Timeline of Bristol

Prior to 16th century

803 – St James' Priory founded.

1009 – Market active.

1140 – St Augustine's Abbey founded.

1141 – February: Stephen, King of England imprisoned in Bristol Castle after the Battle of Lincoln.

1147 – Bristol fair active.

c.1220 – Bristol Cathedral construction begins.

c.1223 – Grey friary founded.

c.1228 – Blackfriars Dominican priory established.

1290 – Jews expelled.

1292 – Church of St Mary Redcliffe built.

1295 – Parliamentary representation begins.

1373 – Bristol becomes a county corporate; Redcliffe becomes part of Bristol.

c.1478–1479 – Ricart's Maiores Kalendar of Bristol started.

1497 – May: Italian-born adventurer John Cabot sets sail on the ship Matthew (principally owned by Richard Amerike) looking for new lands to the west.

1498 – May: Cabot sets sail on his second voyage to the Americas; he is never heard of again.

16th-17th centuries

1504 – Chapel of the Three Kings of Cologne built.

1542 – See of Bristol established.

1552 – Society of Merchant Venturers chartered.

1595 – Merchant Venturers' School founded.

1643 – July: Bristol in the English Civil War Bristol taken by forces of prince Rupert.

1644 – Fort at St. Michael's Hill rebuilt.

1645 – September: Bristol taken by forces of Cromwell.

1656 – Bristol Castle demolished.

c. 1670 – King William Ale House built as a refuge for poor women.

1691

Bristol Corporation of the Poor founded.

Almshouse established at St. Michael's Hill.

18th century

1701 – Merchants' hall built.

1702 – Bristol Post-Boy newspaper begins publication.

1710 – Colston's Hospital founded.

1709 – St James's Square laid out.

1712 – Custom House built.

1717 – William Cossley bookseller in business.

1725 – Farley's Bristol News-Paper begins publication.

1727 – Dowry Square laid out.

1729 – Walter Churchman patents his invention for making chocolate.

1737 – Bristol Royal Infirmary opens.

1738 – William Champion patents a process to distill zinc from calamine using charcoal in a smelter.

1739 – New Room (Methodist chapel) built.

1740 – Merchant Tailors' Guild Hall built.

1741 – King Square laid out.

1743 – The Exchange built.

1747 – Bristol becomes Britain's busiest slave trading port.

1753 – Economic unrest.

c.1759 – Joseph Fry begins chocolate manufacture.

1766 – Theatre opens.

1767 – Bristol Gazette newspaper begins publication.

1768 – Bristol Bridge built.

1770 – Bristol porcelain manufacture begins.

1773 – Bristol Library Society founded.

1786

Infirmary opens.

Wills, Watkins & Co. open a tobacconists’ shop which becomes W.D. & H.O. Wills.

1788 – John Wesley gives speech against slavery.

c.1790 – Berkeley Square laid out.

1791 – Christ Church with St Ewen and Equestrian Theatre built.

1793 – 30 September: Bridge riot.

1796 – John Harvey & Sons, makers of Harvey's Bristol Cream, founded.

1799 – Pneumatic Institution established.

19th century

1803 – Bristol Dock Company incorporated.

1809 – Docks built.

1810 – Commercial Rooms built.

1821

Population: 52,889.

John Horwood hanged for the murder of Eliza Balsom.

1823

Chamber of Commerce founded.

Bristol Institution opens.

1830s – Clifton becomes part of city.

1831 – October: Queen Square riots.

1832

Bristol Mechanics' Institution building opens.

Holy Trinity Church built.

1836 – Zoological Gardens open.

1837 – Passage to St Vincent's Cave opens.

1838 – Paddle steamer SS Great Western (launched 1837) begins travelling to the United States.

1840

Bath-Bristol section of Great Western Railway begins operating.

Bristol and Clifton Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society instituted.

1841 – London-Bristol railway completed.

1842

Synagogue opens in Park Row.

Buckingham Baptist Chapel built.

1843 – Iron steamship SS Great Britain launched.

1844 – Bristol Academy for the Promotion of Fine Arts founded.

1847 – Horfield Barracks completed.

1850

Bristol, West of England and South Wales Permanent Building Society formed.

