}
Digging the Trench
'Henry King of England, etc., salutes his honest men of Redcliff. His beloved men of Bristol having begun a Trench to receive shipping, which will be to the common profit of the town and the suburb, but which they cannot perfect without great charge, the Redcliff men are commanded....to lend an equal share of assistance in a work so useful and profitable to them, so that there shall be no delay through their defect. Dated at Windsor, April 29th anno 24.'
The Little Red Book of Bristol, 1240
Redcliffe and Bristol were trade rivals in the 1200s but weaker tides and deeper water meant that ships found it easier to dock on the Redcliffe side of the River Avon. To help Bristol's port thrive it was proposed to build a new harbour in the town. This involved the digging of a deep trench to redirect the River Frome. The men of Redcliffe deliberately withheld their labour, knowing the work would be entirely to Bristol's advantage and at their own expense and it was only when Henry III interceded that they reluctantly contributed labour and funds to the project. Work finished in 1247. The trench was entirely man-made using basic tools like buckets and spades. It was 730 metres long, 36 metres wide and 6 metres deep and the most ambitious engineering feat of its day.
By the end of the century Bristol was importing ¾ million gallons of wine a year. Redcliffe lost its commercial advantage and was gradually absorbed by Bristol.
The Little Red Book of Bristol, 1240
Redcliffe and Bristol were trade rivals in the 1200s but weaker tides and deeper water meant that ships found it easier to dock on the Redcliffe side of the River Avon. To help Bristol's port thrive it was proposed to build a new harbour in the town. This involved the digging of a deep trench to redirect the River Frome. The men of Redcliffe deliberately withheld their labour, knowing the work would be entirely to Bristol's advantage and at their own expense and it was only when Henry III interceded that they reluctantly contributed labour and funds to the project. Work finished in 1247. The trench was entirely man-made using basic tools like buckets and spades. It was 730 metres long, 36 metres wide and 6 metres deep and the most ambitious engineering feat of its day.
By the end of the century Bristol was importing ¾ million gallons of wine a year. Redcliffe lost its commercial advantage and was gradually absorbed by Bristol.