BRUNEL’S DOCKSIDE - Great Reading Adventure 2008: … · 8 Brunel 200:Brunel’s Dockside Brunel 200: ... John Cabot on his voyage to ... 2000 and it is once again one of the

BRUNEL’SDOCKSIDE The Brunel Mile and dockside walk

www.brunel200.com

WALKING GUIDE

Brunel 200: Brunel’s Dockside 3

2006 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth ofIsambard Kingdom Brunel, one of the most versatile,audacious and inspirational engineers of thenineteenth century.

Brunel 200 celebrates Brunel’s life,times and legacy with exhibitions,learning programmes, publications,walks and trails, heritage and artsprojects, competitions, debates,media programmes and talks inBristol, the South West and beyond.

Bristol is home to some of Brunel’sfinest work including the originalGreat Western Railway terminus atTemple Meads (now home to theBritish Empire and CommonwealthMuseum), the Clifton SuspensionBridge and the iron steamship ss Great Britain.

Brunel’s Dockside is one of a series of three guides to Bristolproduced as part of the Brunel 200programme. The other guides in theseries are:

• Victorian Bristol

• Brunel’s Clifton

The guides are linked to the BristolLegible City (BLC) way-findinginformation system, which includeswalking maps and on-street signagedesigned to improve people’sunderstanding and experience ofthe city. The BLC walking maps arefree of charge and are widelyavailable across the city. They canbe found at tourist informationcentres, visitor attractions, libraries,hotel receptions, travel arrivalpoints and many other sites.

See www.brunel200.com for full details of the Brunel 200programme.

Enjoy your exploration ofBrunel’s Bristol and the city’sdockside heritage!

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4 Brunel 200: Brunel’s Dockside Brunel 200: Brunel’s Dockside 5

Working for the Great WesternSteamship Company, he designedand constructed the ss GreatWestern and, even moresignificantly, the ss Great Britain.

Less well known is that between1832 and 1848, he was engaged as consulting engineer for theBristol Docks Company. He workedon a number of projects, the mostimportant being to devise aneffective means of dealing with therecurrent problem of silting in theharbour and the design of the SouthEntrance lock. The ss Great Britainis a familiar city landmark andpopular visitor destination, butthere are also substantial remainsof Brunel’s docks work that can

still be viewed today, as this guide reveals.

The WalkThis guide provides directions for an enjoyable walk from Brunel’sGWR station at Temple Meads tohis ss Great Britain with the optionof extending this on to UnderfallYard and the Brunel lock and swingbridge. Allow at least two hours tocomplete, not including time forvisiting attractions or stopping forrefreshments along the route.

The guide provides details of ferryboats that can be used for part ofthe tour and for the return trip toTemple Meads, if needed, as well asbus services, including the Bristol

Brunel’s DocksideAs well as building the Great Western Railway (GWR)and designing the Clifton Suspension Bridge, Brunelwas involved in two major shipbuilding enterprises inBristol that transformed ocean-going travel.

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City Sightseeing open-top tour bus,which is in operation from Easter toSeptember. The most convenientbus services for travelling acrossthe city are the numbers 8 and 9,operated by First, which runfrequently between Bristol TempleMeads station and the city centreand on to Clifton. These routes aremarked on the BLC map along withferry boat and tour bus stops.

1 Launch of the ss Great Britain(ss Great Britain Trust).


England’. Parts of the church dateback to the twelfth century. The Canynges, a Bristol mercantilefamily, were among the most high-profile of the church’s earlypatrons, paying for major buildingprojects in the fourteenth andfifteenth centuries. The CanyngesSociety, founded in 1848 to raisefunds for essential restoration work,is still active on the church’s behalfhaving been revived in 1928. Much of the nineteenth-centuryrestoration was carried out underthe direction of George Goodwin.The imposing spire, which wastruncated after being struck bylighting in 1446, reached its fullheight of 292 feet in 1872.

From the church, cross the bottomof Redcliff Hill and walk past the

The Brunel Mile forms thesouthern boundary ofBLC’s main pedestrianroute through and aroundBristol city centre.

It runs between Brunel’s GWRstation at Temple Meads and thewaterfront opposite the ss GreatBritain, Brunel’s pioneeringsteamship. Along the way it passesQueen Square, where Brunel servedas a special constable during theBristol Riots. The designated BrunelMile is marked in orange on the2006 edition of the BLC map, butthis guide provides a variation tothat route.

