Bristol's Shapeshifting History

A Bristol communities and  Myers-Insole Local Learning CIC  collaboration made possible with support from  Bristol Ideas ,  University of the West of England ,  Bristol Libraries  and the  National Lottery Heritage Fund .

This project was part of a city wide initiative coordinated by Bristol Ideas to celebrate 650 years of Bristol as an independent county.

Local Learning hugely enjoyed co-creating this atlas with communities across the County of Bristol telling their own stories and celebrating how a group of unique neighbourhoods have come together to create an overarching city identity today. Through intergenerational events, shared activities and many conversations, we explored themes from the post-First World War 'garden suburb' vision to universal health and wellbeing, from the Industrial Revolution to the introduction of a comprehensive education system, and from Anglo-German friendships forged in the wake of the Second World War to twinning with places across the World.

This community atlas charts the 650 year old story of the County of Bristol and its growth as farms and villages, fields and woodland are swallowed up to reveal the whole city we see today.

Bristol’s shifting boundaries have shaped each section of the atlas, shaped the growing city and shaped what it is to be Bristolian. Many places in the surrounding countryside in 1373 pre-existed the town of Bristol. Villages that are now part of the city suburbs like Henbury, Westbury-on-Trym, Bedminster, Brislington and Bishopsworth now contribute to the overall identity of the place.

Every community has its stories, but the atlas cannot include every neighbourhood that now forms this complete city identity. It focuses on the community narratives that best reflect a particular shift in time and place.

This is not always chronological; Hillfields was created in 1919/20, though the land on which it stands became part of the city and county in 1897.

It is not always geographical; the global conflicts of the 20 ^th  century have also significantly impacted Bristol’s landscape.

And sometimes it goes beyond Bristol; the final section of the atlas shows the international city connections that Bristol has developed since 1947 through the twinning movement.

As you scroll through this story, the interactive maps of Bristol show the modern city with each successive boundary shown as a coloured outline.

The River Avon has always been a defining feature of Bristol, bringing goods in and out of the town on the rhythm of the tides. As ocean liners and seafaring vessels increased in size, making it more difficult for the ships to navigate the challenging route into the city centre docks, Avonmouth became the main port of call for Bristol and the railway an essential connection, transporting goods to the rest of the city.  [1] 

Local residents shared memories of the docks and railway with pupils from Avonmouth Primary School and UWE students. Together with Platform,  [2]  the children took a return trip to Bristol Temple Meads on the Severn Beach Railway line, creating poetry and artwork that captured past and present views from a railway carriage.  [3] 

 [1]  Avonmouth Dock was created in 1877 by the Bristol Port and Channel Company. The docks and its village were connected to Bristol by the railway, but did not join the city until the 1897 boundary extension.

 [2]  Platform is an award-winning rail education scheme that works with schools to empower young people in accessing the railways.

 [3]  Children’s poetry was inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s From a Railway Carriage.

The final boundary extension in 1951, like almost all of those that had gone before, was to provide land for the creation of new homes. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the whole country was facing a housing crisis. In Bristol, this was partly due to the bombing, but also because of the ever-increasing population.

Hundreds of new homes on the edge of the city, below the Dundry slopes formed the new suburbs of Hartcliffe and Withywood. Building began in the 1950s shortly after the introduction of the 1944 Education Act, which aimed to address the inequalities in the education system from before the war by abolishing fees for state secondary schools and providing free nursery schools.

Parents and carers at Hartcliffe Nursery School shared their memories of growing up in the neighbourhood and the importance of the nursery with UWE students. These collected stories informed 1950s style wallpaper created by community participants at Art-ease (a weekly creative health session provided by CreativeShift in partnership with Hartcliffe and Withywood Community Partnership at Symes Community Building) who chatted together and shared their own memories and stories about Hartcliffe and Withywood.

I live in the same house where my grandfather lived when he was one of the first people to move to the area. He planted the trees that are still outside the house today.

Curfew was the time at which the street lights turned on.

Mr Moss’s hardware store was next to the bakery. He used to cut hair as well, though he would only do one style; short back and sides.

The net curtains had to be absolutely white and all matching.

Mum said the best photo she had of my brother was when he made it into the local newspaper for bunking off school.

Didn’t have to struggle with bringing the Silver Cross prams into shops, they were just left outside.

