City Of Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, 169 km west of London, and 71 km east of Cardiff. Its population is over 410.000 and the area is 110 km2. The city lies between Somerset and Gloucestershire and has been politically administered by both counties in part at various times. However, Bristol is historically a county in its own right and is properly entitled the City and County of Bristol. The Bristol City Council is the governing body. It received a royal charter in 1155 and was granted county status in 1373. A Royal Charter is the manner in which a British town is raised to the rank of city. The county arms show a golden ship leaving from the Watergate of a silver castle. Bristol's castle at this time was a twin-towered structure, built in the 1240s by order of Henry III. The supporters from the city’s arms were Unichorns.

City Of Bristol

By the 14th century Bristol was England's third-largest medieval town. When the Plague broke out Bristols population growht was paused, with numbers remaining at 10,000–12,000 during most of the 15th and 16th centuries. Renewed growth came with the 17th century rise of England's American colonies and the rapid 18th century expansion of England's part in the Atlantic trade in Africans taken for slavery in the Americas. Bristol's population had grown five times during the 19th century, supported by new industries and growing commerce.

During World War II, Bristols city centre suffered a lot of damage. Were used to be the origional shopping centre, nowadays is a park containing two bombed out churches and some tiny fragments of the castle.

Bristol's economy is reliant on nautical connections, the aerospace industry, the media, information technology and financial services sectors and tourism. Bristol Aeroplane Company at Filton became famous for the World War I Bristol Fighter, and Second World War Blenheim and Beaufighter aircraft. In the 1950s it became one of the country's major manufacturers of civil aircraft, with the Bristol Freighter and Britannia and the huge Brabazon airliner.
In the 1960s Filton played a key role in the Anglo-French Concorde supersonic airliner project. The British Concorde prototype made its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford on 9 April 1969, five weeks after the French test flight.

The city has two League football clubs: Bristol City and Bristol Rovers. The city is also home to Bristol Rugby rugby union club, a first-class cricket side, Gloucestershire C.C.C.  and a Rugby League Conference side, the Bristol Sonics. In summer the grounds of Ashton Court to the west of the city play host to the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, a major event for hot-air ballooning in the UK.

Important buildings

The Bristol Old Vic

The Bristol Old Vic is a theatre complex and theatrical company in the centre of Bristol. It is said to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England. It was built by Thomas Paty between 1764 and 1766. In 1766 the Theatre Royal was completed and a studio theatre, offices and backstage facilities were added in 1970, which all are included in the complex. The Coopers’ Hall, built by William Halfpenny in 1744, became the theatre foyer.
Because the theatre is situated on the quiet cobbled King Street, a few yards from the Bristol Harbour, its’ first name was “King Street Theatre”. In 1778 the theatre obtained a Royal license,
granted by King George III.
During the Second World War the theatre succeeded to avoid serious damage, and remained largely unchanged until 1970, when leading post-war architect Peter Moro created the current Theatre Royal Complex.

The present theatre complex, designed by Peter Moro, was completed in 1972. The entrance building was demolished, and also a number of surrounding buildings and, more stunning, the stage area of the 1766 theatre. Along with technical facilities and offices a new stage and fly tower were built. In place of the old entrance the 150 seat New Vic Studio Theatre was built, and the Coopers' Hall gave the theatre the grand façade and foyer area it should need.

Bristol Cathedral

The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity is the Anglican cathedral in the city of Bristol, England, and is generally known as Bristol Cathedral.
The cathedral was constructed between 1140 and 1148 in the Romanesque style and is situated on Collage Green, a public open space.
A major rebuilding of the Abbey church began under Abbot Edward Knowle. The eastern part of the abbey church was rebuilt in the English Decorated Gothic style between 1298 and 1332. In June 1542, Henry VIII and Thomas Cranmer raised the building to rank of cathedral of a new Diocese* of Bristol. Paul Bush, (d. 1558) a former royal household chaplain, was created the first Bishop of Bristol.
In the 19th century's Gothic Revival (an architectural movement) regained renewed interest in Britain ancient architectural heritage, and a new nave, in style with the eastern end, was added between 1868 and 1877 by George Edmund Street.