Brunel’s GWR station wascompleted in 1841 and is thoughtto be the first true railway terminus,with trains and people all inhabitingthe same integrated space beneath

a single roof. It ceased to be usedas a station in 1965 and is nowhome to the British Empire andCommonwealth Museum.Information on how the station was built, along with descriptionsof the other railway structures onthis Temple Meads site, is in theVictorian Bristol guide.

Cross Temple Gate at thepedestrian crossing directly outsidethe museum to the Express byHoliday Inn hotel opposite. Turn right and follow the roadround to your left along RedcliffeWay. Crossing to the left hand sideof the road, using the pedestriancrossing, walk along Redcliffe Wayto Chatterton House where theboy-poet, Thomas Chatterton, wasborn in 1752. Chatterton left Bristolfor London in April 1770, allegedlydisappointed by his lack ofrecognition at home, and diedshortly afterwards of arsenic

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2 Brunel’s GWR station in Bristol(photograph by Ian Blantern).3 & 4 Chatterton House and plaque(photographs by Martin Chainey).

THEWALK 2

poisoning. His early tragic end hasled to the romantic legend of theboy genius destroyed by a philistineworld, a legend enhanced by HenryWallis’ famous portrait of thepenniless young man lying dead in his London garret.

Continue up Redcliffe Way, towardsthe large, landscaped trafficroundabout, and cross the road atthe pedestrian crossing to view thebeautiful St Mary Redcliffe church(BLC map reference N7). QueenElizabeth, on a visit to Bristol in1574, is said to have declared thisto be the ‘fairest, goodliest andmost famous parish church in



Quaker’s Burial Ground to RedcliffeBridge. As you approach the bridge,to your left you will see RedcliffeWharf where the 1997reconstruction of the Matthew, the wooden craft used by explorerJohn Cabot on his voyage toNewfoundland in 1497, was built.Cross the bridge and enter QueenSquare (BLC map reference M6).

This elegant square, the largestoutside London, was named inhonour of Queen Anne when shevisited the city in 1702 and washome to some of Bristol’swealthiest merchants. The squarewas also the site of the Bristol Riotsof 1831, which stemmed fromdiscontent at the corruption of city officials and the defeat of theReform Bill. Brunel visited the citythe day after the riots started tosupervise work on the CliftonSuspension Bridge and, as thesituation worsened, was sworn in

as a special constable to stoplooting. Armed with a chair leg, it issaid that he actually arrested a manbut was tricked into handing himover to another rioter disguised asa constable. Many buildings wereburnt to the ground during therioting and business confidence inthe city plummeted, leading todelays in the construction ofBrunel’s bridge.

Although the destroyed buildingswere gradually replaced, the squarefailed to recover its former prestigeand during the 1940s suffered theindignity of having a dualcarriageway built across it. In the1990s, Bristol City Council initiated

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5, 6 & 7 The east nave of St Mary Redcliffe,with views from the Floating Harbour and of thesouth side (photographs by John Pickard).

8 Queen Square setts (photograph byStephen Morris).9 The statue of William III (photograph byStephen Morris).


plans to renovate the square,removing the dual carriageway,restoring gravel paths, digging uptarmac to reveal the original settsbeneath and planting maturesaplings to fill gaps between thetrees. The official re-opening of thesquare took place in September2000 and it is once again one of themost attractive public spaces in thecity. The equestrian statue in thecentre is of King William III in theguise of a Roman emperor.

Take time to promenade around thesquare then exit along the shortlane leading to Prince Street and,beyond, to Pero’s Bridge.

Alternate routes: Here you have a choice of destinations: continuethe Brunel Mile by crossing thebridge or turn left on thequayside, in the direction ofArnolfini, and start the DocksideWalk. You can pick up theDockside Walk later from the end of the Brunel Mile.

The Dockside Walk is describedlater in this guide. To continue onthe Brunel Mile cross St Augustine’sReach by Pero’s Bridge. This bridgewas designed by Eilis O’Connell andopened in 1999. The centre of the

bridge can be raised for watertraffic by means of hydraulic rams, with the large horn-shapedprotrusions acting as acounterbalance. The bridge isnamed after a young slave whocame to Bristol around 1783, died in 1798 and was owned by theBristol merchant John Pinney.

