In 1445 (or 1446 - records are unclear), the spire of St Mary Redcliffe was destroyed by a lightning strike.
The spire was not rebuilt until 1872, which is why the earliest photographs of the church show a flat “stump” instead of a steeple.
In 1968 a flash flood of Colliters Brook left much of south Bristol underwater for days. Some speedy patrons of a pub in Ashton were able to rescue a barrel of cider before fleeing for safety upstairs. They were rescued the following morning - all were horribly hungover!
I’ve fired up the projector and now celebrating the life of Victoria Wood with an evening of outstanding entertainment.
Ten years have passed and the world feels a lot less fun and silly without her.
Thanks for all the joy you gave us, Victoria.
2/2
Initially The Gas/Gasheads was intended as a derogatory term but was later embraced by fans in the 70s/80s
Bristol Rovers F.C. are nicknamed “The Gas” (and its supporters “Gasheads”) because the team’s home grounds were built beside the Bristol Eastville Gasworks - causing the smell of gas to waft across the pitch.
1/2
And in 1903 the Wright Brothers made their first flight.
An astonishingly long life.
Guernsey born Margaret Ann Neve was raised and educated in Bristol. After she died in 1903 (aged 110) it was discovered that she had been the last person alive who was born in the 18th century and the first person known to have lived in three centuries - having been born in 1792.
In the 1950s, a small village named Moreton was levelled and flooded to create Chew Valley Lake, just outside of Bristol. Most buildings were demolished but it is still possible to see the remains of walls, roads and even gardens, submerged for over 60 years beneath the water.
March 2020. The world has been thrown into a state of suspension.
A man has been killed in his Bristol home and his wife is missing.
How do you solve a murder in the middle of a pandemic?
My mystery/thriller SUSPENSION is available in ebook, paperback and hardback.
Link in profile.
2/2
Initially seen as a female equivalent of the all-male Bristol Merchant Venturers, the club soon merged with the US Soroptimist Club (founded in 1921) - an organisation which continues to this day and lobbies for the rights of women and girls internationally, with over 66,000 members.
This house on College Rd, Clifton was the home of Eleanor Addison Philips (1874-1952) - headmistress of Clifton High School.
In 1920 she founded the Venture Club, which sought to unite Bristol businesswomen and advocate for the rights of women.
It was the first club of its kind in the world.
1/2
2/2
The execution led to protests, widespread discussions on the morality of the death penalty and a vigil was held outside the prison, led by the Bristol MP Tony Benn.
At 8.00 am on the 17th of December, 1963, Russell Pascoe - the last person to be executed in Bristol - was hanged.
Pascoe had murdered 64 year old farmer, William Rowe in Cornwall.
His accomplice in the crime, Dennis Whitty, was executed in London at precisely the same time.
1/2
And the answer is:
The walkway behind Bristol Cathedral which leads to the choir school.
Well done if you got this one right!
That happened to me once! I was out with my dog and bumped into a group who were on one of the the walks from the book. I couldn’t believe it - and neither could they!
It was such an exciting surprise!
I walked past a couple of women the other day walking around bedminster, one of which had your book in hand using it like a map! Looked like they were having a blast
WHERE AM I WEDNESDAY
This is fascinating - and spooky.
Exploring the hidden, underground river which flows beneath the city.
youtu.be/sTkdvqlNpmA?...
She was so good at nailing pomposity. The castle would have been less than 40 years old when she was writing NA!
Classic Austen humour - Northanger Abbey
“Blaise Castle!” cried Catherine. “What is that?”
“The finest place in England—worth going fifty miles at any time to see.”
“What, is it really a castle, an old castle?”
“The oldest in the kingdom.”
“But is it like what one reads of?”
“Exactly—the very same.”
2/2
including a hermit cave, a dramatic gorge path and even a hut in the woods where a man was employed to keep a fire burning so the woodland was perpetually clouded by an atmospheric “mist.”
Despite its name, Blaise Castle is a castle folly rather than a true castle. It was built in 1766 for the estate owner Thomas Farr and it became the first stage of several generations worth of theatrical projects around the estate,
1/2
Painting of a cityscape at night in a scene filled with houses and other buildings in blue light and with gold light coming from windows
'Bristol Night II' by contemporary UK painter Cath Read #WomensArt
Adge Cutler (1930-1974) was born in Portishead (near Bristol).
In 1966, he formed the folk band The Wurzels and with them pioneered the music genre known as “Scrumpy and Western”.
His poetic lyrics and musings on life in the west country earned him the unofficial title of “The Bard of Avonmouth”.
It’s an incredible game - but you have to survive that village onslaught. It is intense and happens really early on!
Replaying the original Resident Evil 4 recently and despite being great, the camera worked very differently to games were used to now. It felt weirdly narrow and claustrophobic to have that tight a field of view.
Not to say games are inherently better now, they’re just building on a lot more history. We’ve got used to in-game cameras and controls working a certain way thanks to decades of adjustments
I find this happens often when I revisit a game I used to love.
So many gaming bugs/flaws have been ironed out over the decades and we’ve got so used to it that going back it all just feels… bad and unpolished
I assumed the same - and the brilliant Bristol historian Veronica Smith definitely believed it originated as “knifesmith” but I only recently discovered that has been disputed (as there seems to be no evidence of knives being made there).
The true origin is a bit of a mystery!
One (disputed) theory for how Christmas Steps earned its name is that “Christmas” is a corruption of “Knifesmith” - an archaic term for - knife maker.
Alternatively, it could be due to the Chapel of the Three Kings of Cologne at the top of the steps, named after the three wise men of the Nativity.