Fact 101: From a castle to a street

Bristol Castle was one of the grandest, noblest Norman castles of them all. A magnificent building created by Robert of Gloucester in the 1120s when he extended the smaller, original castle on the banks of the Avon.

You’ll see a few hummocks and bits of wall - even a stairway leading to a cellar - on what has now become Castle Park next to the Galleries shopping centre. But most of the castle lies a little down the road - underneath Castle Street.

Because when Oliver Cromwell was tidying up England after the Civil War, he looked long and hard at Bristol Castle with its massive walls and defences and didn’t like what he saw. It would be all too easy for trouble-makers to use this massive pile as a refuge. So in 1656 Cromwell gave the order - Demolish Bristol Castle.

Easy to say, rather harder to do. At first Bristol householders were ordered to do or pay for a day’s work a week to bring the castle down but after several months the place looked as sturdy as ever. So the Corporation hired labourers who dismantled one of Norman Britain’s greatest masterpieces and then turned the stones to the best use they could think of.

That was to use the remains of Robert of Gloucester’s castle as the foundations of a brand new road outside what had been the castle walls. You can see it today. It’s called, fittingly, Castle Street.

Fact 102: Bristol Blue is now part of the English language - But how did it come about ?

Rich, deep blue glass has been known as Bristol Blue for centuries. Yet, surprisingly there is more Bristol Blue being made in the city these days than there ever was in its heyday some 200 years ago.

And Harveys forged a new link with the city's past before it left the city in 2001 by the inspired decision to sell its world famous Bristol Cream sherry in blue bottles. The blue colour comes from cobalt, a metal mined in Saxony. Bristol porcelain maker William Cookworthy bought the entire stock of smalt - cobalt oxide - from Royal Saxony works when it closed in 1763, and sold it to glassmakers all over Britain.

And it was because Bristol was the main import centre that cobalt glass was named Bristol Blue - no matter where it was made. Very little was made in the city itself. But blue or not, glass was a major Bristol industry Old prints of the city show at least 15 Glass cones dominated the skyline. One eighteenth century writer observed:'The city contained as many glasshouses as churches'

The cones were used to make glass with local coal, limestone and red leads, and Bristol was a magnet for glass craftsmen from throughout Europe. There was also a ready market locally The growing Bristol wine trade and busy Hotwell Spa needed bottles, and there was a big demand for windows from the new Georgian city of Bath. But Bristol's glassworkers were also world-famous for fine cut and engraved glass. One of the greatest craftsman was Isaac Jacobs whose remarkable cut and engraved glasswork is avidly collected. He made a few items in Bristol Blue, but he was one of the few top names who did....

Nailsea Works .. The demand was such that the glass industry spread to ( then ) rural Nailsea, where Bristol merchant J. K. Lucas made green, strawberry pink, lemon and blue glass, as well as unusual white tear drops and striped walking sticks. Bristol reformer Hannah More visited the Nailsea works in the 1860's when it employed 200 people at high wages. They lived in overcrowded little hovels and worked endlessly, even on Sundays because the kilns had to be kept hot. It seemed worth it, 'The wages are high, the eating and drinking luxurious, the body scarcely covered' recorded Hannah.

Bristol's last flint glasshouse closed in 1851 and the last bottle-house in 1823. Part of one glass cone survives as the base of the Hilton Hotel's Glass Kiln restaurant, next to St Mary Redcliffe church. Bristol Blue is now being made again by hand at several glassworks in the city, using techniques of 200 years ago.

Fact 103: Master Blaster George George

George George helped build Clifton Rocks - Railway, London Underground and the Severn Tunnel - and even to demolish his own home... George George was born May 4th 1863 at Hotwells, and died August 7th 1950. Mr George, who was born at Hotwells, Bristol, never went to school, and could neither read or write.

This did not prevent his undertaking many major blasting and boring operations'. He started work at the age of seven, with his grandfather, in the quarries along the banks of the Avon. His first job was boring a tunnel through solid rock for the Clifton Rocks Railway, after which he went to Aberystwyth, where he was in charge of blasting work to cut a track up the cliff for the Cliff Railway there.

From there he went to London where he was in charge of the job of driving a tunnel under the heart of London, and in which the first London Tube from the Bank of England to Shepherd's Bush was laid.

His next job was to lay the underground cables from the new Chiswick power station to Shepherds Bush. He then came back west, and for a time worked for the Bristol Docks Authority, blowing rock from the bed and bank of the Avon in the Avon Gorge, to widen and deepen it.