Bristol was once a thrivingcommercial port, one of the biggestand busiest in England, but by thelate-twentieth century the bustlingdocksides had fallen into disrepairas maritime trade moved to largerand more convenient facilities.

In recent years, the waterfront areahas been regenerated with a varietyof restaurants, bars, cafés andnightclubs, which are particularlybusy in the evening. Diverting fromthe Brunel Mile and walking uptowards Bordeaux Quay on yourright, you will come to theWatershed Media Centre, which ishoused in two converted Victorianwarehouses (BLC map referenceK5). Watershed has cinemas,exhibition space, a bar and café,and is a popular venue forconferences, festivals, workshopsand other special events.

Returning to the end of the bridgeand walking straight ahead, youwill enter Anchor Square where you

will find the At-Bristol complex.Bristol’s Tourist Information Centreis in the foyer of Wildwalk on theright. Explore-At-Bristol, at the farside of the square, was convertedfrom a reinforced-concrete railwaygoods shed. Explore is hosting amajor exhibition called The ForcesThat Made I K Brunel as part of theBrunel 200 celebrations. Walking tothe left of Explore will bring youinto Millennium Square where youwill find the planetarium(temporarily closed at the time of

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10 & 11 Pero’s Bridge by day and by night(Destination Bristol, photographs byGraham Flack).12 View of Millennium Square showing thewater sculpture, planetarium and south sideof Explore-At-Bristol (Destination Bristol).


The Dockside WalkAt Pero’s Bridge you had the optionto continue on the Brunel Mile or tostart the Dockside Walk.

To take the Dockside Walk, ratherthan crossing the bridge, turn leftand walk along the cobbled NarrowQuay, passing the Bristol YouthHostel and the stylish ArchitectureCentre, to reach Arnolfini (BLC mapreference K6). The building wasoriginally called Bush House andwas built in the early 1830s for theiron founders Acramans for


From the Amphitheatre, youhave a number of optionsavailable including:

• Retracing your steps and walkingback to Temple Meads orreturning to the start of theDockside Walk.

• Catching a ferry boat operated bythe Bristol Ferry Boat Company:depending on the service used,this will either take you all theway down to Hotwells and thenback to Bordeaux Quay or to thess Great Britain and then toTemple Quay, close to the walk’sstarting point at the train station.

• Walking back to Explore and outto Anchor Road to pick up anopen-top tour bus operated byCity Sightseeing.

• Walking out to Anchor Road, thenturning left and walking down toCapricorn Quay, just off HotwellsRoad, to take the Cross HarbourFerry to the ss Great Britain (this is also a good spot for taking aphotograph of the ship).

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13 Bristol’s Harbour Festival with Lloyds TSB offices and amphitheatre behind(Destination Bristol).14 Matilda, operated by the Bristol FerryBoat Company (Destination Bristol,photograph by Graham Flack).15 Strolling along Narrow Quay (DestinationBristol, photograph by Graham Flack).

writing this guide), William Pye’swater sculpture Aquarena andstatues of Cary Grant, WilliamTyndale and Thomas Chatterton. The square is particularly lively onsunny days with children turning theAquarena into an unofficial paddlingpool (BLC map reference H6).

Continue your walk bearing leftacross the square to bring you backat the waterfront. Turn right intothe Amphitheatre, which is setinside the broad crescent of theLloyds TSB offices. This area is usedfor open-air concerts and is a focalpoint for shore-side entertainmentduring the annual Bristol Harbour

Festival. The stone structure at thewater’s edge is the base of a late-eighteenth-century crane.

An extensive building programme is currently taking place on whatwill eventually be the official end of the Brunel Mile.


By travelling west, Cabot came notto the Orient but to Newfoundland.A tower built to commemorate hisvoyage was built on Brandon Hill in the late-nineteenth century and is described in the VictorianBristol guide.

