Sights in Bristol
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SS Great Britain
Moored on the city's historic dry dock is one of the great monuments to Bristol's industrial past. In 1843 Brunel designed the SS Great Britain, the second of his trio of great transatlantic steamers, preceded by the Great Western in 1837 and followed by the monumental Great Eastern in 1852. In many ways the Great Britain was the most groundbreaking; the first luxury Atlantic liner constructed entirely from wrought iron and powered by the revolutionary system of screw propulsion.
But as with many of Brunel's designs, she was ahead of her time. Huge running costs meant the ship ran at a massive loss, and when she was accidentally grounded off Dundrum Bay in Ireland in 1846…
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British Empire & Commonwealth Museum
Bristol's slave-trading past is thoughtfully explored at the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum. Dealing with the history and consequences of British colonial conquest, the 16 galleries range over 500 years of British trade, exploration and exploitation, and while there's a conscious attempt at perspective, it's hard not to be moved by the stories of subjugation that underpinned Britain's imperial rise.
Highlights include sepia-toned films from the Empire's heyday and a collection of outfits worn by colonial administrators, Indian viceroys and tribal chiefs. Breaking the Chains, marking the bicentenary of the Abolition of Slavery Act in 1807, interweaves film, music and…
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Clifton Suspension Bridge
Clifton's most famous (and photographed) landmark is another Brunel masterpiece, the 76m-high Clifton Suspension Bridge, which spans the Avon Gorge over to Leigh Woods in northern Somerset. It's a graceful sight, and one of Britain's most elegant bridges. Though construction work began in 1836, Brunel died before the bridge's completion in 1864.
It was designed to carry light horse-drawn traffic and foot passengers, but these days around 12,000 motor vehicles cross it daily - testament to the quality of Brunel's original design. It's also a magnet for stunt artists and suicides; in 1885 Sarah Ann Hedley jumped from the bridge after a lovers' tiff, but her voluminous petti…
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Blaise Castle House Museum
Surrounded by tree-filled parkland in the northern suburb of Henbury, Blaise Castle House Museum offers a fascinating insight into Bristol's changing social history. The elegant manor house, built for merchant and banker John Harford between 1796 and 1798, contains a quirky collection of vintage toys (from spinning tops to model trains.
As well as a 'Cabinet of Curiosities', whose contents include the scrimshawed arm-bone of a Bristol rioter to a 'scold's bridle' used to punish recalcitrant wives.
Bus 40/40A (45 minutes, every 15 minutes) passes the castle from Colston Ave; bus 1 (20 minutes, every 10 minutes) travels from Temple Meads via the city centre.
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Georgian House
For a taste of the aristocratic high life once enjoyed by Bristol's merchants, head for the 18th-century Georgian House. This stunning six-storeyed mansion was the home of former sugar merchant John Pinney, along with his family and his slave Pero (after whom Pero's Bridge is named). The house is magnificently preserved, with a booklined study, sitting parlours, several Georgian-themed bedrooms and the original library containing the Pinney family Bible.
But the true heart of the house is the basement kitchen, complete with jelly moulds, spice boxes and a roasting-spit big enough to roast an ox.
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St Mary Redcliffe
Described as 'the fairest, goodliest and most famous parish church in England' by Queen Elizabeth I, St Mary Redcliffe is a stunning piece of perpendicular architecture with a soaring 89m-high spire, a grand hexagonal porch that easily outdoes Bristol cathedral in splendour, and a vaulted ceiling decorated with fine gilt bosses. The 14th-century south porch is carved with intricate birds and animals.
At the entrance to the America Chapel there is a whale rib presented to the church by John Cabot as a souvenir of his pioneering trip to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in 1497.
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Bristol Cathedral
Originally founded as the church of an Augustinian monastery in 1140, Bristol Cathedral has a fine Norman chapter house and gate, while the attractive chapels have eccentric carvings and impressive heraldic glass. Although much of the nave and the west towers date from the 19th century, the 14th-century choir has fascinating misericords depicting apes in hell, quarrelling couples and dancing bears.
The south transept shelters a rare Saxon carving of the 'Harrowing of Hell', discovered under the chapter-house floor after a 19th-century fire.
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Red Lodge
Arguably the southwest's finest slice of Elizabethan architecture. It was built in 1590, remodelled in 1730, and bears the hallmarks of Elizabethan, Stuart and Georgian architects. Originally built to accompany a great house that stood on the site of the Colston Hall, the lodge is an architectural feast, packed with wood carvings, original cornicing and delicate plasterwork.
A Tudor 'knot-garden' and a fabulous Oak Room have hardly changed since Elizabethan builders first pinned up the panelling.
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City Museum & Art Gallery
Housed in a stunning Edwardian building near the university. There's a collection of British and French art on the 1st floor, along with galleries dedicated to ceramics and decorative arts. Look out for the 'Bristol Boxkite' above reception, a pioneering canvas aeroplane built in Bristol and made famous in the 1965 film Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines. On the ground floor is the archaeological, geological and natural history wings, as well as the refurbished Egyptian Gallery.
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Explore-At-Bristol
On Bristol's revived harbourside is one of the country's leading science centres, Explore-At-Bristol. It's crammed with hundreds of hands-on exhibits demonstrating the everyday applications of science, with zones spanning ingenious inventions, optical illusions, outer-space technology and the human brain. Strum on a virtual harp, freeze your shadow, become a virtual sperm or journey across the solar system in the amazing domed Planetarium.
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Bristol Zoo
In a lovely spot on Clifton Hill, Bristol Zoo is one of the country's finest. Highlights include an under-water gallery for viewing seals and penguins, a huge open-air aviary, a gorilla island, a reptile house and the Twilight World, populated by bizarre beasties such as two-toed sloths and naked mole rats. There's also a newly opened Monkey Jungle, with a forested enclosure of red-ruffed lemurs, lion-tailed macaques and howler monkeys.
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Cabot Tower
Built in 1897 to commemorate four hundred years since Cabot's voyage to Newfoundland, the 150m-high Cabot Tower stands in the small park on Brandon Hill and can be seen from across the city. Built in red sandstone and pale-cream Bath stone, the tower offers wonderful views from the top of its spiral staircase, but be warned - it's a long, puff-powered climb to the top.
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Maritime Heritage Centre
The Maritime Heritage Centre houses various exhibits relating to the SS Great Britain and her illustrious history. East along the river is Prince's Wharf, formerly the site of Bristol's main dock and the city's Industrial Museum (currently being redeveloped into a new Museum of Bristol).
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Pero's Bridge
Look out for Pero's Bridge, which spans the river across to the Arnolfini Arts Centre, and was named after the African-born slave who served the Bristolian merchant John Pinney. On nearby Millennium Sq is a statue to Cary Grant, aka Brizzle boy Archibald Leach.
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Camera Obscura
The grassy parks of Clifton Down and Durdham Down (locally known as The Downs) make a fine picnic spot. Nearby, a scruffy observatory houses England's only Camera Obscura , which offers incredible views of the suspension bridge.
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Arnolfini Arts Centre
In a huge red-brick warehouse near Pero's Bridge is the Arnolfini Arts Centre , Bristol's lively contemporary arts centre. Entry to exhibitions is free, but you'll have to pay for music events, screenings or dance performances.
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Spike Island
Culture vultures can visit Spike Island, a centre for contemporary visual arts that's recently reopened after an around £3 million revamp, with artists' studios, a light-drenched gallery and a great café.
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Ashton Court Estate
The huge Ashton Court Estate is Bristol's 'green lung', with 345 hectares of woods, trails and public parkland. It's also the venue for many summer events, including the annual International Balloon Fiesta.
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