Features / history
Following the route of Bristol’s medieval city wall
The reopening of the cycle lane on Nelson Street has also meant the opening of a new set of steps connecting the road up to Tower Lane.
Tower Lane isn’t just any old thoroughfare: it is part of the route of Bristol’s early medieval wall.
Remarkably, despite the wall no longer being in place (other than St John on the Wall church), much of its route can still be traced.
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Start at Tower Lane where it joins The Pithay and follow it all the way to Broad Street where it becomes Bell Lane and then Leonard Lane continuing onto St Nicholas Street.
These lanes are the location of our city’s Anglo-Saxon defences, first built as early as the 900s, with the settlement of Brycgstow inside the near-circular boundary which extended east of High Street into today’s Castle Park up to Bristol Castle.
The area of higher ground between the rivers Avon and Frome is now known as the Old City and was the natural place on which to build the first settlement upon.
In Saxon times, the town’s defences probably consisted of earthworks and wooden palisades, which by 1120 had been replaced by the Normans using stone from Brandon Hill.
Walk down the route of Bristol’s medieval city wall on a walking tour of the Old City and Castle Park with Martin Booth. To book your place and for more information, visit www.yuup.co/experiences/explore-bristol-s-quirkiest-corners
Tower Lane can now be accessed for the first time from Nelson Street – photo: Martin Booth
Main photo & video: Martin Booth
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