About Bristol

A Quick Look Back At The History of Bristol

Bristol (originally known as Brycgstow – ‘the place at the bridge’) has been a port for a thousand years but came to prominence after the Norman invasion of 1066. Bristol was granted county status in 1373 by King Edward III – an honour it has held almost without interruption until the present day. By the 14th century, the city was trading with Spain, Portugal, the Mediterranean and Iceland. After the discovery of America, Bristol was the main point of departure for voyages to the New World. In 1542 Bristol was made a city, with the former Abbey of St Augustine becoming Bristol Cathedral.
Bristol boomed in the late 17th and 18th centuries as new colonies were founded in the West Indies and North America. Due to its location, Bristol was well placed to trade with the colonies. Tobacco, sugar, rum and cocoa were all imported to Britain through the city. Bristol subsequently became a leading city in the triangular slave trade, which underpinned much of the wealth of the city merchants and the development of new residential areas such as Clifton. The slave trade has had an ongoing and lasting legacy for the city, as illustrated in the recent exhibition at Bristol’s Empire and Commonwealth Museum ‘Breaking the Chains’ and the work of the Legacy Commission in Bristol to tackle some of the inequalities and disadvantage created by the legacy of slavery.
In 1801 the population of Bristol was 68,800. It continued to rise rapidly in the 19th century and reached 266,000 in 1881. In the 19th century the copper, brass and glass industries in Bristol went into decline. On the other hand, shipbuilding boomed in Bristol, as did the tobacco, chocolate and soap making industries. In 1833, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was appointed chief engineer of the Great Western Railway, and his work on the line that linked London to Bristol helped to establish him as one of the world’s leading engineers. Brunel did more than anyone to shape the face of modern Bristol. His legacy includes the Clifton Suspension Bridge, the SS Great Britain and Temple Meads Old Station.
In the 20th century Bristol’s greatest industry became aircraft manufacture. The aerospace industry has had a base in Bristol since its early days when George White founded the Bristol Aeroplane Company at Filton in 1910. In the mid-1960s, Concorde was built and tested at Filton. Other industries that continued to flourish in Bristol were chocolate, tobacco, engineering, chemicals, zinc, furniture and pottery. Moreover, Bristol continued to be an important port in the 20th century.
Today, Bristol is a large commercial centre and one of the most popular cities for business relocation.

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