Timeline of Bristol

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Bristol, England.

Prior to 16th century

 * 803 – St James' Priory founded.
 * ca.1000 – A Saxon settlement began to grow up at the junction of the rivers Frome and Avon.
 * 1009 – Market active.
 * 12th C. – College Green created.
 * 1129 – St James' Priory founded.
 * 1140 – St Augustine's Abbey founded.
 * 1141 – February: Stephen, King of England imprisoned in Bristol Castle after the Battle of Lincoln.
 * 1147 – Bristol fair active.
 * 1172 - Charter from Henry II.
 * 13th C. – Society of Merchant Venturers formed.
 * c.1220 – Bristol Cathedral construction begins.
 * c.1223 – Grey friary founded.
 * 1224 - Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany imprisoned in Bristol Castle under relatively comfortable conditions, almost to her death in 1241.
 * c.1228 – Blackfriars Dominican priory established.
 * 1290 – Jews expelled.
 * 1292 – Church of St Mary Redcliffe built.
 * 1295 – Parliamentary representation begins.
 * 1373 – Bristol becomes a county corporate; Redcliffe becomes part of Bristol.
 * 1470 – St Stephen's Church rebuilt.
 * c.1478–1479 – Ricart's Maiores Kalendar of Bristol started.
 * 1497 – May: Italian-born adventurer John Cabot sets sail on the ship Matthew (principally owned by Richard Amerike) looking for new lands to the west.
 * 1498 – May: Cabot sets sail on his second voyage to the Americas; he is never heard of again.

16th–17th centuries

 * 1504 – Chapel of the Three Kings of Cologne built.
 * 1542 – See of Bristol established.
 * 1552 – Society of Merchant Venturers chartered.
 * 1580 – Red Lodge Museum established.
 * 1595 – Merchant Venturers' School founded.
 * 17th C. – The trade in African slaves flourishes.
 * 1643 – July: Bristol in the English Civil War: Bristol taken by forces of Prince Rupert.
 * 1644 – Fort at St. Michael's Hill rebuilt.
 * 1645 – September: Bristol taken by forces of Cromwell.
 * 1656 – Bristol Castle demolished.
 * c. 1670 – King William Ale House built as a refuge for poor women.
 * 1691
 * Bristol Corporation of the Poor founded.
 * Almshouse established at St. Michael's Hill.

18th century

 * 1701 – Merchants' hall built.
 * 1702 – Bristol Post-Boy newspaper begins publication.
 * 1710 – Colston's Hospital founded.
 * 1708 – Unrest.
 * 1709 – St James's Square laid out.
 * 1712 – Custom House built.
 * 1717 – William Cossley bookseller in business.
 * 1725 – Farley's Bristol News-Paper begins publication.
 * 1727 – Dowry Square laid out.
 * 1729 – Walter Churchman patents his invention for making chocolate.
 * 1737 – Bristol Royal Infirmary opens.
 * 1738 – William Champion patents a process to distill zinc from calamine using charcoal in a smelter.
 * 1739 – New Room (Methodist chapel) built.
 * 1740 – Merchant Tailors' Guild Hall built.
 * 1741 – King Square laid out.
 * 1743 – The Exchange built.
 * 1747 – Bristol becomes Britain's busiest slave trading port.
 * 1753 – Economic unrest.
 * c.1759 – Joseph Fry begins chocolate manufacture.
 * 1766 – Theatre opens.
 * 1767 – Bristol Gazette newspaper begins publication.
 * 1768 – Bristol Bridge built.
 * 1769 – St Nicholas Church rebuilt.
 * 1770 – Bristol porcelain manufacture begins; Bristol blue glass is also first produced at about this date.
 * 1773 – Bristol Library Society founded.
 * 1779 – Stapleton Prison built to hold naval prisoners of war captured during the American Revolutionary War.
 * 1786
 * Infirmary opens.
 * Wills, Watkins & Co. open a tobacconists' shop which becomes W.D. & H.O. Wills.
 * 1788 – John Wesley gives speech against slavery.
 * c.1790 – Berkeley Square laid out.
 * 1791 – Christ Church with St Ewen and Equestrian Theatre built.
 * 1793 – 30 September: Bridge riot.
 * 1793–1813 – Stapleton prison used for French prisoners of war during the Napoleonic Wars.
 * 1796 – John Harvey & Sons, importers of Harvey's Bristol Cream sherry, founded.
 * 1799 – Pneumatic Institution established.

