Bristol (city)

Bristol (city), city, administrative centre of Bristol unitary authority, south-western England, on the Lower Avon, at its confluence with the River Frome. Bristol is a major manufacturing centre and an important shipping point for the products of the industrial West Midlands region. Population 380,615 (2001).

The harbour, on the Severn estuary, and the Bristol Channel, are accessible to large ocean-going vessels. The well-equipped port has facilities for the storage and trans-shipment of grain and petroleum, which are two leading imports. Much local industry is based on the processing of such imports as zinc ore, cocoa, timber, and tea. The city is a major aircraft-manufacturing centre; other products include chemicals and footwear.

Among the notable buildings in Bristol are the church of St Mary Redcliffe (14th century), an outstanding example of the English Gothic style, and Bristol Cathedral. Crossing the Avon Gorge here is the Clifton Suspension Bridge (1864), designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. His innovative steamship the Great Western made its maiden voyage from Bristol to New York in 1838. Its successor, the Great Britain, is currently being restored in the same Bristol dry dock in which it was built. The city's educational institutions include the University of Bristol (1909) and the University of the West of England (1992, formerly Bristol Polytechnic). Also there are the Theatre Royal (1766), home of the Bristol Old Vic Company; the City Museum and Art Gallery; and the Bristol Zoo.

In the 10th century Bristol was a flourishing commercial port. By the early 11th century it had become a centre for the wool trade with Ireland. Cloth-making was introduced in the 14th century, and Bristol merchants soon developed a prosperous cloth trade with much of Europe and the Near East. From the port of Bristol in 1497, the Italian navigators John Cabot and his son Sebastian Cabot sailed to the mainland of America. During the English Civil War Bristol was taken by the Royalists in 1643 but fell to the Parliamentarians in 1645.

The city's cloth trade diminished in the 18th century, but Bristol prospered from the slave trade, the West Indies trade, and newly established industries, primarily the processing of metals. In the early 19th century, the abolition of slavery and competition from the growing port of Liverpool sent Bristol into an economic decline. Trade revived with the arrival of the railway in 1841. With the expansion of its port facilities in the late 19th century, the city again became one of England's leading seaports. The port has undergone extensive reconstruction and development in recent years. Bristol has a Crown Court and is the headquarters of the Avon and Somerset police force.