Bristol ( Brycgstow ) Somerset ( Sumersaetan ) Gloucestershire (Gleawceastrascir)
The Bristol ”Coat of Arms”
Bristol is a City and County of its own, messed around with during the 1970′s losing county status and becoming a City in an invented county (Avon) much to the annoyance of Bristolians and the people in parts of Somerset and Gloucestershire. The River Avon separated Gloucestershire from Somerset forming what was the boundary between the two shires way before Bristol (Brycgstow) existed . A Bridge was built across the river Avon giving the city its name of Brycgstow (place of the bridge). As Bristol grew, it spread across the Avon and the boundaries of Bristol were expanded into Somerset. The geographical position of Bristol made it the natural gateway to the West of England for shipping from the continent and Ireland. The rugged coastline of the Atlantic from Land’s End northward, made Bristol a secure and sheltered haven. When Bristol was founded we do not know for sure, saving that, the town appears to have grown around a defended Viking settlement and trading post on the banks of the Avon.
At the mouth of the Axe, south of the modern sea-side resort of Weston-super-Mare, Alfred the Great, so legend has it, built the bigger ships with which his navy subdued the Danes marauding around the Severn Sea. After his final defeat of the Danes, King Alfred encouraged the towns of his kingdom to fortify so as to withstand any sustained attack in future from invading forces. What better than this natural stronghold position for Bristol with the winding River Frome linking into the Avon around a natural defensive mound. This position was ideal for the beginnings of a defensive walled City of Bristol .
The first mention of anywhere in this remote area of southern Gloucestershire then in Hwicce, a Saxon client kingdom of Anglian Mercia with its capital of Tamworth, was of “Henbury” an episcopal possession and a foothold for the church in 692 , then mentioned as a Religious House called ” Westminster” at Westbury no doubt the Abbey, and the bishop of Westbury who had led a great Benedictine revival (the Benedictines who had arrived with St Augustine) also linked to the name of St Dunstan and Glastonbury
Bristol’s ”Coat of arms” and the name of ” Bristol “ rendered in Anglo Saxon “Old English” named as ” Brycgstow or Bricg-stowe “ meaning a place of the bridge “ over a river (also “ Bridge over a river (Avon) and dwellings nearby “) we can also see old spellings in ancient granite stone roadsigns scattered around the area as “ Bristow ” also with an ” e ” Bristowe , ( and Bristou ) and with the famous LLs ” Bristoll ” . This around the time of Ethelred ( 978-1016) a coin was minted with the image of ” Ethelred the Unreade ” this was a silver coin minted by a man named Aelfwerd in ” Bricgstowe“ you can see a preserved relic of the silver coin in the Royal Collection at Stockholm bearing the image of ” Ethelred the Unreade “.
Bristol was an early Anglo Saxon port along the river Avon , with its own mint and coinage and developing industry of wool and shipbuilding. Situated slightly inland from the Bristol Channel along the River Avon in a sheltered and protected position, with another River running into the Avon the ” Frome ” and also a smaller river nearer the mouth of the Avon the River “ Trym ” the inland protection so very important in those days, from the weather and threats from the marauding Vikings , Danes, and even the Irish all who plundered and would take Saxon slaves. Bristol began to thrive on trade, mainly from the Mediterranean and the ports of Europe and soon Bristol would expand to the rest of the world across to North America and South America a huge area in which the ships of Bristol rove and her merchants traded.
The coat or Arms of Bristol emerged from early Medieval times and then later developing possibly through the coinage and having its first seal of approval via the Lord Mayor of Bristol in the early 1300th century depicting a Ship, travel and most of all trade, by the 14th century a Castle was added hence Bristol Castle (now Sadly Gone) with the Three Lions banner, and then later in the 14th century the ” Ship – Castle ” and with a Serpent and the two Unicorns + the bunting to make up the very Proud Coat of Arm’s of the ” City and County of Bristol” so when the Bristol flags arrive hopefully you will be tempted to buy and fly , very reasonably priced at £6 including postage and packing and don’t forget your ” Bristol ” car sticker at only £1 including postage and packing.
St, Augustine’s Priory, now Bristol’s Cathedral Church, on College Green at the bottom of Park Street, opposite Bristol City’s Council Office’s os well worth a visit. A study the Leaded windows of The Cathedral reveals that there is much information to be obtained in the heraldry and detailed images , surviving from past centuries.( This applies to any Historic Building or structure, so study the Leaded Windows Stone and Wood engravings, manuscripts and books within the Cathedral building which give firm and accurate facts .This literature is not always available anywhere else.. The street names will also give an indication of what has gone on before in the area. The fun of finding and discovering interesting and authentic accounts can be very rewarding.
Somersetshire (named after the Sumersaetan, i.e., the Summer people). Like Dorset and Devon, Somerset is a name applied to an early tribe.
