History
The name of the area, from the Old English word mǣd, meaning meadow., indicates that this was originally grassland adjacent to the river Frome, from the Old English word mǣd, meaning meadow. [3] It is not known who the original Lewin was. The area was situated outside the medieval city walls and was partly occupied by the estate of St Bartholomew's Hospital and also by Greyfriars, Bristol. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the sixteenth century, townhouses were built in the area and the buildings of St Bartholomew's Hospital became the home of Bristol Grammar School, where it remained until the late eighteenth century. In the late seventeenth century a Presbyterian Chapel, was established and then destroyed by a mob led by the attorney John Hellier, following the passage of the Conventicles Act 1670, which forbade nonconformist religious worship. [4]
A sugar refinery was constructed in the eighteenth century to process molasses brought to Bristol as part of the Atlantic slave trade. [5] The Three Sugar Loaves pub at the bottom of Christmas Steps provides a reminder of this. [6] In May 1755, London Morning Penny Post reported that thefts from the sugar house were so frequent that guards armed with cutlasses had been placed on it. The most recent theft had been of 100 pounds (45 kg) of sugar, valued at 25 shillings. [7]
In the eighteenth century a Unitarian chapel, the Lewin's Mead Unitarian meeting house, designed by William Blackburn, was built adjacent to the sugar refinery. At this time the state of the roads was poor. A report in Felix Farley's Bristol Journal in 1783 noted that the city jurors, responsible amongst other things for surveying the streets, reported that "the East end of Lewin's Mead, leading to Silver Street in the parish of St. James, is full of large, deep and dangerous Holes, which the Jurors find is occasioned by two old and rotten Houses, which they are informed have no Owners to pay for repairing the Street in Front of them." [8] In the nineteenth century Lewin's Mead, at that time regarded as a slum, became the site for the first ragged school founded by Mary Carpenter, who was the daughter of the minister of the Unitarian Chapel, Lant Carpenter. [9]
The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches is the umbrella organisation for Unitarian, Free Christians and other liberal religious congregations in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was formed in 1928, with denominational roots going back to the Great Ejection of 1662. Its headquarters building is Essex Hall in central London, on the site of the first avowedly Unitarian chapel in England, set up in 1774.
Henbury is a suburb of Bristol, England, approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) north west of the city centre. It was formerly a village in Gloucestershire and is now bordered by Westbury-on-Trym to the south; Brentry to the east and the Blaise Castle Estate, Blaise Hamlet and Lawrence Weston to the west. To the north lie the South Gloucestershire village of Hallen and the entertainment/retail park Cribbs Causeway.
Hurst Street is the main street of the Birmingham Gay Village and is located along the edge of the Chinese Quarter of Birmingham, England.
Mary Carpenter was an English educational and social reformer. The daughter of a Unitarian minister, she founded a ragged school and reformatories, bringing previously unavailable educational opportunities to poor children and young offenders in Bristol.
Bristol, the largest city in South West England, has an eclectic combination of architectural styles, ranging from the medieval to 20th century brutalism and beyond. During the mid-19th century, Bristol Byzantine, an architectural style unique to the city, was developed, and several examples have survived.
Hotwells is a district of the English port city of Bristol. It is located to the south of and below the high ground of Clifton, and directly to the north of the Floating Harbour. The southern entrance to the Avon Gorge, which connects the docks to the sea, lies at the western end of Hotwells. The eastern end of the area is at the roundabout where Jacobs Well Road meets Hotwell Road. Hotwells is split between the city wards of Clifton, and Hotwells and Harbourside.
William Blackburn (1750~1790) was the leading prison architect of the Georgian Era. Following the principles of John Howard, his designs aimed to provide inmates with dry and airy cells.
The Victoria Rooms, also known as the Vic Rooms, houses the University of Bristol's music department in Clifton, Bristol, England, on a prominent site at the junction of Queens Road and Whiteladies Road. The building, originally assembly rooms, was designed by Charles Dyer and was constructed between 1838 and 1842 in Greek revival style, and named in honour of Queen Victoria, who had acceded to the throne in the previous year. An eight column Corinthian portico surmounts the entrance, with a classical relief sculpture designed by Musgrave Watson above. The construction is of dressed stonework, with a slate roof. A bronze statue of Edward VII, was erected in 1912 at the front of the Victoria Rooms, together with a curved pool and several fountains with sculptures in the Art Nouveau style.
There are 100 Grade I listed buildings in Bristol, England according to Bristol City Council. The register includes many structures which for convenience are grouped together in the list below.
Christmas Steps is a historic street in the city centre of Bristol, England.
St Bartholomew's Hospital is the site of a medieval monastery hospital at the bottom of Christmas Steps, in Lewin's Mead, Bristol, England. It has been designated as a grade II* listed building.
Old Cleeve is a village 5 miles (8 km) south east of Minehead in the Somerset West and Taunton district of Somerset, England, and also a civil parish. The civil parish of Old Cleeve covers an area of 2,092 hectares and includes the villages of Old Cleeve, Blue Anchor, Roadwater and Washford as well as hamlets such as Bilbrook, Chapel Cleeve, Golsoncott and Leighland Chapel. Approximately half the parish lies within the Exmoor National Park. The remaining half is on the southern edge of Exmoor. The village has been in existence since the early 13th century. The village held its first council meeting in 1711. By the 1720s the village had several churches, in which to meet. The town hall was built in 1727. The first church here was built in 1694, built by the Eastern Christian Society. This church was destroyed in a fire in 1847, and has been rebuilt and restored. In 2011, the population of the parish was 1,672.
The Brighton Unitarian Church, previously known as Christ Church, is a Unitarian chapel in Brighton, England. Built in 1820 by prolific local architect Amon Henry Wilds on land sold to the fledgling Unitarian community by the Prince Regent, the stuccoed Greek Revival building occupies a prominent position near the corner of Church Road and New Road in the centre of Brighton, near the Royal Pavilion and the city's main theatres. It has had Grade II listed status since 1952. It is a member of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, the umbrella organisation for British Unitarians.
The New Cut is an artificial waterway which was constructed between 1804 and 1809 to divert the tidal river Avon through south and east Bristol, England. This was part of the process of constructing Bristol's Floating Harbour, under the supervision of engineer William Jessop. The cut runs from Totterdown Basin at the eastern end of St Phillip's Marsh, near Temple Meads, to the Underfall sluices at Rownham in Hotwells and rejoining the original course of the tidal Avon.
John Prior Estlin (1747–1817) was an English Unitarian minister. He was noted as a teacher, and for his connections in literary circles.
Whitefriars was a Carmelite friary on the lower slopes of St Michael's Hill, Bristol, England. It was established in 1267; in subsequent centuries a friary church was built and extensive gardens developed. The establishment was dissolved in 1538.
Samuel Bury (1663–1730) was an English Presbyterian minister.
Lewin's Mead Unitarian meeting house is a former Unitarian church in Bristol, England.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Bristol, England.
Charles Pinney was a British merchant and local politician in Bristol, England. He was a partner in a family business that ran sugar plantations in the West Indies and owned a number of slaves. Pinney was selected as mayor of Bristol in 1831 and within weeks had to manage the response to major riots. Public order was lost for a number of days and significant damage caused to the city centre. Pinney was charged with neglect of duty over his actions but was acquitted at trial. He returned to local government as an alderman, holding the position until 1853.
