# Timeline of Bristol

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The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Bristol, England.

## Prior to 16th century

* 803 – St James' Priory founded.
* ca.1000 – A Saxon settlement began to grow up at the junction of the rivers Frome and Avon.
* 1009 – Market active.
* 12th C. – College Green created.
* 1129 – St James' Priory founded.
* 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.
* 1172 - Charter from Henry II.
* 13th C. – Society of Merchant Venturers formed.
* c.1220 – Bristol Cathedral construction begins.
* c.1223 – Grey friary founded.
* 1224 - Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany imprisoned in Bristol Castle under relatively comfortable conditions, almost to her death in 1241.
* c.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 Bristol.
* 1470 – St Stephen's Church rebuilt.
* c.1478–1479 – 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.

## 16th–17th centuries

* 1504 – Chapel of the Three Kings of Cologne built.
* 1542 – See of Bristol established.
* 1552 – Society of Merchant Venturers chartered.
* 1580 – Red Lodge Museum established.
* 1595 – Merchant Venturers' School founded.
* 17th C. – The trade in African slaves flourishes.
* 1643 – July: Bristol in the English Civil War: Bristol taken by forces of Prince Rupert.
* 1644 – Fort at St. Michael's Hill rebuilt.
* 1645 – September: Bristol taken by forces of Cromwell.
* 1656 – Bristol Castle demolished.
* c. 1670 – King William Ale House built as a refuge for poor women.
* 1691
** Bristol Corporation of the Poor founded.
** Almshouse established at St. Michael's Hill.

## 18th century

* 1701 – Merchants' hall built.
* 1702 – Bristol Post-Boy newspaper begins publication.
* 1710 – Colston's Hospital founded.
* 1708 – Unrest.
* 1709 – St James's Square laid out.
* 1712 – Custom House built.
* 1717 – William Cossley bookseller in business.
* 1725 – Farley's Bristol News-Paper begins publication.
* 1727 – Dowry Square laid out.
* 1729 – Walter Churchman patents his invention for making chocolate.
* 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.
* 1743 – The Exchange built.
* 1747 – Bristol becomes Britain's busiest slave trading port.
* 1753 – Economic unrest.
* c.1759 – Joseph Fry begins chocolate manufacture.
* 1766 – Theatre opens.
* 1767 – Bristol Gazette newspaper begins publication.
* 1768 – Bristol Bridge built.
* 1769 – St Nicholas Church rebuilt.
* 1770 – Bristol porcelain manufacture begins; Bristol blue glass is also first produced at about this date.
* 1773 – Bristol Library Society founded.
* 1779 – Stapleton Prison built to hold naval prisoners of war captured during the American Revolutionary War.
* 1786
** Infirmary opens.
** Wills, Watkins & Co. open a tobacconists' shop which becomes W.D. & H.O. Wills.
* 1788 – John Wesley gives speech against slavery.
* c.1790 – Berkeley Square laid out.
* 1791 – Christ Church with St Ewen and Equestrian Theatre built.
* 1793 – 30 September: Bridge riot.
* 1793–1813 – Stapleton prison used for French prisoners of war during the Napoleonic Wars.
* 1796 – John Harvey & Sons, importers of Harvey's Bristol Cream sherry, founded.
* 1799 – Pneumatic Institution established.

## 19th century

* 1803 – Bristol Dock Company incorporated.
* 1804 – Stapleton prison enlarged.
* 1809 – Bristol Harbour formed.
* 1810 – Commercial Rooms built.
* 1821
** 13 April: John Horwood hanged at the New Gaol for the murder of Eliza Balsom.
** 28 May: Population enumerated as 52,889.
* 1823
** Chamber of Commerce founded.
** Bristol Institution opens.
** Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery established.
* 1830 – New cattle market opens.
* 1830s – Clifton becomes part of city.
* 1831 – October: Queen Square riots – 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.
** Holy Trinity Church built.
* 1836 – Zoological Gardens open.
* 1837 – Passage to St Vincent's Cave opens.
* 1838 – 8 April: Paddle steamer SS Great Western (launched 1837) begins her first voyage to the United States.
* 1840
** 31 August: Bath–Bristol section of Great Western Railway begins operating and Bristol Temple Meads railway station opens.
** Bristol and Clifton Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society instituted.
* 1841
** 14 June: First section of Bristol and Exeter Railway opens to Bridgwater.
** 30 June: Great Western Railway opens throughout between London and Bristol; Bristol Temple Meads railway station substantially complete.
* 1842
** Synagogue opens in Park Row.
** Buckingham Baptist Chapel built.
* 1843 – 19 July: Iron steamship SS Great Britain launched.
* 1844 – Bristol Academy for the Promotion of Fine Arts founded.
* 1847 – Horfield Barracks completed.
* 1850
** Bristol, West of England and South Wales Permanent Building Society formed.
** Pro-Cathedral of the Holy Apostles (Roman Catholic) consecrated.
** Clifton Victoria Baths opened.
* 1858
** Western Daily Press newspaper begins publication.
** Bristol General Hospital opens.
* 1861 – Durdham Down and Clifton Down rights acquired.
* 1862
** Bristol Naturalists' Society established.
** Clifton College opens.
* 1864
** Clifton Suspension Bridge opens.
** Avonside Engine Company in business.
* 1865
** Bristol and West of England Amateur Photographic Association formed.
** Industrial Exhibition held.
** Daily Bristol Times and Mirror newspaper in publication.
* 1867 – Bristol Beacon concert hall opens as Colston Hall.
* 1870 – Gloucestershire County Cricket Club formed.
* 1871 – Bristol Museum and Library established.
* 1872 – Bristol Harbour Railway opened.
* 1873 – Bristol Trades Council founded.
* 1875 – Bristol Tramways (horse-drawn) begin operation.
* 1876
** University College, Bristol opens.
** The Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society founded.
* 1877 – Avonmouth dock opens.
* 1884 – Clifton Antiquarian Club founded.
* 1887
** 1 October: Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company formed by merger of the Bristol Tramways Company and the Bristol Cab Company and begins a horse-bus service to Clifton.
** Bristol Camera Society established.
** Bristol Home for Lost and Starving Dogs opens.
* 1889
** Labour strike.
** Bristol Choral Society founded.
** March: Flood.
* 1892 – Labour strike.
* 1893 – Brazil, Straker & Co (motor vehicle manufacturers) in business.
* 1895 – Bristol Tramways begin operating with electric traction.
* 1898 – Cabot Tower built on Brandon Hill.
* 1899 – The chief magistrate becomes a lord mayor.