While he was engaged on this, he was working in sight of his house, which stood where the Portway now runs, and it was not long afterwards that he had the job of taking down his own house and blasting the sides of the gorge to lay the foundations of the Portway and Bridge Valley Road. This operation involved slicing over 20 feet of rock from the sides of the gorge, without causing a landslide.

Perhaps his biggest job was when he was in charge of one of the sections of the Severn Tunnel... He married in 1884 and lived at Point Villa, Lower Bridge Valley Road, aged 21. In 1897/8 family stories say that George George boxed bare knuckles against Bob Fitzsimonns in non-title fights and won.

George George was a gang boss during the building of the Clifton Rocks Railway and later moved on to the construction of the London Underground. There are pictures of Clifton Suspension Bridge under construction without the suspension cables and roadway which also show the family home on the Portway. For the last 15 years of his working life Mr George drove the engines on the Clifton Rock Railway.

When Bristol Tramways took over, he retired, owing to his objection to wearing a uniform. The family then moved to a house called California House on Oldland Common, near Bristol. George's obituary in a Bristol newspaper shows just how many landmark projects he was involved in.

Bristol Evening Post report 'EXPERT IN TUNNEL BORING' Death at Bitton of Mr G. George.

'For many years one of the leading tunnelling experts in the West, Mr G. George of Bitton, died at his home on Sunday, at the age of 88. His wife died eight years ago, soon after they had celebrated their Golden Wedding. After her death Mr George went to Bitton to live with his eldest daughter, Mrs Emily Bush.

He is survived by four sons and three daughters, Joseph ( Newport ), James ( Horfield ), Alfred ( Biggleswade ), William (Frampton Cotterell ), Mrs F Bush ( Bitton ), Mrs Harriot Murray ( Birmingham ), and Mrs Elizabeth Mason ( Southville ). One son was killed in the First World War. The funeral took place at Bitton church on Wednesday, the vicar ( the Revd A. Jenkins ) officiating.

The mourners were: Messrs Joseph, James, Alfred George ( sons ); Mrs E. Bush and Mrs Mason ( daughters ); Mrs J. George, Mrs A. George ( daughters-in-law ); Mr J. George, Mr H. George ( grandsons ); Mrs Blackwell ( granddaughter ).

Fact 104: Lindsay Poulton the face on Fry's Five Boys Chocolate Bar

Fry's Five Boys chocolate was once the most famous confectionery bar in the world - and it was due to Lindsay Poulton and a cloth soaked in ammonia. Remember Fry's Five Boys chocolate with its famous image of one little boy running through all the emotions from being chocolate-less to getting ready to stuff his face ? It's no wonder that the poor little chap was in desperation in that first picture - just look what he had to go through.

Those five pictures were taken as far back as 1886 and feature one Lindsay Poulton, as photographed by his father, grandfather and uncle. Mr. Poulton was still around in the 1960's when the Bristol Evening Post tracked him down to East Providence, Rhode Island, not far from one of the many Bristols in America.

He remembered the session well - but particularly Desperation; - I think they must have found it hard to make me cry he recalled. - In the end, my grandfather induced a sufficient degree of desperation by soaking a cloth in photographers - ammonia and placing it around my neck...Lindsay was five when the pictures were taken and Fry's paid a staggering £ 200 - real wealth - to have exclusive use of them. At first the pictures were used as a show-card, and Lindsay's face became familiar on postcards, enamel advertising plates, and in newspapers.

In 1902, when milk chocolate was introduced, the Five Boys image became irretrievably connected with the famous bar The original images showed Lindsay in a sailor suit but in 1935, his outfit was rather clumsily updated into a striped jersey. Fry's was surprised to find Lindsay still alive in 1962 - but not half so surprised as Lindsay was to discover his boyhood features were still decorating chocolate bars 76 years on.

Five Boys wasn't the first or the last of the famous Fry's chocolate brands, of course. The sweet freak's favourite, Fry's Chocolate Cream, first tickled palates as far back as 1866. Turkish Delight followed in 1914, Crunchie in 1919, and all are still favourites today although Fry's is now part of the Cadbury Schweppes empire.

Fry's have been connected with Bristol from the reign of George II. Joseph Fry a Quaker apothecary based in Small Street, made his own chocolate which he was advertising as early as 1756. He also bought the patent of a water engine developed by Bristol inventor Walter Churchman to make fine chocolate, but it was his grandsons who set up J. S. Fry and Sons.

The company had eight plants in Bristol, including one in The Pithay which sent a delicious smell of chocolate wafting over the old Castle Street shopping area. Fry's moved to their wonderful new green field factory at Somerdale, near Keynsham, some 70 years ago.

