Every place has its little quirks. But in Bristol’s case, it seems our history is more eccentric than most. But many of these peculiarities are at risk of being forgotten to the shadows of time, which is why local author Cynthia Stiles has brought them to life in her new book Quirky Bristol. Here are five strange things we learnt from her fascinating celebration of our city’s oddest events, people and places…
Bristol has been one of England’s major cities since 1373, when it officially became a county. By the 17th century it was already thriving as a centre of trade, with writers describing it as “a little London for merchants.” For centuries, the city’s port helped power its prosperity and reputation.
And yet Bristol has always had a slightly puzzling side. In fact, one of the great curiosities about the city is how it ever succeeded as a port at all. It sits inland on a river with a notoriously tricky bend, and the tidal range here is among the highest in the world. Twice a day the tide retreats so dramatically that ships once found themselves stuck in thick mud for hours at a time.
It’s exactly this kind of charming oddness that fascinates Cynthia Stiles in Quirky Bristol. Her book explores some of the city’s lesser-known but wonderfully intriguing stories, from the discovery of so-called ‘diamonds’ and rare plants in the Avon Gorge to architectural curiosities, early medical experiments, the 19th-century craze for pedestrianism, and famous local products like Bristol Milk and Bristol Cream. In short, it’s a reminder that Bristol’s history is every bit as colourful as the city itself.
1. There was a woman who ate dominoes
When the death of Mrs Williams, a Bristol newspaper seller, was reported in 1904, the notices included a detail that raised more than a few eyebrows. Apparently, she had quite an unusual appetite when she was younger. While others might have spent their evenings playing dominoes, Mrs Williams preferred to eat them. On one memorable occasion, she reportedly swallowed twenty-eight from a full box. And that wasn’t the only curious item on the menu. At different times she is said to have polished off a pound and a half (around 0.56 kilograms) of gravel and no fewer than thirteen iron screws. It’s safe to say her snack choices were… unconventional.
Below: Dominoes formed part of one of Mrs Williams’ meals
2. Vehicles were kite-powered
George Pocock was one of those wonderfully eccentric characters who make local history so entertaining. A schoolmaster on St Michael’s Hill, he was anything but ordinary, mainly because he had a passion for vehicles powered by kites. Yes, kites. With a good breeze, Pocock could sail along the road in his kite-drawn carriage, sometimes overtaking horse-drawn mail coaches and even the elegant carriages of the aristocracy. The same principle, he discovered, could also be used to power boats. His kites were carefully constructed from cambric muslin covered in tissue paper and painted for strength. They were controlled using cord braces and could soar up to 170 feet (about 52 metres) in the air. One kite measured 10 feet (3 metres) across and the other 12 feet (3.7 metres). If trees or other obstacles got in the way, Pocock simply reeled in the cords, winding them around a drum beneath the carriage. In 1836, he staged a demonstration near the Observatory with his invention (known as a ‘charvolant’). Carrying four passengers and pulled by two kites, it travelled at about 12 miles per hour (19 kilometres per hour), occasionally reaching 18 miles per hour (29 kilometres per hour). Over the course of the day, around a hundred curious locals lined up for a ride. Not bad for a vehicle powered entirely by the wind.
Below: A kite-powered vehicle
3. Toads were used for medicine
John Wesley is best known as the founder of Methodism, but he also had strong views on health and medicine. In Bristol, he set up dispensaries for the poor. including one at the New Room in Horsefair, and in 1747 he published a guide called Primitive Physic; or, An Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases. Some of his remedies were, to put it politely, rather adventurous. Toads, for instance, were recommended as a treatment for asthma: dried, ground into powder and made into pills. Wesley was also a firm believer in cold bathing as both a preventative measure and a cure, and he was intrigued by the supposed healing powers of electricity. That said, not all his advice was so outlandish. His recommendation to eat plenty of vegetables sounds perfectly sensible today. Still, it’s fair to say that a few of his other suggested treatments are best left firmly in the eighteenth century.
Below: St Jude’s Church, painted in the mid-twentieth century by Ted Cross; A physic garden created at Castle Park (a modern example of alternative medicine in the city)
4. Bristol ran on its own time
When the clock at the Exchange was installed in 1822, Bristol kept its own local time, known as ‘solar time’. It sounds quaint now, but back then every town effectively ran on its own schedule. In Oxford the time was about five minutes ahead, while London was more than ten minutes in front. For years this wasn’t really a problem. Then along came the railways. Suddenly, timetables mattered. And having every town operating on a slightly different time made things extremely confusing. The breakthrough came in 1840 when the Great Western Railway, engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, decided to standardise its clocks using the time at the Greenwich Observatory. This new system became known as ‘railway time’. To help the public adjust, the Exchange clock in Bristol was fitted with a second minute hand so it could display both the old local time and the new railway time. For early train travellers trying to catch their departures, it must have been a very welcome addition.
Below: The clock on the Exchange with its three hands.
5. Meteors fell from the sky
Occasionally, reports of strange objects falling from the sky might have actually been meteorites. One such incident may have taken place in 1931. On 7 July that year, St Jude’s Church was struck by what witnesses described as a “whirling, speeding ball of blue fire.” At around 3.30pm, a two-year-old child was playing nearby when the blazing object came down and hit the north-east pinnacle of the church tower. The child’s mother quickly scooped them up and rushed to safety just seconds before chunks of heavy masonry crashed down onto the pavement and road. The impact left a large dent outside the church entrance, shattered windows in Lamb Street and Lawford Street, and filled the surrounding area with dust. A dramatic moment, and one that must have been talked about in Bristol for quite some time afterwards.
To uncover more curious characters and unusual occurrences across Bristol, buy Cynthia Stiles’ Quirky Bristol. Available now, from Amazon and local sellers, £15.99. amberley-books.com. All images provided courtesy of Amberley Publishing.
