Bristol

Bristol, cities, United States

Bristol.

1 Industrial city (1990 pop. 60,640), Hartford co., central Conn., on the Pequabuck River; settled 1727, inc. 1785. Its clock-making industry dates from 1790. It also makes machinery, electrical equipment, and metal products, and is home to the ESPN television network. The American Clock and Watch Museum is there, and on Lake Compounce is the nation's oldest continually operating amusement park.

2 Industrial borough (1990 pop. 10,405), Bucks co., SE Pa., on the Delaware River opposite Burlington, N.J.; settled 1697, inc. 1720. Its many manufactures include plastics, paper, medical supplies, and electronic equipment. The third oldest borough in the state, it was once a busy river port with important shipbuilding activities. Among its historic structures is the Friends Meetinghouse (c.1710). A restoration of 17th- and 18th-century buildings and a replica of William Penn

Early Life

He was expelled (1662) from Oxford for his religious nonconformity and was then sent by his father to the Continent to
..... 's country manor are nearby.

3 Town (1990 pop. 21,625), seat of Bristol co., E R.I., a port of entry on Narragansett Bay; inc. as a Plymouth Colony

Founding

Previous attempts at colonization in America (1606, 1607–8) by the Plymouth Company, chartered in 1606 along with the London Company (see Virginia
.....  town 1681, ceded to Rhode Island 1746. An early center of commercial trade, the port was (18th–19th cent.) a base for whaling and shipbuilding. The Herreshoff boatyard, where many winners of the America's Cup were built, was in operation until 1945. Manufacturing includes wire and cable, cotton thread, and fiberglass boats. King Philip's War (1675–76) began and ended on the site of the town, and a monument on Mt. Hope marks the spot where King Philip fell. The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology has notable collections of Native American relics. On Hope St. is a row of preserved colonial homes. The town is the seat of Roger Williams Univ. Mt. Hope Bridge connects Bristol with Portsmouth.

4 Industrial cities on the Tenn.-Va. line, Sullivan co., Tenn. (1990 pop. 23,421), independent and in no county in Virginia (1990 pop. 18,426); settled 1749 as Sapling Grove, inc. as separate towns 1856, as Bristol city 1890. The two cities, although separate municipalities, are economically a unit that is the transportation and processing center of a mountainous region. Livestock is raised and electronic equipment, metal products, and caskets are produced there. Shelby's Fort (built 1771) was frequented by Daniel Boone. Two hundred years of controversy preceded the location of the state line down the middle of State Street. King College is in Bristol, Tenn., and Virginia Intermont College is in the Virginia city. In the area are Bristol Caverns and Bristol Motor Speedway.

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Bristol, city, England

Bristol, city (1991 pop. 370,300), SW England, at the confluence of the Avon and Frome rivers. Bristol, a leading international port, has extensive facilities, including docks at Avonmouth, Portishead, and Royal Portbury. It is a transportation hub and is a financial services center. General and nuclear engineering and the design and manufacture of aircraft are the largest industries. The Concorde, the former Franco-British supersonic airliner, was built in Bristol. Others industries include flour milling, printing, and the manufacture of paper, footwear, and tobacco products.

Points of interest in Bristol include the 14th-century church of St. Mary Redcliffe, known for its fine architecture; a 14th-century cathedral (rebuilt 1868–88) with a Norman chapter house and gateway; the Merchant Venturers' Almshouses; University Tower; and some notable examples of Regency architecture. The Clifton suspension bridge, spanning the Avon and the scenic Avon Gorge, connects Bristol with Leighwoods. Bristol has a famous university.

Bristol has been a trading center since the 12th cent. First chartered as a city in 1155, it became a separate county by order of Edward III in 1373, the first provincial town to receive this honor. During the reign of Edward III the manufacture of woolen cloth was developed. The cloth was exported chiefly to Ireland, Spain, and Portugal. From Bristol the explorers John Cabot and his son Sebastian (to whom there is a monument on Brandon Hill) sailed to Newfoundland and America. In the 18th cent. Bristol was active in the colonial triangular trade: English goods went to Africa; African slaves to the West Indies; and West Indian sugar, rum, and tobacco to Bristol. The Great Western (1838), one of the first transatlantic steamships, and the Great Britain (1845) the first ocean steamship with a screw propeller, were launched from Bristol.

The port declined during the late 18th and early 19th cent. because of competition from Liverpool, the end of slave trading, and the decline of the West Indian trade. It revived in the mid-19th cent. The city was heavily damaged during World War II. The poets Thomas Chatterton and Robert Southey were born there.

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Bristol

City and unitary authority (pop., 2001: 380,615), southwestern England. Lying at the confluence of the Rivers Avon and Frome, the city received its first charter in 1155. Long a centre of commerce, it was the point of departure in 1497 of John Cabot in his search for a route to Asia. During the 17th–18th centuries it prospered in the triangular trade (rum, molasses, and slaves) between West Africa and the West Indian and American plantation colonies. Though Bristol suffered a decline in trade in the early 19th century, it soon rebounded with the coming of the railway. It suffered severe damage from bombing in World War II but was rebuilt. Today it is an important shipping centre, especially for oil and food products.