The Downs (Bristol)
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 The Downs shown within Bristol (above) and England.
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The Downs are an area of public open limestone downland in Bristol, England. They consist of two separately named parts; Durdham Down to the northeast, and the generally more picturesque and visited Clifton Down to the southwest.
The Downs owe their existence (in what would otherwise have been a prime housing location) to their having been protected in earlier centuries from development by interventions from the Merchant Venturers (a powerful business guild in the city), and now an Act of Parliament. In the past they have been used for farming and quarrying; their current use is for leisure, with walking, team sports and sightseeing (especially at the Avon Gorge cliff edge) being well-established Bristolian pastimes. There are also occasional temporary attractions on the Downs, such as circuses and the annual Bristol Flower Show.
A railway tunnel, Clifton Down Tunnel, passes underneath the Downs on the line from Temple Meads to Severn Beach. One portal is in Clifton near Clifton Down railway station; the other in the Avon Gorge far below Durdham Down. There are three air shafts for the tunnel: two in vertical tower form (near the zoo, and in Walcombe Slade gulley) with the third being a horizontal tunnel on the Portway.
A grey concrete water tower of 1954 stands on the Downs near the top of Blackboy Hill, with a long, low, covered reservoir alongside it.
[edit] Photographs
- The Observatory on Clifton Down gives a dramatic view of the Avon Gorge.
- Kites on the Downs in early Autumn.
- The view of the Avon Gorge from the downs.
