Bristol, England — Cassidy Jester (’17) and I spent the day in Bristol as we await our trip to London tomorrow. We began a rainy, gray morning in the harbor region in museums and historical ships. We were turned away from the Cathedral because it was, naturally enough, Sunday morning. We did get a peek at the finery and costumes of people attending a special service for the Queen’s Pretend 90th Birthday. (Her real birthday being in April. Royals get an extra birthday of their choice, apparently.) From our diverse visits today, I want to present two short pictorials.
Above is an interior view of Temple Church in the Redcliffe district of Bristol, about a block from our hotel. The weather had much improved by the afternoon. Tim Palmer introduced me to this site last year. This building has been in ruins since the night of November 24, 1940.
German bombers, during the Bristol Blitz, dropped incendiary bombs on the roof of Temple Church, starting a fire that collapsed the roof, damaged the arcades, and destroyed all the wood furnishings. The building was effectively destroyed, but the ruins were not only left standing, they were reinforced against further collapse.
This is a view of the eastern wall showing the skeletal remains.
The surviving tower.
In an interesting twist, after the destruction, archaeologists were able to dig into the foundations of Temple Church. The tradition was that the original church building was round. Indeed, round outlines appeared, along with column remnants of a monastery built in the early 12th century by the Order of the Knights Templar. This was a Templar Church in their traditional style evoking the Temple in Jerusalem. Only nine of these round churches were built in England.
Another site that impressed me was Queen Square. In the center is a statue of King William III (William of Orange, “King Billy”, and the William of “William and Mary”). The square was lively today with a refugee relief concert.
This is Queen Square on a hot night in 1831. The statue of King Billy has lots of company. Queen Square was the epicenter of the 1831 Bristol Riot over the rejection of a Reform Bill by the House of Lords. At that time only 6000 men of the population of 104,000 were franchised. There was great violence and much destruction that had a deep effect on the nation. The Reform Act was passed the next year.
Two brief Bristol stories!
