Features / things you probably didn't know
The small square with a large number of famous former residents
The grand squares and crescents of Clifton may get most of the attention these days, but it was Hotwells that first attracted the great and good of Georgian society due to the quality of its spa waters, which once rivalled Bath as a destination.
Dowry Square – laid out from 1721 as one of the first significant development associated with the spa – is one of the few remaining example of Hotwells’ heyday.
Much of this corner of Bristol was demolished to make way for the new Cumberland Basin road network but the square, which played a crucially important role in the history of public health in the city, remains.
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Above what is now number 13 can still be seen written on the roof level, ‘Clifton Dispensary’. Dispensaries were created mostly in the nineteenth century as an alternative to hospitals or doctors, whose remedies often made things worse.
They provided medical care mostly for the poor, with Thomas Beddoes’ Dispensary (later incorporated into the Clifton Dispensary) founded on Dowry Square in 1799. His one-time assistant was Peter Roget, author of the famous thesaurus.
The fact that Dowry Square today looks much like it did 300 years ago is largely due to the efforts of former resident and architect Peter Ware (1929-1999), with a plaque recognising his works which also included projects at Bristol Zoo and nearby Hope Chapel.
Among the other plaques dotted around the square is one to Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829), who carried out research into the use of nitrous oxide gas as an anaesthetic and invented the eponymous Davy Lamp, saving many miners’ lives.
And there is also a plaque remembering William Pennington (1740-1829), who was master of ceremonies at the former Hotwells assembly room for 30 years, and in grand Georgian society no doubt known by all of the city’s movers and shakers taking the spa waters.
This is an extract from 111 Places in Bristol That You Shouldn’t Miss by Martin Booth. Join Martin on a walking tour of the Old City and Castle Park, and receive a signed copy of the bestselling guidebook.
Main photo: Barbara Evripidou
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