48-836: Tower Belle is a passenger boat based in Bristol Harbour in England. The vessel is operated by the Bristol Packet Boat Trips company on pleasure and educational trips in the City Docks, on the River Avon to the Chequers Inn at Hanham Lock and Beese's Tea Gardens at Conham . Tower Belle was built in 1920 in Newcastle upon Tyne by Armstrong Whitworth , originally known as Wincomblee . In
96-525: A 45-foot-wide (13.7 m) junction lock between the Basin and what became known as the Floating Harbour. This arrangement provided flexibility of operation with the Basin being used as a lock when there were large numbers of arrivals and sailings. The harbour was officially opened on 1 May 1809. The first vessel built in the Floating Harbour was Dochfour . Patterson's yard within the harbour
144-642: A dam and lock at Hotwells to create the harbour. The £530,000 scheme was approved by Parliament , and construction began in May 1804. The scheme included the construction of the Cumberland Basin , a large wide stretch of the harbour in Hotwells where the Quay walls and bollards have listed building status. The tidal new cut was constructed from Netham to Hotwells, with another dam installed at this end of
192-706: A variety of small boats by Baltic Wharf Sailing Club and is surrounded by tourist attractions. The old hydraulic pumping station has been converted into a pub and is a Grade II listed building. There are two (since 2016) active boat building companies in the harbour: Bristol Classic Boat Company and the Slipway Co-operative at the Underfall Yard . The harbour is now a tourist attraction with museums, galleries, exhibitions, bars and nightclubs . Former workshops and warehouses have now largely been converted or replaced by cultural venues, such as
240-475: Is 67.97 ft (20.72 m) and her beam is 13 ft (4.0 m). The draught is 2.83 ft (0.86 m) and the air draught is 12 ft (3.7 m). The ship is licensed to carry 95 passengers and is equipped with life rings, inflatable life rafts and life jackets. There is a small bar and toilet facilities. 51°26′53″N 2°37′10″W / 51.4480°N 2.6194°W / 51.4480; -2.6194 Bristol Harbour Bristol Harbour
288-561: Is often called the Floating Harbour as the water level remains constant and it is not affected by the state of the tide on the river in the Avon Gorge, The New Cut or the natural river southeast of Temple Meads to its source. Netham Lock at the east end of the 1809 Feeder Canal is the upstream limit of the floating harbour. Beyond the lock is a junction: on one arm the navigable River Avon continues upstream to Bath , and on
336-487: Is powered by water pressure from the Underfall Yard hydraulic engine house at 750 psi (5,200 kPa; 52 bar). The new Plimsoll Bridge, completed in 1965, has a more modern electro-hydraulic system using oil at a pressure of 4,480 psi (30,900 kPa; 309 bar). Since the 1980s, millions of pounds have been spent regenerating the harbourside. In 1999, Pero's Bridge was constructed, linking
384-419: Is the harbour in the city of Bristol , England. The harbour covers an area of 70 acres (28 hectares). It is the former natural tidal river Avon through the city but was made into its current form in 1809 when the tide was prevented from going out permanently. A tidal by-pass was dug for 2 miles through the fields of Bedminster for the river, known as the "River Avon New Cut", "New Cut", or simply "The Cut". It
432-637: Is the point at Netham in Bristol at which boats from the River Avon , acting as part of the Kennet and Avon Canal , gain access to Bristol's Floating Harbour . Construction started in 1804 to build the tidal New Cut and divert the River Avon along the Feeder Canal to the harbour; a system designed and built by William Jessop and later improved by Isambard Kingdom Brunel . A weir carries
480-693: The @Bristol exhibition with Bristol tourist attractions. In 2000, the @Bristol centre opened on semi-derelict land at Canon's Marsh and some of the existing Grade II listed buildings were refurbished and reused. It was funded with £44.3 million from the National Lottery , the Millennium Commission , South West of England Regional Development Agency , and a further £43.4 million from Bristol City Council and commercial partners, including Nestlé . Private investors are also constructing studio apartment buildings. The regeneration of
528-652: The Arnolfini art gallery, Watershed media and arts centre , M Shed museum, Antlers Gallery and the We The Curious science exhibition centre, as well as a number of fashionable apartment buildings. The Bristol Harbour Railway , operated by M Shed, runs between the museum and the CREATE Centre on some weekends and bank holidays. Historic boats are permanently berthed in the harbour. These include Isambard Kingdom Brunel 's SS Great Britain , which
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#1732787913368576-674: The Bristol Byzantine style with coloured brick and Moorish arches. The Arnolfini art gallery occupies Bush House, a 19th-century Grade II* listed tea warehouse. and the Watershed Media Centre occupies another disused warehouse. In 1908, the Royal Edward Dock was built in Avonmouth and in 1972 the large deep water Royal Portbury Dock was constructed on the opposite side of the mouth of
