Bristol is a place full of nods and tributes to people from its past with the city’s ode to slave traders such as Edward Colston sparking discussions about how historical figures be recognised.
Roads around Bristol have been used to immortalise a character from the city’s history whether it be for their involvement in a great siege to take control of the city during the 1600s or the founder of one of America’s oldest states. BristolWorld has selected eight streets across which you may have walked on every day and not realised the person behind its name.
Here are those eight streets and the people they are named after.
1. Battenburg Road
Not named after the cake, unfortunately. This road is instead a misspelling of the Battenberg family - descendants of Prince Alexander of Hesse.
2. Gingells Green, St Georges
George Gingell was a hay and straw salesman who traded from this spot in the 1880s. His family would later become known for their butcher trade and ran a popular shop in Lawrence Hill up until the 1980s.
3. Penn Street, Broadmead
A Bristol-US link here. Penn Street is named after William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. Penn lived in Bristol and played a role in building this street as well as Holister Street and Philadelphia Street, in 1697.
4. Fairfax Street, Broadmead
The origin of this street, tucked away below the Galleries, dates back to the 1645 Siege of Bristol during which Royalists, led by Prince Rupert, battled the Parliamentarians. The latter were led by Lord Fairfax ad forced the Royalists to surrender the city.