They gave you hidden Bedminster: now it’s Clifton’s turn

Pictured above: The Mock Trial (1812), showing a scene inside Bristol’s Newgate Prison, by Francis Greenway, who designed The Clifton Club, a stop on Show of Strength’s new walking tour. Pic: State Library of New South Wales

Bristol’s brilliant Show of Strength return for the autumn with another of their theatrical walkabout tours of Bristol’s most colourful and historic districts.

You can already trace Bedminster’s darker past every Thursday night, courtesy of their Blood and Butchery in Bedminster tour; now you can also get the lowdown on some little-known episodes in the history of Clifton.

Crime and Crinolines in Clifton “reveals the extraordinary people behind the elegant facades. Discover fabulous buildings, scenery and stories: a jilted barmaid’s brush with death; a runaway Empress; the only forger sentenced to death to keep his head and have it on a banknote; and the Georgian terrace that housed the Holy Grail.”

Here’s the show’s creator and walk leader, and Show of Strength’s founder Sheila Hannon to tell us more.

How has lockdown been for Show of Strength? Did the walks continue, in modified form? Or was it more a period for developing ideas?
Our new show Crime and Crinolines in Clifton should have launched Bristol Walk Fest in May, but all live performances stopped in March.

The best thing about lockdown was working with the fabulous Anna Rutherford and creating self-guided audio tours for Bristol Open Doors. It meant I had to go out (once it was allowed!) to develop the route and interview people in the locations.

Sheila Hannon has created, and presents, Show of Strength’s latest theatrical walking tour, which uncovers some fascinating nuggets from Clifton’s past. Pic: Zuleika Henry

I discovered the fabulous outdoor Edna’s Café in Castle Park, loos in the Galleries, and a path beside the River Avon by Bristol Bridge that I never knew existed (thank you, Mark Steeds).

So walking continued in that sense – but our live theatrical walks are only starting again now.  I’ve also been developing two new outdoor projects and, fingers crossed, they’ll – literally – see the light of day later this year or next, though funding gets harder and harder to find.

How is social distancing affecting the way these walks are carried out?
All walks are risk-assessed, with a maximum number of 15 per walk. People will self-identify who they walk with, in groups no bigger than six, and the new Clifton walk will have private previews to ensure we get it right.

How did this show come about?
I’ve lived in Southville for years so already knew a lot of the stories that went into Blood and Butchery in Bedminster. The Clifton show took more work, but it’s the sort of research I love – and I found some fascinating stuff.

At nearly a quarter of a mile long, Royal York Crescent is the longest crescent in Europe.  I’d never actually walked the full length of that fabulous raised pavement before – and it’s amazing how many other people haven’t. A French Empress lived here as well as – believe it or not – the Holy Grail.

Royal York Crescent was started in 1791 but the French Revolutionary Wars meant that building stopped and it wasn’t completed until 1820. It’s great to show it off and reveal a few of its secrets for its 200th anniversary.

Given its rather different history from Bedminster, does the Clifton walk (and the stories / characters on it) have a different flavour to the Bedminster one?
Clifton and Bedminster are both older than Bristol, though their Boom Years mean very different things.

Clifton was created for the rich and fashionable, to provide accommodation for tourists visiting the Hot Wells and for well-heeled locals to escape the filthy city. The tour starts in front of the very first Clifton terrace, built in the 1760s, but most of the great terraces were completed after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815.

Show of Strength’s Clifton theatrical walking tour starts at Boyce’s Buildings, Clifton’s very first Georgian terrace from 1760. Pic: Alan Murray-Rust / geograph.org.uk

We also pass The Clifton Club, designed by architect Francis Greenway – the only forger sentenced to death (and reprieved) to have his head on a banknote. Greenway was transported to Australia where he became ‘The Father of Australian Architecture’. His paintings while in Bristol Newgate prison are fascinating ‘Mock Trials’.

Bedminster also boomed in the early 1800s, but at the bottom end of the social scale. In the first half of the 19th century it was full of tanneries, coal pits and low-paid workers living in appalling conditions, who’d moved up from the country during the Industrial Revolution.

Head north from Somerset and you reach Bedminster before Bristol and I suspect it felt like a Wild West frontier town. Both places, however, are full to bursting with fabulous stories and amazing characters, though from opposite ends of the social scale.

Where might you do next, do you think?
We’ve got five tours now: Bedminster, Clifton, Bath and two around the harbour focusing on Bristol’s seafaring past – one for adults and one for families.

So where next? I’ve got a couple of ideas around specific themes and places, one of them tied to an anniversary next year, but they’re still cooking. Let’s see what develops – and suggestions are always welcome.

Show of Strength’s new theatrical walking tour Crime and Crinolines in Clifton will take place on Wednesdays from 6pm, from October 7, 2020. For more info and to book tickets, visit showofstrength.org.uk/productions/crime-and-crinolines-in-clifton

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