624-539: The Bristol Harbour Festival is held, resulting in an influx of boats, including tall ships , Royal Navy vessels and lifeboats . There is a bylaw that prohibit swimming in the docks, with a fine of up to £1,000 for infringement. Bristol Harbour hosts the Bristol Harbour Festival in July of each year, attended by tall ships and hundreds of ships and boats of all kinds. About 200,000 visitors view
672-525: The Canon's Marsh area is expected to cost £240 million. Crest Nicholson were the lead developers , constructing 450 new flats, homes and waterside offices. It is being carried out under the guidance of The Harbourside Sponsors’ Group, which is a partnership between the City Council, key stakeholders, developers, businesses, operators and funders. The Cumberland Basin & Baltic Wharf are used by
720-478: The New Cut . This separation of the floating harbour and the tidal River Avon allows boats in the harbour to remain floating at low tide, reduces currents and silting and prevents flooding. Between Bristol Temple Meads railway station and Hotwells , the harbour and the River Avon run parallel at a distance of no more than 5 ⁄ 8 mile (1 kilometre) apart. Downstream of Bristol Temple Meads railway station,
768-741: The River Thames , but her 48 ft (14.6 m) beam was too big to pass through the lock. Thus the SS Great Britain was moored in the Floating Harbour until December 1844, before proceeding into Cumberland Basin after coping stones and lock gate platforms were removed from the Junction Lock. At one time there were dozens of Bristol shipyards, the largest in the harbour being Hilhouse , who became Charles Hill & Sons in 1845. The harbour cost more than anticipated and high rates were levied to repay loans, reducing any benefit
816-594: The Underfall Yard , serving landing stages in the city centre and close to most of the harbour-side attractions. A separate cross-harbour ferry carries pedestrians from the ferry landing at the Great Britain to the new harbour inlet opposite. Bristol Packet Boat Trips offer regular harbour tours with commentaries and river cruises on the Tower Belle up the River Avon to Conham , Hanham and Bath and downstream to Avonmouth . In late July each year,
864-429: The hydraulic engine house dates from 1888, and is grade II* listed, as is the hydraulic engine house itself. It is built of red brick with a slate roof and contains pumping machinery, installed in 1907 by Fullerton, Hodgart and Barclay of Paisley , which powers the dock's hydraulic system of cranes, bridges and locks. The former pattern-maker's shop and stores date from the same period and are grade II listed, as are
912-583: The 1950s and 1960s she worked in London, finally coming to Bristol in 1976. Originally known as Wincomblee after a place in the Walker district of Newcastle, details of her early history are not known. She was operated by the Armstrong Whitworth company that built her, either as an executive launch or a company ferry for shipyard workers. In 1939 she was transferred to Newcastle City Council and
960-708: The Americas and a replica of Cabot's ship, the Matthew , was dedicated prior to its reenactment of Cabot's voyage the following year. In 2009, the 200th anniversary of the Floating Harbour was commemorated with a series of celebratory events. In June 2020, the statue of Bristol slave trader Edward Colston was pushed into the harbour by protestors, after being pulled down from its plinth, jumped upon and daubed in paint. 51°27′N 2°36′W / 51.45°N 2.60°W / 51.45; -2.60 Netham Lock Netham Lock ( grid reference ST616727 )
1008-681: The Avon, making the Bristol City Docks in the floating harbour redundant as a freight dock. However, the city centre docks continued to be used for smaller trading ships until the early 1970s, despite suffering significant damage to its infrastructure during the Bristol Blitz. In 1977 Charles Hill & Sons, the last shipbuilder at the Albion Yard, closed after delivering the 1,541 tonne beer tanker Miranda Guinness . Part of
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#17327879133681056-560: The Bristol General Steam Navigation Company from Broad Quay in St Augustine's Reach. By 1867, ships were getting larger and the meanders in the river Avon prevented vessels over 300 ft (91 m) from reaching the harbour. A scheme to install a much larger lock at Avonmouth to make the entire river a floating harbour, and to straighten the sharper bends, was dropped after work began on
1104-408: The Chequers Inn at Hanham and Beese's Tea Gardens. Private parties, sometimes with an on-board jazz band were also offered. In subsequent years, improvements to the vessel included the replacement of the wooden flooring with a more durable steel deck, and the addition of an electrical generator, enabling power for DJ parties and refrigeration for refreshments. In 2010, the 90th birthday of Tower Belle
1152-585: The Cumberland Basin, and is a grade II listed building. B Bond Warehouse dates from 1908 and was the first in Britain to use Edmond Coignet's reinforced concrete system. It is now used by Bristol City Council and houses Bristol Archives , the CREATE Centre and council offices. Robinson's Warehouse built in 1874 by William Bruce Gingell , and the Granary on Welsh Back are examples of
1200-461: The Patent slip and quay walls. A large number of warehouses were built around the harbour for storage and trade. Many survive today and some are being converted into apartment blocks but many have been demolished as part of the regeneration of the area. One which has survived is the A Bond Tobacco Warehouse, which was built in 1905 and was the first of the three brick built bonded warehouses in