## 20th century

* 1901
** Imperial Direct West India Mail Service begins operating to Jamaica.
** Population: 328,945.
** Area of city: 11,705 acres.
* 1904
** Shirehampton becomes part of city.
** Area of city: 17,004 acres.
* 1905 – Bristol Kyrle Society founded.
* 1906
** January: Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company introduces its first motor buses.
** 4 October: Great Western Railway opens Bristol Harbour Extension Railway and Canon's Marsh goods branch.
** Bristol Central Library opened.
* 1908 – Royal Edward Dock opens at Avonmouth.
* 1909 – University of Bristol receives royal charter.
* 1910 – British and Colonial Aeroplane Company in business.
* 1912 – Bristol Hippodrome opens.
* 1914 – 29 June: International Exhibition opens at the "White City", Ashton Gate, becoming a military depot soon after the outbreak of war.
* 1916
** August: First tanks shipped to France from Avonmouth.
** 9 September: Bristol F.2 Fighter aircraft first flies.
* 1926 – Hanham Colliery closes.
* 1929 – Bristol Record Society founded.
* 1930 – Whitchurch Airport begins operating.
* 1932
** 23 February: Old Market riot.
** 7 March: Bristol Evening Post newspaper begins publication.
* 1933
** Gaiety Cinema opens.
** Ribena first manufactured, by H. W. Carter.
* 1934 – 18 September: BBC Bristol Studios open.
* 1938 – Ritz Cinema opens.
* 1940 – 2 November: Bristol Blitz (aerial bombing by German forces) begins.
* 1941 – 11 April: Bristol Tramways abandoned due to bomb damage to its electric power supply.
* 1944 – 15 May: Bristol Blitz ends.
* 1945 – Bristol Cars in business.
* 1946 – Bristol Old Vic theatre company and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School established.
* 1956 – 17 April: Chew Valley Lake (1,200 acres (4.9 km$^2$)) in Somerset is inaugurated as a reservoir for the Bristol area by the Queen.
* 1957 – Bristol Airport opens.
* 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 – 9 April: British prototype Concorde airliner first flies from Filton.
* 1970
** 5 July: SS Great Britain returns to Bristol.
** 4 September: BBC Radio Bristol begins broadcasting.
** Purdown BT Tower, for telecommunications and a radio repeater, is built.
** Bristol Polytechnic established from Merchant Venturers Technical College.
* 1972 – 1 May: Bristol Parkway railway station opens.
* 1973 – 29 June: Clifton Cathedral (Roman Catholic) consecrated.
* 1974
** 1 April: Bristol becomes part of the county of Avon
** May: Avonmouth Bridge opens in Shirehampton.
** c. July: Ashton Court Festival begins.
* 1977 – Gay Pride begins.
* 1978
** Royal Portbury Dock opens.
** Castle Park laid out.
** Bristol Gay Centre founded.
* 1980 – 2 April: St. Pauls riot.
* 1984
** 1 May: Old Profanity Showboat opens.
** Bristol Community Church organised.
* 1986 – Show of Strength Theatre Company formed.
* 1991 – 27 January: Following its purchase by the Chiltern Radio Group, Bristol station FTP is replaced by Galaxy Radio.
* 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.
** 19 July: MoD Abbey Wood opened at Filton.
** 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.
* 2006 – Redland Green School built.
* 2007 – 26–27 May: Dot to Dot Festival first held in Bristol.
* 2009 – The Bottle Yard Studios open as a television and film production facility.
* 2010 – Brunel Institute opens.
* 2011
** 21 April: Stokes Croft riot, including an attack on a locally controversial newly opened Tesco store.
** Bristol becomes a "city of sanctuary" for refugees.
* 2012 – 19 November: Architect George Ferguson takes office as the first elected Mayor of Bristol.
* 2020
** 10 February: Councillors reject a proposed expansion of Bristol Airport, by 18 votes to seven, on the grounds that it would exacerbate climate change, damage the health of local people, and harm flora and fauna.
** 7 June: The 1895 statue of Edward Colston, a 17th-century merchant, slave trader, MP and philanthropist, is pulled down by anti-racism protesters.
** 2 December: COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom: Bristol enters Tier 3, the strictest level of restriction.
** 3 December: An explosion at a waste water treatment works in Avonmouth kills 4.
* 2022 – 4 September: Bristol Zoo closes at its Clifton site.