Yesterday I went for a walk in our city Bristol with my siblings. They don't do many city walks and having lived in UK for practically all their life, there are some local places that they have never visited before. For example, these colourful houses are the second most iconic view of the city. (If you want to know what the most iconic view is, you can check out my other post here.) My siblings often drive by these houses, but always directly alongside the road. They never get to see it across the harbour like this.
Strolling to the M Shed
We continued strolling along the harbour under the chilly autumn sky. It's hard to believe that the leaves are falling already, Christmas will be here very soon! It took us about half an hour to arrive to M Shed. This is part of the city where the old meets the new. The old part is the busy dock dating back to the 13th century up to the 1970s. M Shed was one of the two old cargo sheds at the docks. In recent years it's been repurposed into a social history museum, and I can tell you, we have a lot of history here!! The new part is the many office and residential blocks. I think all cities in UK like to redevelop around their river and harbourside, it always seems to be very popular with real estate developers.
There are four big cranes outside M Shed that were used to unload goods from the ships. In the heydays in the 50s, there were 40 of these cranes along the dockside, it must have been quite a scene, and a very busy port. The 4 cranes that remain now, numbered 29 to 32 are owned by the local council and are part of our city heritage. I've been to M Shed quite a few times before, but have never been inside the museum, today was a good opportunity to do that. I even got to go out to the terrace on the third floor to see things from a higher level.
M Shed Museum
For those who aren't aware, Bristol's history is most infamously linked with the slave trade that dates back to the 17th century. Four centuries later, this still pains many people in the city, as a lot of the city was built from wealth earned from the slave trade. Traces of this infamous wealth can be found in many buildings and streets around the city.
One most notable reminder of the notorious past was a statue erected in the middle of the city centre. Edward Colston made a lot of money from the slave trade in the hey days. He also contributed much of his wealth back to the city. Buildings, schools, streets were named after him, and of course he was honoured with a statue. The statue has always been an eyesore for many locals, and in recent decades there were calls for it to be removed. Things came to a head in June 2020 during the height of the BLM movement. Protesters toppled his statue and threw it down the harbourside. The statue is now on permanent display at M Shed, not as an honour to a philanthropist, but as part of the city's history. The display may still divide people, but you can't change or hide history.
Another part of significant social history was the Bristol Bus Boycott in 1963. Back in those days, racial discrimination was still legal in the UK and the local bus company in Bristol refused to employ black people as drivers or bus conductors. A group of African-Caribbean migrants in Bristol started to campaign against this discrimination and organised to boycott the Bristol buses. The boycott garnered a lot of attention across the country and led to laws to ban racial discrimination in the UK forever.
Due to our past, social movements and activism play a big part in Bristol's city life. That's not to say there are a lot of riots going on all the time, I don't think we get any more than other big cities in UK. As stated by one academic, "Protest is very richly woven into the city's history and I think the people of Bristol today are influenced by that narrative of protest." Source BBC
Let's move on to something more upbeat as Snowpea would love this 😀
Alex Chinneck sculpture
The main objective of our city walk was to see some recently installed street art by an artist called Alex Chinneck. These are big metal sculptures like this iconic red British telephone booth that's been twisted.
And Alphabetti Spaghetti. Another iconic British object, the red post box. This one is tied into a knot.
And the last two are two street lights called First Kiss at last light. The first one is a pair of street lights, one tied onto the other like they're hugging one another. Here's me taking a photo of it.
And this pair here is tied up as a pretty bow. I love how these last two pieces are not only creative, but also functional.
Castle Bridge
And finally, after walking for nearly 8km, from day to night, we headed across the Castle Bridge to round off our city walk for the day.
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We hope to visit Bristol next year, we have a friend at Portishead. Thanks for showing us what is around.
Portishead is a very nice area, and has a lovely marina, it's also where the rock band Portishead came from
I hope you have a nice time if you come to Bristol, it has quite a lot to offer 😃
Ñoo !!! 🤩 el artista creador de las esculturas deteléfono, el buzón de correo y las lámparas…están super súper creativos 😳🤩..buenos diseños..gracias por compartir estas bonitas imágenes de la ciudad @livinguktaiwan 😊👏. Saludos desde cuba 🇨🇺
I love it when artists does cool creations that is easily understood, these definitely were one of those. Thanks for dropping by
wow! your walk was amazing! i wish I could have some time to spend walking around not rushing. Glad you had a great walk with your sibling! keep safe!
