Timeline of Bristol

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Bristol, England.

Prior to 16th century

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• 803 – St James' Priory founded.^[1]
• 1009 – Market active.^[2]
• 1140 – St Augustine's Abbey founded.^[1]
• 1141 – February: Stephen, King of England imprisoned in Bristol Castle after the Battle of Lincoln.
• 1147 – Bristol fair active.^[2]
• c.1220 – Bristol Cathedral construction begins.
• c.1223 – Grey friary founded.^[1]
• c.1228 – Blackfriars Dominican priory established.
• 1290 – Jews expelled.^[3]
• 1292 – Church of St Mary Redcliffe built.^[4]
• 1295 – Parliamentary representation begins.
• 1373 – Bristol becomes a county corporate;^[4] Redcliffe becomes part of Bristol.^[5]
• c.1478–1479 – Ricart's Maiores Kalendar of Bristol started.^[6]
• 1497 – May: Italian-born adventurer John Cabot sets sail on the ship Matthew (principally owned by Richard Amerike) looking for new lands to the west.^[7]
• 1498 – May: Cabot sets sail on his second voyage to the Americas; he is never heard of again.^[8]

16th-17th centuries

• 1504 – Chapel of the Three Kings of Cologne built.
• 1542 – See of Bristol established.^[5]
• 1552 – Society of Merchant Venturers chartered.
• 1595 – Merchant Venturers' School founded.
• 1643 – July: Bristol in the English Civil War Bristol taken by forces of prince Rupert.^[4]
• 1644 – Fort at St. Michael's Hill rebuilt.^[9]
• 1645 – September: Bristol taken by forces of Cromwell.^[4]
• 1656 – Bristol Castle demolished.^[10]
• c. 1670 – King William Ale House built as a refuge for poor women.
• 1691
  • Bristol Corporation of the Poor founded.^[9]
  • Almshouse established at St. Michael's Hill.^[9]

18th century

• 1701 – Merchants' hall built.^[1]
• 1702 – Bristol Post-Boy newspaper begins publication.
• 1710 – Colston's Hospital founded.^[4]
• 1709 – St James's Square laid out.^[11]
• 1712 – Custom House built.^[11]
• 1717 – William Cossley bookseller in business.^[12]
• 1725 – Farley's Bristol News-Paper begins publication.^[13]
• 1727 – Dowry Square laid out.^[11]
• 1729 – Walter Churchman patents his invention for making chocolate.^[14]
• 1737 – Bristol Royal Infirmary opens.
• 1738 – William Champion patents a process to distill zinc from calamine using charcoal in a smelter.
• 1739 – New Room (Methodist chapel) built.
• 1740 – Merchant Tailors' Guild Hall built.
• 1741 – King Square laid out.^[11]
• 1743 – The Exchange built.^[1]
• 1747 – Bristol becomes Britain's busiest slave trading port.^[15]
• 1753 – Economic unrest.^[4]
• c.1759 – Joseph Fry begins chocolate manufacture.
• 1766 – Theatre opens.^[1]
• 1767 – Bristol Gazette newspaper begins publication.^[16]
• 1768 – Bristol Bridge built.^[1]
• 1770 – Bristol porcelain manufacture begins.^[17][18]
• 1773 – Bristol Library Society founded.^[19]
• 1786
  • Infirmary opens.^[1]
  • Wills, Watkins & Co. open a tobacconists’ shop which becomes W.D. & H.O. Wills.
• 1788 – John Wesley gives speech against slavery.^[15]
• c.1790 – Berkeley Square laid out.
• 1791 – Christ Church with St Ewen and Equestrian Theatre^[20] built.
• 1793 – 30 September: Bridge riot.
• 1796 – John Harvey & Sons, makers of Harvey's Bristol Cream, founded.^[21]
• 1799 – Pneumatic Institution established.

