Bristol UK Postcards - Clifton Suspension Bridge
Clifton Suspension Bridge
This unused postcard has the printed text...
"Chatterton Series"
Published by A.G.S., Bristol
Clifton Suspension Bridge
This postcard, posted in Bristol on 14th February, 1922, has no other printed text.
Clifton Suspension Bridge
This unused postcard has the printed text...
29100
Printed in England
Clifton Suspension Bridge
A magnificent structure spanning the Avon Gorge.
It hangs 245 feet above high water level, and is
702 feet in length from pier to pier. The foundation
stone was laid in 1816, the work of construction
abandoned in 1853, resumed in 1861 and the completed
structure opened on December 8th 1864. The cost
was about $100,000.
The postcard has a hand-written date of 2nd December 1944.
Clifton Suspension Bridge
This unused postcard has the printed text...
British Manufacture
E. W. S. Ld., B
Clifton Suspension Bridge
This unused postcard has just the printed text 118
Clifton Suspension Bridge
This unused postcard has just the printed text 1421. It also has a handwritten date of June 1st, 1901.
Clifton Suspension Bridge
This unused postcard has the printed text...
38753
Harvey Barton and Son Ltd., Bristol
British Manufacture
Clifton Suspension Bridge
This unused postcard has the printed text...
413
Avonvale Series
J. B. & S. C.
J. B. & S. C. Avonvale Series of Pictorial Post Cards
Printed in Hessen
Clifton Suspension Bridge
This postcard, posted on 31st May, 1904, has just the printed text 11019.
Clifton Suspension Bridge
This unused postcard has the printed text...
Q2L
Post Office Preferred
Printed in England
You See more in a Harvey Barton Viewcard
Clifton Suspension Bridge. Designed by Isambard
Brunel, F.H.S. Spanning the Avon Gorge, 245 feet
above high water. 702 feet in length. Started in
1836, opened on December 8th 1864. The cost about
£100,000
Clifton Suspension Bridge
This postcard, with an unreadable post stamp, has the printed text...
1833
C17198
Natural Colour Series, Photo Greetings, U.S.A.
The Photographic Greeting Card Co. Ltd., London
This really is an international card, a Bristol scene published by Photos Greetings of U.S.A. and London, and posted to someone in Poland.
This magnificent piece of engineering was planned by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1829, but the building of it was plagued by financial difficulties. Work started on it in 1831 but the money soon ran out and work stopped for five years. It was finally opned on 8th December 1864, but Brunel didn't see it as he died in 1859. It has a span of 702 feet and is 245 feet above the river.
There have been quite a number people jumping off of the bridge. Over a thousand people have so far committed suicide by doing this. Bristol and the surrounding area has a suicide rate by jumping of 9.3% compared with 4.9% of all suicides in the rest of England and Wales. (Suicides in Avon) Among those who have fallen (or jumped) from the bridge was Samantha, the daughter of the famous Welsh singer Shirley Bassey. She'd been drinking in the Hotwells area and was found under the bridge in 1985.
Some very, very lucky people have survived the fall. Here's some of their stories.
On Friday 8th May 1885, 22 year old Sarah Anne Henley, after a lover's quarrel, tried to commit suicide by jumping off of it. Sarah was from the St. Philip's area and was a factory worker. The large Victorian dress she was wearing acted as a parachute and she survived the fall. She escaped with light bruising but very deep shock. One account I heard of this is that a carriage driver refused to take her to hospital, she had landed on the riverbank and was covered in mud and he didn't want to get his carriage messed up. Incidentally, she went on to see her 85th birthday and died in 1948.
One of the most horrific stories is that of Ruby and Elsie Brown. Their father, Charlie, a grocer from Birmingham was close to bankruptcy and very despondent. On 18th September 1896, he took his daughters, Ruby and Elsie, onto the bridge and threw them over the parapet. Luckily, on a boat underneath the bridge was Pill pilot James Hazell and his crew who picked the girls up and took them to the shore. Two policemen P.C. Wise and Sgt. Willie picked up the unconscious girls and ran all the way to the Bristol Royal Infirmary with them. Elsie had slight leg injuries but Ruby had spinal injuries but after a couple of weeks made a good recovery. At their father's trial Ruby said that "We stayed on the bridge about an hour. I was soaking wet and so was Elsie. Father caught hold of me and I began to scream. He lifted me up on the side of the bridge and put me over." Charles Brown was found to be insane and placed in an asylum.
The first person who flew under the bridge was a Frenchman, M. Tetard in 1911.
In 1957, Flying Officer Crossley, who was based in Filton, tried to fly under the bridge in a de Havilland Vampire jet. After going under the bridge it all went wrong for him and he crashed into the Leigh Woods side of the gorge, killing himself instantly. His was the last flight by anyone under the bridge.
This page created 20th September 2009, last modified 10th February 2010
