Bishop’s Palace, Redland Green – c1900, 1940 and 2014 The Bishops of Bristol have not had a lot of luck with their official residences. The original Palace was situated behind Bristol Cathedral and this building was destroyed by fire during the Bristol Riots of 1831. Some of the ruins were still there in the 1960s when they were cleared to build a new school hall for the Cathedral School. In 1836 the Bishoprics of Bristol and Gloucester were amalgamated and Stapleton House (now Colston’s School) became the Bishops’ Palace. The Bishopric of Bristol was restored in 1894 and in 1898 a new Bishop’s Palace was built on land donated by Greville Edwards, the previous owner of Redland Court. The first photo from c1900 shows the newly built palace on the edge of Redland Green. Sadly, on the night of 2 December 1940, the Palace was destroyed by fire in an air raid in which over 22,000 incendiary bombs were dropped. A human chain of ARP and other personnel managed to remove oil paintings and other valuables from the blazing building. The second photo shows the remains of the burnt out Palace. These ruins also remained for two decades, an unofficial playground for local children. In 1968 the St John Reade Hostel, a hall of residence for students from Redland Teachers’ Training College, was built on the site. This in turn was demolished for the present modern apartment blocks shown in today’s photo. It seems that part of the stone wall around the grounds of the 1898 Palace survives at the entrance to the modern development.
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 08:24:15 +0000
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