Clifton, Bristol

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Clifton
Bristol UK ward map 2016 clifton clifton down.png
Clifton (southwest, in red) and Clifton Down (northeast, in blue) city council wards shown within Bristol.
Population21,818 Both wards (2011) [1]
OS grid reference ST571737
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town BRISTOL
Postcode district BS8
Dialling code 0117
Police Avon and Somerset
Fire Avon
Ambulance South Western
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Bristol
51°28′N2°37′W / 51.46°N 2.62°W / 51.46; -2.62

Clifton is an inner suburb of Bristol, England, and the name of one of the city's thirty-five electoral wards. The Clifton ward also includes the areas of Cliftonwood and Hotwells. The eastern part of the suburb lies within the ward of Clifton Down.

Contents

Clifton is home to Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge; many buildings of the University of Bristol, including Goldney Hall; the Roman Catholic Clifton Cathedral; Christ Church, Clifton Down; Clifton College; Clifton High School; the former Amberley House preparatory school; Queen Elizabeth's Hospital School, The Clifton Club; and Bristol Zoo. It is also noted for the Downs, a large, open park.

Geography

Although the suburb has no formal boundaries, the name Clifton is generally applied to the high ground stretching from Whiteladies Road in the east to the rim of the Avon Gorge in the west, and from Clifton Down and Durdham Down in the north to Cornwallis Crescent in the south. This area corresponds roughly with the Bristol City Council electoral wards of Clifton and Clifton Down, albeit with some discrepancies. The southern boundary of Clifton ward is Hotwells Road, encompassing the hillside areas that might typically be considered to be the Cliftonwood and Hotwells neighbourhoods rather than Clifton. The eastern boundary of Clifton Down ward encompasses Redland Park and Cotham Hill, which might typically be considered to be in the Redland and Cotham neighbourhoods.

Clifton has several neighbourhood focal points, including Whiteladies Road, an important shopping district to the east, and Clifton Village, a smaller shopping area near the Avon Gorge to the west.

History

Princess Victoria Street lies at the heart of Clifton Village Clifton - Princess Victoria Street (750px).jpg
Princess Victoria Street lies at the heart of Clifton Village

Clifton was recorded in the Domesday book as Clistone, the name of the village denoting a 'hillside settlement' and referring to its position on a steep hill. Situated to the west of Bristol city centre, it was at one time a separate settlement but became attached to Bristol by continuous development during the Georgian era and was formally incorporated into the city in the 1830s. Until 1898, Clifton St Andrew was a separate civil parish within the Municipal Borough of Bristol. [2] In 1891 the parish had a population of 29,345. [3] On 30 September 1896, the parish was abolished to form North Bristol. [4]

Clifton as viewed from the Church, c.1840 Clifton from the Church.jpg
Clifton as viewed from the Church, c.1840

Clifton is one of the oldest and most affluent areas of the city, much of it having been built with profits from tobacco and the slave trade. Grand houses that required many servants were built in the area. Although some were detached or semi-detached properties, the bulk were built as terraces, many with three or more floors. One famous terrace is the majestic Royal York Crescent, visible from the Avon Gorge below and looking across the Bristol docks. Berkeley Square and Berkeley Crescent, which were built around 1790, are examples of Georgian architecture. Secluded squares include the triangular Canynge Square. The Whiteladies Picture House on Whiteladies Road was converted into offices and a gymnasium in 2001 but it was re-opened as a cinema by Everyman Cinemas in 2016. [5] [6] Clifton Lido was built in 1850 but closed to the public in 1990, it was redeveloped and opened again to the public in November 2008. [7]

On 17 December 1978 a bomb on Queen's Road in Clifton detonated, injuring at least seven people. The Provisional IRA was responsible. [8]

Transport

Clifton High school, in Clifton Clifton High School, 2022.jpg
Clifton High school, in Clifton

Clifton is served by Clifton Down railway station on the local Severn Beach railway line, and by frequent bus services from central Bristol. It has road links to the city centre and outer western suburbs, and across the Clifton Suspension Bridge to Leigh Woods in North Somerset. Between 1893 and 1934, it was connected to Hotwells by the Clifton Rocks Railway.

Natural history

Clifton has a long history of natural history television programming and global conservation, due to the presence of the former Bristol Zoo in the north of the neighbourhood, and the BBC Natural History Unit on Whiteladies Road, which means that more than 25% of the world's wildlife programmes are made in Bristol. [9] Animal Magic with Johnny Morris was filmed at Bristol Zoo for the duration of the programme (1963–1983).

The UK arm of the conservation charity Ape Action Africa, which rescues and rehabilitates chimpanzees and gorillas in Cameroon, West Africa, operates out of Clifton.

