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Post by annette on May 3, 2003 7:46:47 GMT -5
???Hi just wondering if you can help me. I am currently in contact with a gentleman 83yrs old, who insists he was born in the dungeon area of the bristol castle, he states he lived there for several years and eventually went to school there. Could this be true, or is his memory a bit fadded? He was born 1920 and his family were travellers, thanks.
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Post by brisray on Jun 26, 2003 1:34:21 GMT -5
It sounds a bit iffy to me. The castle was demolished in 1665 and as there was money involved, it was pretty well gone very quickly. "In 1654, Parliament decided to destroy many of the castles, Bristol's were amongst these, and work began on the demolition on 4th January 1655, it was still in progress in October. The magistrates ordered that each citizen should pay a labourer a day's wages each week until the Castle was gone. It is said that after this order was given the castle was totally demolished in a fortnight. Whatever the truth of this, there is now no trace of the castle left apart from the foundations." The sally port is still there, but they had to clear out a lot of rubbish to open it up again. The old gent could have lived in the area though. Before it was flattened in the blitz the whole area was a hive of shops, houses and industry. Look at the images on brisray.bravepages.com/bristol/blitz1.htm forwhat the area looked like before the war. Ray |
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Post by Kevin on Jun 12, 2004 12:04:16 GMT -5
Some remains of the old castle did survive the demolition of 1665 but as you say Ray, all later lost in the war.
In Reece Winstone's 'Bristol in the 1920's' there is a picture of No. 21 Tower Street clearly showing remains of the old castle.
The school the old man refers to is probably Castle School in Castle Green which closed due to severe bomb damage in 1940.
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