BITS ABOUT BRISTOL

From a programme for Bristol's Little Theatre at the Colston Hall in 1924

In 1838 the Great Westem steamship, the pioneer of trans-Atlantic steam traffic, was launched at Bristol, but the opportunity which presented itself of establishing a lead in the American shipping trade was not accepted, and it was not for another thirty years that Bristol took any real steps to maintain her old reputation. With the construction of the Avonmouth and Portishead Docks, and the acquisition of them in 1884 by the Corporation for a sum of £800,000, a brighter era dawned, and during the last forty years the trade of the port has steadily increased. Very large sums have since been expended upon the improvement of the various docks and of the navigation of the Avon, with satisfactory results, The harbour railway has been carried round both sides of he old Bristol Docks, and modern transit sheds and warehouses erected. The Ashton Swing Bridge, constructed to carry the railway over the tidal Avon, is noteworthy as the only one of its kind in this country, the roadway being carried over the railway. That the old spirit of energy and enterprise has indeed revived is evinced by the construction at Avonmouth of the Royal Edward Dock, which is capable of accommodating the largest occan-going steamships, and by continuous development and improvement to enable the port of Bristol to keep abreast of the times.