Bristol
Recommended Tours
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Below are a selection of tours that will give you a taste of what the city has to offer and an idea of its history. The Tourist Information Centre, in Millenium Square, has extensive and detailed information on various tours, including the city's Heritage Trail, a walk marked-out by brass pavement plaques which you follow around the centre. But why not try one of the following for starters?
BY FERRY:
What better way to explore a city famed for its maritime past, than by boat? The Bristol Ferry Company operate two round trips around the heart of the city (you can also buy single and return tickets from one stop-off point to another). In summertime, the ferries run about every twenty minutes and you shouldn't have to wait for one too long. Watch out for them coming up the floating harbour that leads past the Arnolfini and Watershed, and just hop on. In winter the service is less frequent, so check the timetables on boards by the water.
The Hotwells Round Trip costs 4.80 pounds for adults and 3.20 pounds for kids and pensioners and takes 40 minutes. Starting at the City Centre (look for the yellow and blue Ferry signs along the quayside) it travels through the newly developed Harbourside area, home of the At-Bristol Complex (housing Imax, Wildscreen and Explore Centres) and glides past the historic ships, SS Great Britain The Matthew. Taking in the area of Hotwells, with its lovely waterside pubs such as The Cottage and Pump House, it then loops back and returns to the city centre.
The Temple Meads Round Trip costs 3.20 pounds for adults, 2.50 pounds for kids and pensioners, takes an hour and covers much the same area, but also takes you up past the infamous club, The Thekla and swish restaurants The River Station and Severnshed (designed by Brunel and originally a railway shed) under Bristol Bridge and past the ruins of Bristol Castle, all the way past Victorian grandeur and modern offices, to Temple Meads Railway Station (a great way to arrive or leave the city if using the train!).
Ask for a timetable when you embark. It contains a map, which gives you some good ideas about where to stop and explore and also tells you something of the history of the company and Bristol itself. Certain landing stages along the route have ramped access (these are clearly marked on the map), others can be problematic for wheelchair users—the starting point at the city centre is fully accessible.
BY BUS:
A great way to see all the major tourist attractions for those pressed for time and a good way to get an overview of the city is the City Sightseeing - Bristol Open Top Guided Bus Tour. The tour runs daily from March 31st to September 30th and buses leave from the starting point every hour, from 10am to the last bus at 4pm (between July 24th-September 3rd, buses run every half hour). Round Trip tickets take you on one complete circuit of the tour (7 pounds adults, 6 pounds students, Old Age Pensioners and children aged 5-15 years). A 24 hour ticket means you can "hop on and hop off", i.e. start and end your tour from any of the bus pick-up points in the circuit and get off and on as many times as you like (9.00 pounds adults, 5.00 pounds students, OAPs and kids from 5-15 years old). Finally, single tickets offer a trip between one or two of the places included for 90p adults/50p child each stop. When you board, pick up a map of the bus's route, with stops and attractions clearly marked—very useful and also includes places where you can get on a ferry or a Bristol Packet Boat for a trip down the river. There is a commentary for you to listen to as you go along.
The starting point is outside the Hippodrome, right in the city centre - look for the bus stop that has the letters Cj on it. The tour takes in the following places: Broadmead and the Galleries Shopping Centre area; King Street—home of the Theatre Royal, Britain's oldest working theatre and some great old pubs, such as the Llandoger Trow and The Old Duke (great for live jazz fans); through Redcliffe, home of the magnificent St Mary Redcliffe Church; all along the floating harbour area and past the SS Great Britain; up to the Georgian splendour of Clifton and its famous Clifton Suspension Bridge; along Avon Gorge and through the Downs to the popular and busy Bristol Zoo; finally coming back into town, passing City Museum and Art Gallery and trendy Park Street—look out for Cabot's Tower on the right, before delivering you back at the Hippodrome.
BY FOOT:
Maritime Tour
Once the second largest port in the country, this trail (a leaflet going into more detail is published by and available at the Tourist Office) gives you a flavour of Bristol's sea-faring past and takes between 2-3 hours to complete.
Start at Bristol Bridge (at the end of Baldwin Street) in the city centre. On the left is Castle Park, which was surrounded by the River Frome and River Avon back in Anglo Saxon times and the site of a tiny port. In 1239 it was decided to divert the River Frome and a channel was cut to enable the river to flow into St Augustine's Reach, which flows right into the city centre.