From the statue, walk along thequay to Prince Street Bridge (aswing bridge) and cross to theBristol Industrial Museum onPrince’s Wharf (BLC map referenceK7). About half way along is the sitewhere Brunel’s oak-hulled paddlesteamer the ss Great Western waslaunched from Patterson’s shipyardin 1837. The Great Western had a

warehousing and administration. It was converted in 1975 to providethe Arnolfini arts centre withexhibition space, a restaurant, a cinema/performance space, a bookshop and offices, and hasrecently completed furtherrefurbishment and expansion.

Outside Arnolfini sits the statue ofJohn Cabot, the Genoese explorer,merchant, navigator andcartographer who set out fromBristol in search of the Far East.Cabot’s ships were fitted out byBristol merchants, including RobertThorne, founder of Bristol GrammarSchool, and were manned by Bristolseamen who already had experienceof venturing across the Atlantic inpursuit of fishing grounds.

successful career as a transatlanticliner and was later purchased by theRoyal Mail Steam Packet Company,operating out of Southampton onthe West Indies run. Bristol has along shipbuilding traditionproducing a variety of ocean-goingand coastal vessels. The term‘shipshape and Bristol fashion’refers to Bristol’s reputation forbuilding ships that were strong andseaworthy, and the need to stoweverything well to withstand thedifficult conditions created byBristol’s unusually high tidal rangein which the water level can drop as much as 12 metres at low tide.

The Industrial Museum, housed ina 1950s transit shed, contains over700 exhibits relating to Bristol’s

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16 Arnolfini (photograph by Jamie Woodley).17 Cabot’s statue with Pero’s Bridge in thebackground (Destination Bristol, photograph byGraham Parish).18 Launch of the Great Western from WilliamPatterson’s Yard, 19 July 1837, painting byArthur W Parsons, 1919 (Bristol’s Museums,Galleries and Archives).19 & 20 Electric cranes and the motor tug John King at the Industrial Museum (DestinationBristol, photographs by Graham Flack).

long and varied industrial past. Out on the wharf you can seetravelling electric cranes built bythe Bath company Stothert & Pitt,the Fairbairn steam crane, a steamrailway, two tugs and a fire-boat,all in working order and brought tolife on summer weekends.

loads of weekend visitors betweenthe museum and the ss Great Britain.

As you head in the direction of thess Great Britain you will see on theleft The Point, a triangular complexof modern apartment blockscompleted in 2001. Over to theright, on the other side of thewater, you have a view of the topof Cabot’s tower.

Meeting Point: for those whohave crossed by the Cross Harbour Ferry and are now joining the Dockside Walk.


Continue your walk along thewaterfront. Prince’s Wharf becomesWapping Wharf as you pass thesteam crane. The crane wascompleted in August 1878 and iscapable of lifting 35 tons. Prior to itbeing built, there had been nocrane in the docks capable of liftingmore than around three tons, aserious commercial disadvantagewhen Bristol was hoping to attractvessels with heavy loads. You willbe walking parallel to the docksidesteam railway where, during thesummer months, the locomotivesHenbury and Portbury pull carriage-

Brunel’s ss Great Britain, launchedin 1843 at Bristol’s Great WesternDockyard, where she now lies, setnew standards in engineering,reliability, speed and ocean-goingcomfort. She was the first iron-hulled, screw-propelled steamshipto cross the Atlantic. Between 1852and 1876, she made 32 voyages toAustralia, carrying emigrants, aswell as the England cricket team,and is thought to have transportedthe forebears of around 250,000modern-day Australians. For manyyears the ship was moored in theFalkland Islands and used forstorage, but she returned to Bristolin 1970 in an epic salvage operation

21 The Fairbairn steam crane with the IndustrialMuseum in the background (Destination Bristol,photograph by Graham Flack).22 The dockside steam railway (Bristol’sMuseums, Galleries and Archives).23 Boating scene in the Floating Harbour withview of The Point in the background (DestinationBristol, photograph by Graham Flack).

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and has been undergoing extensiveconservation work since 2001. In2005 construction of an innovativeglass sea was completed at theship’s water line, which providesthe roof to an airtight chamber toprevent any further corrosion of herhull. Visitors to the ship, in additionto enjoying the dockyard museumand exploring the ship’s cabins anddecks, can also descend beneaththe ‘sea’ for a close-up view of thehull and screw propeller. The ssGreat Britain is hosting a majorexhibition in its Maritime HeritageCentre called The Nine Lives of I KBrunel as part of the Brunel 200celebrations. The Matthew ismoored at the ss Great Britain whenin Bristol and can be incorporatedinto a visit to Brunel’s ship.

