Skip to main content
Castle Green as it was 1930.

You can see this image ( in huge detail ) and over 600 others by registering for free on britainfromabove.org.uk yes, Its that dreadful day again 77 years on where we remember the first big air raid; SUNDAY 24th NOVEMBER 1940...........Now approaching the verge of living memory in its intact pre war state this aerial photo shows Bristol July 1930, a thriving medieval core shopping area ten years before WW2. The area in red is now Castle Park which contained 500 premises. this was the true heart of the old city until it was 80% destroyed in three huge air raids; 24th November 1940, 3rd January 1941 and Good Friday 1941. The 20% that survived and carried on trading were demolished between 1959 and 1969. So altogether we lost 18 acres of historic city streets.

Main sites of interest:.....1) The Dutch House on the corner of Wine St and High St. 2) Jones’s department store fronting Wine St and High St. 3) Baker & Baker Dept Store (retail section), wrapping around Wine St, the Cheese Market and Mary Le Port St. 4) Baker & Baker dept store (wholesale section), fronting Mary Le Port St and Bridge St. 5) Mary Le Port Church, with tower 72 feet to the battlements and south facing graveyard, surrounded by Buttermarket Passage into Bridge St. 6) The Scholastic stationers on the corner of High St and Bridge St. 7) Bridge St, with the south side 500 foot stepped terrace. Back of Bridge St faced the river. 8 ) The Bank Hotel, number 3 Bridge St. 9) St Peters Hospital 1402. Rebuilt 1612. 10) St Peters Church in Peter St, with 84 foot tower, the base being Norman. 11) Dolphin St, with St Peter’s Pump on the corner with Peter St. 12) The News Theatre, Peter St. 13) The Regent Cinema 1928, Castle St. 14) Little Peter St with Lakes Oyster Bar, The Bear and Rugged Staff and The Cat and Wheel on the corner with Castle Green. 15) Llewellyn and James Brass works, Castle Green and Cock and Bottle Lane, site of the great Castle Keep 1135-1656. 16) Castle Green, with 2 chapels facing each other. 17) Cock and Bottle Lane and the Star Inn. 18) Bristol Co-Op, Castle St also wrapping around Cock and Bottle Lane, Castle Green and Education Centre facing over Broadweir 19) Entrance to Castle Moat and Queen St bridge. 20) Marks and Spencer, wrapping around Castle St, Tower St and Castle Green. 21) Castle Green School 1887, and Upper, Middle and Lower Terrace and Hartland Place. 22) Tower St. 23) Boots the chemist, corner of Tower St and Castle St containing the vaulted entrance chamber to the castle’s great hall. 24) British Home Stores, facing Castle St and Tower Hill, with concrete raft over the castle moat. The huge 265 feet high chimney to the right belonged to the Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company Electricity Generating Station next to St Philips




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Just a Boy From Bristol

JUST A BOY FROM BRISTOL Chapter One Through the eyes of a child   On the 3rd September 1939 a war started that would change the course of history. It also denied millions of children across the world the opportunity for a normal, happy childhood. I know, because I was one of them. My father had re-enlisted in the Royal Navy as soon as the storm clouds of war had started to gather over Europe. He left my mother to bring up two young children alone, in poverty, and in what was a scary, changing world.  My mother was an incredibly beautiful young woman, but she was emotionally fragile. She was a wild, scatty, free spirited, capricious butterfly, who was constantly fluttering around, unable to settle. In many ways she was totally unsuited to the task in hand, but she was a mother, and she did what mothers do best. She cared for me; she did it well, and I will be eternally grateful to her. Mum, I thank you for teaching me how to live and how to love. I thank you for the journe
33 comments
Read more
Just a boy from Bristol PART TWO "We will have bluebells in the spring, and roses in the summer," said Mum when we moved into Halsbury Rd, and for the first time we had a garden of our very own. Sadly for Mum, whatever she planted, however hard she worked, the promised flowers refused to grow. When I wasn't playing football, Knock out Ginger or Releaster 1-2-3 in Eugene Street, i wandered off down town. I travelled far and wide, exploring all the many bombed buildin ... g sites which were all over Bristol. I admired, in close up, the beauty of the blue, purple, white and yellow clusters of Buddleia, Campion, Rosebay Willow herb, and bramble bushes; I sat, like a young king, astride piles of bricks and rubble; I closed my eyes and listened to the birdsong and the buzzing of the bees, and then I picked clumps of the colourful weeds, and rushed home to present them to my mother. She always smiled sadly, and kissed the alread
2 comments
Read more

The Bristol Blitz - The Good Friday raid

April 11th 1941  It was Good Friday, and Mum went shopping. She came back with some Easter biscuits. We could only afford two, so Mum and Mary had to share one. The biscuit was delicious, and it was my lucky day, because Mum wasn't very hungry, and she gave me most of her half. Father Doyle called in the afternoon. Mum told me to act as if I were still ill. She sat at the top of the bed with me, and told Father Doyle he should keep his distance, as what I had was very infectious. He stood by the door and told us a story about Easter. He told us about the Last Supper and Judas Iscariot. He told us about Pontius Pilate and Barabbas, and then he told us about Jesus Christ. How he was forced to wear a crown of thorns, and how he carried the heavy cross up the hill of Mount Calvary. He told us how Jesus was crucified and died. It was a cracking story and I was right into it. I was waiting anxiously for the happy ending, and I was quite disappointed when Mum interrupted to tell Fath
2 comments
Read more