{"id":137,"date":"2024-10-01T12:35:54","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T12:35:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.disphoria.net\/test\/history\/?page_id=137"},"modified":"2025-07-10T14:10:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T14:10:04","slug":"location-1-the-full-moon","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.disphoria.net\/test\/history\/location-1-the-full-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"Stokes Croft History Walk – Location 1: The Full Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maps showing the growth of Bristol<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Medieval Bristol was an over-crowded city hemmed in by the city walls and rivers which defended it.\u00a0Most of the lands outside the city walls were owned by the abbeys and church parishes, so the city became densely packed with tall houses. Even the bridge had 4 story houses built onto it to take advantage of the limited space. Poor sanitation and overcrowding made Bristol smelly and rife with diseases, but the opportunities for trade drew a growing population.<\/p>\n

North of the crowded city, St James Priory and St Michael’s on the Mount Without (meaning without – or outside – the city walls) with their outhouses and farm buildings were the main landmarks. The remaining land was mostly farmland, with a few farm buildings.<\/p>\n

City mayor John Stokes was given lands just north of the city c.1364, formerly known as Berewykse Croft in Redeland. <\/em>The muddy path leading through his farm became known as Stoke’s Croft.<\/p>\n

Travellers who wanted to avoid the steep St Michael’s Hill\/Horfield Rd route north to Gloucester and Thornbury, would take the Stokes Croft path, which gradually became more established, until it became an official turnpike road before the civil war, which was paved and maintained by the turnpike fees.<\/p>\n

The reformation dissolved the monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII, leading to the sale of church and abbey lands outside the city. This was the first burst of expansion of Bristol. Following the hardships of the civil war and destruction of the castle, Bristol became a prosperous port city. Merchants became very wealthy, living in imposing houses in the large squares of St James Square, Brunswick Square, Portland Square and King Square, around the new suburbs of St Pauls and Kingsdown.<\/p>\n

Stokes croft gradually became more urbanised, with several schools and businesses constructed on the undeveloped road, but in 1875 the tram network suddenly opened up the wider suburbs, until Stokes Croft became part of the inner city. Maps from the late Victorian era show densely packed streets stretching north from Stokes Croft, during the road’s most prosperous time.<\/p>\n

A constant theme for Stokes Croft is its place outside the walls, or outside the city boundaries, where theatre, circus and fairs were able to take place, beyond the strict laws of the city. Originally, Stokes Croft was in Gloucestershire, and as the city expanded, the city’s boundary moved northwards, until the turnpike at the bottom of Ninetree Hill marked the city’s edge. Eventually, the city grew rapidly past this boundary, leaving Stokes Croft as part of the inner city. However, that outsider spirit survived when the area became neglected after the Second World War, where the once-grand street became a home for squat parties, popup art galleries, clubs, and street artists.<\/strong><\/p>\n