Cross the bridge and walk along the cobbled street of Welshback—a very busy area in the past, with many small boats ferrying produce around the area. A lot of trade was with Welsh merchants, thus the name. It houses a magnificent 19th century building built in a Byzantium style; now the trendy restaurant/bar Belgo's, but formerly a granary —the grain being loaded onto waiting ships.
Walk to the end of Welshback, cross over the road and head left. Turn right at the next roundabout in front of St Mary Redcliffe Church (not strictly nautical, but well worth a look and built with rich sea-merchants money) and head up the slight hill, taking the first right into Redcliffe Parade. This Georgian terrace has the most amazing views over the floating harbours and beyond. Apparently Blackbeard, the violent robber of the high seas was born here in the 17th century! The steps at the end (look out for the ramp which was used to transport goods, by donkey, from the quayside) lead down to Bathhurst Basin. At the bottom of these on the right, are a series of caves cut into the rock. The sand cut from these was used for ship's ballast and also in the manufacture of the famous Bristol Blue Glass.
Walk past The Ostrich pub on your left and either peek inside to see the caves in the wall here, or just soak up the nautical atmosphere—this part of the harbour is lined with small craft, longboats etc. Bathhurst Basin plays an important role in Bristol's development—because the Avon River had such a strong tide, it was damaging the ships docked in the city, so in 1803, a civil engineer called William Jessop began to create a 'floating harbour', which would keep the water at a level. Not only was the River Frome diverted, but also the River Avon, hence all the different branches of the floating harbour.
Cross over the iron bridge infront of you and walk along with the water on your right. Continue until you meet the road and cross over Prince Street, to continue walking along the water. On your left is the Industrial Museum, housed in the transit sheds that remain from the old docks and displaying many exhibits of maritime Bristol.
Continue along until you reach
Continue on, to pass the modern working marina and two lovely waterside pubs, The Cottage and The Nova Scotia—the latter also being the site of the only original Jessop-built lock to survive. The enormous red brick warehouses on the horizon, were originally tobacco warehouses.
Cross over the small iron bridge to the other side of the water and stop outside The Pump House pub, which used to be an engine house that powered the swing bridge you've just crossed. You can catch a Ferry from here back into town. Check the Bristol Ferry Boat Company timetable for details, but in summertime, they call here about every twenty minutes. Once on the ferry, you will head back the way you came. Take a look at the tall tower on your left, on top of a hill in the distance. This is Cabot's Tower, built in 1897 to commemorate the voyage to Newfoundland by it's namesake John Cabot. Then turn to the right and gaze at the wooden ship The Matthew he went in!
Past the new Harbourside developments, into St Augustine's Reach, all the bars, cafes and the Arts centre, the Watershed were once transit sheds serving the docks.
Disembark and head for Narrowquay on the opposite side of the water. Follow this road and pass The Arnolfini on the corner—now an Art Gallery and cinema, but formerly a tea warehouse (tea, along with tobacco, was one of Bristol's lucrative trades) and a statue of the aforementioned John Cabot. Go round the corner and onto Prince Street, cross over at the traffic lights onto The Grove. This former soft-berth, called The Mud Dock, is now the name of a great cafe/bar situated here. Even Bristol's night life takes place on the river—look out for the Thekla night-club, situated in a large boat moored here and walk past the swish restaurant/bars,
Cross over to The Hole in The Wall pub, whose spy-holes, according to local legend, were used to watch for marauding press gangs (mobs that kidnapped people and forced them onto ships to work) and was the model for the fictional inn featured in Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island".
Turn left at the roundabout and turn into Queen's Square, crossing it and entering King Street. This cobbled street gives a real feeling for the city's sea-faring past, with its Merchant Venturers' Almshouses (intended for retired seamen), Theatre Royal (built with rich merchants money), Naval Volunteer Pub and the ancient, timber-framed pub, Llandoger Trow. You can almost hear the salty-sea dogs' tales! Walk to the end of King Street, to rejoin the cobbled street of Welshback, and from there back up to Bristol Bridge, from where you started.
Slavery Tour:
Bristol's importance as a port in the late seventeenth century, unfortunately meant it was also involved in the awful business of slave trading. To find out more about the city's role in this shameful commerce, follow this trail (a leaflet going into more detail is published by and available at the Tourist Office), which takes approximately four hours.
