Encyclopedia
Bristol Harbour is the
harbour in the city of
Bristol,
England. The 70 acre harbour was created by installing
lock gates on a
tidal stretch of the
River Avon in the centre of the city, giving it the name
Floating Harbour as it is not affected by the tides. The harbour branches from the navigable River Avon at Netham Weir in east Bristol. The first mile of the harbour is the artificial Feeder Canal, the River following its original route. Beside
Bristol Temple Meads railway station the harbour rejoins the original route of the Avon and meanders through,
Bristol city centre,
Canons Marsh and Hotwells, where it rejoins the river and flows into the
Avon Gorge. Between Temple Meads and Hotwells, at a distance never more than one kilometre south of the harbour, the Avon flows through the artificial New Cut, reducing currents and silting in the harbour and preventing flooding.
Bristol Harbour was the original
Port of Bristol, but as ships, and their cargo, increased in size, it has now been largely replaced by docks at
Avonmouth and
Portbury, 5 km downstream at the mouth of the River Avon. The harbour is now a
tourist attraction, with museums, exhibitions, bars and
nightclubs. Old workshops and warehouses have now largely been converted or replaced by cultural uses, such as the
Arnolfini art gallery,
Watershed media and arts centre,
Bristol Industrial Museum and
At-Bristol science exhibition center as well as a number of fashionable apartment buildings. Museum boats are permanently berthed in the harbour, including
Isambard Kingdom Brunel's
SS Great Britain, the first iron hulled, propeller driven ocean liner, a replica of the Matthew, in which
John Cabot discovered, in the modern era, North America at what is now known as
Newfoundland, and a
steam tug, the Mayflower.
The
Bristol Ferry Boat operates on the harbour, serving landing stages close to most of the harbour-side attractions and also providing a commuter service to and from the city centre and
Bristol Temple Meads railway station. Other vessels, including those run by The Bristol Packet Company, provide sightseeing services on the harbour, up the River Avon to
Bath and downstream to Avonmouth. The historic vessels of the Industrial Museum are periodically operated.
In late July each year, the Bristol Harbour Festival is held, with an influx of interesting boats, for example,
tall ships,
Royal Navy vessels and
lifeboats.
History
Bristol grew up on the banks of the Rivers Avon and
Frome, and since the
16th century the rivers have been modified for use as docks, including the diversion of the River Frome into Saint Augustine's Reach.
The River Avon, like the
River Severn, has heavy
tides of about 30
ft between high and low, being easily navigable at high-tide but reduced to a muddy channel at low tide in which ships would often run aground in the
Avon Gorge. Many ships were deliberately stranded in the harbour for unloading, giving rise to the phrase "shipshape and Bristol fashion" to describe boats capable of taking the strain of repeatedly being stranded.
In the
18th Century Liverpool grew, developing docks in competition with Bristol for the
tobacco trade. Coastal trade was also important with the area called "Welsh Back" concentrating on trows with cargoes of
slate, stone and
coal from
Wales. The poor quality of Bristol's docks were causing problems to business so in 1802 William Jessop proposed installing a dam and lock at Hotwells to create the harbour. The
UK£ 530,000 scheme was approved by parliament, and construction began in May 1804. The scheme included the construction of the Cumberland Basin, a large wide stretch of the harbour in Hotwells where the Quay walls and bollards have listed building status.
The tidal new cut was constructed from Netham to Hotwells, with another dam installed at this end of the harbour, the Feeder Canal between Temple Meads and Netham provided a link to the tidal river so that boats could continue upstream to Bath. However, the new scheme required a way to equalise the levels inside and outside the Dock for the passage of vessels to and from the Avon, and bridges to cross the water. Jessop built Cumberland Basin with two entrance locks from the tidal Avon, of width 45 feet and 35 feet, and a junction lock between the Basin and what became known as the Floating Harbour. This arrangement provided flexibility of operation with the Basin being used as a lock when there were large numbers of arrivals and sailings. The harbour was officially opened on May 1st 1809.
The size of the lock caused problems when the
SS Great Britain was launched. Jessop's 45-foot lock could not accommodate Brunel's 48-foot beam SS Great Britain. She was being towed away from her builders to have her engines and interior fitted out on the
River Thames but unfortunately was fractionally too big to go through. The ship was moored in the Floating Harbour for a year or more before proceeding into Cumberland Basin, with coping stones and lock gate platforms removed from the Junction Lock.
