CLX ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



which you still ascend on all sides to reach the centre, it was surrounded 

 by a wall with four principal gateways, one of which remains to this day. 

 Connected with these gateways and upon the wall itself, four churches 

 were in course of time erected, and it is interesting to know that where 

 the one gateway remains, the church is also still there above the gateway. 

 The chief thoroughfares of this miniature town were four streets radiating 

 from the centre and extending to the gateways 1 have mentioned. These 

 four streets still remain the central thoroughfares of modern Jîristol, 

 along which, after all the centuries that have elapsed since the plan was 

 laid down and amid all the changed conditions of life, the men, women 

 and children of to-daj' still make their way, as so many generations have 

 done before them. At the summit of the eminence, on the sides of which 

 these four streeets radiated, stood the High Cro.ss, and as if to justify be- 

 forehand the name which Bristol afterwards acquired as the " City of 

 Churches," at the upper end of each of these streets and therefore con- 

 verging upon the cross stood a church. Two of these four still remain, or, 

 to be more accurate, in the one case there is an entirely new church upon 

 the old foundation (Christ church), and in the other a much altered 

 structure which still retains its JSTorman features (All Saints). 



A glance at another ancient plan of the town which represents its 

 aspect up to about 1350 enables us to realize its development up to that 

 period. An outer circuit of defensive walls is now erected. The districts 

 of Eedclifîe, Temple, and the Marsh have all been absorbed. Bristol 

 Bridge now forms a connecting link, between the city's two great 

 divisions on either side of the Avon. A semi -circle of religious houses 

 stretching from St. Augustine's monastery on the west, to St. Phillip's 

 church and priory on the east has come into existence ; while, adjoining 

 the latter stands the frowning castle with its inclosed precincts barring 

 all access from the Gloucestershire side. This is practically the Bristol 

 which William Wyrcestre described in his famous itinerary which he com- 

 piled between the years 1470-1480, and the map is constructed according 

 to his measurements. 



It is needful to refer to only one more of the ancient plans, because 

 that one carries us well over the period that is being dealt with. It is 

 known as Hoefnagle's map. This is said to have been consti'ucted from 

 actual survey, and is reputed to be the tirst engraved map of Bristol. 

 Certainly it is the first of any size and with any pretensions to detail. It 

 represents a town that has become compact and well covered, and one 

 which has the beginnings of those suburban extensions that have prac- 

 tically been going on ever since. These three plans convey some idea of 

 the process of expansion that has gone on uj) to the end of the fif- 

 teenth century, and also explain some of the physical charactei-istics of 

 the place which occupied so important a position in history, when 

 revolution knocked at its gates, and rival factions contended for its 