From ancient times lead was mined in the shafts and swallets of the Mendips, even before the Romans came . Before the Iron Age, lead was a sought after metal. Much of it was traded overseas and was carted either to Lyme Regis in Dorset or Uphill near Weston-super-Mare, or to the valley below Ashton hill (outside of Bristol) where it was smelted and dressed into finished rolls ( Somersetshire lead was much harder than most types of lead, was sought after because of its high quality). It was taken by horse and cart, or on pack horses to the River Avon and shipped from the Roman port of Abona (Sea Mills near Shirehampton) long before Brycgstowe came into existence). The lead diggings were further industrialised by the Romans, forcing enslaved locals into excavating deeper. Ever greater quantities were removed as production production was stepped up. It is said the first system of removing water from deep shafts was engineered by the Romans. This used a series of wheels with troughs on different levels underground in the tunnels, the shafts being turned using manpower. The system was used to transport water from lower levels to higher levels and into underground aquafers with pools (swallets) and left to flow out from the hillsides into the surrounding streams and rivers . The Mendip Hills have lots of underground caves and streams called (Swallets ) all running at different levels and depths carrying gallons of water per second , a man would be inside the wooden wheel to help rotation and get the water away, allowing further excavations to explore the seams. Lead from Somersetshire was used in Pompeii in Southern Italy to make the pipes which carried water around.) The Romans had several Villa’s in the Bristol area just on the other side of the River Avon in Gloucestershire, Sea Mills( Abona) being one of them with others in Somerdale (Keynsham), Brislington, and on Durdham Down. The Romans also built a road right over the top of the Mendips with enslaved local labour toward Hutton and onto the Roman Port at Uphill near Weston Super Mare. From there it was carried across the seas, with gold and silver from Wales, to all parts of the Roman Empire. Lead continued to be mined as well as some coal and other minerals in much smaller quantities from the shafts and swallets of the Mendips for centuries after. Bristol played a big part in its refining and production. On Redcliffe Hill, opposite the St Mary’s Church there used to be a refinery and a Shot Tower where the technique of making absolutely spherical shot was first perfected by ” William Watts of Redcliffe Hill”, in 1782. He extended his house into a lead works which included the world’s first Shot Tower, which thanks to gravity, made the perfectly formed shot from which his fortune derived . Sadly all gone today, swept away in 1968 by Bristol’s City Council Planners in the name of progress . So many quality and historic buildings have disappeared , due to hurried and poor planning decisions , very much regretted by Bristolians.
Mendip Lead was exceptionally good quality, a very hard lead and proved to be devastating when used in battle as in the Napoleonic Wars where the English shot was accurate and true, helped by the quality of the ammunition ( musket balls) unlike those used by French which were less accurate and broke up when fired. Restrictions were in place for some time by the Government’s of the Day for Lead Shot manufacturers not to supply certain countries with lead or lead shot.
More about Bristol
Bricgstowe “means place of the bridge” ; Bridgstowe ; ” Brightstovve” ;on my 1528 map of Bristol
Following Bristol City Centre Castle/City wall, [a Walled City]Wine Street then off down Broad Street to the bottom is a large Section of the Old City wall, built on Saxon remains there is a splendid ancient Gothic Gate, with a elegant perpendicular spire of St John’s Church rising above, is simply stunning. In the 12th Century there were five churches built into the city walls, acting as part of the defences and as places for travellers to offer prays before a journey. Sadly St John’s is the only one that remains, Bristol was a walled city an inner wall with four main streets : Broad Street: Wine Street: Corn Street: and High Street : St Nicholas street off the bottom of High Street had a church of of the same name St Nicholas, carry along the street to the crossing to Corn Street we had the Church of St Leonards and Leonards Gate continue via St Leonards lane we reach the Bottom of Small Street where St Giles Gate once stood ; then on via Bell lane to Broad Street where St Johns Gate and church remains to this day,cross over into Tower Lane and Pithay to Wine street top of Union Street where stood Defence Gate across the way St Peters and St Mary Port
All Within the Inner City walls the church of St Nicholas church within the street of the same name as mentioned and another the very same with St Stephens and in Broad street St Johns & St Ewen, Wine street St Peter, St Mary Port, and St Werbers in Corn street at the junction of (All Saints Lane), St Leonards of Tower lane, and there was a St Alphius all within in the inner City Wall limits and outside St Thomas, St James, Temple Church, within the outer City wall limits amazing all this within less than a square mile not to mention all the Inns and Ale houses shops and commercial ventures; what a place Bristol (Bristow’e Brigstovve ) must have been ,and all this going on with Seafaring all over the World
Bristol was becoming one of the most prosperous Cities in England. In the 14th Century Bristol was second to London as a Trading Port, on the West side of England Bristol the trading Port to the West Indies and the Americas . It is believed that it was ta Sponsor of Ships in Bristol for such trading excursions, and a Merchant Venturer, a man called Richard Amerrick (not Christopher Columbus’s seafaring companion Amerigo Vespucci) who gave his name to America.