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The street's name is a survival from the time when there was a spacious meadow along its length and breadth and much beyond. William Wyrcester states that in 1428 he built a stone vault in Brode-mede and gives the length of the street as 300 steps.
John Evans refers under date 1148 to the existence of mansions 'situated in Broadmead (originally called Newport Meadow) which was laid out by Earl Robert under cover of the city wall,' Earl Robert of Gloucester being meant. The same authority states that in 1174 William Earl of Gloucester gave his 'burgagerents out of Newport Meadow' (now Broadmead) among other property in Bristol to St. James's Priory and the Monastery at Tewkesbury.
It must have been a truly rural scene in the fifteenth century. Even as recently as 1828 there were five or six fine old trees standing in Broadmead in front of the Apple Tree Inn Which I believe stood opposite Broadmead Chapel.
Broadmead was a busy coaching centre in the 18th century, and was a favourite shopping resort for people coming in from the surrounding country.
image above: St.James 'The Horse Fair' 1908 before the building of modern-day Broadmead
In the great flood of March, 1889, through the overflowing of the much obstructed river Frome, part of Broadmead had in it five feet of water, and the police went in a boat to the relief of the residents in that and neighbouring streets.
This flood stirred up the Council to the necessary action, and a Bill was promoted for improving the course of the river. On a poll the Bill was rejected, there being more against than for, even in the flooded area. A new Bill was, however, passed in 1889, and the works it authorised have been effectual in preventing further floods.
After a superficial inspection of the Bristol Directory for 1793-4 I find this great variety of professions and trades in the street :David Jones, surgeon; Thomas Rich, apothecary; John Alexander, broker and auctioneer; John Anson, carver and gilder; William Atkins, tailor; John Banister, distiller; James Belcher, Apple Tree; John Bishop, dealer in spirits; William Billing, baker; John Brown, tailor and stay-maker; John and William Butler, brush makers; Martha Cooper, Greyhound Inn; William Duffet, hat-maker; John Evans, cabinet-maker; Francis Farrant, writing-master; Edward Fromont and Co., flying waggons; William George, umbrella-maker; Thomas Gingell, cooper; John Hall, glazier; James Hoare, glazer; Jarvis Holland, Peter and George, starch, fig-blue manufacturers; William Jenkins, carpenter; David Jones, Ship; William Lewis, grocer; Edward Lowdin, Grangers Court; William Matthews, printer and editor of the New Bristol Guide and Directory (No. 10); William Morgan, pawnbroker; Peter Norton, silk dyer; James Patty, carver and gilder; Perrin, Bence and Co., currier's; Robert Phillips, wheelwright; Mary Poole, Coach and Homes; William Reed, butcher; John Rich currier; Charles Rosser, shoemaker; Shapland, Harding and Co., soap manufactory; James Snigg, peruke-maker; William Stratton, hairdresser; William Symonds, accountant (office at Mr. Markloves, Small Street); Philip Thomas, Crown and Pipes; Thomas Tucker, hay-weigher; Richard Williams, pump-maker; Mary Withington, hair-preparer; William Wright, Horse and Jockey.
image above: A view of the Horsefair just before the construction of the Lewis's Department Store in the mid-1950's
There were several hostelries, it will be noticed; but the only one surviving with its original names is the Greyhound,which retains much of its old-world appearance. From this hotel, in Martha Cooper's day, coaches went regularly to Gloucester and Hereford, Chippenham, Malmesbury, Tetbury and Wickwar; and twice a week, Tuesdays and Fridays, a coach ran to Hambrook in the morning and returned in the evening.
Fromont and Co. 'flying waggons' left on Wednesdays and Saturday afternoons for Cheapside. The firm also forwarded goods 'to all parts of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.' Some of the vocations mentioned no longer appear in our directory, but 'John Hall, glazier,' is suggestive of the early days of a now well-known firm of glass merchants, whose headquarters are in Broadmead.
And the art of printing is still practised there as it has been at least since William Matthews produced his first directory at No. 10. I notice that he was careful to give the number of his premises, though he frequently omitted the other numbers! Did he make a charge for adding the number to the st at No. 56 that John Breillat carried on business as a dyer. He was attracted to the possibilities of coal gas as a new means of illumination, and made such a successful experiment to produce it that he was not only able to light his own shop, but even the street itself.
That was in 1811, a year before a London street was gas lighted. He lectured on the subject, and demonstrated so as eventually to overcome the suspicion that he was in touch with Satanic regions. Some of the more enlightened men of the city gave their support, moral and financial, to Breillat, and on St. Georges Day 1816 the Bristol Coal Gas Company began to erect gas works at Temple Backs. In the following year, under Breillat's supervision, some of the chief streets were lit with gas. Breillat was the first engineer, and the present Gas Company is the direct descendant of that early concern, which was the second started in the country, and which he steered with much skill and probity.
