Bristol

Bristol is a city and ceremonial county in England. It is home to nearly 430,000 people. The River Avon runs through it to the Severn estuary.

 Geography 
It is between the counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset. In 1373, King Edward III ordered that it should be a county itself forever. However, it lost county status in 1974, the year after its 600-year celebrations. It became the largest district within the new Avon county. Avon was never popular and was abolished in 1996, when county status returned to Bristol, which became a unitary council.

 History 
Bristol comes from Old English Brycgstow meaning “bridge-place”. It was a port for 800 years, but now ships are too big to reach the centre, so it has a new port at Avonmouth.

 Historical sites 
It has many historic churches and other buildings. The Clifton Suspension Bridge crosses high above the river. The University of Bristol is also in Clifton.

Bristol was a centre for the slave trade. Wednesday, 1 February 2017  During the 2020 George Floyd protests, a crowd pushed down the statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston and threw it in the harbour.

Bristol was badly damaged during World War II. It now has many new factories and offices. The Concorde supersonic airliner was made here.

It is also the birthplace of the music genre trip hop, with 3 trip hop bands originating there: Massive Attack, Portishead (named after a North Somerset town) and Tricky.

 Notable people 
Some of the most notable people who are currently living, or who are from the city include:

 Banksy - graffiti artist 
 Stephen Merchant - writer and comedian 
 Russell Howard - comedian and television presenter
 Louie Hill

References

Other websites



Category:Unitary authorities

Category:Ceremonial counties of England
Category:Port cities and towns of England