1248-579: The boats, and watch live music, street performances and other entertainments. In 1996, the harbour was the setting for the first International Festival of the Sea . A larger version of the annual harbour festivals, this was attended by many tall ships, including the Eye of the Wind , Pride of Baltimore , Rose , Kaskelot and Earl of Pembroke . The key theme was John Cabot 's pioneering voyage of discovery to
1296-507: The floating harbour meanders through Bristol city centre , Canon's Marsh and Hotwells . At Hotwells, the floating harbour rejoins the tidal River Avon, via a series of locks, and flows into the Avon Gorge . Bristol Harbour was the original Port of Bristol , but as ships and their cargo have increased in size, it has now largely been replaced by docks at Avonmouth and Portbury . These are located 7 mi (11 km) downstream at
1344-536: The gorge, and the River Severn into which it flows, has tides which fluctuate about 47 feet (14 metres) between high and low water. This means that the river is easily navigable at high tide but reduced to a muddy channel at low tide in which ships would often run aground. Ships had no option but to be stranded in the harbour for unloading, giving rise to the phrase " shipshape and Bristol fashion " to describe how ships and their secured cargo were capable of taking
1392-585: The harbour and remains sited at this location to the present day. William Jessop had created a weir in the dam at Underfall to allow surplus water to flow back into the New Cut, this was known as the 'Overfall'. By the 1830s, the Floating Harbour was suffering from severe silting. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was, however, able to devise a solution to this problem. In place of the Overfall he advised better use of three shallow sluices and one deep scouring sluice between
1440-512: The harbour and the New Cut, together with a dredging vessel. This drag boat would scrape the silt away from the quay walls. When the deep sluice opened at low tide, a powerful undertow sucked the silt into the river to be carried away on the next tide. The shallow sluices enabled adjustment of the dock water level according to weather conditions. Several old buildings, which date from the 1880s, remain at Underfall Yard and have listed building status. The octagonal brick and terracotta chimney of
1488-500: The harbour. The Feeder Canal between Temple Meads and Netham provided a link to the tidal river so that boats could continue upstream to Bath. However, the new scheme required a way to equalise the levels inside and outside the Dock for the passage of vessels to and from the Avon, and bridges to cross the water. Jessop built Cumberland Basin with two entrance locks from the tidal Avon, of widths 45 and 35 ft (13.7 and 10.7 m), and
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1536-561: The locks, into Clifton . The original Bristol Harbour Railway was a joint venture by the GWR and the Bristol and Exeter Railway, opened in 1872 between Temple Meads and the Floating Harbour. Its route included a tunnel under St Mary Redcliffe church and a steam-powered bascule bridge over the entrance locks at Bathurst Basin. In 1876 the railway was extended by 1 ⁄ 2 mi (800 m) to Wapping Wharf . In 1906, new branches from
1584-573: The mouth of the River Avon. [REDACTED] Bristol grew up on the banks of the Rivers Avon and Frome . Since the 13th century, the rivers have been modified for use as docks including the diversion of the River Frome in the 1240s into an artificial deep channel known as "Saint Augustine's Reach", which flowed into the River Avon. Saint Augustine's Reach became the heart of Bristol's docks with its quays and wharfs. The River Avon within
1632-478: The much cheaper docks at Avonmouth and Portishead . The present entrance lock was designed by Thomas Howard and opened in July 1873. This has a width of 62 ft (18.9 m) and is the only entrance lock now in use at the City Docks. From 1893 until 1934 the Clifton Rocks Railway provided a funicular railway link, inside the cliff face, from the western end of the harbour, which is close to
1680-571: The name of the Society of Merchant Venturers , agreed to support his scheme. They had sponsored probes into the north Atlantic from the early 1480s, looking for possible trading opportunities. In 1552 Edward VI granted a Royal Charter to the Merchant Venturers to manage the port. By 1670, the city had 6,000 tons of shipping, of which half was used for importing tobacco. By the late 17th century and early 18th century, this shipping
1728-499: The new harbour had at drawing companies back from Liverpool. In 1848 the city council bought the docks company to force down the rates. They employed Isambard Kingdom Brunel to make improvements, including new lock gates, a dredger and sluice gates designed to reduce siltation . By the middle of the nineteenth century there was a regular steam packet passenger service to Cork, Waterford, Dublin, Tenby, Carmarthen, Haverford West, Milford Haven, Swansea, Cardiff and Newport operated by