Pro-Cathedral of the Holy Apostles consecrated.

1854 – Bristol and Exeter Railway begins operating.

1858

Western Daily Press newspaper begins publication.

Bristol General Hospital opens.

1862

Bristol Naturalists' Society established.

Clifton College opens.

1864

Clifton Suspension Bridge opens.

Avonside Engine Company in business.

1865

Bristol and West of England Amateur Photographic Association formed.

Industrial Exhibition held.

Daily Bristol Times and Mirror newspaper in publication.

1870 – Gloucestershire County Cricket Club formed.

1871 – Bristol Museum and Library established.

1875 – Horse-drawn tram begins operating.

1876

University College, Bristol opens.

The Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society founded.

1877 – Avonmouth dock opens.

1884

September: Exhibition opens.

Clifton Antiquarian Club founded.

1887

Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company and Bristol Camera Society established.

Bristol Home for Lost and Starving Dogs opens.

1889

Labour strike.

Bristol Choral Society founded.

March: Flood.

1892 – Labour strike.

1893 – Brazil, Straker & Co in business.

1895 – Electric tram begins operating.

1898 – Cabot Tower built on Brandon Hill.

20th century

1901

Imperial Direct West India Mail Service begins operating to Jamaica.

Population: 328,945.

Area of city: 11,705 acres.

1904

Shirehampton becomes part of city.

Area of city: 17,004 acres.

1905 – Bristol Kyrle Society founded.

1906 – Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company introduces its first motor buses.

1908 – Royal Edward Dock opens at Avonmouth.

1909 – University of Bristol founded.

1910 – British and Colonial Aeroplane Company in business.

1912 – Bristol Hippodrome opens.

1914 – International Exhibition opens at the "White City", Ashton Gate, becoming a military depot soon after the outbreak of war.

1916 – Bristol F.2 Fighter aircraft first flies.

1929 – Bristol Record Society founded.

1930 – Whitchurch Airport begins operating.

1932

Bristol Evening Post newspaper begins publication.

23 February: Old Market riot.

1933 – Gaiety Cinema opens.

1938 – Ritz Cinema opens.

1940 – 2 November: Aerial bombing by German forces begins.

1941 – Bristol Tramways abandoned due to bombing.

1944 – 15 May: Aerial bombing by German forces ends.

1945 – Bristol Cars in business.

1946 – Bristol Old Vic theatre company and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School established.

1958 – Bristol Bus Station opens.

1959 – Bristol Siddeley aero engine manufacturer in business.

1963 – 30 April: Bristol Bus Boycott.

1968 – World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association headquartered in city.

1969 – British prototype Concorde airliner first flies from Filton.

1970

Radio repeater tower built at Purdown.

BBC Radio Bristol begins broadcasting.

Bristol Polytechnic established.

SS Great Britain returns to Bristol.

1973 – Clifton Cathedral (Roman Catholic) consecrated.

1974

Bristol becomes part of the county of Avon

Ashton Court Festival begins.

Avonmouth Bridge opens in Shirehampton.

1977 – Gay Pride begins.

1978

Royal Portbury Dock opens.

Castle Park laid out.

Bristol Gay Centre founded.

1980 – 2 April: St. Pauls riot.

1984 – Bristol Community Church organized.

1986 – Show of Strength Theatre Company formed.

1992

16 July: Hartcliffe riot.

University of the West of England granted university status.

1996

County of Avon abolished; Bristol once again becomes both a city and a county.

City of Bristol College established.

1998 – Tobacco Factory Theatre established.

21st century

2000 – Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory theatre company founded.

2001 – Bristol Royal Hospital for Children building opens.

2003 – Plain Clothes Theatre Productions formed.

2004 – Bristol Shakespeare Festival begins.

2007 – Dot to Dot Festival begins.

2010 – Brunel Institute opens.

2011

21 April: Stokes Croft Tesco riot.

Bristol becomes a "city of sanctuary" for refugees.

2012

Redland Green School established.

George Ferguson elected Mayor of Bristol.

2015 - Wok to Walk opens on Park St

2016 - Daniel Lee, Asher Breuer-Weil, Samuel Gottlieb, Jacob Summerfield, Thomas Prais and Alexander Epstein begin to study at the University of Bristol.