Bristol's Sailor Quarter

Bristol's sailor quarter was relatively constrained when compared with larger British port cities. This was one result of the construction of the non-tidal Floating Harbour, which allowed vessels to dock right in the heart of the city.

 

 

The Floating Harbour, designed by William Jessop, was completed in May 1809. This created a harbour area of 70 acres, with a series of docks running parallel to the business district, and minutes away from well-to-do residential areas, such as Queen Square. Sailors visiting the port were therefore a visible and relatively integrated feature of the city, rather than being isolated in their own wild sailor town like those of Cardiff or Liverpool (Davey 2019: 14). 

 

While dangerous for shipping of all kinds, the sweeping tides of the Bristol Channel had the advantage of keeping the Avon River relatively free of silt and avoiding the problems which faced other river ports. Mismanagement and its relatively small harbour and circuitous entrance through the Avon Gorge meant that Bristol was out-competed by other Atlantic ports, especially Liverpool. Things improved when the Bristol Dock Company, which had managed the port in the first half of the 19^th century, was bought out by the Bristol Corporation in 1848 (Bristol Archives 2016). The Corporation encouraged improvements to the floating harbour. More important for the future of the port of Bristol was the construction new docks away from the city, at Avonmouth in 1877 and Portishead in 1879.

All the Avon River ports, including the Bristol Floating Harbour, Avonmouth and Portishead, developed a Victorian infrastructure of maritime missions, seamen's homes and churches or chapels. These supplemented the older charities, such as the Society of Merchant Venturers' Almshouses (1696) for convalescent and aging sailors in King Street.

 

The Bristol sailors' quarter included the Bristol Sailors' Home (1851) in Queen Square, and the Anglican Missions to Seamen in the Seamen's Institute (1873), with the Seamen's Church (1880) above, at 53 Prince Street. The Institute was badly damaged in the Bristol blitz on 1840, and awaits an adventurous renovation and reuse (Johnson-Marshall and Kendon 2022).