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Power: The Longer Tour

The Hole In The Wall
(Trail Location 10)

This Public House is one of many that were used by sailors and others in the Port of Bristol. There is a small spy hole on the side of the building which is said to have been used by a lookout to warn customers if there was any chance of Customs men or a Press Gang heading towards the inn. During the eighteenth century conditions aboard ship were so poor that very few people chose to go to sea. It was common for the Royal Navy to send teams of men to collect drunks and those who could not run away and force (or press) them into naval service. Once on board ship and at sea the man could not just go home, and many young men were forced into a life at sea this way. There were also raids by Customs Officers (Excise Men) searching for smugglers, and so any advanced warning of trouble coming was welcomed!

Queen Square
(Trail Location 11)

Queen Square has always been popular with rich merchants and traders. In 1775 seven merchants who traded with Africa, one merchant in the West Indian trade and a firm of tobacco merchants from Virginia in North America lived in the Square.

Some interesting events in Bristol history have taken place in the square for example quite a lot of the building in one section were burned down during the Bristol Riot in 1831, which began after protests about the refusal of the Government to allow ordinary men to vote in elections. During the Second World War (1939-1941) bombing in 1940 and 1941 during the Bristol Blitz destroyed a number of the buildings. Only recently has the road across the centre of the square been removed to restore the original design.

Number 29, Queen Square
(Trail Location 12)
Number 29 Queen Square has not changed much since it was built in 1709. It was built for Alderman Nathaniel Day who part owned a number of slave ships and who later became Bristol's Mayor in 1737. The slave trader, Henry Bright was another of Bristol's Mayors in the 1750s. When he died in 1771, he left £10 a year to his 'black servant, Bristol.'