19th century

• 1803 – Bristol Dock Company incorporated.^[5]
• 1809 – Docks built.^[4]
• 1810 – Commercial Rooms built.^[1]
• 1821
  • Population: 52,889.^[1]
  • John Horwood hanged for the murder of Eliza Balsom.^[22]
• 1823
  • Chamber of Commerce founded.^[5]
  • Bristol Institution opens.^[23]
• 1830s – Clifton becomes part of city.^[24]
• 1831 – October: Queen Square riots.^[15]
• 1832
  • Bristol Mechanics' Institution building opens.^[23]
  • Holy Trinity Church built.
• 1836 – Zoological Gardens open.^[25]
• 1837 – Passage to St Vincent's Cave opens.^[26]
• 1838 – Paddle steamer SS Great Western (launched 1837) begins travelling to the United States.^[27]
• 1840
  • Bath-Bristol section of Great Western Railway begins operating.
  • Bristol and Clifton Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society instituted.^[28]
• 1841 – London-Bristol railway completed.^[4]
• 1842
  • Synagogue opens in Park Row.^[3]
  • Buckingham Baptist Chapel built.
• 1843 – Iron steamship SS Great Britain launched.
• 1844 – Bristol Academy for the Promotion of Fine Arts founded.
• 1847 – Horfield Barracks completed.^[29]
• 1850
  • Bristol, West of England and South Wales Permanent Building Society formed.
  • Pro-Cathedral of the Holy Apostles consecrated.
• 1854 – Bristol and Exeter Railway begins operating.
• 1858
  • Western Daily Press newspaper begins publication.^[16]
  • Bristol General Hospital opens.^[5]
• 1862
  • Bristol Naturalists' Society established.
  • Clifton College opens.^[5]
• 1864
  • Clifton Suspension Bridge opens.^[4]
  • Avonside Engine Company in business.
• 1865
  • Bristol and West of England Amateur Photographic Association formed.^[30]
  • Industrial Exhibition held.^[4]
  • Daily Bristol Times and Mirror newspaper in publication.^[16]
• 1870 – Gloucestershire County Cricket Club formed.
• 1871 – Bristol Museum and Library established.^[31]
• 1875 – Horse-drawn tram begins operating.
• 1876
  • University College, Bristol opens.^[4]
  • The Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society founded.
• 1877 – Avonmouth dock opens.^[4]
• 1884
  • September: Exhibition opens.^[4]
  • Clifton Antiquarian Club founded.
• 1887 – Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company and Bristol Camera Society^[30] established.
• 1889
  • Labour strike.^[4]
  • Bristol Choral Society founded.
  • March: Flood.^[4]
• 1892 – Labour strike.^[4]
• 1893 – Brazil, Straker & Co in business.
• 1895 – Electric tram begins operating.
• 1898 – Cabot Tower built on Brandon Hill.^[4]

20th century

• 1901
  • Imperial Direct West India Mail Service begins operating to Jamaica.^[32]
  • Population: 328,945.^[5]
  • Area of city: 11,705 acres.^[5]
• 1904
  • Shirehampton becomes part of city.
  • Area of city: 17,004 acres.^[5]
• 1905 – Bristol Kyrle Society founded.^[33]
• 1906 – Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company introduces its first motor buses.
• 1908 – Royal Edward Dock opens at Avonmouth.^[5]
• 1909 – University of Bristol founded.
• 1910 – British and Colonial Aeroplane Company in business.^[34]
• 1912 – Bristol Hippodrome opens.
• 1914 – International Exhibition opens at the "White City", Ashton Gate, becoming a military depot soon after the outbreak of war.^[35]
• 1916 – Bristol F.2 Fighter aircraft first flies.
• 1929 – Bristol Record Society founded.
• 1930 – Whitchurch Airport begins operating.
• 1932
  • Bristol Evening Post newspaper begins publication.^[16]
  • 23 February: Old Market riot.
• 1933 – Gaiety Cinema opens.^[36]
• 1938 – Ritz Cinema opens.^[36]
• 1940 – 2 November: Aerial bombing by German forces begins.
• 1941 – Bristol Tramways abandoned due to bombing.
• 1944 – 15 May: Aerial bombing by German forces ends.
• 1945 – Bristol Cars in business.
• 1946 – Bristol Old Vic theatre company and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School established.
• 1958 – Bristol Bus Station opens.
• 1959 – Bristol Siddeley aero engine manufacturer in business.
• 1963 – 30 April: Bristol Bus Boycott.
• 1968 – World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association headquartered in city.
• 1969 – British prototype Concorde airliner first flies from Filton.
• 1970
  • Radio repeater tower built at Purdown.^[37]
  • BBC Radio Bristol begins broadcasting.
  • Bristol Polytechnic established.
  • SS Great Britain returns to Bristol.
• 1973 – Clifton Cathedral (Roman Catholic) consecrated.
• 1974
  • Bristol becomes part of the county of Avon
  • Ashton Court Festival begins.
  • Avonmouth Bridge opens in Shirehampton.
• 1977 – Gay Pride begins.^[38]
• 1978
  • Royal Portbury Dock opens.
  • Castle Park laid out.
  • Bristol Gay Centre founded.^[38]
• 1980 – 2 April: St. Pauls riot.
• 1984 – Bristol Community Church organized.
• 1986 – Show of Strength Theatre Company formed.
• 1992
  • 16 July: Hartcliffe riot.
  • University of the West of England granted university status.
• 1996
  • County of Avon abolished; Bristol once again becomes both a city and a county.
  • City of Bristol College established.
• 1998 – Tobacco Factory Theatre established.

