Bristol Bridge..........

I love being here in Bristol, especially after darkness has fallen, there's so many opportunities for great reflection images.

Bristol's name is derived from the Saxon, Brycgstow or Brigstowe meaning the 'place of the bridge'. However, it is unclear when the first bridge over the Avon was built.  The first stone bridge was built in the 13th century, and houses with shop fronts were built on it to pay for its maintenance.

A seventeenth century illustration shows that these bridge houses were five stories high, including the attic rooms, and that they overhung the river much as Tudor houses would overhang the street. At the time of the Civil War the bridge was noted for its community of goldsmiths. Houses on the bridge were attractive and charged high rents as they had so much passing traffic, and had plenty of fresh air and waste could be dropped into the river. Its population was also perceived to be strongly parliamentarian.

In the 1760 a bill to replace the bridge was carried through parliament by the Bristol MP Sir Jarrit Smyth.  By the early 18th century, increase in traffic and the encroachment of shops on the roadway made the bridge fatally dangerous for many pedestrians, but despite a campaign by Felix Farley in his Journal, no action was taken until a shopkeeper on the bridge employed James Bridges to provide designs. The commission accepted the design of James Bridges after many long drawn out disputes which are still unclear. Bridges fled to the West Indies in 1763 leaving Thomas Paty  to complete it between 1763 and 1768. Resentment at the tolls exacted to cross the new bridge occasioned the Bristol Bridge Riot of 1793. The toll houses were turned into shops before they were removed. In the 19th century, the roadway was again congested, so walkways were added on either side, the supporting columns disguising the classical Georgian design.

My dad always used to tell me that we should all try to learn something every day.

I can rest easy tonight, especially now i know about the Bristol Bridge Riot of 1793...........Who Knew....??

 

j.