Meads Reach Bridge

Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is located 118 miles 31 chains (118.39 mi; 190.5 km) away from London Paddington. It is an important transport hub for public transport in the city; there are bus services to many parts of the city and surrounding districts, with a ferry to the city centre. Bristol's other major station, Bristol Parkway, is a more recent station on the northern outskirts of the conurbation. Temple Meads was opened on 31 August 1840, as the western terminus of the Great Western Railway. The railway, including Temple Meads, was the first to be designed by the British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Soon, the station was also used by the Bristol and Exeter Railway, the Bristol and Gloucester Railway, the Bristol Harbour Railway and the Bristol and South Wales Union Railway. To accommodate the increasing number of trains, the station was expanded in the 1870s by Francis Fox and again between 1930 and 1935 by Percy Emerson Culverhouse. Brunel's terminus is no longer part of the operational station. The historical significance of the station has been noted and most of the site is Grade I listed. In Britain's 100 Best Railway Stations by Simon Jenkins, the station was one of only ten to be awarded five stars.Thirteen platforms are in use, numbered between 1 and 15, but passenger trains are confined to just eight tracks. Most platforms are numbered separately at each end, with odd numbers at the east end and even numbers at the west. Platform 2 is a bay platform at the west end which not used by passenger trains and there is no platform 14.Temple Meads is managed by Network Rail. Most services are operated by the present-day Great Western Railway, with others by CrossCountry.

The Warehouse premises of Hardware (Bristol) Limited (grid reference ST596729) is on Old Bread Street, Bristol, England. It was built in 1882 by William Bruce Gingell in red brick with white and black brick details and is an example of the Bristol Byzantine style. It was originally part of Christopher Thomas and Brothers' soap works. It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II listed building.

Temple Quay is an area of mixed-use development in central Bristol, England. The project was initiated by Bristol Development Corporation in 1989, under the name Quay Point until 1995. In that year it was handed over to English Partnerships, under whom development eventually started in 1998. It is bounded by Temple Way (the A4044) to the west and Bristol Temple Meads railway station to the southeast; to the northeast the development was bounded by Bristol Floating Harbour until 2002, when development of Temple Quay North started on the harbour's other side. In 2012 the whole area became part of Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone. Temple Quay includes a significant amount of office accommodation occupied by UK Government departments and agencies including Homes England, The Planning Inspectorate, Insolvency Service, Care Quality Commission, Ofsted and English Heritage.

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Bristol, England.

The Second Siege of Bristol of the First English Civil War lasted from 23 August 1645 until 10 September 1645, when the Royalist commander Prince Rupert surrendered the city that he had captured from the Parliamentarians on 26 July 1643. The commander of the Parliamentarian New Model Army forces besieging Bristol was Lord Fairfax.

Gromit Unleashed was a public charity art trail led by Wallace & Gromit's Grand Appeal and Aardman Animations, in which 80 giant artist-decorated fibreglass sculptures of Gromit were displayed on the streets of Bristol and the surrounding area between 1 July and 8 September 2013. At the end of the art trail, the sculptures were auctioned to raise funds for Wallace & Gromit's Grand Appeal, the Bristol Children's Hospital Charity. The Grand Appeal pledged to raise £3.5 million for state-of-the-art equipment for Bristol Children's Hospital, including an intraoperative MRI scanner, family facilities and child-friendly artwork to help save the lives of sick children at the hospital. All funds raised by Gromit Unleashed contributed towards this. The project follows the concept of the "Land in Sicht", the original Swiss project by artistic director Walter Knapp which inspired the subsequent worldwide exhibition "CowParade" and similar exhibitions in other cities, including Wow! Gorillas which took place in Bristol in 2011. To date Gromit Unleashed has raised over £5 million for Bristol Children's Hospital.

Wow! Gorillas was a project organised by Bristol Zoo in 2011 that displayed 61 decorated life-sized fibreglass gorilla sculptures on the streets of Bristol, England.The project followed the concept of the “Land in Sicht” the original Swiss project by artistic director Walter Knapp, which has inspired the subsequent worldwide exhibition "CowParade" and similar exhibitions in other cities. A final gorilla was put on display outside Dunkley's Chartered Accountants in Bradley Stoke. Painted by Eloise Dunkley.

Bristol, the largest city in South West England, has an eclectic combination of architectural styles, ranging from the medieval to 20th century brutalism and beyond. During the mid-19th century, Bristol Byzantine, an architectural style unique to the city, was developed, and several examples have survived. Buildings from most of the architectural periods of the United Kingdom can be seen throughout Bristol. Parts of the fortified city and castle date back to the medieval era, as do some churches dating from the 12th century onwards. Outside the historical city centre there are several large Tudor mansions built for wealthy merchants. Almshouses and public houses of the same period survive, intermingled with areas of more recent development. Several Georgian-era squares were laid out for the enjoyment of the middle class. As the city grew, it merged with its surrounding villages, each with its own character and centre, often clustered around a parish church. The construction of the city's Floating Harbour, taking in the wharves on the River Avon and Frome, provided a focus for industrial development and the growth of the local transport infrastructure. Key elements of which include the Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed Clifton Suspension Bridge and Temple Meads terminus; the latter served from 2002 to 2009 as the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum, but is now closed.The 20th century saw further expansion of the city, the growth of the University of Bristol and the arrival of the aircraft industry. During World War II, the city centre was extensively bombed in the Bristol Blitz. The redevelopment of shopping centres, office buildings, and the harbourside continues to this day.

St Philip's railway station was a small terminus station in Bristol built by the Midland Railway to relieve pressure on the main station at Bristol Temple Meads, which it shared with the Great Western Railway. The station had a single platform and was used principally by the local services between Bristol and Bath Green Park, via Mangotsfield. St Philip's was created by the Midland in part of its extensive goods yard in Bristol and opened in 1870, the company having opened the line from Mangotsfield into Bath the previous year. The station was sited close to the Old Market shopping area and also attracted commuter traffic. The Old Market area was badly bombed during World War II, and Bristol's shopping district was rebuilt elsewhere. St Philips Goods Station was renamed Midland Road on 15 September 1952. The local passenger trains were rerouted into Temple Meads and the passenger station closed on 21 September 1953. Midland Road goods station closed on 1 April 1967. Since closure the station was demolished and its site was redeveloped for light industrial units.

The Gardiners warehouse (grid reference ST596729) is on Straight Street, Broad Plain, Bristol, England. It was built in 1865 by William Bruce Gingell and is an example of the Bristol Byzantine style. It was originally part of Christopher Thomas and Brothers' soap works, but is now a warehouse. Some of the original florentine skyline ornament have since disappeared.In 1958 the Gardiners warehouse became home to what is now known as Gardiner Haskins of Gardiner Sons & Co Ltd, an independent homeware retailer established in 1893. In 1997 the Brunel Garden Centre that sits adjacent to the Gardiners warehouse opened.It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II listed building.In 2018 Gardiner Haskins announced its intention to vacate Gardiners warehouse and move to a new showroom opposite the building.

The Former Gardiners offices (grid reference ST596729) is on Old Bread Street, Bristol, England. It was built in 1865-7 by Foster and Wood and is an example of the Bristol Byzantine style. It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II listed building.

Brock's Bridge is a road bridge in Bristol, UK that crosses the River Avon.