Cabot was a

council ward A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or na ...

that covered the

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricit ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

, England. It took its name from the

Cabot Tower Cabot may refer to: Businesses * Cabot Corporation, an American chemicals company * Cabot Creamery, an American dairy cooperative Fictional characters * Alexandra Cabot, in the ''Law & Order'' universe * Leigh Cabot, from Stephen King's 1983 no ...

, a memorial tower on Brandon Hill that was built to commemorate

John Cabot John Cabot ( it, Giovanni Caboto ; 1450 – 1500) was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is the earliest-known European exploration of coastal No ...

's voyage and "discovery" of North America. The ward was abolished in 2016.

Areas

This ward contained the whole of the medieval city and many of the oldest surviving buildings. Cabot includes Bristol's Docks, the City Centre and the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a Red brick university, red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Society of Merchant Venturers, Merchant Venturers' sc ...

. Cabot has at least 17 churches, a cathedral, a synagogue, four museums, three hospitals, two theatres, two concert halls, and art galleries and cinemas. Areas within Cabot include: Spike Island, Baltic Wharf,

Redcliffe Hill Redcliffe, also known as Redcliff, is a district of the English port city of Bristol, adjoining the city centre to the northwest. It is bounded by the loop of the Floating Harbour (including ''Bathurst Basin'') to the west, north and east, to ...

, Queen Square, Baldwin St, the City Centre, the Old City, Broadmead, Canon's Marsh,

Brandon Hill Brandon Hill () is the highest mountain in County Kilkenny, Ireland, with an elevation of and prominence at . The South Leinster Way, a long-distance trail, meandering through the Barrow Valley and traverses Brandon Hill. The village of ...

, Park St, Bristol University, Kingsdown, Dove St, the east side of

Whiteladies Road Whiteladies Road is a main road in Bristol, England. It runs north from the Victoria Rooms to Durdham Down, and separates Clifton on the west side from Redland and Cotham on the east. It forms part of the A4018. Significant buildings on ...

, the south side of Cotham Hill and Cotham Brow, and the west side of

Stokes Croft Stokes Croft is a road in Bristol, England. It is part of the A38, a main road north of the city centre. Locals refer to the area around the road by the same name. The road became a centre of industry during the mid-19th century, including the ...

. The area that comprises Brandon Hill, Park St, the Triangle, and the area between Park Row and the Hippodrome has been promoted under the name "The West End".

Bristol city centre

The central area of the city of Bristol is the area south of the central

ring road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...

and north of the

Floating Harbour Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of . It is the former natural tidal river Avon through the city but was made into its current form in 1809 when the tide was prevented from going out perm ...

, bordered north by St Pauls and Easton, east by

Temple Meads Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is located away from London Paddington. It is an important transport hub for public transport in the city; there are bus services to many parts of the city ...

and Redcliffe, and west by Clifton and Canons' Marsh. It is contained entirely within the Council ward of Cabot.

Canon's Marsh

Canons' Marsh is an

inner city The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists somet ...

area of approximately one square kilometre, on the north side of the

, immediately to the west of the River Frome spur (St Augustine's Reach) of the harbour. Canons' Marsh borders

Hotwells Hotwells is a district of the English port city of Bristol. It is located to the south of and below the high ground of Clifton, and directly to the north of the Floating Harbour. The southern entrance to the Avon Gorge, which connects the dock ...

to the west, Clifton to the north, and the

city centre A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...

to the north east. It was a

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roo ...

area until the last yard closed in 1904, incorporating two of Teast's Docks, and including J&W Peters shipyard. Canons' Wharf was once one of the busiest quays in the docks, with its own branch of the Bristol Harbour Railway, cranes and a

goods shed A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were buil ...

. The area was also the location of the city's gas works. With the decline of industry throughout the 20th century, Canons' Marsh was cleared to make way for

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of bligh ...

. Due to pollution, however, the gas works remained derelict for several years. The area is now the location of We the Curious, the South West offices of

Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank plc is a British retail banking, retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the "Big Four (banking), Big Four" clearing house (finance), clearing banks. Lloyds B ...

, a campus of

City of Bristol College City of Bristol College is a further education and higher education college in Bristol, England. It provides courses for young people and adults aged 16 and above in areas such as: A Levels, Animal Care, Floristry, Horticulture, Applied Forensi ...

and several bars, restaurants, apartment buildings and offices.

Kingsdown

Kingsdown is a mainly residential area of Bristol, located to the north of the

and south of Cotham.

Redcliffe

A small portion of the Redcliffe area lies within the Cabot ward; most of it, however, lies in the Lawrence Hill ward.

Spike Island

Spike Island is the narrow strip of land between the

to the north and the tidal New Cut of the River Avon to the south, from the dock entrance to the west to Bathurst Basin in the east. From the digging of the "New Cut" until the Bathurst locks were sealed up, it was literally an island.

Tyndall's Park

Tyndall's Park is an area to the east of Clifton. It contains the main precinct of the

Bristol Grammar School Bristol Grammar School (BGS) is a 4–18 mixed, independent day school in Bristol, England. It was founded in 1532 by Royal Charter for the teaching of 'good manners and literature', endowed by wealthy Bristol merchants Robert and Nicholas Thorn ...

and the

BBC Bristol The BBC campus, Broadcasting House Bristol, is located on Whiteladies Road, Bristol. The first building to be occupied was 21/23 Whiteladies Road, which was built in 1852 and is a Grade II listed building, with four radio studios. It was forma ...

studios.

Statistics

In the 2001 Census Cabot ward had a resident population of 9,604. The population is generally young, student/professional and in rented accommodation. The ward was in the Parliamentary constituency of Bristol West (held by

Thangam Debbonaire Thangam Elizabeth Rachel Debbonaire (' Singh; born 3 August 1966) is a British Labour Party politician, serving as Shadow Leader of the House of Commons since May 2021. She was previously the Shadow Secretary of State for Housing from 2020 ...

), and had two councillors: Mark Wright and Ani Stafford-Townsend. As of 2009/10, Cabot had the highest crime rate per resident of any ward in the city, with more than double the offences per head of any other ward.

Fate

Cabot ceased to exist as a ward in 2016, its area being allocated to Hotwells and Harbourside Ward Ward and Central Ward following boundary changes.

References

External links

Census data

Ward map

{{Districts of Bristol Wards of Bristol