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] Bristol blue glass is also first produced at about this date.
• 1773 – Bristol Library Society founded.^[19]
• 1779 – Stapelton Prison built to hold naval prisoners of war captured during the American Revolutionary War.
• 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.
• 1793–1813 – Stapelton prison used for French prisoners of war during the Napoleonic Wars.^[21]
• 1796 – John Harvey & Sons, importers of Harvey's Bristol Cream sherry, founded.^[22]
• 1799 – Pneumatic Institution established.

19th century

• 1803 – Bristol Dock Company incorporated.^[5]
• 1804 – Stapelton prison enlarged.
• 1809 – Docks built.^[4]
• 1810 – Commercial Rooms built.^[1]
• 1821
  • Population: 52,889.^[1]
  • John Horwood hanged for the murder of Eliza Balsom.^[23]
• 1823
  • Chamber of Commerce founded.^[5]
  • Bristol Institution opens.^[24]
• 1830s – Clifton becomes part of city.^[25]
• 1831 – October: Queen Square riots^[15] – 4 rioters killed and 86 injured by cavalry charge in Queen Square.
• 1832
  • 4 Queen Square rioters charged and hanged.
  • Bristol Mechanics' Institution building opens.^[24]
  • Holy Trinity Church built.
• 1836 – Zoological Gardens open.^[26]
• 1837 – Passage to St Vincent's Cave opens.^[27]
• 1838 – Paddle steamer SS Great Western (launched 1837) begins travelling to the United States.^[28]
• 1840
  • Bath-Bristol section of Great Western Railway begins operating.
  • Bristol and Clifton Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society instituted.^[29]
• 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.^[30]
• 1850
  • Bristol, West of England and South Wales Permanent Building Society formed.
  • Pro-Cathedral of the Holy Apostles consecrated.
  • Clifton Victoria Baths opened.
• 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.^[31]
  • 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.^[32]
• 1873 – Bristol Trades Council founded.^[33]
• 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 – Clifton Antiquarian Club founded.
• 1887
  • Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company and Bristol Camera Society^[31] established.
  • Bristol Home for Lost and Starving Dogs opens.^[34]
• 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.^[35]
  • 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.^[36]
• 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.^[37]
• 1912 – Bristol Hippodrome opens.
• 1914 – International Exhibition opens at the "White City", Ashton Gate, becoming a military depot soon after the outbreak of war.^[38]
• 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.^[39]
  • Ribena first manufactured, by H. W. Carter.
• 1938 – Ritz Cinema opens.^[39]
• 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.^[40]
  • 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.^[41]
• 1978
  • Royal Portbury Dock opens.
  • Castle Park laid out.
  • Bristol Gay Centre founded.^[41]
• 1980 – 2 April: St. Pauls riot.
• 1984
  • 1 May: Old Profanity Showboat opens.
  • Bristol Community Church organised.
• 1986 – Show of Strength Theatre Company formed.
• 1992
  • 16 July: Hartcliffe riot.
  • University of the West of England granted university status.
• 1996
  • 1 April: County of Avon abolished; Bristol once again becomes both a city and a county.
  • 24–27 May: First International Festival of the Sea held in and around the Harbour; replica 15th-century ship Matthew dedicated.
  • City of Bristol College established by merger of Brunel College and South Bristol College.
• 1998 – Tobacco Factory Theatre established.
• 2000 – Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory theatre company founded.

21st century

• 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.^[42]
• 2011
  • 21 April: Stokes Croft Tesco riot.
  • Bristol becomes a "city of sanctuary" for refugees.^[43]
• 2012
  • Redland Green School established.
  • George Ferguson elected Mayor of Bristol.^[44]
• 2015 – Wok to Walk opens on Park St

See also

• History of Bristol
• Timelines of other cities in South West England: Bath, Exeter, Plymouth

References

Further reading

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