The harbour cost more than anticipated and high rates were levied to repay loans, countering any effect the new harbour had at drawing companies back from Liverpool. In 1848 the city council bought the docks company to force down the rates and employed
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who had already built the
Bristol Harbour Railway to make improvements, including new lock gates, a
dredger and a sluice gates designed to reduce
siltation.
In 1867 ships were getting larger, and the meanders in the river Avon prevented boats over 300 ft reaching the harbour. A scheme to install a much larger lock at Avonmouth to float the entire river and to straighten the sharper bends was dropped after work began on the much cheaper docks at Avonmouth and Portishead.
The present entrance lock was designed by Thomas Howard and opened in July 1873. This has a 62 foot width and is the only entrance lock now in use at the City Docks.
In 1908 the Royal Edward Dock was built in Avonmouth, and in 1972 the large deepwater
Royal Portbury Dock was constructed on the opposite side of the mouth of the Avon, making Bristol Harbour redundant as a freight dock. A sand company was the last to abandon the docks in 1981.
The old
swing bridge was powered by water pressure from the Underfall Yard
hydraulic engine house at 750
Pound-force per square inch . The new Plimsoll Bridge, completed in 1965, has a more modern electro-hydraulic system using oil at a pressure of 4,480 psi.
Sections, quays & harbourside features
- Prince's Wharf, including the Bristol Harbour Railway and Industrial Museum
- Dry docks, SS Great Britain
- St Augustine's Reach, Pero's Bridge
- Bathurst Basin
- Queen's Square
- Bristol Temple Meads railway station
- Castle Park
- Redcliffe Quay
- Baltic Wharf marina
- Cumberland Basin & Brunel Locks
- The New Cut
- Netham Locks, entrance to the Feeder Canal
- Marsh Basin
- Temple Quay
- St Augustine's Parade
- Canons Marsh, including Millennium Square and At-Bristol
- Underfall Yard
- Bristol Bridge
Underfall Yard
The damming of the river to make the harbour had created new land where the docks maintenance facility was established and remains today. William Jessop had created a weir in the dam at Underfall to allow surplus water to flow back into the New Cut, this was known as the 'Overfall'. By the 1830s the Floating Harbour was suffering from severe silting so Isambard Kingdom Brunel devised a solution. In place of the Overfall he constructed three shallow sluices and one deep scouring sluice between the harbour and the New Cut, together with a dredging vessel. This drag boat would scrape the silt away from the quay walls. When the deep sluice opened at low tide, a powerful undertow sucked the silt into the river to be carried away on the next tide. The shallow sluices enabled adjustment of the dock water level according to weather conditions.
Several old buildings, from the 1880s, remain at Underfall Yard and have
listed building status. The octagonal
brick and
terracotta chimney of the
hydraulic engine house dates from 1888, and is grade II* listed, as is the Hydraulic engine house its self. It is built of red brick with a slate roof and contains hydraulic pumping machinery dated 1907 by Fullerton, Hodgart and Barclay of Paisley, and powers the docks hydraulic system of cranes, bridges and locks. The former pattern-maker's shop and stores dates from the same period and are grade II listed, as are the Patent slip and quay walls.
Warehouses
A large number of
warehouses were built around the harbour for storage and trade. Many survive today and some are being converted into apartment blocks but many have been demolished as part of the regeneration of the area. One which has survived is the "A Bond
Tobacco Warehouse", which was built in 1905 and was the first of the 3 brick Bonds in the Cumberland Basin, and is a grade II listed building.
The
Arnolfini art gallery occupies Bush House, a
19th century Grade II*
listed tea warehouse. and the
Watershed Media Centre occupies another disused warehouse.
The harbourside today
Since the 1980s millions of pounds have been spent regenerating the harbourside, including the construction of
Pero's footbridge, linking the brand new
At-Bristol exhibition with other Bristol tourist attractions, and private investors constructing studio apartment buildings.
The Cumberland basin is used by a variety of small boats from sailing clubs and is surrounded by tourist attractions. The old hydraulic pumping station has been converted into a public house and is a grade II listed building.
The
Bristol Harbour Railway and Industrial Museum runs along Prince's Wharf and Wapping Wharf
Gallery
References
External links
Photographs
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