Bristol Castle
Location, Location, Location
The original Bristol Castle was a large motte-and-bailey, built by Geoffrey of Mowbray on the orders of William the Conqueror. It was located on on a narrow strip of land between the Frome and the Avon, just to the East of the Saxon settlement of Brycgstow. This meant that when a moat was dug around the castle, the town and castle became nearly entirely surrounded by water which made it very easy to defend.
A Large Fortress
As many Norman timber castles were being replaced by stone keeps, Robert of Gloucester made no exception when it came to Bristol’s. Massive stone walls with many towers surrounded 30 acres of land, making Bristol Castle one of the largest castles ever built in England, twice the size of Caernarfon Castle. A great stone keep, stables, a chapel, watergate, banqueting hall, sally port and more were included.
Family Problems - The Anarchy
During the early-mid 1100s people were unsure on who should be monarch after Henry I as his only legitimate son and heir William had drowned in 1120. After this, Henry wanted his legitimate daughter Matilda to take the throne and made the clergy swear that she would succeed him. Unfortunately for them both, when Henry died his nephew Stephen of Blois managed to get himself crowned king. Robert of Gloucester - Matilda’s half-brother and Henry I's eldest son - used Bristol Castle as a rallying point for rebels in England who believed Matilda should be queen. Stephen found it impractical to try and attack Bristol, finding it to be impregnable. Eventually as the war went on, Stephen ended up being captured and as a result was imprisoned at Bristol Castle. Later that same year, just as Matilda was reaching a point where it looked like she’d triumph, Robert was captured by the enemy. The prisoners were swapped, the war went on and Stephen remained king. Robert died at Bristol Castle in 1147. In 1153 Matilda's son Henry invaded, his army meeting Stephen's, though neither side were keen on fighting. When Stephen's son died suddenly, Stephen and Henry agreed to a treaty which recognised Henry as Stephen's heir, meaning when Stephen died in 1154 Matilda’s son became Henry II. The war was over.
A Revolting Situation
In 1173, three of Henry II’s sons, his wife and a group of rebels decided to revolt. His eldest son Henry was angered by his father bequeathing 3 castles - which he would eventually have inherited - to a different son John. The rebellion was quashed after 18 months. William 2nd Earl of Gloucester (Robert's son) ended up surrendering Bristol Castle to the King after falling under suspicion of supporting the rebellion.
Bristol Castle c.1310
By 1540, the castle had begun falling into a state of neglect, many parts being described as being “on the point of collapse”. As the City had no control over the castle which was crown property, it became a place for criminals and law-breakers to hide-out. The City didn’t like the situation and as a result managed to buy the castle site in 1630.
Changing Hands - The English Civil War
Before the City had had a chance to redevelop the site, the English Civil War broke out. Parliamentarians and Royalists (known as Roundheads and Cavaliers respectively) fought over who should rule Britain, as well as how.
The Parliamentarians, lead by Oliver Cromwell, fought against Charles I, believing that Parliament should have supreme authority over the realm, whereas the Cavaliers believed in 'absolute monarchy' and the divine right of kings where a monarch is in complete control, that the monarch's right to rule was God-given. The castle had to be refortified.
Bristol sided with the Roundheads, which led to Bristol being attacked by the Cavaliers. Just before Bristol was attacked in 1643, two wealthy merchants Robert Yeamans and George Boucher were hanged, drawn and quartered in Wine Street as traitors for secretly plotting to let Royalist forces into the city. On the 26th July 1643, Prince Rupert led 15,000 men to attack the city with its 2000 defenders, which included many volunteer Bristol citizens. The Royalist army lost around a third of its men in storming an artillery fort. The city was surrendered after defences were breached and eight ships were captured. The city was turned into a Royalist factory, producing arms for their soldiers. The Royalist fleet made Bristol its new base.
On the 23rd August 1645, to get Bristol back, the Parliamentarian ‘New Model Army’ started its siege of Bristol, completely surrounding it meaning nothing and no-one could leave or enter the city. Prince Rupert accepted an offer of surrender on the 10th September realising his small group of defenders would be no match for the surrounding army. King Charles, angered by the loss of Bristol ordered Rupert to leave England for good.
From Rags to Ramparts to Rubble
Although Bristol Castle had been recently refortified for the defence of the city during the English Civil War, Cromwell decided to demolish the entire site with an Act of Parliament which was passed in 1656. The City were more than happy to oblige and went about with their original plan of demolishing and redeveloping the site. Little survived. To help make the process fast, every citizen in Bristol had to donate a day of work every week until the process had finished.
The White City
1914 was the year for the Bristol International Exhibition. After 2 years of planning, 30 acres of field in Bower-Ashton found itself covered in plasterboard exhibition halls, pavilions, figure-of-eight roller coaster, egyptian gardens, colonnade, hall of mirrors, rifle-range, lions and a replica of Bristol Castle to hold military exhibits. Construction only started 2 months before the event was supposed to start, with 2,000 workers per week working on the site. With an estimated 2 million people visiting the event, a lot of money was spent on it: total costs were supposed to be £145,966 (£17 million nowadays) and a lot of profit was supposed to be made. As the buildings were clad in plasterboard and white mouldings, the area became known as the 'White City'.
It opened on the 28th May but was closed after only 8 days as very few visited and bought tickets. It was reopened after more money was raised only for it to close for good after the First World War was declared on the 4th August 1914.
Bombing and Building (and lack thereof)
Up to the Second World War a few fragments of the old castle had survived, with old walls and stonework being incorporated into newer buildings. An original octagonal tower on one of the walls had managed to survive until 1927 when it was torn down. A massive swathe of Bristol was hit during the Bristol Blitz; the museum, art gallery, ten churches, eight schools, factories and at least 10,000 houses and more were all damaged by bombing. The area now known as Castle Park is an area where bombing was very thorough. The entire site used to be covered in houses, shops and busy streets but in one night the entire area was destroyed and the site was left empty.
Going Underground
One of the few groups of people who benefitted from the devastation of the Blitz were archaeologists who got to uncover what used to be part of the centre of an important medieval city and its castle. One discovery was that of a 'sally port' which you can still see today. The sally port would have been used as a secret escape route in case of a siege, made when medieval workers c.1138 cut a staircase downwards through 33 feet of solid sandstone. You can’t go down it but you can see the entrance. You can also see a great picture of the 1989 excavation of the castle keep below.
A Feast for the Eyes
To the lower-eastern end of the park, you can see a small building that currently isn't being used for anything: this is the castle vaults which are Grade II listed. They form remnants of a banqueting hall, the entrance to the castle's long-gone great hall and date from the 1200s-1300s. They were restored in 1974 and were once used as a tobacconist shop. Unfortunately, contrary to the title of this paragraph, you cannot feast your eyes on the interior other than on special open days, however, you can see the interior below.
Can't Keep Up
Finally, we have the ruins of the castle keep. Located in the upper-middle of the park, there isn’t that much to see nowadays but you can get an idea about the scale of the place and how thick the walls were. The best place to view them is from the wooden fence just above them. Over the last couple of decades you’ve been able to see less and less as the ground has been levelled out, burying the ruins with soil and grass; you can see a comparison between what you could see in 2008 and now in 2020.
