20 June 2006

We look at the history of one of the city centre's busiest thoroughfares A bit run down: The High Street pictured in 1982 Hidden history: The medieval vault below the road Devastation: The High Street (above), seen from Bristol Bridge, soon after the blitz of 1941. By 1948, the street had been cleared up, but the former site of the Dutch House on the corner remained empty (left) Gem: The High Cross in 17th century A lost opportunity: The High Street in 1947 Heyday: A street full of shoppers in the 1920s HIGH Street, which leads up from Bristol Bridge into what, for many centuries, was the beating heart of the city, is another ancient thoroughfare whose history takes us straight back to medieval times.

Arriving from the Somerset side of the river over a narrow Bristol bridge choked with shops, medieval traders would have to pay a market toll to make their way through St Nicholas Gate, above which stood the chancel to the church of that name, to gain entrance to the city. The short street then led up - as it does today - to the junction of Corn Street, Wine Street, and Broad Street, where stood the brightly painted and decorated High Cross which portrayed carved statues of medieval kings. This place of proclamation and summary justice survived until 1733 when, in a bad state of repair, it was moved to College Green. A remarkable vaulted medieval cellar - a reminder of the type of merchants' houses that once existed in the High Street - lies opposite St Nicholas Street, beneath a little pyramid-type structure with a wooden door. Difficult to access, the cellar also floods easily and so is not open to public view.

This street, not surprisingly, was the site of Bristol's very first inn, the medieval Green Lattis, better known to later generations as The Rummer. With big stores such as Scholastic Trading, High Street became an extremely popular place to shop in Victorian times and this popularity continued throughout the period between the wars. In the summer of 1893 26 shops and business premises here were the first in the city to receive an electricity supply. Then, to everyone's utter disbelief, over two nights in 1940 to 1941, most of the familiar buildings that people had taken for granted for generations disappeared. After the Luftwaffe had done their worst there was nothing much left apart from a smouldering tangle of rubble and twisted metal.

The badly damaged Dutch House, on the corner with Wine Street, was demolished. Even St Nicholas church was left open to the sky with only the crypt surviving. The flower and vegetable market itself was a lucky survivor. After the war, most new shops were centred on Broadmead and the High Street, after some fairly mediocre rebuilding, such as the 1960s Norwich Union building and St Nicholas House, took pretty much the shape we see today.