Gas in 1817 was charged 15s. per 1,000 cubic feet to private consumers; it now costs 3s., and before the war only 2s. The company have a portrait of Breillat in their Board Room. He was for nearly 10 years engineer-up to the time of his death, which occurred in April 1856, in his 86th year. Breillat thought of gas as an illuminate; he did not live to see its development for the purposes of heat and power; nor did he ever imagine an incandescent burner.
image above: The well-stocked windows of Strode Cosh & Penfold 1954
Senior citizens of the present generation well remember Broadmead Room, which was opened in December having been built at the expense of the followers of Robert Owen, the social reformer, to afford them a meeting place, and, as it was thought, to supply a need for a public hall, for at that time neither the Victoria Rooms nor Colston Hall existed, and there were practically only the Assembly Rooms in Prince Street available for general use.
The Broadmead Room, how-ever, was mainly intended for the propagation of Owen's political and social principles, and he himself delivered the opening lecture. But there was not as much readiness to pay as to talk among the local Owenites, and at the beginning of 1843 they were glad to get rid of the responsibility of the room by selling it to a few Liberals, who named it Broadmead Rooms, and made it the usual place for Liberal meetings until Colston Hall was opened some 24 years later.
These Rooms were approached by a narrow passage, being built behind the street on the right-hand side approaching from Union Street. The access was inconvenient and the accommodation of the poorest. On occasions of political excitement, which were pretty frequent, the scenes were lively; even dangerous to life and limb.
An old newspaper friend of mine used to tell how he was ignominiously passed over the heads of a dense crowd in the room so that he might get away with his report of the rowdy proceedings. In the sixties, when dock development was much discussed, meetings were held in Broadmead Rooms. Once Spurgeon preached there to a crowded assembly of citizens. In 1875 the property passed into the hands of the Corporation, and gradually the public use was discontinued, and the site is now adapted to manufacturing purposes.
Another instance of history repeating itself is the passing of the Colston Hall (built by Liberals) into the possession of the Corporation in 1920. The Baptist community in Bristol dates back to the middle of the seventeenth century, and their first chapel was in the Pithay. Broadmead Chapel was not used by Baptists until 1671 nearly 20 years later. It had previously been the Quakers Meeting, and consisted of four large rooms.
They moved in 1670 to the old Dominican Friary,where they built a chapel, which is still used by the community, and the chapel and older buildings are now known as Quakers Friars. Some Baptists had been meeting in Whitson Street, and they moved across the Horsefair to these rooms and, subsequently became wealthy enough to build a more convenient chapel.
Their meetings were subject to much interruption from the zeal of the magistrates in prosecuting dissenters, for their 'false' doctrines. The dissenters were not to be suppressed or even discouraged. As soon as they were out of prison they resumed their form of worship. Mr. Hard-castle, the first minister appointed at Broadmead, came out of Newgate Prison early in 1676, after serving a second term of six months, and preached in the chapel on the very day of his release.
Unexpected relief from persecution came in the spring of 1687, when James II suspended all the laws making Nonconformists liable to the proceedings for worshipping according to their consciences, and ordered all who were in prison for that reason to be released forthwith. The 'Broadmead Records' merely refer to this great thing by saying that at length they 'had peace,' but the real object of the order was to grant indulgence to the Roman Catholics, and the Baptists and other Protestant Nonconformists of the 17th Century would not like being associated with them even in an act of clemency.
image above: 1958 The modern shopping district of Broadmead towers above the historic old White Hart Inn (1672) St.James Barton
In 1847 'The Records of a Church of Christ, meeting in Broadmead, Bristol, 1640 - 1687,' were published in an octavo volume. Another edition appeared in 1865, continuing the record to date; and there is a still later and better edited one. In 1840 Mr.J. G. Fuller's 'The Rise and Progress of Dissent in Bristol; chiefly in relation to Broadmead Church' appeared.
The 'Records' are of great interest, as throwing light on the religious life of Bristol, and they have been drawn upon by many historians. Here is an entry for the year 1684:-'James Twyford, Sheriff threatens to find out our little meetings, and he would be like Death-spare none.' An earlier entry suggests that the persecuted were not themselves reluctant to persecute. 'On Sept. 9 1742, messengers were appointed to visit three members, and to reprove them for going frequently to hear John and Charles Wesley; to learn by converse with them whether they had imbibed their corrupt notions.'
The messengers reported adversely, and the offenders were ordered to be admonished, and not to return to the means of grace until they should repent. In 1837 there was a bitter split in the church over the decision of the large majority of members, led by Professor Francis Newman, a brother of the Cardinal, 'that the Lord's Table should be thrown open to all true believers.'
The attempt to mollify the minority by holding a service for the immersed only did not give complete satisfaction. Professor Newman was at this time classical tutor at Bristol College. He lived his later life at Weston-super-Mare, dying there. The scholarly Dr. Ryland was succeeded in the pulpit in 1820 by Robert Hall, whose eloquence won him national fame which is not yet dead.
Hall died in 1828. He had, before coming to Bristol, it is said, declined an attractive preferment in the Church of England which the Prime Minister (Mr. Pitt) offered him. At his death he was buried in ground adjoining the chapel. That ground has now been built over, the bodies being removed to Arno's Vale Cemetery.
