page_title: Ashton Court Festival
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Ashton Court Festival / History
caption_attribution_description: Fire twirlers at Ashton Court Festival 2005
context_page_description: The Ashton Court Festival was an outdoor music festival held annually in mid-July on the grounds of Ashton Court, just outside Bristol, England. The festival was a weekend event which featured a variety of local bands and national headliners. Mainly aimed at local residents, the festival did not have overnight camping facilities and was financed by donations and benefit gigs.
  Starting as a small one-day festival in 1974, the festival grew during succeeding years and was said to be Britain's largest free festival until changes brought on by government legislation resulted in compulsory fees and security fencing being introduced. After problems were caused by a temporary move to Hengrove Park in 2001, due to the foot and mouth crisis, and a washout in 2007, the organisers declared bankruptcy in 2007.
caption: Firetwirling was a popular amateur event at Ashton Court Festival. Image from 2005 festival.
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