Clifton electoral ward

Clifton
ward
Bristol City Council.
Bristol UK ward map 2016 clifton.png
Ward boundaries since 2016.
County Bristol
Population13,022 [10]
Electorate 8,883 [11]
Current ward
Created1974 (1974)
CouncillorPaula O'Rourke (Green)
CouncillorJerome Thomas (Green)
UK Parliament constituency Bristol Central

Clifton electoral ward covers the central and southwestern parts of Clifton, plus Cliftonwood and the hillside areas of Hotwells as far south as Hotwells Road. The ward is represented by two members on Bristol City Council, which as of 2024 are Paula O'Rourke and Jerome Thomas, both of the Green Party of England and Wales.

Clifton was first created as an electoral ward at the time that the County of Avon was created in 1974, electing 1 member to Avon County Council and 3 members to Bristol City Council. [12] The boundaries were revised in 1980 and 2016. [13]

Councillors representing Clifton ward since 2016
ElectedCouncillorPartyElectorateTurnout
2024 [14] Paula O'Rourke Green 8,88339%
Jerome Thomas Green
2021 [15] Katy Grant Green 9,84548.57%
Paula O'Rourke Green
2016 [16] Paula O'Rourke Green
Jerome Thomas Green

Before 2016, Bristol City Council used a system of elections by thirds, in which councillors sat for four year terms, but elections took place in three out of every four years, with roughly one third of seats up for election at any one time. Clifton ward therefore elected one of its two councillors at a time, in elections taking place every second year.

Councillors representing Clifton ward before 2016
ElectedCouncillorParty
2015 Jerome Thomas Green
2013 Charles Lucas Conservative
2011 Barbara Janke Liberal Democrats
2009 Trevor Blythe Liberal Democrats
2007 Barbara Janke Liberal Democrats

Famous and notable residents

In Frances Burney's novel Evelina (1778), young gentlemen are racing their phaetons on the public highways of Clifton (then still outside Bristol), and not without incident.

Part of the background to Philippa Gregory's historical novel A Respectable Trade  – dealing mainly with the slave trade in late 18th-century Bristol – is the start of construction at Clifton, then a far area outside the city limits as they were at the time. In some passages characters debate whether Clifton could ever become viable and whether investment in real estate there would not be too risky – questions which were evidently quite relevant at the time though to the modern reader the answers are obvious.

The song "Clifton in the Rain" by Al Stewart appears on his first album Bed-Sitter Images .

The song "32 West Mall", which appeared on the 1971 album Stackridge was named after the communal flat that the band shared as their headquarters at 32 West Mall in 1970. [36]

The 1978 children's paranormal drama "The Clifton House Mystery" – produced by HTV; was set in the Clifton area. The plot revolved around a family moving into an old house; and subsequently finding a skeleton of a long-dead person in a hidden room. After some unexplained incidents, they become convinced that a ghost connected in some way with the Bristol Riots of 1831 is haunting the house. The plot is based on the story of the real-life Thomas Brereton, a Dragoon commander who committed suicide after being court-martialled for his lenient approach to suppressing the rioters; although the ghost is named "George Bretherton" in the TV series.

Clifton has been featured in many television sitcoms, including the late 1970s and early 1980s TV series Shoestring , which was set in Bristol and starred Trevor Eve as a radio reporter and part-time sleuth. Much of the BBC series Mistresses was set there, including the 2008, 2009 and 2010 seasons. The TV series Teachers was partly filmed in Clifton, as was teen drama Skins and Being Human . Costume drama The House of Eliott was also largely filmed in Clifton, including at Goldney Hall and Berkeley Square.

The long-running hospital drama Casualty also drew on Clifton for many scenes between 1986 and 2009, when it was filmed in Bristol. [37]

In a 2017 episode of the American historical adventure television series Black Sails, Blackbeard played by Ray Stevenson mentions Clifton as being the home of his mother.

A number of films have also been set in Clifton, including The Truth About Love (2005) starring Dougray Scott and Jennifer Love Hewitt, The Foolish Things (2005), starring Lauren Bacall and Anjelica Huston, and Starter for 10 (2006), starring James McAvoy and produced by Tom Hanks, which was filmed largely on Royal York Crescent. [38] The 1962 film about delinquent teenagers, Some People , starring Kenneth More and Ray Brooks was filmed in and around Clifton. [39]

Cliftonwood

Houses in Cliftonwood and Hotwells, with Brandon Hill and Cabot Tower visible in the background. Hotwells.jpg
Houses in Cliftonwood and Hotwells, with Brandon Hill and Cabot Tower visible in the background.