The present chapel, which was erected in the eighteenth century, has been enlarged and improved at intervals. Its preachers right up to the present time have been men able to attract and keep large congregations. Three recent men of outstanding power have been the Revs. E. G. Gange, D. Hiley, and F. G. Benskin. There is seating for 1,500 persons, and that is round about the total membership. Formerly the minister was required to be a Greek and Hebrew scholar, so that he might act as Principal to the Baptist College in Stokes Croft where young men were trained for the ministry.
The college has of late years been transferred to a much finer building in Tyndall's Park, and the Principal is no longer expected to hold a dual office, though he may often preach special sermons here and there.
In the old days of which I speak, Broadmead had a junior to help with the pastoral duties.Evans has this entry of May 27th 1824: 'The foundation stone was laid in an avenue opened in Broadmead, westward of Alderman Evanss Welsh Chapel, thence crossing the Horse Fair to the entrance, from its Alley, of St. Jamess Barton, to be distinguished as St. Jamess Upper and Lower Arcades.'
The inscription on the stone stated that the arcade was 'for the better accommodation of foot passengers,' and bore the names of 'Michael Wreyford, John W. Hall, James Paty, Proprietors, James and Thomas Foster, Architects.'
These Arcades are still popular working-class shopping centres. They afford both entertainment by the variety of displays at all times and shelter in rainy weather. I dare say that many a purchase has thus been made which was not intended when the buyer entered one or the other of these hundred-year-old ranges of shops with their dwellings. Many people seem to regard them as a right of way, but they are private property and on Sundays the closed gates are evidence of that fact be distinguished as St. Jamess Upper and Lower Arcades.'
The inscription on the stone stated that the arcade was 'for the better accommodation of foot passengers,' and bore the names of 'Michael Wreyford, John W. Hall, James Paty, Proprietors, James and Thomas Foster, Architects.' These Arcades are still popular working-class shopping centres. They afford both entertainment by the variety of displays at all times and shelter in rainy weather. I dare say that many a purchase has thus been made which was not intended when the buyer entered one or the other of these hundred-year-old ranges of shops with their dwellings.
Many people seem to regard them as a right of way, but they are private property and on Sundays the closed gates are evidence of that fact.
image above: 1959 Reconstruction work is still in progress in Merchant Street
Bristol's post-war shopping centre turned out very differently than the dream of the bleak blitz years
Bristol's much-loved old shopping centres in Wine Street and Castle Street were bombed to rubble half a century ago. And, despite much opposition from small traders, a new shopping centre was built around Broadmead, leaving the old centre as an open space.
But what a different place Bristol would have been if the dreams of 50 years ago had turned into reality.
image above: 1964 construction work on the new Police Headquarters and Magistrates' Court Bridewell
The new-look Bristol was being considered as early as 1941, while Nazi bombers still flew overhead. But rows between the council and local businesses and the lack of expert councillors led to lengthy delays.
The government of the time was urging blitzed cities to look at rebuilding as urgently as possible. Bristol, where the planning officer was actually a traffic engineer, took years to come up with a realistic plan. It refused to allow the -active but tactless - Chamber of Commerce to take part in planning, which led to increasingly hostile opposition from traders and businessmen.
But the results revealed by the Evening Post, despite council attempts to keep them secret, stunned Bristolians. The key was the inner circuit road, circling the central area. But just look at the other ideas.
The building of Bristol's new Broadmead shopping precinct after the war sadly the results were very inferior to the pre-war shopping centre it replaced
image above: 1970's Fairfax House was demolished in 1988 to make way for the Galleries Shopping Mall
VICTORIA STREET AND TEMPLE WAY JUNCTION
A central wholesale and shopping market.
image above: Broadmead under construction 1960's
COLLEGE GREEN
A civic centre and 60 acres of hospital and university buildings.
WINE STREET AND CASTLE STREET
An underground car park for 2,000 cars, a conference hall, museum, art gallery, concert hall and guildhall.
image above: new built Fairfax House 1950's owned by the Bristol Cooperative Society (now demolished)
BROADMEAD
A circular shopping centre with shops in pretty arcades and designs of the highest quality.
The city engineer admitted: 'Some of the proposals are new and possibly revolutionary but the spirit of adventure is abroad in connection with post-war developments'.
The Evening Post was even more enthusiastic. It called the plans -bold beyond the wildest dreams of most people.. conceived through the telescope of 50 years ahead to meet the needs of the people of Bristol of 2000 AD:
image above: 1973 Broadmead shopping centre
Bristol Labour councillors called it -a chance that is truly priceless- the chance to plan and build a city worthy of the ancient tradition of Bristol and its glorious future:
The Citizen ( Conservative ) Party promised:
'Nothing will be allowed to hinder the planning and reconstruction of Bristol. The city should be the cultural and artistic centre of the West'
'It was a nice dream while it lasted'.
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