* A diocese is an administrative territorial unit administered by a bishop

Architectural Features

Bristol Cathedral is a grade I listed building. Some off its parts were very unusual for English Medieval churches. It was conceived as a "hall church", meaning that the aisles are the same height as the choir. The second explicit feature of Bristol Cathedral is the vaulting of its several medieval spaces.
Unlike English Gothic cathedrals, Bristol has a rose window above the central doorway, in the French or Spanish Style.
The unique "lierne" vaulting of the choir and tower

Wills Memorial Building

The Wills Memorial Building also known as the Wills Memorial Tower or simply the Wills Tower is a Gothic building situated near the top of Park Street on Queens Road in Bristol, United Kingdom.
It is supposed to be one of the last great gothic buildings to be built in England, and is a landmark building of the University of Bristol which presently houses the Faculty of Law and the Department of Earth Sciences, and also the Law and Earth Sciences libraries.
It is the centerpiece building of the university precinct. The University of Bristol uses it for degree ceremonies which take place inside of the Great Hall.
It has been named by English Heritage as a grade II* listed building and operates as a regional European Documentation Centre.

The Wills Memorial Building was commissioned in 1912 by George Alfred Wills and Henry Herbert Wills, and Sir George Oatley was chosen as architect and told to "build to last".
Construction was started in 1915 and completed in 1925. During World War I the building was pauzed from 1916 till 1919.  The building was opened bij King George V and Queen Mary and the nine and a half ton bell within the octagonal belfry of the tower, called ‘Great Geaorge’, was heard 21 times.
The tower was badly damaged in 1940 during World War II. In 1960 it was restored.
In 2006 the building got cleaned and revealed an engraving “IO TRIVMPHE”.

Popgroups.

- Kosheen

Kosheen are a British trip hop, drum and bass and rock group founded in Bristol, England. The trio consists of producers Markee Substance (b. Mark Morrison 1974, Springburn, Glasgow) and Darren Decoder (b. Darren Beale 1974, Bristol), with singer and song writer Sian Evans. The name of the band is a combination of the Japanese words for "old" (古, ko) and "new" (新, shin).

They have release three albums called Resist (released September 2001), Kokopelli (released in August 2003), and Damage (released in September 2007).

- Portishead

Portishead are an English musical group from Bristol. The band is named after the nearby town of the same name, 13 km west of Bristol. "Portishead" is formed in the sprin of '93 and sonsists of Geoff Barrow, Beth Gibbons, Adrian Utley, Dave McDonald.
Portishead have released four albums: 1994 Dummy, 1997 Portishead, 1998 Roseland NYC Live, 2008 Third.
As well as their main recorded output, Portishead also collaborated with other artists and made a large number of remixes.

- Mesh

Mesh is a band from Bristol, England whose music could be described as synth pop. Earlier tracks had more of an industrial edge than recent releases.
Mesh was formed in 1992 by Mark Hockings (vocals, guitars, keyboards, programming, lyrics) and Richard Silverthorn (keyboards, programming) after the two met at a gig where Silverthorn's band was playing. They were soon joined by Neil Taylor (keyboards, programming), a former band-mate of Silverthorn, and continued as this line up until September 2006

Discography

LP

  • June 1996 In This Place Forever
  • September 1997 Fragile - extended
  • April 1998 Fragmente
  • February 1999 The Point At Which It Falls Apart
  • November 1999 Not Prepared - Dance (Vinyl)
  • April 2000 Original 91-93
  • April 2000 Live Singles
  • May 2000 On This Tour Forever
  • April 2002 Who Watches Over Me?
  • September 2002 Fragmente 2 (Double CD)
  • March 2006 We Collide

EP

  • August 1994 Fragile EP
  • June 1997 You Didn't Want Me (MCD)
  • September 1997 Fragile - The Mixes
  • April 1998 Trust You (MCD)
  • January 1999 People Like Me (With This Gun) (MCD)
  • May 1999 It Scares Me (MCD)
  • October 1999 Not Prepared (MCD)
  • November 2000 Waves (Mesh and Mark'Oh) (MCD)
  • February 2003 Friends Like These (MCD)
  • February 2006 Crash (MCD)
  • August 2006 My Hands Are Tied/Petrified (MCD)

Video

  • November 1999 Not Prepared (Video)
  • May 2000 On This Tour Forever (Video)
  • November 2007 The World's A Big Place (We Collide Tour) (DVD)

- Gravenhurst

Gravenhurst is the collective name for the music of singer-songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Nick Talbot, who lives in Bristol, England and is signed to Warp Records.
The members are Nick Talbot (vocals/guitar), Dave Collingwood (drums) - left May 12, 2008, Robin Allender (bass/backing vocals/synth), Alex Wilkins (guitar).
At life performences the line up is different, because of personnel changes depending on who can blag time off work.

