Bristol

Bristol, a city and port on the river Avon, six miles from its mouth, stands on the borders of Gloucestershire and Somerset, but by a charter of Edward III. forms a county in itself. It existed probably in Roman times, and is sometimes identified with Caer Brito, one of the earliest cities of Britain. It appears in Domesday Book, and the castle that was founded by Geoffrey Mowbray, Bishop of Constance, and enlarged by Robert, Earl of Gloucester, existed up to 1654. From the time of John to Charles I. the town and castle were an appanage to the Crown, and played some part in the political and religious struggles of the 15th and 16th centuries. Meanwhile its trade, especially with the West Indies and America, had grown important, and both John and Sebastian Cabot started thence on their memorable voyages. The exactions of Charles I. drove the city to encourage the Rebellion, and in 1643 it was captured by Prince Rupert, but subsequently recaptured by Fairfax. Colston, whose "day" is annually kept by both political parties, was a munificent public benefactor at the close of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century, and Southey was a native of the place. Burke was member for Bristol from 1774 to 1780. In 1793 a serious local riot caused some loss of life, but far more severe was the outbreak in 1831, nominally in support of the reform movement. The Great Western, the first steamer ever built for Transatlantic service, was launched here in 1838. Ten years later Bristol became a free port, and with the improvement of its clocks and quays it has recovered from the shocks to its prosperity caused by the abolition of slave-trade and slavery, and the development of Liverpool. The tonnage now entering the port amounts to nearly a million and a half of tons, nearly three times as much as in 1847. The city is intersected both by the Avon and its tributary the Frome, and in its streets are many relics of its great feudal lords, the Earls of Gloucester, the Berkeleys, and the Gaunts, and of its wealthy merchants, such as the Canynges, the Shipwards and the Framptons. The cathedral, originally a church of Austin Friars, 1148, was partly rebuilt in 1877, but retains its fine choir, gateway, and chapter-house, one of the most perfect Norman buildings extant. Memorials of the Berkeleys, of Bishop Butler, and of Sterne's Eliza are within its walls. St. James's, St. Philip and Jacob's, St. Stephen's, and St. Mary Redcliff are noteworthy specimens of architecture. The latter, in the Perpendicular style, was founded by William Canynge in 1375, and was pronounced by Queen Elizabeth "the fairest and most famous parish church in England." Chatterton (q.v.) pretended that he found the Rowley poems in a chest preserved in the muniment room. There are the Cathedral school, the grammar school, Queen Elizabeth's hospital, the Red Maids school and various other educational institutions. Muller's Orphan Asylum, accommodating 2,000 children, deserves mention. The see of Bristol was created in 1540, and was united to that of Gloucester in 1836. The Hot Wells, so famous at the end of the last century, and immortalised in Evelina and Humphry Clinker, are now deserted, but an effort is being made to revive their popularity, whilst in their vicinity has sprung up the pretty and thriving suburb of Clifton.

Two other Bristols are found, both in the United States. (1) A town on the Delaware river in Pennsylvania, the terminus of the Delaware Canal, and a place of some commercial and industrial importance. (2) A port in Rhode Island on Narragansett Bay, where ship-building, sugar-refining and the making of rubber goods are carried on.