Hello and welcome to Bristol and today we're gonna do a little tour of Bristol
Quayside but with a difference.On the visit Bristol website they've got really
good audio tours so I've downloaded one hence these and this one's based on the novel
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Apparently a lot of the places
mentioned in the book actually existed in Bristol, there's some dispute whether
he actually came to the city or not but places in the book are definitely
inspired by places in the old quayside. When I was walking in from Temple Meads
to here I found the old Quaker burial ground and at the back there's a little
cave a hermits cave. The hermits cave.
Those pink cottages tucked away amongst the modern buildings are old Almshouses.
That won there 1699, they were retirement homes for old sailors many of
whom had lost limbs at sea. Clue there, could that be the inspiration for Long
John Silver,could be! That pub behind me is one of the older pubs in Bristol and
this area would have bean awash with sailors drunks ladies of the night and
if you had too much to drink in there and he came out and went down the alley
suddenly wallop! over the head, press-gang you would have woken up on a ship
somewhere you'll be halfway to the e America's, I wonder if it has changed?
I must show you this. Look at the angle on that doorway. Well over there is the
Bristol Old Vic, quite an elegant theatre now but in the days of Treasure Island
it was a bit more rowdy it was a place for drunken debauchery and all that
goings-on. Sounds okay with me though.
That pub behind me the Llandoger Trow as you can see it looks pretty old
and it could be, some say the inspiration for their the pub in
Treasure Island the Admiral Benbow and apparently one of the former landlords
of this place was actually a captain Hawkins. It's meant to be haunted by
three ghosts but all pubs claim that don't they and also there is a story that Daniel
Defoe met the real Robinson Crusoe here and that again that could be pub
marketing stuff. Anyway look at it pretty impressive. I just hope I don't
bump into a Blind Pew and he gives me the black spot, a pirate's death sentence.
This area of Bristol is known as the Welsh Back and in its day it would have
been lined with tall ships taking the goods around the world and in the book
Treasure Island this is the area where Squire Trelawney comes to charter a ship,
the Hispaniola and Jim Hawkins meets Long John Silver.
You can imagine it now, it's hard to actually today with the sirens going
and the cars but they've still got the cobbled streets and at night it's
quite atmospheric anyway the next stop
we're going down to Queen Square.
And now we're in the elegant queen square it was named after Queen Anne in
the center there's a statue of a King William the third. This was the centre of
the business area of Bristol in the 18th century, you can't see it but it's
surrounded on three sides just behind the grand buildings by water that side
that side and behind me and basically the money was made by two things one
being the slave trade and two being privateering.
Basically going out on ships and robbing the Spanish and stuff like that.
There's a Customs House over there which I'll show you in a minute and also in
1792 at number 37 it was home to one of the first American consulates.
On this site was the original home of Woodes Rogers he was one of the most
successful privateers in Bristol and basically he used to go out and rob the
Spanish but anyway he discovered on one of his journeys he came across a
desert island where they found Alexander Selkirk marooned, and that character
became the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. Robert Louis
Stevenson would have read all the accounts of these sailors and apparently Selkirk was not
only the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, Robert Louis Stevenson used it for the
character Ben Gunn. Oh I forgot to mention Woodes Rogers ended his days as
the governor of the Bahamas, so not too bad really.
That blue building behind me, The Hole In The Wall
matches the description for Treasure Island's Spyglass Inn
And this is where they meet Long John Silver and Captain Flint the parrot.
These little windows were used to keep an eye out for press gangs when the sailors
were inside drinking one of them used to be up there keeping an eye out in case
the press gang were approaching and if they were, all the sailors would run out the back
Along side the quayside you'll find these Redcliffe caves and above are the
fine Georgian houses, many of the ships captains used to live there and it look
at overlooks the wharf and all the goings-on. They're all locked up now even
if they weren't locked I wouldn't fancy going in one. This network of caves under
Redcliffe Parade takes up about three acres and of course the cave is
the inspiration for Ben Gunn who lived in a cave and liked cheese on toast!
There ihe s Ben Gunn meeting Jim Hawkins. They do have tours of Redcliffe Caves on
certain days of the year, it would be really interesting if you get a chance
to go on one. That pub, The Ostrich Inn dates from 1745 it's also on Redcliffe
Wharf with all the caves and they've got their own cave inside the pub apparently
it is decorated with a skeleton but unfortunately I can't go in today, it's closed.
So that was our short excursion around the old Bristol harbour side. The
inspiration for parts of Treasure Island. It'll be quite good if you did this in
the evening it will be more atmospheric I would imagine and all the pubs will be open to
so you can grab a drink. There's more of these tours on the Visit Bristol website.
Just download them to your phone, they're quite interesting and also they've got
music and atmosphere playing so gets you in the mood, so pretty good.
Another thumbs up from Fly Drive Explore