Discography

Singles:

  • Gas Mask Days EP CD (Silent Age)
  • "The Diver" 7" (For Us Records)
  • Black Holes In The Sand EP (2004,Warp Records)
  • "The Velvet Cell"/"See My Friends (edit)" 7" (Warp Records)
  • "Trust"/"Underfoot" 7" (Warp Records)
  • "Hollow Men"/"Longest River" 7" (Warp Records)

Albums:

  • Internal Travels CD (Silent Age)
  • Flashlight Seasons CD (2004, Sink & Stove Records), reissued on LP/CD by Warp
  • Fires in Distant Buildings LP/CD (2005, Warp Records)
  • The Western Lands LP/CD (2007, Warp Records)

 


Involvement in the slave trade.

Bristol has been an important location for trade for centuries, because it is located on the River Avon which flows into the Severn Estuary, which then flows into the North Atlantic.
Bristol traded with were France, Spain, Ireland, Portugal, and North Africa’s Barbary Coast. Exports included woollen cloth, coal, led and animal hides. Imports into Bristol included wine, grain, slate, timber, and olive oil. Around 1650 the trading with colonies in North America and the Caribbean began to flourish.
Before 1698 all trade, including slaves, between countries in Britain and Africa were controled by The Royal African Company, and only their ships could trade for anything. Since the British colonization in the caribbean and the Americas, slaves were becomming more important. The Society of Merchant Venturers (an organization of elite Bristol merchants) wanted to enter the African slave trade, and together with other interested parties they had the Royal African Company’s monopoly broken after much pressure.

In 1698, the Beginning (owned by Stephen Baker), Bristol’s first slave ship, sailed from Bristol to the African coast. The captain obtained a number of enslaved Africans, and delivered them to the island of Jamaica, in the Caribbean. There they were sold and put to work on the plantations. 

Many ships followed, such as the Southwell frigate, which made two slave voyages from Bristol in 1746 and 1748. The ship was owned by a group of Bristol merchants, Michael Beecher & Co, James Laroche, Martin French and William Miller & Co. In 1746, the ship delivered 629 enslaved Africans to the Caribbean islands of Jamaica and Antigua. In 1748, after a voyage to Angola, West Africa, 284 enslaved Africans were delivered to America. But, due to the over-crowding and very bad conditions on the ships, it is defined that around half of each cargo of slaves survived the trip across the Atlantic.

The transatlantic slave trade, had an tremendous effect on Bristol. It was called this way because of the route slave ships had taken across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa to the Caribbean and North America.
Between 1698 and 1807, about 2,108 ships left Bristol for Africa to exchange goods for enslaved Africans and take them to the Caribbean. Bristol was a wealthy city and trading port before its acting as partisan to the transatlantic slave trade. The benefits from the trade made it only more provided with capital.

End of the Atlantic slave trade.

At the end of the 1790’s people began to develop opposition against the slave trade. Led by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and establishment Evangelicals such as William Wilberforce, the movement was joined by many and began to protest against the trade, but they were opposed by the owners of the colonial holdings.
Britain banned the slave trade (but not slavery itself) in 1807, imposing severe fines for any slave found aboard a British ship. The Royal Navy, which then controlled the world's seas, was determed to stop other nations to follow Britain's place in the slave trade and announced that slave trading was the same as piracy and the punishment that traders would get, was death.
After the British ended their own slave trade, the Royal navy felt they had to force other nations to stop too, or else the British colonies would become uncompetitive.
Because peace came over Europe in 1815, the Navy turned its attention to the challenge and founded the West Coast of Africa Station. The West Africa Squadron, established in 1808 after the passing of the Slave Trade Act in 1807, was a unit of the Royal Navy that was involved in the suppression of the slave trade in West Africa.
Between 1807 and 1860, the West Africa Squadron confiscated globular 1,600 ships involved in the slave trade and freed 150,000 Africans who were on these vessels.
Although the slave trade had become illegal, slavery remained a reality in British colonies. In parliament, the Emancipation Bill gathered goodwill and gained its final commons reading on 26 July 1833. Slavery would be abolished, but the planters would be heavily compensated.