19th century

 * 1803 – Bristol Dock Company incorporated.
 * 1804 – Stapleton prison enlarged.
 * 1809 – Bristol Harbour formed.
 * 1810 – Commercial Rooms built.
 * 1821
 * 13 April: John Horwood hanged at the New Gaol for the murder of Eliza Balsom.
 * 28 May: Population enumerated as 52,889.
 * 1823
 * Chamber of Commerce founded.
 * Bristol Institution opens.
 * Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery established.
 * 1830 – New cattle market opens.
 * 1830s – Clifton becomes part of city.
 * 1831 – October: Queen Square riots – 4 rioters killed and 86 injured by cavalry charge in Queen Square.
 * 1832
 * 4 Queen Square rioters charged and hanged.
 * Bristol Mechanics' Institution building opens.
 * Holy Trinity Church built.
 * 1836 – Zoological Gardens open.
 * 1837 – Passage to St Vincent's Cave opens.
 * 1838 – 8 April: Paddle steamer SS Great Western (launched 1837) begins her first voyage to the United States.
 * 1840
 * 31 August: Bath–Bristol section of Great Western Railway begins operating and Bristol Temple Meads railway station opens.
 * Bristol and Clifton Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society instituted.
 * 1841
 * 14 June: First section of Bristol and Exeter Railway opens to Bridgwater.
 * 30 June: Great Western Railway opens throughout between London and Bristol; Bristol Temple Meads railway station substantially complete.
 * 1842
 * Synagogue opens in Park Row.
 * Buckingham Baptist Chapel built.
 * 1843 – 19 July: Iron steamship SS Great Britain launched.
 * 1844 – Bristol Academy for the Promotion of Fine Arts founded.
 * 1847 – Horfield Barracks completed.
 * 1850
 * Bristol, West of England and South Wales Permanent Building Society formed.
 * Pro-Cathedral of the Holy Apostles (Roman Catholic) consecrated.
 * Clifton Victoria Baths opened.
 * 1858
 * Western Daily Press newspaper begins publication.
 * Bristol General Hospital opens.
 * 1861 – Durdham Down and Clifton Down rights acquired.
 * 1862
 * Bristol Naturalists' Society established.
 * Clifton College opens.
 * 1864
 * Clifton Suspension Bridge opens.
 * Avonside Engine Company in business.
 * 1865
 * Bristol and West of England Amateur Photographic Association formed.
 * Industrial Exhibition held.
 * Daily Bristol Times and Mirror newspaper in publication.
 * 1867 – Bristol Beacon concert hall opens as Colston Hall.
 * 1870 – Gloucestershire County Cricket Club formed.
 * 1871 – Bristol Museum and Library established.
 * 1872 – Bristol Harbour Railway opened.
 * 1873 – Bristol Trades Council founded.
 * 1875 – Bristol Tramways (horse-drawn) begin operation.
 * 1876
 * University College, Bristol opens.
 * The Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society founded.
 * 1877 – Avonmouth dock opens.
 * 1884 – Clifton Antiquarian Club founded.
 * 1887
 * 1 October: Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company formed by merger of the Bristol Tramways Company and the Bristol Cab Company and begins a horse-bus service to Clifton.
 * Bristol Camera Society established.
 * Bristol Home for Lost and Starving Dogs opens.
 * 1889
 * Labour strike.
 * Bristol Choral Society founded.
 * March: Flood.
 * 1892 – Labour strike.
 * 1893 – Brazil, Straker & Co (motor vehicle manufacturers) in business.
 * 1895 – Bristol Tramways begin operating with electric traction.
 * 1898 – Cabot Tower built on Brandon Hill.
 * 1899 – The chief magistrate becomes a lord mayor.

