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A Very Brief History of Bristol’s Castle Park

The introduction to Charter XlX Incorporation of Castle into City, 1629,  may be summarised as follows:
 “” Edward lll in the 47th year of his reign made the the town and suburbs of Bristol separate from Gloucester and Somerset and a county itself.

  Henry Vlll in the 34th year of his reign made Bristol a City, but the castle remained part of Gloucester. Over time, and as the castle fell into disrepair, it became a refuge for all manner of criminals. Bristol had no jurisdiction over it, but its distance from Gloucester meant that city did not or could not provide any policing.
  Now, in 1626, Charles l made all of the Castle and its grounds etc part of the City of Bristol. The King decrees the Mayor and Commonality, officers and citizens shall have in perpetuity within the Castle all jurisdiction, liberties, franchises and privileges such as they legally enjoy in the rest of the city. The Castle inhabitants shall become citizens of Bristol, but the castle will remain the desmesne of the Crown”.

  The next entry records that the Castle was purchased by the City “ for diverse good reasons” for the sum of £959 in 1630.

 Latimer’s Annals of Bristol vol l reports the castle in 1634 “almost quite demolished”  but it was refortified in 1642 in the Civil War. Cromwell ordered its dismantling in 1654, which proved an expensive undertaking, but was complete in1656, when Old Market was improved using its stones & rubble, and Castle Street was built.

By the 18th century the Castle had been replaced by streets of timber-framed houses  and shops and became the main shopping centre for 250 years, the castle remembered only in street names

All this ended air raids in November 1940,January ’41 and August ’42.

After the war, it was decided the castle area was inadequate, and the shopping centre was rebuilt in nearby Broadmead. 

Under the 1946 Compulsory Purchase Order the Council, at hugh cost to the City, bought all the Castle Park area to assure major Broadmead traders that it could not be returned to retailing. 

In the mid ‘50s the Council bought the few remaining retail sites including  the Bristol Co-op which then cost them £518,000.  The 1956 Development Plan designated the area for a new civic centre, but in 1961 two key sites were  leased rather quietly to the Norwich Union and the Bank of England with permission to develop. This produced uproar, with 10,000 signatures collected on a petition demanding the City Council reverse its decision. This was refused, but no further leases were entered into, and it was believed that “some sort of civic future was assured”*
The 1966 City Centre Policy Report suggested the area bounded by High Street, Wine Street and Lower Castle  Street be developed to include a new museum and art gallery on two sides of a square containing the ruined St Peter’s church, with an Arts Centre to the east , and a large open space on the Castle site. Funds were not available, so in 1969 work began landscaping what is now the park. This was completed in 1978, covering a far larger area than had originally been planned.

In 1988, while The Galleries, north of Wine Street/Newgate were being constructed, some of the Castle Park area was temporarily released for use as a large car park. This provided the Council with substantial funds (more than £1million) to improve the landscaping. The car park was there for about 18 months, then the Park upgraded into “a park of national distinction” which was formally opened in 1993

The park today is a green lung right in the centre of the City where there is not much other open space. Looking at it, it is hard to imagine that for over two hundred years it was the place everyone went to shop, and many people lived as well. To modern Bristolians it is lovely as it is, and should be kept or extended and certainly NOT treated as a commercial building site.

Sources

Mary Bannerman Feb 2007