History of Bristol By emily.speller 803 St James' Priory Church Founded 1009 Market Active 1140 St Augustine's Abbey founded 1141 Stephen, King of England, imprisoned in Bristol Castle after the Battle of Lincoln 1147 Bristol Fair Active 1220 Construction on Bristol Cathedral begins 1223 Grey friary founded 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 1478 Ricart's Maiores Kalendar of Bristol started 1498 Cabot sets sail on his second voyage to the Americas; he is never heard of again. 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 Bristol in the English Civil War Bristol taken by forces of Prince Rupert. 1644 Fort at St. Michael's Hill rebuilt 1645 Bristol taken by forces of Cromwell. 1656 Bristol Castle demolished 1670 King William Ale House built as a refuge for poor women. 1691 Bristol Corporation of the Poor founded. 1691 Almshouse established at St. Michael's Hill. 1701 Merchants' hall built 1702 Bristol Post-Boy newspaper begins publication. 1709 St James's Square laid out. 1710 Colston's Hospital founded 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. 1759 Joseph Fry begins chocolate manufacture. 1766 Theatre opens. 1767 Bristol Gazette newspaper begins publication. 1768 Bristol Bridge built 1770 Bristol porcelain manufacture begins; Bristol blue glass is also first produced at about this date. 1773 Bristol Library Society founded. 1779 Stapelton Prison built to hold naval prisoners of war captured during the American Revolutionary War. 1786 Infirmary opens. 1786 Wills, Watkins & Co. open a tobacconists' shop which becomes W.D. & H.O. Wills. 1788 John Wesley gives speech against slavery 1790 Berkeley Square laid out. 1791 Christ Church with St Ewen and Equestrian Theatre built. Sep 30, 1793 Bridge riot. 1794 Stapelton prison used for French prisoners of war during the Napoleonic Wars. 1796 John Harvey & Sons, importers of Harvey's Bristol Cream sherry, founded 1799 Pneumatic Institution established. 1803 Bristol Dock Company incorporated 1804 Stapelton prison enlarged. 1809 Docks built. 1810 Commercial Rooms built 1821 Population: 52,889 1821 John Horwood hanged for the murder of Eliza Balsom 1823 Chamber of Commerce founded 1823 Bristol Institution opens 1830 New cattle market opens 1831 Clifton becomes part of city 1831 Queen Square riots – 4 rioters killed and 86 injured by cavalry charge in Queen Square. 1832 4 Queen Square rioters charged and hanged. 1832 Bristol Mechanics' Institution building opens. 1832 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. 1840 Bristol and Clifton Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society instituted. 1841 London-Bristol railway completed 1842 Synagogue opens in Park Row 1842 Buckingham Baptist Chapel built. 1843 Iron steamship SS Great Britain launched. 1844 Bristol Academy for the Promotion of Fine Arts founded.