A seamstress used to make dungarees for all the nursery children.

They used to do pantomines at the nursery. One of us dressed up as Buzby from BT.

Children used to sleep outside on camp beds in any weather, under a veranda.

I got my qualifications from Windsor College, Clifton, and had to take my mother to the interview.

Children were bathed in the morning at nursery.

CB Radio was one of the only ways of receiving news from the outside world.

Food was fresh and nothing was from a packet.

‘Holiday’ meant a bus day trip from Hartcliffe to Weston-Super-Mare.

Bristol’s shapeshifting ceased in 1951, its permanent form shaped by the terms of the Corporation Act, forbidding further expansion into the neighbouring counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset. Any future homes would need to be built within the existing boundary of the City and County of Bristol.

For a short time, between 1974 and 1996, the city became a district of the County of Avon and today it is part of the West of England Combined Authority (WECA). The Bristol postcode extends north as far as Thornbury, south to the village of Wedmore in Somerset, east to Keynsham and west to include Weston-super-Mare. People travel from the surrounding counties to work in the city and Bristolian children attend schools on either side of this fluid border.

Bristol has a presence and reach beyond its modern boundaries and in an increasingly digital world, physical boundaries are becoming blurred and virtually irrelevant. From 2024, redefined constituencies increased the number of Bristol MPs to five. The newly created Bristol North East constituency straddles both the counties of Bristol and South Gloucestershire. The electorate returned a Member to Parliament who will need to promote the interests of Bristol and beyond.

Bristol has played an important historical role in promoting world peace, reconciliation and development. Through seven twinning partnerships, the people of Bristol continue to support educational, cultural, social and commercial initiatives around the world.

To better understand the significance of these relationships, representatives from each of the seven twinning associations came together at City Hall to exchange thoughts and insights about these friendships with UWE History and Photography students.

“It has always amazed me to remember that the people in Bristol who were recovering from a devastating war with the city in ruins and having to live with rationing, still retained their humanity, solidarity and compassion and sent aid packages to the children of Hannover in 1947 who had no shoes to go to school in. They included chocolate for them even though it was hard to get in Bristol. In exchange, our Hannover friends said, “We have nothing, but we can share our music” and they sent choirs and orchestras to play in Bristol churches.” Alix Hughes, first person to have overall responsibility for Bristol International Twinnings, 1992 - 2022

I met up with Max via Tours Angouleme after being out of touch since 1949, Bordeaux, 1997

With my pocket money I bought a packet of Gauloises Bleu cigarettes and a box of matches, Bordeaux, 1962

We were much more independent. Age 14, went to Germany on my own – on the ferry, on the train, Hannover, 1956

The two youth groups played a football match behind the Haud der Jugend in Hannover. This was one month after the World Cup final at Wembley. Our result was a diplomatic 2-2 draw, Hannover, 1966

We stayed at a ‘hotel’ owned by a Contessa, a fabulous place, wonderful hospitality and all the furniture was for sale! Including the two four poster beds in our room! Oporto, 1986

Long standing commitment in a time of great change, Oporto, 1993

[The twinning] has meant that Bristol was very much a supporter in its journey from a Soviet city to an independent capital, Tbilisi, 1990s

I was made ‘First Guardian of the City of Tbilisi’. The British ambassador’s commented that was the first time we have trumped the Americans, Tbilisi, 2014

We have a toilet in a nursery school dedicated to my mother, Puerto Morazan, 1985

I was extremely impressed by how health and social development was prioritised, despite a war being waged against them by the ‘Contras’, Puerto Morazan, 1987

At the Amai Mussananhi (Women helping Women) Centre which the Beira Fund supports, a little boy in a ripped and dirty t-shirt with no shoes on came over unprompted and said very quietly that he wanted to say thank you because he had learnt to read, Beira, 1990s

The young children sang and danced with each one in turn coming to the front to shout out the various UN statements on the Rights of the Child, Beira, 2000

Doing races with children before school at 8:00 in the morning, Guangzhou, 2006

The joy and happiness when children can write the Chinese letters, Guangzhou, 2013

The creation of the Bristol's Shapeshifting History community atlas to celebrate the 650th anniversary of the granting of The Great Charter of Liberties involved many inter-generational conversations, story sharing and creative activities.

Below are a series of behind the scenes galleries from some of these community events.