BBC News, [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-bristol-52943550 Moment that Colston statue ended in harbour dominates national front pages], accessed 8 June 2020</ref> The statue was recovered on 11 June and has become a museum exhibit.<ref>{{Cite news |date=11 June 2020 |title=Torn down Colston statue pulled out of harbour |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-53004748 |access-date=22 June 2020}}</ref> The action followed more than a decade of debate over the statue and the wording of its plaque, which commemorated Colston's philanthropic work in the city while making no reference to his role in the [[Royal African Company]] and the [[Bristol Slave Trade]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tristan Cork |date=25 March 2019 |title=Second Colston statue plaque not axed and will still happen but mayor steps in to order a re-write |work=Bristol Live |url=https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/second-colston-statue-plaque-not-2682813}}</ref> O