20th century

 * 1901
 * Imperial Direct West India Mail Service begins operating to Jamaica.
 * Population: 328,945.
 * Area of city: 11,705 acres.
 * 1904
 * Shirehampton becomes part of city.
 * Area of city: 17,004 acres.
 * 1905 – Bristol Kyrle Society founded.
 * 1906
 * January: Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company introduces its first motor buses.
 * 4 October: Great Western Railway opens Bristol Harbour Extension Railway and Canon's Marsh goods branch.
 * Bristol Central Library opened.
 * 1908 – Royal Edward Dock opens at Avonmouth.
 * 1909 – University of Bristol receives royal charter.
 * 1910 – British and Colonial Aeroplane Company in business.
 * 1912 – Bristol Hippodrome opens.
 * 1914 – 29 June: International Exhibition opens at the "White City", Ashton Gate, becoming a military depot soon after the outbreak of war.
 * 1916
 * August: First tanks shipped to France from Avonmouth.
 * 9 September: Bristol F.2 Fighter aircraft first flies.
 * 1926 – Hanham Colliery closes.
 * 1929 – Bristol Record Society founded.
 * 1930 – Whitchurch Airport begins operating.
 * 1932
 * 23 February: Old Market riot.
 * 7 March: Bristol Evening Post newspaper begins publication.
 * 1933
 * Gaiety Cinema opens.
 * Ribena first manufactured, by H. W. Carter.
 * 1934 – 18 September: BBC Bristol Studios open.
 * 1938 – Ritz Cinema opens.
 * 1940 – 2 November: Bristol Blitz (aerial bombing by German forces) begins.
 * 1941 – 11 April: Bristol Tramways abandoned due to bomb damage to its electric power supply.
 * 1944 – 15 May: Bristol Blitz ends.
 * 1945 – Bristol Cars in business.
 * 1946 – Bristol Old Vic theatre company and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School established.
 * 1956 – 17 April: Chew Valley Lake (1200 acre) in Somerset is inaugurated as a reservoir for the Bristol area by the Queen.
 * 1957 – Bristol Airport opens.
 * 1958 – Bristol bus station opens.
 * 1959 – Bristol Siddeley aero engine manufacturer in business.
 * 1963 – 30 April: Bristol Bus Boycott.
 * 1968 – World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association headquartered in city.
 * 1969 – 9 April: British prototype Concorde airliner first flies from Filton.
 * 1970
 * 5 July: SS Great Britain returns to Bristol.
 * 4 September: BBC Radio Bristol begins broadcasting.
 * Purdown BT Tower, for telecommunications and a radio repeater, is built.
 * Bristol Polytechnic established from Merchant Venturers Technical College.
 * 1972 – 1 May: Bristol Parkway railway station opens.
 * 1973 – 29 June: Clifton Cathedral (Roman Catholic) consecrated.
 * 1974
 * 1 April: Bristol becomes part of the county of Avon
 * May: Avonmouth Bridge opens in Shirehampton.
 * c. July: Ashton Court Festival begins.
 * 1977 – Gay Pride begins.
 * 1978
 * Royal Portbury Dock opens.
 * Castle Park laid out.
 * Bristol Gay Centre founded.
 * 1980 – 2 April: St. Pauls riot.
 * 1984
 * 1 May: Old Profanity Showboat opens.
 * Bristol Community Church organised.
 * 1986 – Show of Strength Theatre Company formed.
 * 1991 – 27 January: Following its purchase by the Chiltern Radio Group, Bristol station FTP is replaced by Galaxy Radio.
 * 1992
 * 16 July: Hartcliffe riot.
 * University of the West of England granted university status.
 * 1996
 * 1 April: County of Avon abolished; Bristol once again becomes both a city and a county.
 * 24–27 May: First International Festival of the Sea held in and around the Harbour; replica 15th-century ship Matthew dedicated.
 * 19 July: MoD Abbey Wood opened at Filton.
 * City of Bristol College established by merger of Brunel College and South Bristol College.
 * 1998 – Tobacco Factory Theatre established.
 * 2000 – Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory theatre company founded.

21st century

 * 2001 – Bristol Royal Hospital for Children building opens.
 * 2003 – Plain Clothes Theatre Productions formed.
 * 2004 – Bristol Shakespeare Festival begins.
 * 2006 – Redland Green School built.
 * 2007 – 26–27 May: Dot to Dot Festival first held in Bristol.
 * 2009 – The Bottle Yard Studios open as a television and film production facility.
 * 2010 – Brunel Institute opens.
 * 2011
 * 21 April: Stokes Croft riot, including an attack on a locally controversial newly opened Tesco store.
 * Bristol becomes a "city of sanctuary" for refugees.
 * 2012 – 19 November: Architect George Ferguson takes office as the first elected Mayor of Bristol.
 * 2020
 * 10 February: Councillors reject a proposed expansion of Bristol Airport, by 18 votes to seven, on the grounds that it would exacerbate climate change, damage the health of local people, and harm flora and fauna.
 * 7 June: The 1895 statue of Edward Colston, a 17th-century merchant, slave trader, MP and philanthropist, is pulled down by anti-racism protesters.
 * 2 December: COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom: Bristol enters Tier 3, the strictest level of restriction.
 * 3 December: An explosion at a waste water treatment works in Avonmouth kills 4.
 * 2022 – 4 September: Bristol Zoo closes at its Clifton site.

1800s–1820s

 * v.2
 * v.2
 * v.2
 * v.2
 * v.2
 * v.2
 * v.2
 * v.2

1850s–1890s

 * v.1: Civil history
 * v.2: Ecclesiastical history
 * v.3: Civil and Modern History
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 * v.1: Civil history
 * v.2: Ecclesiastical history
 * v.3: Civil and Modern History
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 * v.1: Civil history
 * v.2: Ecclesiastical history
 * v.3: Civil and Modern History
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 * v.3: Civil and Modern History
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Published in the 20th century

 * (articles reprinted from The Bristol Times and Mirror)
 * (articles reprinted from The Bristol Times and Mirror)
 * (articles reprinted from The Bristol Times and Mirror)