Royal Fort

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Royal Fort

Royal Fort (Bristol)
Royal Fort
Shown within Bristol
Building information
Town Bristol
Country England
Coordinates 51°27′30″N 2°36′13″W / 51.4583, -2.6035Coordinates: 51°27′30″N 2°36′13″W / 51.4583, -2.6035
Architect James Bridges
Client Thomas Tyndall
Engineer Thomas Paty
Construction start date 1758
Completion date 1761
Style Baroque, Palladian and Rococo

The Royal Fort is a historic house in Tyndalls Park, Bristol. The building is currently used for events by the University of Bristol.

Contents

[edit] History

The house was constructed on the site of a Civil War fortification, which had two bastions on the inside of the lines and three on the outside. It was the strongest part of the defences of Bristol, with the Royalists retreating to the fort when the Parliamentarians had broken through the lines in the siege of 1645.[1] The fort was demolished around 1650. The "Royal" in the name was in honour of Prince Rupert of the Rhine when he was made Governor of Bristol.[2]

[edit] Design

The design of the mid-eighteenth century house by James Bridges, for Thomas Tyndall, was a compromise between the separate designs of architects Thomas Paty, John Wallis and himself. This led to different classical styles: Baroque, Palladian and Rococo, for three of the facades of the house.[3] It was built between 1758 and 1761, by Thomas Paty with plasterwork by Thomas Stocking.

A later Colonel Thomas Tyndall employed Humphry Repton from 1799[4] to landscape the gardens which form a small part of Tyndall’s Park, which extended to Whiteladies Road in the west, Park Row in the south and Cotham Hill to the north.[5] Over the years large parts of the park were sold for housing development and as the site for the Bristol Grammar School, purchased in 1877, and only a small part of the original area remains, as Royal Fort Gardens. The siting of drives in the Royal Fort park is still reflected in street plans today.

The current stone gatehouse, built in the Victorian era and known as the Royal Fort Lodge, stands at the entrance to the driveway leading to Royal Fort House.

The house has been designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building.[6]

[edit] Ownership

It is now owned by the University of Bristol, who were given the estate as a gift by Henry Herbert Wills[7] of the Bristol tobacco company W. D. & H. O. Wills, and is used for dinners, receptions and presentations.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bristol. Fortified Places. Retrieved on 2007-03-24.
  2. ^ Royal Fort House. University of Bristol Conference Office. Retrieved on 2007-03-24.
  3. ^ Royal Fort House. University of Bristol. Retrieved on 2007-03-24.
  4. ^ Historic Parks and Gardens Protected under Bristol Local Plan Policy NE9 (On-line text).
  5. ^ University of Bristol Strategic Masterplan , Appendix 12:The Royal Fort Lodge Site, (November 2005) (On-line text).
  6. ^ Royal Fort and attached front step railings. Images of England. Retrieved on 2007-03-24.
  7. ^ Henry Herbert Wills Physics laboratory. University of Bristol. Retrieved on 2007-03-24.

[edit] External links

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University of Bristol