21st century

• 2000 – Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory theatre company founded.
• 2001 – Bristol Royal Hospital for Children building opens.
• 2003 – Plain Clothes Theatre Productions formed.
• 2004 – Bristol Shakespeare Festival begins.
• 2007 – Dot to Dot Festival begins.
• 2010 – Brunel Institute opens.^[39]
• 2011
  • 21 April: Stokes Croft Tesco riot.
  • Bristol becomes a "city of sanctuary" for refugees.^[40]
• 2012
  • Redland Green School established.
  • George Ferguson elected Mayor of Bristol.^[41]
• 2015 - Wok to Walk opens on Park St
• 2016 - Daniel Lee, Asher Breuer-Weil, Samuel Gottlieb, Jacob Summerfield, Thomas Prais and Alexander Epstein begin to study at the University of Bristol.

See also

• History of Bristol

References

Further reading

Published in the 17th-18th centuries

• John Ogilby (1699), "(Bristol)", Traveller's Guide, or, A Most Exact Description of the Roads of England, London: Abel Swall 
• Nathaniel Spencer (1772). "County of Somerset: (Bristol)". Complete English Traveller. London: J. Cooke. 
• Daniel Defoe; Samuel Richardson (1778), "(Bristol)", A Tour Through the Island of Great Britain (8th ed.), London: J.F. and C. Rivingdon 
• William Barrett (1789), History and antiquities of the city of Bristol, Bristol: Printed by W. Pine, OCLC 2435385 
• Archibald Robertson (1792), "City of Bristol", Topographical Survey of the Great Road from London to Bath and Bristol, London, OCLC 1633468 
• Mathew's New History of Bristol or Complete Guide. 1794. 

Published in the 19th century

1800s-1820s

• "Bristol", Kearsley's Traveller's Entertaining Guide through Great Britain, London: George Kearsley, 1803 
• Walley Chamberlain Oulton (1805), "Bristol", Traveller's Guide: Or, English Itinerary, 1, J. Cundee, OCLC 65847812 
• "Bristol". Crosby's Complete Pocket Gazetteer of England and Wales. London: B. Crosby. 1807. 
• Joseph Nightingale (1813), "Bristol", Beauties of England and Wales, 13 (1), London: J. Harris, Somersetshire 
• John Corry (1816), History of Bristol, Bristol: W. Sheppard 
• Bristol Memorialist, 1816 
• James Dugdale (1819), "Somersetshire: Bristol", New British Traveller, 4, London: J. Robins and Co. 
• Samuel Seyer (1821), Memoirs historical and topographical of Bristol and its neighbourhood, Bristol: Printed for the author by J. M. Gutch, OCLC 5739402  v.2
• Chronological Outline of the History of Bristol, and the Stranger's Guide Through Its Streets and Neighbourhood. Bristol: John Evans. 1824. 
• Robert Watt (1824). "Bristol". Bibliotheca Britannica. 3. Edinburgh: A. Constable. OCLC 961753. 
• Chilcott's New Guide to Bristol. 1826. 
• John Evans (1828), New Guide, or, Picture of Bristol (4th ed.), Bristol, OCLC 45137262 

1830s-1840s

• David Brewster, ed. (1830). "Bristol". Edinburgh Encyclopædia. Edinburgh: William Blackwood. 
• James Dallaway (1834), Antiquities of Bristow in the middle centuries, Bristol: Mirror office, OCLC 4782585 
• Mathew's Bristol Directory. Bristol. 1841. 
• "Bristol", Mogg's Great Western Railway and Windsor, Bath, and Bristol Guide, London: Edward Mogg, 1841 
• "Bristol and its Vicinity". Slater's National Commercial Directory of Ireland; including ... English Towns of Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, West Bromwich, Leeds, Sheffield and Bristol, and in Scotland, those of Glasgow and Paisley. Manchester: I. Slater. 1846. 
• Charles Frederick Cliffe (1848), "Bristol", Book of South Wales, the Bristol Channel, Monmouthshire, and the Wye (2nd ed.), London: Hamilton, Adams 
• Hunt & Co.'s Directory & Court Guide for the Cities of Bath, Bristol, & Wells. 1848. 
• Samuel Lewis (1848), "Bristol", Topographical Dictionary of England (7th ed.), London: S. Lewis and Co. 