You must be working too hard!! Give yourself a rest sometime and relax 😀
This posts has a lot of cool twists, haha. Your right history can't be changed but improvements can be made from it :-) Nice long walk you all went on.
Exactly, we have to learn from history and not make the same mistakes again, sadly easier said than done sometimes
I love the sculptures! Bristol isn't a city I've ever spent any time there but know it has a long history of protest, bringing about change. I do remember though, from occassionally trips down to Southmead Hospital in the dead of night, that Southmead estate was a place to stay clear of!
8km in one day? Good for the step count!
Best wishes and hope youre keeping well :-)
My brother used to have a takeaway in Southmead. He said when he first opened, a bunch of guys came in one evening and dumped a pig's head on the counter!!
What were you doing at Southmead Hospital in the middle of the night dare I ask 🤔
I had a sub-contract with the Blood Transfusion Service. If there were no drivers available and an urgent need for a rare type, I'd do the transfer from the Leeds bank to whichever bank it was needed at. Mainly St Georges at Tooting, or Hull but I'd get a run to Bristol two or three times a year. I was always warned about not taking a wrong turn when I was almost there hahaha
What worries me is people trying to cancel and delete history. We need to learn and make sure these things never happen again, but eliminating them from history is not the way to do it.
Bristol does a rap up here of being quite an activist city!
I would love to have a look at the museum in the M shed I find history fascinating. Also loved seeing the narrow boats in the harbour. It's been years since I was in Bristol. My mother used to have a cousin that lived in Clifton.
Thanks for showing us around!!! Great post. Have a good day!!!
I had never heard of Alex Chinneck before, his stuff is great! I love that phone box.
I have only been in Bristol once and that was for a Kung Fu Tournament in which we faced the Bristol Death Squad Oh my, what a trouncing we got!
A lovely walk. I love the twisted phonebox and postbox. 📮 The streetlights are just awesome.
How cool.
Never been to Bristol or that area.
Have a wonderful day Pauline 😊
!LUV
Hi @livinguktaiwan an interesting walk you have taken us on today. Right choice of location for the museum, what better than a place so linked to its history, that although it is not the pride of many locals, it is undeniable. History can not be erased, just know it and never repeat their mistakes and atrocities and feel proud of what is well done ... not everything is bad. I loved the sculptures...they are all excellent. Thanks for sharing such an enlightening post. Un abrazo 🤗
Thanks for sharing the incredible artworks.
Looks like some really nice pictures
For some reason, I really like those lamp-posts. Bending reality a bit there :) And that photo on the left of the bridge - just gorgeous.
Those sculptures are amazing.
I would love to visit Bristol someday, looks like there is more beauty in the city that I need to see. Thanks for sharing, I really love the pcitures. :)
Son imágenes muy hermosas saludos
I think it's good that they used the statue to teach a lesson instead of just leaving it there or getting rid of it all together. Many people these days don't want to be confronted by the misdeeds of our past, but it is important to acknowledge them so we don't repeat them.
What an interesting #wednesdaywalk you had! I love the artworks you saw along the way 😃
We were in Bristol a few years ago, but it was just for a day when staying with family in Bath. I think we need to go back and see more. Port cities tend to have some interesting history. Obviously it's quite an arty place too. We saw a Banksy there.
Really a beautiful walk showing interesting art and history, fabulous pictures...loved your post @livinguktaiwan
We often pass places that offer very interesting sights if only we would turn around... so it is with people and life in general. Having that quality of looking for other perspectives and discovering is great because you get excited to see something totally new in everyday life.
As for slavery... yes, it is unfortunate that around the world great works and cities bear that mark of blood. However, even today we are still witnessing many forms of slavery...
I'm not going to keep getting intense over here. Lol.
Thanks for this nice walk. 😇
And I have to say that art is great, the concept of squeezing it all out... or twisting it. It leaves me thoughtful.
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