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Broad Street, together with Wine Street, High Street and Corn Street is one of the four cross streets which met at the Bristol High Cross, the heart of Bristol, England when it was a walled mediaeval town. From this crossroads Broad Street runs downhill approximately 190m north-westwards to St John's Gate, Bristol's only surviving city gate Some nonsense

History


Broad Street, together with Small Street with which it runs in parallel, has historically been a focus for legal and administrative activities. The Old Council House, on the corner of Corn Street, was the principal site of Bristol's local government from the year dot until 1952;

The Tolzey Court, which was linked with the last active Pie Poudre Court at Old Market, was held thrice weekly at the Mayor's Tolzey.

The Guildhall
The earliest recorded mention of the Guildhall is in 1313, when it was the scene of a furious confrontation between the burgesses of Bristol and the military from Bristol Castle following the appointment of officers by King Edward II who sought to control their privileges. In the ensuing violence, twenty people were killed and several more injured; subsequently the King's Bailiffs were imprisoned and then driven out of town, and for two years after this a state of all-out rebellion existed between the people of Bristol and the King. In 1316 the town was besieged, surrendering after four days; the principal burgesses were imprisoned or sent to the Tower of London, and in December of that year the King granted a pardon in exchange for a fine of 4000 marks.

From 1381 until the reign of Henry VIII, Bristol's civic archive was held in a wooden chest, under lock and key, in The Guildhall. This archive included records of wills, ordinances, customs, liberties and deeds; as a system of record-keeping this became somewhat disorganised over the two centuries it operated but nonetheless formed the basis of a bureaucratic culture using written proof rather than memory. The Chronicle in Ricart's Kalendar attempted to codify much of this.

When William Worcestre surveyed Bristol in 1480, he simply described The Guildhall as 'the public courthouse' where the mayor sat for sessions of the peace. The mayor and sheriffs were elected in September each year in St George's Chapel, adjoining the Guildhall, which Worcestre described thus: 'A spacious chapel in honour of St George, founded by Richard Spicer, famous merchant and burgess of the said town, about the time of King Edward III or King Richard II; and there is a most worthy fraternity of merchants and seafarers of Bristol attached to the said chapel'.

A new front was built in advance of Queen Elizabeth I's visit in 1576. She entered Bristol through St John's Gate.

Shakespeare's company played at the Guildhall in 1597; it is not certain whether the Bard himself performed, but his company was paid a fee of 30 shillings (£1.50).

Judge Jeffreys held his Bloody Assize here in 1685, following the Monmouth Rebellion

The Chapel of St George was demolished in 1843, and the Guildhall rebuilt by R S Pope. A judge described the result as 'the perfection of inconvenience', and these lines were published expressing disappointment the new building: "They pulled down the old hall, because it was too small, And now they've built a new Guild Hall, which is no hall at all."

The Guildhall was largely rebuilt in 1960 following fire damage caused by wartime bombing.

Although originally separate, The Guildhall and The Assize Courts behind it on on Small Street came to be functionally one building.

The County Court moved to Redcliffe in 2011, leaving the Guildhall empty.

Grand Hotel
White Lion Hotel - earliest known example of an urban facade organised on classical principles

St Ewen's
The church of St Ewen was the smallest in Bristol (its aisle was just 66 feet long) and dated back to the 12th century. It had ceased to function as a church by 1787, and in 1790 its parish was united with that of Christ Church, just a few metres away across Broad Street; St Ewen's, which spent its last few years as an archive store, was demolished in 1791 and the site was built over when the Council House was rebuilt in 1828.

Broad Street today
The Guildhall and Bank of England buildings are due to be converted into a spa hotel.

Sites of interest

 * St John's Gate, the last surviving city gate.
 * Facade of Edward Everard printing works

Listed buildings
Broad Street has a wealth of listed buildings:

Broad Street uses a clockwise-consecutive house numbering system, starting with No.1 at the southern end of the east side, then running from south to north on the west side, and finally continuing from north to south on the east side.