Cliftonwood is a small suburb Bristol, bounded approximately by the Hotwells Road to the south, Jacob's Wells Road and Constitution Hill to the East and North East, Clifton Vale to the West, and by the gardens of Goldney Hall, a University of Bristol hall of residence, to the north. [40] Due to the geography of the area, there are only two roads in and out: Ambra Vale in the south-west corner, and Clifton Wood Road in the north-east, though there are many footpaths. On some sources the area is spelled Cliftonwood (one word), and in some Clifton Wood (two words). It is said that The end of Clifton ends at the end of Ambra Vale road, therefore Cliftonwood is part of Clifton.[ citation needed ]

The suburb is primarily a residential area, with the only commercial premises being the Lion pub. Housing is largely large Victorian terraces, which are often painted bright colours – the coloured houses one can see when standing on Bristol's harbourside and looking up at Cliftonwood are the backs of houses on Ambrose Road and Clifton Wood Terrace.

A medieval Jewish ritual bath known as a mikveh was discovered in 1987 in the former Hotwells Police Station bicycle shed by the Temple Local History group. This is believed to be the origin of the name Jacob's Well, also given to the adjoining road. [41]

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References

  1. ↑ "Clifton" (PDF). 2011 Census Ward Information Sheet. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  2. ↑ A Vision of Britain Through Time : Clifton St Andrew Civil Parish Archived 23 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ "Population statistics Clifton CP/AP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  4. ↑ "Barton Regis Registration District". UKBMD. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  5. ↑ "Relaunching the Whiteladies Picture House". Clifton Conservatives. 17 April 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  6. ↑ "Cinema Listings, Movie & Film Times Bristol | EVERYMAN". everymancinema.com. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  7. ↑ "Suburb's Victorian lido reopens". BBC News. 24 November 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  8. ↑ "Queens Road Clifton Bristol Bs8 – a nostalgic memory of Bristol". francisfrith.com. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  9. ↑ Filmed in Bristol
  10. ↑ "2021 Census Area Profile: Clifton Ward". Office for National Statistics.
  11. ↑ "Clifton Ward 2024". Bristol City Council.
  12. ↑ The County of Avon (District Wards) Order 1973
  13. ↑ "Bristol". Local Government Boundary Commission for England.
  14. ↑ "Clifton Ward 2024". Bristol City Council.
  15. ↑ "Clifton Ward". Bristol City Council.
  16. ↑ "Local election May 2016 turnout and results". Bristol City Council.
  17. ↑ "Men of the Time, eleventh edition". en.wikisource.org. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  18. ↑ Mark Jones, Bristol Folk, Lulu Press Inc, 2015
  19. ↑ Helen Blackburn, A Handbook for women engaged in social and political work, Arrowsmith, 1881
  20. ↑ John Taylor, Bristol and Clifton Old and New, 1878
  21. ↑ Jane Pearce, Wanderlust, Authorhouse, 2013
  22. ↑ Richard Tomlinson, Amazing Grace: The Man who was WG, Hachette UK, 2015
  23. ↑ Alistair McGregor, A Forger's Progress: The Life of Francis Greenway, New South, 2014
  24. ↑ The Repertory of patent inventions, 1831, original from Oxford University
  25. ↑ Kelly's Directory of Somersetshire: With the City of Bristol, Kelly & Co, 1883
  26. ↑ J Murray, Report of the ... Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Volume 53, Part 4, 1884
  27. ↑ The Telegraph: Fame at last for prostitutes' friend from the ladies loo accessed 8 October 2015
  28. ↑ Elizabeth Crawford, The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, Routledge, 2003
  29. ↑ T MacAulay, The Letters of Thomas Babington MacAulay: Volume 1, 1807-February 1831, Cambridge University Press, 2008
  30. ↑ "Charles Miles profile and biography, stats, records, averages, photos and videos". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  31. ↑ Robert Sellers, Peter O'Toole: The Definitive Biography, Pan Macmillan, 2015
  32. ↑ Tobacco Factory play about Lana Peters' story Archived 8 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine accessed 8 October 2015
  33. ↑ Catherine Reilly, Mid-Victorian Poetry: 1860-1879, A&C Black, 2000
  34. ↑ Zabriskie Gallery, Paule Vezelay: Imagination, Mathematics, Balance : [exhibition] 23 February – 26 March 1988
  35. ↑ John H Hammond, The camera obscura: a chronicle, Hilger, 1981
  36. ↑ "STACKRIDGE HISTORY 1969–1970;– according to Andy Davis". stackridge.net.
  37. ↑ "BBC Bristol;– MP protests over TV Casualty move". BBC News.
  38. ↑ "Visit Bristol;– Filmed in Bristol". visitbristol.co.uk.
  39. ↑ Nield, Anthiny (25 February 2013). "Film Reviews: People Like Us: Some People Reappraised". The Quietus.
  40. ↑ "Super Output Areas(lower level)- Clifton" (PDF). Bristol City Council (citing ONS). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 23 April 2007.
  41. ↑ Emanuel, R. R.; Ponsford, M. W. (1994). "Jacob's Well, Bristol, Britain's only known medieval Jewish Ritual Bath (Mikveh)" (PDF). Transactions. 112. Bristol: Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society: 73–86. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2011.
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