Fact 105: The world's first express coach service

'A Bristol coach company introduced the world's first express coach service, linking Bristol with London. Travel back in time to the days of Greyhound and Morning Star' The Greyhound coach that zoomed passengers from Bristol to London in a mere eight hours in 1925, was the first to make the through run since coaches were pulled by horses. Greyhound was one of a number of coach companies competing aggressively for the growing market for long distance travel, and it scored a major coup with its fast London run.

Just £1 return for the longest through route ever attempted to a timetable. These were no mere people carriers but what the company called 'Luxurious travelling parlours', albeit with solid tyres and a speed limit of 20 mph. These long distance coaches were first tested along Ladies Mile on the Downs by placing three tumblers of water in the gangway. If no water was spilled, the coach was accepted.

One of the first drivers on the route, Ted Bryant, recalled leaving Bristol at 11 a.m. and getting into Hammersmith London after seven that night. 'But they were really beautiful buses and everyone was so helpful and polite. In those early days, we had quite aristocratic passengers'. Ted also took out the first Bristol bus to be equipped with a radio, as far back as 1926. It worked well when the bus was standing still but reception vanished on the move.

Trips weren't always incident free either - inspector Bill Lander remembered being delayed in Calne when a pig escaped from the bacon factory and became caught beneath the hot exhaust pipe. On another occasion, the radiator boiled over and passengers had to carry cans of water from a nearby RAF station. Greyhound ran two coaches a day to London, leaving at 9 am. and 11 a.m. via Bath, Marlborough, Newbury, Reading and Maidenhead. The earlier one travelled via Chippenham and stopped for refreshments at Newbury The second went via Devizes and had a break at Hungerford Wiltshire.

The company originally offered a ticket from Bristol to London for just £1.. In 1927, the luxury travelling parlours were replaced by super deluxe buffet coaches, upholstered in red antique leather with smoking and non smoking sections. Each seat had a folding table, windows were curtained and there was a steward's pantry for tea, cigarettes and chocolate. There were also on-board toilets but these were removed after a year because passengers found using them was 'somewhat hazardous'.

Greyhound had a competitor in 1928 in the Super Comfort coaches introduced by Morning Star of Lawrence Hill. The Leyland Lioness coaches were painted in sumptuous scarlet and cream and ran via Warmley, Wick and Marshfield to Chippenham, Marlborough, Newbury and Reading. An early review of the new service pointed out that the Lioness had the same type of chassis as that supplied to the King, while the clutch was designed by racing ace j. C. Parry Thomas. The 29.9 hp engine ( 58 bhp ) provided 'remarkable' acceleration and ample power to get up steep inclines like Tog Hill.

The only problem, an unnamed Bristol Times reporter wrote, was that the coach was so comfortable, passengers were tempted to fall asleep instead of enjoying the unrivalled scenery, 'To travel to London by road may be a novelty to those who are inexperienced but to business men in a hurry or to people who desire the health-giving air and the exhilaration of speedy and reliable motoring, the new Morning Star service is undoubtedly a blessing' he added.

'Those who try it as a new sensation will adopt it as a permanent means of journeying to the Metropolis, for it combines safety, speed, comfort and cheapness'. And if you think an eight hour trip to London is hardly of much use 'to businessmen in a hurry', bear in mind that even modern coaches used to take more than six hours along the A4 before the M4 opened fully in 1971.

Fact 106: Bristol Solicitors turned to more lucrative activities like forging wills

Lawyers have always had a bad press for some reason. Perhaps the following will explain why. Question: how do you get rid of a dead lawyer ? Answer: leave the body in a locked room overnight and it will vanish, leaving behind just a strong smell of brimstone.

This somewhat caustic comment on m'learned friends comes from the Bristol Gazette of 1821 but it does sum up the problems lawyers have faced in becoming respected members of the community. Trainee solicitors - clerks - had to pay a great deal of money to get experience with a qualified attorney Some had a good life as part of the attorney's family: others like Thomas Chatterton, were banned from playing dice, drinking in taverns, fornicating or getting married, had to work 12 hours a day, eat and sleep with the servants and be in bed by 10 p.m. No wonder he ran wild.

Making a living wasn't easy and a number turned to more lucrative activities like forging wills . And if you've ever wondered why legal documents are written in such long winded, complicated jargon, it goes back to those early days when lawyers were actually paid by the word. Wouldn't you want to spin it out when every extra adjective, sub-clause and list of exceptions boosted the income ?

A few intriguing accounts of attorneys' involvement in criminal cases still survive. In 1809, an argument in a queue for the Bristol Theatre Royal led to a duel between a tailor and an army officer. The tailor was killed, the officer was acquitted on a technicality.