1850s-1890s

• Chilcott's Descriptive History of Bristol (9th ed.). 1851. 
• "Bristol", Black's Picturesque Tourist and Road-book of England and Wales (3rd ed.), Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1853 
• "Bristol". Bradshaw's Descriptive Railway Hand-Book of Great Britain and Ireland. London: W.J. Adams. 1860. 
• George Bryce (1861). Popular History of Bristol. Bristol: W. Mack. 
• Charles Knight, ed. (1867). "Bristol". Geography. English Cyclopaedia. London: Bradbury, Evans, & Co. 
• "Bristol", Handbook for Travellers in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and Herefordshire, London: J. Murray, 1872, OCLC 2167311 
• Wright's Bristol Directory. Bristol. 1872. 
• Bristol, Cardiff, Newport, and Swansea Commercial List. London: Estell and Co. 1876. 
• 'Canynge' Concise Guide to Bristol and Suburbs, Bristol: Jefferies & Sons, 1878 
• J. F. Nicholls (1881), Bristol Past and Present, Bristol: J.W. Arrowsmith, OCLC 2663342 
  • v.1: Civil history
  • v.2: Ecclesiastical history
  • v.3: Civil and Modern History
• John Parker Anderson (1881), "Gloucestershire: Bristol", Book of British Topography: a Classified Catalogue of the Topographical Works in the Library of the British Museum Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, London: W. Satchell 
• "Bristol Trades Directory". Kelly's Directory of Somersetshire. 1883. 
• Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, ed. (1883), Memoirs illustrative of the history and antiquities of Bristol 
• William Clark Russell (1883). "Bristol". North-East Ports and Bristol Channel. Newcastle upon Tyne: A. Reid. 
• How to See Bristol. Arrowsmith. 1885. 
• Laurence Cowen (1893), Greater Bristol, London: Pelham Press 
• Charles Gross (1897). "Bristol". Bibliography of British Municipal History. New York: Longmans, Green, and Co. 
• Alfred B. Beaven (1899), Bristol lists: municipal and miscellaneous (Bristol Lists: Municipal and Miscellaneous ed.), Bristol: T. D. Taylor, Sons, and Hawkins, OCLC 5828470 

Published in the 20th century

• John Latimer (1900), Annals of Bristol in the seventeenth century, Bristol: William George's Sons, OCLC 2996673 
• G.K. Fortescue, ed. (1902). "Bristol". Subject Index of the Modern Works Added to the Library of the British Museum in the Years 1881–1900. London. 
• John Latimer (1902), Annals of Bristol in the Nineteenth Century (Concluded) 1887–1900, Bristol: W. George's Sons, OCLC 2996691 
• Charles Wells, ed. (1902). Historic Bristol. Bristol.  (articles reprinted from The Bristol Times and Mirror)
• Robert Donald, ed. (1908). "Bristol". Municipal Year Book of the United Kingdom for 1908. London: Edward Lloyd. 
• John Latimer (1908), Sixteenth-Century Bristol, Bristol: J.W. Arrowsmith 
• "Bristol", Great Britain (7th ed.), Leipzig: Karl Baedeker, 1910 
• "Bristol". List of Works Relating to British Genealogy and Local History. New York: New York Public Library. 1910. 
• "Bristol". England. Blue Guides. London: Macmillan. 1920. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bristol.

• "Bristol and Transatlantic Slavery: Timeline". Port Cities UK. UK: New Opportunities Fund. 
• "Gloucestershire", Historical Directories, UK: University of Leicester . Includes Bristol directories, various dates.
• Europeana. Works related to Bristol, various dates
• Digital Public Library of America. Works related to Bristol, various dates

Coordinates: 51°27′00″N 2°35′00″W / 51.45°N 2.583333°W / 51.45; -2.583333