From the ss Great Britain, retraceyour steps and turn right to walk upGasferry Road, past the MaritimeHeritage Centre (BLC mapreference F7). You will soon reach,on your left, the offices of theaward-winning animation companyAardman, creators of Wallace andGromit. On the right, on the cornerof a currently derelict Victorianmalthouse, you will see a footpath.Do not be put off by the slightlyrun-down surroundings. This path

and residential developments ofBaltic Wharf. Continuing along the waterfront path towardsUnderfall Yard, pause outside The Cottage Inn and look acrossthe harbour up to the terraces ofClifton and the Leigh Woods towerof Brunel’s suspension bridge.

Walk on to Underfall Yard, whichhas close associations with Bruneland the development of the Bristoldocks (BLC map reference 7D).


will quickly bring you out to thewaterfront again. Walk along thepath towards Bristol Marina. Turnleft to walk alongside the Marina’swire fence, following the sign to the Marina Office, then turn right at the corner of the fence. The paththat will lead you down to theboats, water sports, sculptures

In the early nineteenth century, the engineer William Jessop wasengaged by the Bristol DockCompany to create a non-tidalFloating Harbour to combatcontinuing problems with shipsbeing grounded at low tide. Withhis system, which was completed in1809, water was trapped behind

24 & 25 The ss Great Britain and the Matthew (Destination Bristol, photographs by Graham Flack).26 Sailing boats near Baltic Wharf (DestinationBristol, photograph by Graham Flack).27 & 28 Views of Underfall Boatyard.

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lock gates so ships could remainfloating at all times. Part of theproject included building a dam atUnderfall Yard with a weir to allowsurplus water to flow into the NewCut, an excavation that by-passedthe Floating Harbour and joined theRiver Avon near Temple Meads.Brunel was called in at a later stageto deal with problems of silting.Among the measures he introducedwas the replacement of the damwith sluices that controlled the flowof water through the FloatingHarbour and allowed dredged mudto be washed away. These wererebuilt during the 1880s and arestill in nearly daily use today. A Brunel-designed dragboat forscraping mud away from the sidesof the harbour remained in

walk across the car park and turnleft along the waterside footpathnear a large anchor. You are nowwalking along one side of theCumberland Basin heading towardsthe Plimsoll Bridge (BLC mapreference B7). Once a month thebasin is drained, which can be adramatic sight. Walk under the left-hand arch of the bridge, around thespiral staircase and on to a grey,tubular girder bridge. Pause at themiddle and turn right to look acrossthe water. You are standing on areplica bridge crossing Brunel’s nowdisused 1838 South Entrance lock.Behind you are the tidal waters ofthe Avon Gorge. Cross to the man-made island, turn left and walk outto the furthest point for a view ofthe Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Turn round and walk back across theisland, this time keeping to the left-hand side, walking along one edgeof the 1873 Howard Lock, which isstill in operation. On the other side


operation until the early 1960s. Aninformation board at the entranceto the yard provides further detailsand you can see where the sluicesare housed just beyond this point.Most of the buildings andengineering installations you seewere constructed between 1880and 1890 under the direction ofJohn Ward Girdlestone.

Walk through to the other side ofthe yard, taking care as you go, asthis is a working area. At the gate isanother information board, this timegiving details of the engine house,which operates the CumberlandBasin pumping station locks, and the1858 hauling up slipway, which wasrecently restored to full workingorder. Turn left on leaving the yardto walk up to the road. Turn rightand walk to the end of the road.Ahead you will see a car park, withthe Nova Scotia Hotel off to yourright. Cross by the traffic islands,

of the water is Hotwells, a place thatonce attempted to rival Bath with itsspa facilities and which was also anarea for shipbuilding. Continuetowards the Plimsoll Bridge, thistime aiming for the other arch. You will walk past Brunel’s originalhand-powered tubular swingbridge, currently set upon thequayside, an innovative design that later informed his triumphantRoyal Albert Bridge at Saltash. Walk under the Plimsoll Bridge andreturn to the path by crossing theconcrete bridge to your right andwalking back towards UnderfallYard. The large redbrick structuresyou will see to your right are formertobacco warehouses, one of whichhas been converted to house theBristol Record Office and theCREATE Centre.