There were lawyers of conscience too when a man described as 'a somewhat debauched representative of the Bristol family of Cann' was acquitted on a rape charge, the girl's lawyer was so outraged by the injustice, he privately published a pamphlet setting out all the evidence against the accused. The same man, Charles Walker, worked tirelessly and without pay defending one of the Bristol rioters, even organizing a petition for mercy In this case he lost and his client was hanged.

Records survive of the books borrowed by lawyers from Bristol Library Society. Most of them were on travel, history, music and poetry although one Thomas Blagden did borrow Illustrious French Lovers Vol 1. in 1773. Bristol Law Society was founded in 1770, and gained a reputation for honesty and probity at least compared with other towns and cities. Even so, former mayor and attorney John Wilcox could still complain in 1810 that he had been called a Damn'd Blackguard and a Dirty Scoundrel' at the Theatre Royal.

One attorney ended up in the pillory: others carried on practising despite convictions for assault or conspiracy One well known eighteenth centuty solicitor, Jarrit Smith, had shares in four privateers ( licensed pirate ships ) while another, Theodore Lawnance, built the first commercially viable steam packets.

Then there were the numerous lawyers who opposed political reform and civil rights for Catholics. All in all, a pretty well balanced lot, chronicled warts and all by former solicitor John Lyes in A Strong Smell of Brimstone - The Solicitors and Attorneys of Bristol 1740-1840 ( Bristol Branch of the Historical Association )

Fact 107: 'Oh the Joys of early motoring'

'Oh the Joys of early motoring, when autocar enthusiasts turned on the accumulator, retarded the ignition and set off at the thunderous speed of 12 mph. But the AA was there to help with speed traps and pugnacious policemen.'

The AA began as a squad of bicycle patrols alerting motorists of police speed traps ahead. These days it's a multi-million pound business offering everything from breakdown and relay services to book publishing and holiday insurance.

At one time there was a network of AA offices offering a friendly High Street face to motorists, but times change and a physical presence is no longer thought necessary Some people, of course, put the decline down to the 1961 decision to stop patrolmen having to salute members ? But despite the change, it is the roadside breakdown patrol who is still the keystone of the organization.

The AA began in Britain when horsepower began to replace horses, around the end of the nineteenth century. The first horse-less carriages were largely the play-things of the wealthy and were noisy temperamental, smelly complicated and often dangerous. Drivers also faced punitive regulations over speed, largely because the rich demanded the right to go anywhere as fast as they wished.

But, by 1896, the speed limit had been increased to 14 mph and the man supposed to walk in front of cars with a red flag was out of a job. But the police were very active, lurking in hedgerows and building elaborate hides to trap unsuspecting speeding drivers.

There was clearly a need for an independent organization as complaints mounted about devious police behaviour, questionable stop watches and inaccurately measured distances, plus severe penalties in court. The AA was one of several motoring organizations, and one of the two main ones to survive into the new millennium.

Interestingly, that sadly missed salute was not originally a mark of respect but a way of allowing patrolmen to tip off drivers about traps without being prosecuted for obstruction. If the patrolman did not salute, a member had to stop and ask why The patrol would then apologise and tell the driver of the trap ahead. If he got a salute, the member knew the stretch ahead was all clear.

Fact 108: Imagine going into a pub and asking for a glass of Bristol whisky ? You could at one time

It may have been cheap but Bristol spirits caused - drying up and hardening of the fine vessels and nerves, rendering them impervious, producing paralytic strokes, hemiplegies and apoplexies. Whiskies these days come from Scotland, Ireland or America. But there was a time when they also came from Bristol. It seems unlikely but Bristol did have a flourishing whisky industry that was big enough to supply other towns and cities. Whether the product was worth drinking is another matter, of course.

Bristol was once a centre for apple brandy which sold well while Britain was fighting the French. Once French brandy became available again, apple brandy declined and it is only in recent years that it has been revived again in Somerset and Herefordshire. Until the seventeenth century anyone could set up a still and many did. In 1684, excise-men were given the job of monitoring production but they were mainly concerned with the tax due, not the quantity. Nearly two million gallons of spirits were distilled in England in 1694 and the vast majority was poisonous rot-gut, sold to the poor to drown the sorrows of life.

Bristol whisky distillery was set up in around 1761 in Cheese Lane, St Philips. It was owned by Thomas Castle and Co. in 1821, Thomas Harris and Co. in 1830, and by the Board family who named it the Bristol Distilling Company in 1863. The whisky trade was transformed in the nineteenth century by the patent which still allowed mass production of spirit. But the result was tasteless and it had to be mixed with single malts to make an acceptable drink. It was the beginning of blended whisky.

