| Canon's Marsh | |
|---|---|
 Canon's Marsh – the low land in the foreground – with Bristol Cathedral and St Michael's Hill behind. | |
  Canon's Marsh Location withinBristol | |
| OS grid reference | ST583724 |
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BRISTOL |
| Postcode district | BS6 |
| Dialling code | 0117 |
| Police | Avon and Somerset |
| Fire | Avon |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | |
| 51°27′N2°36′W / 51.45°N 2.60°W /51.45; -2.60 | |
Canon's Marsh (sometimes writtenCanons Marsh) is aninner city area ofBristol, England. Canon's Marsh occupies low-lying land on the north side of theFloating Harbour, immediately to the west of theRiver Frome spur (St Augustine's Reach) of the harbour. Canon's Marsh includes Bordeaux Quay, Canon's Wharf, Hannover Quay, andMillennium Square, and is part of the area that has been branded "Harbourside".[1]
Formerly an industrial area, with busy quaysides, warehouses, railwaytransit sheds and one of the city's maingas works, Canon's Marsh was subject tourban regeneration beginning in the 1980s and completing in the 2010s. It is now a mixed use neighbourhood with residential and office developments alongside major leisure attractions.
Canons' Marsh bordersHotwells to the west,Clifton to the north, and thecity centre to the north east. It is in theHotwells and Harbourside electoral ward.
It was ashipbuilding area until the last yard closed in 1904, incorporating two ofTeast's Docks, and includingJ&W Peters shipyard.[citation needed]
Canon's Wharf was developed in the 1890s with open quaysides suited to the larger ships and increasing mechanisation of cargo transit of the age, becoming one of the busiest parts of the docks in the early 20th century.[2] In 1891 it had a quayside steam crane, mounted on a stone tower that survives at Lloyds amphitheatre, and it later gained rail-mounted electric cranes. It had its own branch of theBristol Harbour Railway and in 1906 theGreat Western Railway built a largegoods shed beside the railyard, pioneering the use ofFrançois Hennebique's reinforced concrete system.[3]
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Bristol and Clifton Gas Company opened Canon's Marsh Gasworks at the western end of the site in the early 1820s, producingtown gas.[4] The gasworks constructed two largegas holders, in 1863 and 1933,[5] which were prominent landmarks until their demolition in the 1990s.[6]
In 1920,Imperial Tobacco built large 7-storeybond warehouses at Canon's Marsh, which were dominant on the skyline until they were demolished in 1988.[7]
With the expansion of the downstreamAvonmouth Docks – more modern and accessible to shipping – throughout the 20th century, industrial use of Bristol's city centre docks declined, and they effectively closed in 1975.[8][9] In 1969, Bristol City Council had proposed closing the harbour entirely, and began developing plans to build a system of major roads through harbourside areas including Canon's Marsh. A backlash against these plans, and increasing recognition of the potential leisure value of the water and waterfront led to the abandonment of the road plans in 1976.[9]
Regeneration of Canon's Marsh began slowly, with the opening ofWatershed in 1982 in disused transit sheds.[10] In the 1970s, the former rail yard was converted into a temporary car park, which later closed in phases as regeneration slowly spread from east to west through the 1980s and 1990s.[11] The first major phase of regeneration began in the late 1980s, with the tobacco warehouses cleared to make way forCanons House, a landmark office building constructed 1988-91 forLloyds Bank. This included the first phase of opening up the quaysides as public space, with the construction of anamphitheatre shaped plaza.[7][10]
Regeneration accelerated in the late 1990s, with more formal masterplanning from Bristol City Council leading to investment in thepublic realm, aided byNational Lottery funding distributed by theMillennium Commission, which contributed to 1999'sPero's Bridge, the hands-on science museumWe the Curious (then named @Bristol), andMillennium Square.[10][12] In 1997, the now public quaysides of Canon's Wharf were named Bordeaux Quay (in the east) and Hannover Quay (in the south), to celebrate 50 years of Bristol'stwin town relationships withBordeaux andHannover.[13]
With public infrastructure in place, further waves of private investment followed, first of leisure and hospitality destinations on the quays on the eastern side of Canon's Marsh, and then of office and apartment buildings in the centre.[10]
Due to the need for pollution mitigation, the gasworks at the western end of the site was the last phase of Canon's Marsh to be redeveloped, which following the2007–2008 financial crisis was not completed until 2019.[4] Three grade IIlisted buildings from the gasworks, East and West Purifier Houses and Engine House, were preserved and converted alongside the construction of new apartment buildings.[14]
