For King and Country... (and The King!)

Wandering around Bristol taking photos of Gromits there are many historical sites of interest and I took a couple of photos that may be of interest to English Civil War buffs, especially as it is the 370th anniversary of the Royalist storming of Bristol today.

Christmas Steps (pictured above, known at the time IIRC as Queen Anne's Steps) was a key area of the fighting once the Royalists breached the Parliamentarian defences at what is known as Washington's Breach (the area at the top of Park Street these days). The Royalists streamed through the breach towards the old medieval city walls and the Fromegate down these very steps. There is very little in Bristol from this time but the steps (and once you get across the main road at the bottom) the gate still remain to give an echo of the past.

Colonel Henry Lunsford, leading one of the Royalist regiments, was shot dead at the top of the steps and there is a small plaque commemorating this on one of the walls of the buildings, but there is very little else in the city to indicate the battle.

If you want to know more about the battle a synopsis can be found here and Iron Mitten posted a wonderful picture he painted of Lunsford on his blog earlier this year here.

Gromit of the Day:

The King