Bristol
Bristol maps (2 available)
Map of Avon
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Bristol books (4 available)
- 18 photos on Bristol appear in 5 Frith books - View photos of Bristol
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Bristol and Avon
Bristol memories
Read and share memories of Bristol and Avon inspired by Frith photos
WLA WW2
My mother's name was Gladys Letton, she lived in Eden Grove, Horfield, she was in the WLA. Is there anyone out there that would remember her?? A great web site, thanks for any help. Carol.
Contributed by carol underwood
Lost Places
My great-grandparents lived in a place called Western Square, Clifton. Anyone have any memories of this place?? Their name was Simms. I was told that there was a pub and a sweet shop there and maybe only 6 large houses, any help please. Thankyou, Carol.
Contributed by carol underwood
Templemeads Station
My father was working on Templemeads Station around the time it was bombed, I have the feeling it was a Saturday night in the summer of 1942. I was about four years old and we were lodging in a house by the Avon with a cellar and several storeys as my mother had decided that Bristol was safer than London.
Unfortunately the raids started almost as soon as we arrived. We had to spend our nights in the Anderson shelter in the garden but my father decided we would be safer at the railway station with him where he was moving troop trains at night.(!). Fortunately as it later happened he was injured on the line the night before the ...read more here
Contributed by Anne Cross
Lost places of Bristol
Can anyone help me with some 'lost places' in Bristol?
I'm trying to locate where Navarino Place was...and also St-Augustine-the-Less church.
My Gtx3 grandfather died at no.6 Navarino Place in 1857 and many members of my family were christened/married at the above church. I'm trying to piece together their lives and what it would have been like for them working in Bristol at that time.
Contributed by Kate Spurrier
Can you help?
Can anyone tell me if this photo is taken looking towards Victoria Street or towards High Street? In the 1860's my ancesters had a business "W & F Boucher, Tea Dealers" at 1 Bridge Parade, Bristol which was just at the end of the bridge on the Victoria Street side, before the crossroads. Could the building in the photograph, advertising Lloyds Tea, be their business? Hoping someone can help!
Contributed by Margaret Martin
Extracts From Bristol & Avon books
This photograph was taken three years after the city docks, Avonmouth, and Portishead were brought together under Corporation control. This meant that once again Bristol could compete for trade; throughout much of the 19th century it had lost business owing to high dock charges levied by the money-grabbing dock company. At one time, it had been cheaper to land Bristol-bound cargoes at Liverpool and send them on by train than to discharge them on Bristol Quay.
An extract from from"Down the Severn Photographic Memories".
No longer England’s second port, Bristol was still busy handling
imports for the west of England. By 1887 sail was far from
finished; the new Bessemer steel-making process opened a
window of opportunity for merchant sailing ship owners with the
construction of large steel-hulled full-rigged ships. Fitted with
labour-saving devices such as steam-powered windlasses and
halyard winches, these big ships found employment in the bulk
cargo trade; they carried nitrate, coal, grain, guano and timber.
In 1887 the British merchant fleet carried 140 million tons of
cargo, of which 49.3 million tons was coal; 12.1 million tons
timber, and 19.2 million tons grain.
An extract from from"Victorian and Edwardian Maritime Album".
The Bristol diocese was created by Henry VIII in 1542, and comprised eighteen parishes within the city boundaries, fourteen others in Gloucestershire and Abbots Leigh in Somerset. It was refounded by Pope Paul IV in 1557.
An extract from from"50 Classics - Cathedrals".
One of the oldest theatres in the country still in regular use, the Theatre Royal dates back to 1766. Its design was based upon Sir Christopher Wren’s Drury Lane Theatre, London, but even when built the Royal had a semi-circular auditorium. The facade was remodelled during the 19th century.
An extract from from"Down the Severn Photographic Memories".
In 1542 Henry VIII created the diocese of Bristol, and the former church of the Augustinian priory was elevated to the rank of cathedral. The building underwent considerable restoration and remodelling between 1868 and 1888, including the construction of the nave and the west towers. Older parts include the Elder Lady Chapel (1210-1215) and the choir (1298-1363).
An extract from from"Down the Severn Photographic Memories".