Bristol is the largest city in the south west of England, with a population of approximately half a million. There are plenty of historical areas to visit including the suspension bridge, designed and built by Brunel. Although it is still being repaired but looks great, well worth a visit.
Bristol has a variety of Victorian & Georgian period buildings including the Cresent in Clifton village and Queen Square near the waterside which is the second largest perfect square in Europe and includes the first American Consulate. Another well-known and greatly visited building of Georgian period is the Georgian house. This historic Georgian townhouse can be found just off fidgety Park Street, near the Cabot Tower. It is a museum that provides the visitors with a fascinating insight into everyday life of master and servant! This Georgian House is the best example of 18th century Bristol, illustrating the prosperity of the city from being one of England's main trading ports.
Another main Bristol sight is Bristol Cathedral that seems to have been on this site for over a thousand years. Its official name is the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Bristol Cathedral was founded as St Augustine's Abbey in 1140 by Robert Fitzharding, a wealthy merchant, Provost of Bristol and Lord of Berkeley. FitzHarding brought Augustinian monks, known as Black Canons, to serve God and the community at this spot across the river from the walled city. Their abbey church was dedicated to St Augustine the Great. Bristol Cathedral was not raised to the status of a cathedral until 1542.
During almost 400 years there were different reconstructions and completions: 1165 - building of the Norman Chapter House; 1220 - addition of the Elder Lady Chapel; 1298 - rebuilding of the Norman Church of St. Augustine's Abbey; 1330- completion of the Choir and Eastern Lady Chapel; 1460-80- addition of the Centre Tower and Transepts. Between 1539 and 1867 Bristol Cathedral had no nave, the original having been demolished at the Dissolution of the Monasteries to provide stone for other buildings. The nave seen here was built between 1867 and 1888. The official opening of the Nave took place in 1877 and the whole Bristol Cathedral was logically completed by two towers at the west end in 1888.
The Bristol Cathedral design, especially the Choir, takes a unique place in the development of British and European Architecture. Bristol Cathedral is the major example of a 'Hall Church' - the Nave, Choir and Aisles are all the same height and make a large hall - in Great Britain and one of the finest anywhere in the world.
There is Bristol Cathedral School attached to the Cathedral. The history of its creation is rather long and tangled. In 1142 Robert Fitzharding made donation to found a small school that would be run by the monks of the house of Augustinian canons. When Henry VIII closed the monasteries the school was allowed to continue, on the same site. By the 18th century the nature of the school was changed as the school began to take in more students for a fee.
The mix of fee-paying and subsidized students has continued to this day. The 19th century was the century of destruction of all the monastic records, and Bristol Cathedral School wasn't an exception. In 1831 the insurgents entered the Chapter House and burned the extensive library stored there. The First World War left a deep impact on the school - the school war memorial is still displayed in the school library. During the years of the Second World War Bristol Cathedral School run the risk of bombing. One high-explosive bomb landed in the Lower Quad and demolished a building. Today the school continues to use buildings built as part of the monastery.
Bristol is also home to a Roman Catholic cathedral, Clifton Cathedral.
The Cathedral Church of SS. Peter and Paul is the Roman Catholic cathedral, located in the Clifton area of Bristol. It is also known as Clifton Cathedral. The Cathedral was sacred in 1973. It was one of the first Functionalist style cathedrals designed after the Second Vatican Council.