Bristol, England: A photo essay

Like so many cities and towns in England, the port city of Bristol in the southwest sits on its history.

Here is a city where human occupancy of the area dates back to the Palaeolithic era, was settled by the Romans (Bath is nearby) and Normans, has been the home to merchants and traders, ne'er-do-wells and patrician businessmen.

One of the latter – the 17^th century philanthropist, merchant, MP and slavery profiteer Sir Edward Colston – came to recent attention in a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020 when his statue was pulled off its plinth and dumped in the harbour.

It was a salient reminder that the city made a lot of money dealing slaves.

Today it is the home of artists and tech entrepreneurs, and it has always had strong artistic and cultural communities.

Daniel Defoe, it is said, overheard to story of the sailor Alexander Selkirk which had been abandoned on a remote island which lead to the writing of Robinson Crusoe; the trip-hop sound of Massive Attack, Roni Size, Portishead and Tricky came from here. It is the home of Aardman Animation.

Any city that produces actor Carey Grant, writer Stephen Merchant (co-writer of The Office) and Wallace and Gromit has a lot going for it.

Here is a photo essay of some of the various aspects of Bristol (mostly) by day. Deliberately random.

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