Start at the City Art Gallery and Museum at the top of Park Street, which contains a permanent exhibition about how the city became rich by trading slaves for tobacco, sugar and rum. Next door is a perfect example, the Wills Memorial Building (the large tower)—bequeathed to the University by the Wills family, who made a fortune in the eighteenth century by trading in tobacco, which was produced by slave labour in America.
To see how rich merchants lived at this time, walk down Park Street and turn right into Great George Street, site of The Georgian House. This house/museum was once owned by John Pinney, a merchant who traded in sugar and ran slave plantations on the Caribbean island of Nevis - look out for exhibits showing Pinney and his black slave, Pero. On the corner of the same street is the home of Henry Cruger, who was Bristol's major in 1781 and who argued against abolition of the slave trade (his wife was the daughter of a successful slave-trader, which could have had something to do with it!).
Back onto Park Street and passing number 43 (site of a now-demolished school for women, run by Hannah More who was a passionate opponent of slavery), you come to Bristol Cathedral at the bottom of the hill. Inside are monuments to various slave traders who owned ships transporting slaves from Africa to America.
Turing left, on St Augustine's Parade, is a pub called the Horn and Trumpet, with a native American figurehead attached above the door. This celebrates the sugar industry in the British colony of Demerara. What it fails to portray however, is the violent rebellion of the slaves here (around 12,000) in the early eighteen hundreds.
Next on the trail (continue along and turn left into Colston Street) is Colston Hall. Many streets and buildings bear the name "Colston" and they all refer to one Edward Colston. Thought of as a rich and charitable merchant (Colston Day is still celebrated every year by the schools and charities he gave his money and name to), he was also a sugar merchant in the Caribbean, and involved with the Royal Africa Company, who practically ran the entire slave trade itself. There has been talk of re-naming the hall, and some bands refuse to play there whilst it retains its moniker. Turn around and head back to the main road again (Colston Avenue!). Turn left, following the road along and in the middle of a traffic island on your right, you can see a statue of the controversial figure himself.
Further along this road, on your left is The Three Sugar Loaves Pub, named after a nearby (now destroyed) sugar refinery. By 1760, there were 20 sugar refineries in Bristol, working with slave-produced raw sugar from plantations in the West Indies.
Cross over the main road into Christmas Street, leading into Broad Street and round onto Corn Street. These two streets were the hub of mercantile life—a place for barter and discussion in the numerous coffee houses here. Look out for Tailors Court (down a small alley just past number 44 Broad Street), where wealthy William Miller, founding member of the 'Company of Merchants Trading to Africa' lived; The National Westminster Bank, whose founders were almost all traders to Africa; and the Corn Exchange, the busiest meeting place for merchants and traders.
From Corn Street, take a left onto St Nicholas Street, turn left onto Baldwin Street and follow the road along until you see the floating harbour. Cross over the road onto the cobbled street that runs along the water, called Welshback. As you walk along here, take a look to your left. Over the water, peeping out between two large, modern buildings you can just see a small pub called the Seven Stars. It was here, in the late 1780s that Quaker Thomas Clarkson, who was involved in the anti-slavery campaign, visited the landlord (who reportedly refused to serve slave traders), to find out the level of opposition to slavery on the street.
On your right you'll see a cobbled street called King Street, turn into this and look for the Theatre Royal, Merchant Venturers Almshouses and the Venturers House—all built with money made by merchants involved in the slave trade.
When you come to the end of King Street, look over the roundabout to the left, at nearby Marsh Street - now a rather non-descript road, but once a favourite place for masters of slave ships to pick up their (often unwilling) crew, from the drunken patrons of the 37 taverns situated there.
Turn around and head back up Prince Street and take any of the left turns into Queen's Square—again, a genteel area of the city, mostly built on the back of the slave trade—which was completed in 1727 when the trade was at its peak.
From Queen's Square, head to the street called The Grove. Turn left and when you come to the roundabout, stay on the right-hand pavement and use the zebra crossing over to the enormous church in front of you. This is St. Mary Redcliffe. Local legend says that slaves were kept captive in the caves below here and true or not, it is certainly recorded that on the abolition of the anti-slavery bill in 1791, the bells were rung in celebration. A good time to remember Hannah More's feeling that "they are not Christians who infest Africa's shores, but are rather white savages ruled by lust of gold or lust of conquest".
