history of bristol

By ella.wander
  • 803

    St James' Priory founded

  • 1009

    Market active

  • 1140

    St Augustine's Abbey founded

  • 1141

    February: Stephen, King of England imprisoned in Bristol Castle after the Battle of Lincoln.

  • 1147

    Bristol fair active

  • 1220

    Bristol Cathedral construction begins.

  • 1223

    Grey friary founded.

  • 1228

    Blackfriars Dominican priory established

  • 1290

    Jews expelled

  • 1292

    Church of St Mary Redcliffe built

  • 1295

    Parliamentary representation begins.

  • 1373

    Bristol becomes a county corporate; Redcliffe becomes part of Bristo

  • 1478

    Ricart's Maiores Kalendar of Bristol started.

  • 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

  • 1498

    May: Cabot sets sail on his second voyage to the Americas; he is never heard of again.

  • 1504

    Chapel of the Three Kings of Cologne built.

  • 1542

    See of Bristol established

  • 1552

    Society of Merchant Venturers chartered.

  • Merchant Venturers' School founded

  • July: Bristol in the English Civil War Bristol taken by forces of Prince Rupert

  • Fort at St. Michael's Hill rebuilt

  • September: Bristol taken by forces of Cromwell

  • – Bristol Castle demolished

  • King William Ale House built as a refuge for poor women.

  • Merchants' hall buil

  • Bristol Post-Boy newspaper begins publication.

  • St James's Square laid out

  • Colston's Hospital founded

  • Custom House built.

  • William Cossley bookseller in business

  • Farley's Bristol News-Paper begins publication

  • Dowry Square laid out.

  • Walter Churchman patents his invention for making chocolate.

  • Bristol Royal Infirmary opens.

  • William Champion patents a process to distill zinc from calamine using charcoal in a smelter.

  • New Room (Methodist chapel) built.

  • Merchant Tailors' Guild Hall built.

  • King Square laid out

  • The Exchange built

  • Bristol becomes Britain's busiest slave trading port.

  • Economic unrest

  • Joseph Fry begins chocolate manufacture

  • Theatre opens

  • Bristol Gazette newspaper begins publication

  • Bristol Bridge built

  • Bristol porcelain manufacture begins;[17][18] Bristol blue glass is also first produced at about this date.

  • Bristol Library Society founded

  • Stapelton Prison built to hold naval prisoners of war captured during the American Revolutionary War.

  • Infirmary opens

  • John Wesley gives speech against slavery

  • Berkeley Square laid out.

  • Christ Church with St Ewen and Equestrian Theatre built

  • 30 September: Bridge riot.

  • Stapelton prison used for French prisoners of war during the Napoleonic Wars

  • John Harvey & Sons, importers of Harvey's Bristol Cream sherry, founded

  • Pneumatic Institution established.

  • Bristol Dock Company incorporated

  • Stapelton prison enlarged.

  • Docks built.

  • Commercial Rooms built

  • Population: 52,889

  • Chamber of Commerce founded

  • New cattle market opens