The Story of Bristol by Brian Little and John Sansom.
TO most it is the home of the Suspension Bridge and the engineering genius of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Others will remember trips to the zoo as a child, or the SS Great Britain, another of Brunel's amazing feat building the first iron ocean going ship which rests in her old age in the docks.
But the 1,000 year history of Bristol is much more, as told in a colourful book by Bryan Little and John Sansom.
Its name was originally Brig-stow, from an ancient word meaning the place of the bridge, after Anglo Saxons built the first wooden bridge over the muddy swirling waters of the Avon so that the land could be developed. The two sides of the river at that time belonged to a different county, the north to Gloucestershire and the south, known as Redcliffe, to Somerset.
Early shipping trade built up and a Bristol mint was set up to supply the ready money needed for trade. The Domesday Book refers to Barton in Bristow, and it was by now an important trading centre and maritime force, second only to London.
We read of the great adventurers like John Cabot who sailed from here. John Guy established a settlement in Newfoundland as long ago as 1610 as a centre for cod and furs.
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There was religious turmoil and fighting, Col Nathaniel Fiennes for a time holding Bristol for the Parliamentarians during the civil war.
Bristol experienced considerable prosperity from 1700-1760, sadly much of it from the dreadful slave trade traffic. The city flourished and great houses and terraces which remain the visual heritage of Bristol's heyday, were built.
The city also became one of the most important centres of early Methodism following the work of John Wesley and his brother Charles. We learn of social unrest, riots but also of literary giants like Coleridge, Wordsworth and Chatterton.
The rise and fall of Bristol's traditional industries like tobacco are covered and of course Brunel features prominently, also creating the Great Western Railway. And then, of course, there was Concorde and other great engineering feats coming out of Filton, all an essential part of the city's story.
The flourishing city of Bristol was considered by John Betjeman as the finest city in the country ahead of York and Bath. It certainly has a colourful history which the two authors relate in an easy to read way with plenty of old pictures, photos, maps and diagrams, including a marvellous aerial view of the work that has been done in the docks regeneration scheme.
The Story of Bristol', by Bryan Little and John Sansom, published by Halsgrove, £14.99.
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