Pero's Bridge () is a pedestrian

bascule bridge A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- o ...

that spans

St Augustine's Reach The Frome , historically the Froom, is a river that rises in Dodington Park, South Gloucestershire and flows southwesterly through Bristol to join the river Avon. It is approximately long, and the mean flow at Frenchay is . The name ''Frome'' ...

Bristol 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 River Avon, Bristol, Avon through the city but was made into its current form in 1809 when the tide was preven ...

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, England. It links Queen Square and

Millennium Square Millennium Square may refer to: *Millennium Square, Bristol *Millennium Square, Leeds *Millennium Square, Sheffield {{dab ...

Structure

The bridge is composed of three spans; the two outer ones are fixed and the central section can be raised to provide a navigation channel in the harbour. The most distinctive features of the bridge are the pair of horn-shaped sculptures which act as

counterweight A counterweight is a weight (object), weight that, by applying an opposite force, provides balance and stability of a machine, mechanical system. The purpose of a counterweight is to make lifting the load faster and more efficient, which saves e ...

s for the lifting section, leading it to be commonly known as the Horned Bridge or

Shrek ''Shrek'' is a 2001 American animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, and written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S. H. Schulman, loosely based on the 1990 children's picture boo ...

's Bridge as the counterweights resemble the ears of the animated star of the eponymous film.

Pero

The bridge is named after who lived from around 1753 to 1798, arriving in Bristol from the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

Island of

Nevis Nevis ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute the Saint Kitts and Nevis, Federation of Saint Kitts ...

in 1783. He was enslaved by merchant

John Pinney John Pretor Pinney (1740 – 23 January 1818) was a plantation and slave owner on the island of Nevis in the West Indies and was a sugar merchant in Bristol. He made his fortune from England’s demand for sugar. His Bristol residence is now ...

(1740–1818) who lived at 7 Great George Street. Pinney also brought his wife's maid with him, Frances Coker, who had also been born a slave, but Pinney had freed her in 1778.

History

The bridge was designed by the Irish artist Eilis O'Connell, in conjunction with

Ove Arup & Partners Arup Group Limited, trading as Arup, is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London that provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environment. ...

engineers. It was formally opened in 1999 by

Paul Boateng Paul Yaw Boateng, Baron Boateng, (born 14 June 1951) is a British Labour Party politician, a former civil rights lawyer and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brent South from 1987 to 2005, becoming the UK's first Black Cabinet Minister in M ...

MP, then a

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

minister. The name of the bridge was attacked by then

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

councillor Stephen Williams. He condemned the decision as "gesture politics", instead wanting a statue or permanent memorial to remember Bristol's role in the slave trade. Eilis O'Connell commented "The council can call it what they want, but Pero's Bridge sounds a bit political." Hundreds of people now attach padlocks to the bridge as a sign of affection to each other. For four days in June 2020, the

Statue of Edward Colston A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size. A sculpture ...

, a Bristolian slave trader, lay at the bottom of the harbour directly south of the bridge after being toppled from its

plinth A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

by protestors during the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests, riots, and demonstrations against police brutality that began in Minneapolis in the United States on May 26, 2020. The protests and civil unrest began in Minneapolis as Reactions to the mu ...

. It was then retrieved by the council and put in storage. It now resides as a permanent feature in Bristol's M-Shed museum shown now lying instead of standing, with all original protest graffiti maintained.

Dimensions

The length of the lifting span is and a navigation channel is provided.

References

Bibliography

External links

360 degree panorama of the bridge from BBC

* {{Transport in Bristol Bascule bridges in England Bridges in Bristol Bristol Harbourside History of Bristol Tourist attractions in Bristol Bridges completed in 1999 Pedestrian bridges in England Pero 1999 establishments in England