1776-445: The other arm is the tidal natural River Avon. The first 1 mile (1.6 kilometres) of the floating harbour, downstream from Netham Lock to Totterdown Basin , is an artificial canal known as the Feeder Canal , while the tidal River Avon follows its original route. Downstream of Totterdown Basin, the floating harbour occupies the former natural course of the River Avon, whilst the tidal River Avon flows through an artificial channel known as
1824-422: The river between Netham and Hanham is above or below the level of the harbour. The maximum dimensions of a vessel which can pass through Netham Lock are: The lock-keeper's cottage, built in the early nineteenth century, is a grade II listed building and has a plaque listing it as Bristol Docks building number 1. The floral displays around the cottage and on the banking have attracted praise. Netham Lock and
1872-407: The river into the New Cut and boats use the adjacent lock . High tides often pass over the weir, and the river is effectively tidal to the next lock upstream at Hanham . Some spring tides can also pass over the weir at Hanham, making the river tidal as far as Keynsham Lock . Access to the harbour is only possible during the day when the lock keeper will open the gates unless the water level in
1920-549: The south via the Ashton Avenue swing bridge were built to Canons Marsh on the north side of the Floating Harbour and to Wapping via a line alongside the New Cut. A Coal Concentration Depot owned by Western Fuels was established at Wapping Wharf just behind the Industrial Museum but this closed in 1987. The docks maintenance facility was established on the land exposed by the damming of the river to construct
1968-539: The strain of repeated strandings on the mud. As early as 1420, vessels from Bristol were regularly travelling to Iceland and it is speculated that sailors from Bristol had made landfall in the Americas before Christopher Columbus or John Cabot . After Cabot arrived in Bristol, he proposed a scheme to the king, Henry VII , in which he proposed to reach Asia by sailing west across the north Atlantic. He estimated that this would be shorter and quicker than Columbus' southerly route. The merchants of Bristol, operating under
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2016-578: The yard reopened in 1980 when Abels Shipbuilders began operating. It produce a steady stream of small ferries, survey vessels, tugs and other craft before going out of business in 2006. Amey Roadstone (formerly T R Brown and Holms Sand & Gravel) sand dredgers worked from Poole's Wharf in Hotwells until 1991. Occasionally coastal trading vessels enter the Cumberland Basin to be loaded with large steel silos manufactured by Braby Ltd at their nearby Ashton Gate works. The old Junction Lock swing bridge
2064-679: Was abandoned, no longer considered river-worthy, at Eel Pie Island in Twickenham . There she was found by the owner of the Bristol Packet Boat Trips company, which operated narrowboat harbour tours in Bristol City Docks . Tower Belle was brought by lorry to Bristol, sustaining further damage en route. After repairs she was re-launched into the docks in late 1976. Trips down the Avon Gorge , to Avonmouth and back were offered, in addition to journeys upriver to
2112-581: Was also playing a significant role in the slave trade . In the 18th century, the docks in Liverpool grew larger and so increased competition with Bristol for the tobacco trade. Coastal trade was also important, with the area called " Welsh Back " concentrating on trows with cargoes from the slate industry in Wales , stone , timber and coal. The limitations of Bristol's docks were causing problems to business, so in 1802 William Jessop proposed installing
2160-489: Was celebrated with a special commemorative cruise which included the attendance of Lord Mayor Colin Smith, who cut a cake and said, "It is remarkable that this boat can still be around after 90 years and, with the renaissance in the city docks, that boats such as this have come back into huge popularity and add to the city's culture." Tower Belle is powered by a diesel engine which drives a single propeller. Her overall length
2208-672: Was likely used as a ferry on the River Tyne during the Second World War . In 1946 she was moved to London and then commenced passenger services on the River Thames from Westminster Pier , downriver to Greenwich and up to Hampton Court . A single screw powered by diesel engine replaced the original steam powered twin screw arrangement. Her operators on the Thames were H G Hastings (1947–45), Thames Launches (1955–59) and, renamed Tower Belle , W R Witham (1960–76). In 1976 she
2256-444: Was the first iron-hulled and propeller -driven ocean liner; and a replica of the Matthew , in which John Cabot sailed to North America in 1497. The historic vessels of M Shed museum, which include the steam tug Mayflower , firefloat Pyronaut and motor tug John King , are periodically operated. Bristol Ferry Boats and Number Seven Boat Trips operate ferry services along the harbour from near Temple Meads station to
2304-480: Was used for the construction of many ships notably Brunel's SS Great Western in 1838 and the SS ; Great Britain in 1843. They were some of the largest ships to have been built at the time, and ironically hastened the decline of the city docks by proving the feasibility of large ships. The SS Great Britain was to be towed away from her builders, to have her 1,000 hp engines and interior fitted out on
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