Bishopston, Bristol

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bishopston
Within Bristol (left) and England.
Population	11,996 (Census 2001)
OS grid reference	ST586755
Unitary authority	Bristol
Ceremonial county	Bristol
Region	South West
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Bristol
Postcode district	BS7
Dial code	0117
Police	Avon and Somerset
Fire	Avon
Ambulance	Great Western
UK Parliament	Bristol West
European Parliament	South West England
List of places: UK • England • Bristol

Gloucester Road, the main route through Bishopston, is known for its independent shops.

Bishopston is an inner-suburb and council ward in north Bristol, England, situated on the Gloucester Road, the main northern arterial road in the city. It is in the Bristol West parliamentary constituency and elects two City Councillors. The ward includes St Bonaventures and Ashley Down parishes. It is twinned with KV Kuppam in Tamilnadu, India.

Named after the bishop of the local diocese who controversially sold off the church's land to private developers in the early 1800s. The sale was even raised as an issue in the House of Commons. The parish of Bishopston was then created in July 1862 with a population of 1300 and expanding to 9140 in the Census 1901. In the Census 2001 Bishopston registered a resident population of 11,996. The district is part of the Bristol built-up area, having been swallowed by the growing city, running directly into the surrounding districts of Redland, Ashley Down, Horfield and Henleaze.

The area has a relatively large student population, with 21% of the over 16 population in education compared to 8.4% in Bristol and 5.1% in England and Wales. Some of the location filming for the cult BBC sitcom The Young Ones was done in Codrington Road and elsewhere. The external shots for the famous "bank-robbing" scene in the last episode were filmed outside Bristol North Swimming Baths on Gloucester Road.

Bishopston was the home of two Nobel Prize winning physicists. In 1933 Paul Dirac, who attended the Bishop Road Primary School just a few hundred metres from where he lived on Monk Road, won the prize after his contributions to quantum mechanics. In 1950 Cecil Frank Powell won the prestigious award for contributions to Physics. Specifically, for his development of the photographic method of studying nuclear processes and his discoveries regarding mesons made with this method. Bishopston is also home to television presenter Adam Hart-Davis and psychologist Susan Blackmore.

Although the famous film star Cary Grant (real name Archibald Alexander Leach), spent his childhood in neighbouring Horfield, he attended Bishop Road School.

The main artery, Gloucester Road is well known for its pubs and restaurants, and was cited on a BBC Radio 4 phone-in in 2004 as an example of a high street that still retained its character and a high proportion of independently-owned small shops. This, and the range of fairly traded and local goods available, has made it popular with ecologically-minded shoppers.

Bishopston is also home to the Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, whose entrance is on Nevil Road. Recently the ground has seen an increase in capacity and begun to hold international cricket matches, bringing very large crowds to the area on certain days during the summer. This development is popular with many (e.g. local publicans), but less so with some local residents, who have complained about the parking problems on match days, and the long periods of floodlight testing.

The David Thomas Memorial church was erected 1879 - 1881 but unwisely demolished in 1981 destroying most of a gothic fantasy by Stuart Coleman. The building still retains a thin octagonal spire and west front but the massive halls, apse and rib vaults have now gone in favour of some rather drab and dreary flats by Stride Treglown. The church was demolished June 1987.

[edit] External links

• Census data
• Bristol Buddhist Centre meeting in Gloucester Road, Bishopston
• Bishopston Trading A fair trade workers cooperative.
• Bristol Vineyard Church, but not as you know it...
• Ward Profile (PDF)

Coordinates: 51.47693° N 2.59751° W