There was a large barley field next to the Cheese Lane distillery to provide grain for the stills, and by 1887, it employed 100 and used three pot stills with capacities of 10,000, 7,000 and 6,000 gallons, and patent stills for the grain spirit. The company was taken over by DCL just after the First World War and DCL itself became part of United Distillers. But distilling was a major activity in the city for two centuries. In 1789, Bristol historian William Barrett wrote of 'many great works ( distilleries ) being erected at amazing expense in different parts of the city'. Barrett was convinced that spiritous liquors caused 'slow but sure death' and added: The quality of gin and brandy made at home indicates and proves what a great consumption of these liquors there is now.

By 1825 the city had five distilleries, Bristol Whisky including Cheese Lane, and was sending boat-loads of drink to London and other places. And apart from disapproving on moral and health grounds, Barrett also made the valid point that the distillers were using grain at a time when harvests were poor and bread was expensive. Needless to say some of the blends were highly suspect. Cheaper brands used immature whiskies which meant that some toxic elements remained in the drink anyway but they were boosted with meths, and creosote ( which was said to give the true smoky taste of good Scotch ).

Some whiskies were also given a kick by maturing them in sherry casks - a practice once frowned on but now used to give extra body to the finest single malts. Bristol whisky never had the impact of gin, the success of which turned many Victorian pubs into gin palaces

( the ornate Midland Hotel in Old Market is still nicknamed the Gin Palace ). Gins had exciting names like Cream of the Valley The Real Knock Me Down and The Regular Flare Up but the quality was still questionable. As early as 1751, there was worry at the excessive drinking of spirits and gin among the working classes, leading to frequent instances of sudden death, the depravation of health and morals and the increase of crime and poverty: Laws were swiftly passed banning manufacturers from selling direct to the public and threatening unlicensed sellers with transportation.

It didn't work. What really killed off the local distillers were heavier and heavier duties and taxes and a more discerning public that appreciated quality. Welsh whisky hangs on as a tourist attraction, but Bristol whisky is little more than a passing reference in a handful of history books.

Fact 109: Bristol was famous for inventing Bonfire Night ?

Bristol was famous for inventing Bonfire Night - No, you're right, it isn't but it should be. ? The councillors and aldermen provided an enormous bonfire ( on the rates of course )

As you put a match to your bonfire on November 5th, raise a glass of mulled wine to the good burghers of Bristol who invented the tradition. Quite why isn't certain - after all Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators had no apparent local connections. But those were dangerous times, and the city corporation probably felt it wise to keep on the right side of whoever happened to be in power.

What better way to show loyalty to King James and the Protestant Church than a civic bonfire to celebrate the grisly death of zealous Catholic Guy Fawkes who had plotted to blow up Parliament. By 1607 - two years after the Gunpowder Plot - the ordinary citizens of Bristol had already seized on November 5th as a good excuse for a party. As Bristol's annalist, John Latimer, wrote 'The records show that this day was already celebrated by popular manifestations' Popular manifestations - could be anything from bear and bull baiting, cock fighting, dancing, street fairs - to getting thoroughly drunk ? But this was all unofficial, of course, so in 1607 the Corporation decreed a civic celebration.

1607 was a fairly busy year, both here and abroad. Bristol and the Severn valley were still recovering from the worst floods in memory which killed 501 and left many feet of water in city cellars, shops and warehouses. A weird fish five feet long, three feet wide and with hands and feet was caught off Avonmouth and presented to the Mayor ( what he did with it isn't recorded ).

Plague had broken out in London and was about to reach Bristol, and wagons and drays were banned from the narrow city streets on market days because of the huge traffic jams. Hopeful young playwright William Shakespeare had a new play premiered called Antony and Cleopatra, while in the American colonies, British adventurer John Smith was saved from death by Indian princess Pocahontas. But, nearer home, the 10,549 residents of Bristol were facing short rations after a disastrous harvest. What better way to take their minds off empty stomachs than a big knees-up ? Even better, it might also please crusty old King James whose plans to unite England and Scotland had just fallen through. So, on November 5th 1607, Bristol Corporation invented Bonfire Night.

The councillors and aldermen provided an enormous bonfire ( on the rates of course ) although there is no reference to whether a Guy was burned. Perhaps it was too soon after the original one was hanged, drawn and quartered. It must have been a great success because it wasn't too long before every town and village had to have its own bonfire night party, too. Bristol tried to stay ahead by having two big bonfires every November 5th - one by the High Cross in the old city and one by the mayor's house.

And over the years other traditions grew up, like fireworks, treacle toffee and parkin ( a treacle and oats cake ). Interestingly, the city accounts refer to the event as 'England's Holiday' so King James must have approved.

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