Like other places, Bristol's streets are named after a variety of people, events, and features.
Some are just patterns of other places. For example, when Knowle in South Bristol was developed many of the streets were named after Devonshire seaside towns with names such as Exmouth, Minehead, Newquay, Paignton, Salcombe, Teignmouth, and so on.
Some Knowle street names
Other street name origins have long been lost.
This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of street names and where they came from, other people have created far better lists than I have, but a collection of street names I have gathered while writing this site.
Street Names
Alleys & Lanes, Roads & Streets
While writing this page I started wondering about the difference between Alleys & Lanes and Roads & Streets. While all are used to get from one place to another, there are differences between them.
Alleys and lanes are narrower than roads and streets. Alleys are mostly urban, running between or behind buildings and usually more utilitarian than lanes in that they serve as collection or delivery points as well as pedestrian shortcuts. Alleys are not usually named and sometimes do not appear on any map.
I kept seeing the following type of definition about the difference between a road and street:
A road is anything that connects two points, while streets are public ways which have buildings on either side
This just does not sound right. I think the definitions on the Designing Buildings site are closer to the truth, and those refer to the use of the right of way, especialy in urban settings.
In an urban setting, roads are mostly in residential areas whereas a street can have a mixed use of meeting places, shops and so on. In effect, streets are more of a place or destination than a road.
That has reminded me of spmething else. In the early 1970s, I lived in Raymend Road, Windmill Hill, Bedminster. That had a short alley running between the houses that had a gate. The gate was open nearly all the time except for one day a year when it was locked shut, making the alley unusable. I asked around about why it was like that and the best answer I got was if it was not locked for just one day a year it would be lost as a public right of way.
Sources and Resources
Two of the best sources of information are the A-Z History of 200 Bristol Street Names by Grace Cooper, published in 1989 by the Bristol & Avon Family History Society and Street Names of Bristol: Their Origins and Meanings by Veronica Smith published in 2001 by Broadcast Books.
11 of Bristol's Most Famous Streets - Bristol World
14 Weird and Wonderful Bristol Road Names - BS24/7
Bristol Cathedrals, Churches and Chapels - ChurchCrawler
Bristol Streets and Places - Dave Napier's great site
Bristol's Lost Pubs
Bristol's Lost Streets - The Francis Frith Collection
Bristol's rudest place name - Steve Woods' site
Bristol street names and the famous people they were named after - Bristol World
Broadmead looks unrecognisable in old photos from the 1950s - Bristol Live
Cow Lane, Limekiln Lane. St. George's Road
Gropecunt Lane - Wikipedia
Historic site, Guinea Street - PortCities Bristol
Know Your Place - A wonderful collection of old maps and information from Bristol City
Lewd lane: Auction of ancient deed reveals startling street name - Oxford Mail
Lost Bristol Streets - Bristol Information
Ma Pugsley
Some Local Place-Names in Medieval and Early-Modern Bristol - by Richard Coates and Jennifer Scherr, 2011, Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society
Steep Street: Why this key Bristol road was destroyed and lost forever - Bristol World
Stokes Croft - Wikipedia
Stokes Croft, Bristol - Bristol Information
The Fascinating Origins of Bristol's Street Names - Urban Apartments
The incredible people behind some of Bristol's street names - Bristol Live
The secret origins of Bristol's street and place names - Bristol Live
Unearthed photos of Bristol in the 1950s - Bristol Live
Weare Street
What's In A Name - Streets - Bristol Information