Near Gloucester, at the small island of Alney, formed by the river Severn dividing itself into two branches, historians relate that Canute and Edmund, after many bloody engagements in Essex, determined to prevent a farther effusion of blood by a single combat. Neither, however, as the story relates, obtaining a victory, peace was concluded, and the kingdom divided between them. We paid, however, little regard to the supposed place of this contest, as it was not for us puisne antiquarians to discuss points on which the greatest historians had so materially differed.
The roads round Gloucester have been greatly improved of late years, more particularly the one to Ross and Hereford, which was hilly, rocky, and generally dangerous: their texture and surface are now totally changed, and, winding the hills, the gradual ascent removes both danger and difficulty; the expense must have been enormous, and the traveller pays proportionably in turnpike tolls; they are, generally speaking, round Gloucester and Hereford, the highest in England. Nothing can surpass the excellence of the road from Gloucester to Bristol, to which conveyances are constantly going; and to such parties as have not visited that eager bustling mart of trade, two or three days may be afforded with a certainty of meeting with the most ample return for the trouble and expense bestowed. The Church of St. Mary Redcliff, which is both ancient and beautiful; the Abbey Church or cathedral: the docks; the charities, and particularly that for teaching the blind to work; the hot wells at Clifton; St. Vincent’s rocks, and the diminished vessels gliding on the Avon; the beautiful views, mansions, villas, and pleasure grounds in every direction in its vicinity, evincing at once the taste and opulence of its merchants and citizens, but particularly those going to and returning from King’s Weston, the view of Lord de Clifford’s mansion, and the varied prospects it commands, as well as those from the park and plantations, which are open to the public, constantly varying the scenery on the Avon, Kingroad, and the distant Cambrian Alps, afforded pleasure so exquisite to my romantic fancy, that for ten times the labour and expense bestowed, I would not have debarred myself of them. Here most happily are blended commercial riches and the life of trade with all that nature’s bounty can bestow to please the fancy or delight the sight.
The antiquity of Bristol is recorded by Gildas, who has set it down as one of the principal fortified cities in Britain, when the Romans abandoned the island in the year 430. But little mention is made of it again in history till the year 1063, when Harold, the son of Earl Godwin, embarked from Bristol with an army to wreak his vengeance on Griffith, King of Wales, who had committed divers aggressions. After sailing along the coast and landing his men at various points, he reduced the country to yield obedience to King Edward, and having compelled the Welsh to cut off the head of their king and give him hostages for their fidelity, he returned again to England.
The Castle of Bristol was formerly of great extent and strength, and is repeatedly mentioned by historians for the gallant defences it has made, and the noble prisoners it has held in safe custody; but it was not till the time of Charles the First that it belonged to the city, when being found to be a harbour and receptacle for rogues and vagabonds, it was first added to the jurisdiction of the county of the city of Bristol, and afterwards sold to the mayor and burgesses for 959l., to be held under the manor of East Greenwich in Kent, at the yearly fee-farm rent of 40l.
Both Henry the Second and Henry the Third, during their minorities, were placed at Bristol as a place of security, at which they might receive their education. It was here, in the year 1211, that the following infamous act of tyrannic cruelty was exercised by King John. That monarch having laid a heavy tax upon all the Jews throughout his dominions, one of that race, named Abraham, having refused to pay the tax, was fined in the sum of ten thousand marks; this the obstinate Jew likewise refused to pay, which so much exasperated the King, that he commanded one of his teeth to be drawn every day till the sum was paid; the unfortunate Jew had seven of them taken out of his head, and then submitted to the payment, rather than lose his last tooth, he having but one left.
Bristol sends two members to Parliament; the first regular summons by writ was issued by King Edward the First, directing that two proper persons should be sent as its representatives to the Parliament at Shrewsbury.
“King Henry the Seventh visited Bristol in 1490, and held his court in St. Augustine’s Back, when the citizens, willing to shew the King all the respect they could during his residence, arrayed themselves in their best clothes; the King thinking some of their wives rather too well dressed for their station, ordered that every citizen who was worth 20l. in goods, should pay twenty shillings, for that their wives went so sumptuously apparelled.”
The present Cathedral was the collegiate church of the monastery of St. Augustine, originally founded by King Henry the Second, and Robert Fitzharding, father of Maurice, the first of the Berkeley family. At the suppression of the monasteries by king Henry the Eighth, after that of St. Augustine had been destroyed, with the exception of the gate, and the west end of the collegiate church had begun to share the same fate, the King changed his mind, and resolved upon erecting it into a bishopric, directing the church to be repaired, and thenceforth termed the cathedral church of the holy and undivided Trinity, appointing Paul Bush, rector of Winterborn, to be the first Bishop, appropriating the revenue of the suppressed monastery, amounting to 765l. 15s. 3d. per annum, partly to the bishop and partly to the chapter; consisting of a Dean and six Prebendaries. He likewise took the county of Dorset from the see of Salisbury, transferring it to that of Bristol.
The interior of the Cathedral, though not to be named with those of Gloucester and Worcester, is still worthy of attention; particularly its vaulted roof, those of the side aisles, and an emblematic picture of the Holy Trinity, by Vansomers, over the altar. The windows of the side aisles, which are of enamelled glass, are said to have been the gift of Nell Gwynn.
On the south-west of the cathedral are the cloisters; and at the south-east corner of the cloisters is the bishop’s palace, which was in great part rebuilt in 1744, when the following extraordinary circumstance happened. “A parcel of plate, supposed to have been hidden during the time of the civil wars, fell through the floor in the corner of one of the rooms; this accident occasioned the floor to be taken up, when, to the surprise of those persons present, a dungeon underneath was discovered, in which were found many human bones, and instruments of iron for torture; at the same time was laid open a private passage to this dungeon, which passage was part of the original edifice; it was an arched way only large enough for one person to pass, and was made within the wall; one end led to the dungeon, and the other end to an apartment of the house, which by appearance had been made use of for a court of judgment. Both the entrances of this mural passage were walled up, and so concealed, that no one could suspect the wall to be hollow.”