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29 Brunel’s lock during draining of theCumberland Basin (photograph by Antony Lyons).30 View to the Clifton Suspension Bridge (BristolFerry Boat Company).31 Swing bridge (photograph by Ross Floyd).

You now have a number ofoptions, including:

• Retracing your steps, perhapsbreaking the journey by pickingup the Cross Harbour Ferry atthe ss Great Britain, if you havenot previously taken this route.

• Catching either the Bristol FerryBoat Company’s Hotwells servicefrom the Nova Scotia or TheCottage stops, which will takeyou to top of St Augustine’sReach in the city centre, or theTemple Meads service from thess Great Britain, which will takeyou to Temple Quay, near to the train station.

• Joining a Bristol Packet citydocks tour or afternoon rivercruise from the stop near to thess Great Britain’s MaritimeHeritage Centre.

• Picking up the number 500 bus service operated by Bugler Coaches on CumberlandRoad, which will take you toTemple Meads (service does not run Sundays).

• Hopping on to the CitySightseeing open-top bus at the Baltic Wharf Caravan Park or ss Great Britain stop to jointheir city tour.

Brunel 200 is a partnership initiative initiated and managed by the Bristol Cultural DevelopmentPartnership (BCDP – Arts Council England South West, Bristol City Council, Business West). South Westactivities are being developed in partnership with Culture South West. Brunel 200 is part of ScienceCity Bristol.

Details of other supporters are on the Acknowledgements page of the websitewww.brunel200.com

Text by Melanie Kelly. The BLC team is planning an environmental upgrading of the Brunel Mile routewith high quality pathways, improved lighting, interpretative displays, increased tourist information,archaeological markers and arts projects. For further information and to provide letters of support forthe Brunel Mile initiative, contact: Tina Speake, Design Project Officer, City Centre Projects and UrbanDesign Team, Department of Environment, Transport and Leisure, Planning Services, Brunel House, St George’s Road, Bristol BS1 5UY Tel: (0117) 9222915.

Cover image credit: ss Great Britain photograph by Mandy Reynolds, courtesy of ss Great Britain Trust. Designed by: Qube Design Associates LtdPrinted by: Doveton Press


If you return to the city centre, youcan catch the number 8 bus fromCollege Green to Clifton and thesuggested starting point of Brunel’sClifton, a walk lasting approximatelyone and half hours. Alternativelyyou can explore some of Bristol’sVictorian architecture using theVictorian Bristol guide, which willtake you around St Michael’s Hill,West End, Old City and Temple.

We hope you enjoy exploringBristol. 32

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Websites for further information

St Mary Redcliffewww.stmaryredcliffe.co.uk

Watershed Media Centrewww.watershed.co.uk

At-Bristolwww.at-bristol.org.uk

The Architecture Centrewww.architecturecentre.co.uk

Arnolfini www.arnolfini.org.uk

Bristol Industrial Museumwww.bristol-city.gov.uk/ccm/content/Leisure-Culture/Museums-Galleries/bristols-industrial-museum.en

ss Great Britainwww.ssgreatbritain.org

The Matthewwww.matthew.co.uk

Underfall Boatyardwww.underfallboatyard.co.uk

Bristol Ferry Boat Companywww.bristolferryboat.co.uk(also operates the Cross Harbour Ferry service)

Bristol Packetwww.bristolpacket.co.uk

Bugler Coacheswww.buglercoaches.co.uk

City Sightseeingwww.bristolvisitor.co.uk

Major funders:

Key sponsors:

Education sponsors and funders:

Brunel 200 partners:

Media and marketing partners:

The Brunel Mile and dockside w

alkThe Bristol Legible City w

alking maps are free of charge and are w

idely available across the city.They can be found at tourist inform

ation centres, visitor attractions, libraries, hotel receptions,travel arrival points and m

any other sites. The route described in this guide is marked here in orange

on this scaled-down version of the m

ap.

Documents

BRUNEL’S DOCKSIDE - Great Reading Adventure 2008: … · 8 Brunel 200:Brunel’s Dockside Brunel 200: ... John Cabot on his voyage to ... 2000 and it is once again one of the