Bristol's Architecture and History

John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) (1450-1498) was an Italian navigator and explorer commonly credited as the first European (since the Vikings) to discover North America, Newfoundland, in 1497.

John Cabot set sail with a crew of 18 in the Matthew from Bristol in May 1497 and landed on the coast of Newfoundland (now part of Canada) on 24 June. On the homeward voyage his sailors incorrectly thought they were going too far north, so Cabot sailed a more southerly course, reaching Brittany instead of England, but they finally arrived back in Bristol 6th August.

For his discovery Cabot was made an Admiral and rewarded with £10 and a pension of £20 a year. The following year, 1498, he departed again, with 5 ships this time. One of the ships returned to an Irish port due to storm damage and upon repair headed west. Cabot and his expedition were never heard from again and are presumed to have been lost at sea.

CABOT TOWER
Cabot Tower was built in John Cabot's honour in Bristol, and another Cabot Tower built in St. John's, Newfoundland. Cabot Tower in Bristol, England is located in a public park on Brandon Hill between the city centre, Clifton and Hotwells. It was built in 1897 in memory of John Cabot, 400 years after he set sail in the Matthew from Bristol and landed in what was later to become Canada. The architect was William Venn Gough. The tower consists of a spiral staircase and two viewing platforms which overlook the city, the higher of which is approximately 334 feet (102 m) above sea level. The tower, 32.4m (105 ft) high and built from red sandstone covered with cream Bath stone gives its name to the area and Council ward of Cabot and has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II listed building.

THE MATTHEW
The Matthew named after John Cabot's wife Mattea was a small ship (50 tons), but fast and able with a crew of just 18 people. To celebrate the 500th anniversary of Cabot's voyage, a replica of the Matthew was built in Bristol. She was dedicated in a ceremony during the first International Festival of the Sea, held in Bristol's Floating Harbour in 1996. The next year, she reconstructed Cabot's original journey on the 500th anniversary of the landmark voyage. On 24 June 1997 the replica of the Matthew was welcomed into port at Bonavista by Queen Elizabeth II.

The full-size replica is 78' (23.7m) long with a beam of 20'6" (6.3m) with a draft of 7' (2.1m) and 2,360 sq ft (219 m2) of sail. She now offers commercial harbour and offshore cruises from March to September each year from Bristol, where she is moored next to the SS Great Britain in the Floating Harbour.

John Wesley's Chapel stands in the Horsefair, Broadmead, Bristol; in the heart of a modern shopping centre, near the centre of Bristol. Built in 1739 it's the oldest Methodist Chapel in the world built.

George Whitefield, who worked with the poor in Bristol preaching in the open air, asked John Wesley to take over his work; John Wesley gave his first open-air sermon to a crowd of 3,000 people. As John Wesley was subsequently barred from preaching in Bristol pulpits he built his own Chapel which was also used as a dispensary and schoolroom for the poor and can be seen today just as it was in the 18th Century. Charles, John's brother was also a Church of England priest and is renowned for his hymn writing, his most famous works include Hark the Herald Angels and Love Divine.

Most of Broadmead was flattened during the blitz on Bristol in WWII although some historical buildings survived including 'The Wesleyan Chapel', the Mormons Church (now a Registry Office), the Merchant Tailors Almshouse and part of 'The Shopping Arcades'. There were two shopping arcades (dating to early Victorian or earlier) but only the lower Shopping Arcade survived the blitz. The Merchant Tailor Almshouse now fronts an entrance to the Galleries (a shopping mall built in the 1980's). The original building on the site became the property of the Merchant Tailors in 1575. The present building dates from 1701 when it was opened as a home for nine poor tailors or their widows. It was used for this purpose to at least 1905. In the 1930's the building was used as the Weights and Measures Office, later it housed a bank and more recently became a restaurant.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) was a Victorian engineer best known for the creation of the Great Western Railway, a series of famous iron built steamships, including the first with a propeller, and numerous important bridges and tunnels. His designs revolutionised public transport and modern day engineering.

Brunel had a long and fruitful association with Bristol. He designed the hugely successful steamships Great Western (1837), and Great Britain (1843) both built and launched in Bristol; the latter, after long service in the Atlantic, has been returned to its native city, and lies in state as a floating museum. In 1830 he redesigned Bristol docks and in 1841 completed the Great Western Railway line to London. He also designed Bristol Temple Meads Station (1839) with an impressive Gothic style frontage that still stands today. In 1836, he was commissioned to design and build of a suspension bridge to span Avon Gorge; unfortunately, funds dried up and the bridge was not completed until 1864, five years after his death. Clifton Suspension Bridge, which delicately spans the rocky and wooded 250ft deep gorge, is still in use to this day.

SS GREAT BRITAIN
The SS Great Britain was an advanced Atlantic liner designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the Great Western Steamship Company's Bristol-New York service. While other ships had been built of iron or had been equipped with a screw propeller, the Great Britain was the first to combine these features in a large ocean-going ship. When launched in 1843 she was the largest vessel afloat. However her protracted construction and high cost left her owners in a difficult financial position, and they were forced out of business in 1846 when the Great Britain was stranded by a navigational error. She was sold for salvage, repaired, and carried thousands of immigrants to Australia until converted to sail in 1881 and three years later she was retired to the Falkland Islands and used as a warehouse and coal hulk until she was scuttled in 1937. In 1970, the SS Great Britain was returned to the Bristol dry dock where she was first built and is now an award-winning visitors attraction as a museum ship in Bristol Harbour,

Not only is Bristol littered with Victorian Architecture, not least the great works of Isambard Kingdom Brunel such at the Clifton Suspension Bridge, the SS Great Britain, Bristol Docks and Temple Meads Railway Station, but also quaint architecture such as the 'Victorian Toilet' at the top of Blackboy Hill, Bristol, and still in use today, as featured in this picture!