Bristol Cathedral - Rethinking the West End, College Green & College Square

Historic development Brief history

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The ‘Harrowing of Hell’, Extract from Millerd’s 1673 map, 3 a 10th or 11th century showing the Cathedral and ‘Colledge stone carving, found Greene’. ’s Park to the west in 1831 under the of the cathedral. Lower Green, floor. It Gatehouse and Bishop’s Palace are predates the . shown. The building to the north of the Cathedral may be St. Jordan’s chapel.

A 1720 view of College Green: High Cross in the foreground and the Cathedral to the right

Consultation Draft May 2014 The area around College Green has almost certainly been a place of religious significance for a College1,000 Green Conservation years. Area InCharacter 1140 Appraisal a City Design Group 13 powerful local merchant founded a monastery there, a community of Augustinian ‘’. By 1158–60 a church had been built in which to worship.

A residential complex for the canons was constructed on one side of the church (west and south sides), and a burial http://maps.bristol.gov.uk/knowyourplace/images/her_pc/2962.jpg 1/1 ground stood on the other (today’s College Green). The two most spectacular survivors from this era are the house and the Abbot’s Gatehouse. They are among the finest works of 12th-century architecture in the country.

The monastery was sited on high ground overlooking the rivers Frome and Avon, marking the historical gateway to Bristol.

1829 watercolour by Rowbotham. View across The church was embellished and enlarged during the 13th - 16th centuries. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the College Green from the north west (where City Hall is now). Note the buildings to the right of the Cathedral 1530s-1540s, the church at St. Augustine was saved and was made a Cathedral. This marked a transition from a monastic (now the West End). institution to a collegiate one (hence College Green), where a group of secular canons and priests are overseen by the . It also marked the transition from an inward looking monastery to an outward looking, public institution.

Rocque’s map of Bristol c.1742. Note the buildings between the Cathedral Ashmead 1855: some buildings cleared between the Cathedral and 1st edition of the Ordnance Survey (1880): Cathedral enlarged. Tramway and Gatehouse; trees on College Green, with High Cross in the centre. gatehouse. Deanery to the north of Lower Green. College Green similar along the south side of College Green and Deanery Road (formerly the College Square shown as ‘Lower Green’, with the former Deanery to the to its form in 1750. High Cross not shown. Deanery). College Green similar to its form in 1855, with High Cross at north of it; Bishop’s Park to the west. the east end. 04/01/2016 4719.jpg (2869×2869) 04/01/2016 4738.jpg (2596×2912)

Bristol grew rapidly as ’s second city helped drive the colonisation of the Americas The Cathedral West End and Gatehouse c.1900. and the spread of the British empire. The former burial ground (now College Green) became Tram lines just visible in an important public open space. St Jordan’s chapel became a schoolhouse before it was front of the gatehouse demolished, probably in the early 18th century.

From 1868, under the architects GE Street and JL Pearson, the site of the medieval was cleared and the great cathedral nave built. The City Library was constructed from 1902-06 and the City Hall from 1935-52. Re-landscaping of College Green completed the transformation of the ancient sacred enclosure to the north of the church into Bristol’s premier civic space.

Askew Nelson Landscape Architecture Lower Farm House, Upper Milton, Oxfordshire OX7 6EX http://maps.bristol.gov.uk/knowyourplace/images/her_pc/4738.jpg 1/1 http://maps.bristol.gov.uk/knowyourplace/images/her_pc/4719.jpg T: 01993 8314421/1 E: [email protected] W: askewnelson.com