Bristol

Sister cities

• Porto
• Toulouse
• Hanover
• Bordeaux
• Tbilisi
• Beira
• Kumamoto

History

Archaeological finds, including flint tools believed to be between 300,000 and 126,000years old made with the Levallois technique, indicate the presence of Neanderthals in the Shirehampton and St Annes areas of Bristol during the Middle Palaeolithic. Iron Age hill forts near the city are at Leigh Woods and Clifton Down, on the side of the Avon Gorge, and on Kings Weston Hill near Henbury. A Roman port, Portus Abonae (Avonport) – abbreviated to Abona in the Antonine Itinerary, existed at what is now Sea Mills (connected to Bath and Gloucester by Roman roads); another settlement was at the present-day Inns Court. Isolated Roman villas and small forts and settlements were also scattered throughout the area. Bristol was founded by 1000; by about 1020, it was a trading centre with a mint producing silver pennies bearing its name. By 1067, Brycgstow was a well-fortified burh, and that year the townsmen beat back a raiding party from Ireland led by three of Harold Godwinson's sons. Under Norman rule, the town had one of the strongest castles in southern England. Bristol was the place of exile for Diarmait Mac Murchada, the Irish king of Leinster, after being overthrown. The Bristol merchants subsequently played a prominent role in funding Richard Strongbow de Clare and the Norman invasion of Ireland. The port developed in the 11th century around the confluence of the Rivers Frome and Avon, adjacent to Bristol Bridge just outside the town walls. By the 12th century, there was an important Jewish community in Bristol which survived through to the late 13th century when all Jews were expelled from England. The stone bridge built in 1247 was replaced by the current bridge during the 1760s. The town incorporated neighbouring suburbs and became a county in 1373, the first town in…

Geography

Bristol's boundaries can be defined in several ways, including those of the city itself, the developed area, or Greater Bristol. The city council boundary is the narrowest definition of the city itself. However, it unusually includes a large, roughly rectangular section of the western Severn Estuary ending at (but not including) the islands of Flat Holm (in Cardiff, Wales) and Steep Holm. This "seaward extension" can be traced back to the original boundary of the County of Bristol laid out in the charter granted to the city by Edward III in 1373. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has defined a Bristol Urban Area, which includes developed areas adjoining Bristol but outside the city-council boundary, such as Kingswood, Mangotsfield, Stoke Gifford, Winterbourne, Almondsbury, Easton in Gordano, Whitchurch village, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, but excludes undeveloped areas within that boundary. Bristol lies within a limestone area running from the Mendip Hills in the south to the Cotswolds in the northeast. The rivers Avon and Frome cut through the limestone to the underlying clay, creating Bristol's characteristically hilly landscape. The Avon flows from Bath in the east, through flood plains and areas which were marshes before the city's growth. To the west, the Avon cuts through the limestone to form the Avon Gorge, formed largely by glacial meltwater after the last ice age. The gorge, which helped protect Bristol Harbour, has been quarried for stone to build the city, and its surrounding land has been protected from development as The Downs and Leigh Woods. The Avon estuary and the gorge form the county boundary with North Somerset, and the river flows into the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth. A smaller gorge, cut by the Hazel Brook which flows into the…

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  6,384
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  5,645
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,269
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,417
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,297
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  4,054
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  3,859
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3,659

Most recent

• M 4 — 2026-04-14
  21 km NNE of Shawville, Canada
• M 2.6 — 2023-07-04
  35 km ESE of Saint-Raphaël, Canada
• M 2.5 — 2022-05-10
  southern Ontario, Canada
• M 2.7 — 2021-03-14
  19 km SW of Winchester, Canada
• M 2.9 — 2018-07-19
  17 km SW of Petawawa, Canada
• M 2.5 — 2017-10-06
  9 km SSE of Nepean, Canada