Car Hire Bristol

Bristol is located in the south-west of England, just over 100 miles from London in your car hire. It is the sixth largest city in England, and the ninth largest in the United Kingdom. It is the most populous city in the south west of England, and one of the ‘core cities’ of England. The ‘core cities’ are a group of eight large regional cities in England, the other seven being Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham and Manchester – the main cities you’d think of if someone asked you to name some cities in England. For many years the city’s main industry was that of the Port of Bristol, but this has moved – although, there is a push to regenerate the docks and surrounding area to bring back the heritage and cultural centre of the city. Take a drive around Bristol in your car hire and explore the docks for yourself.

Findings in the area have given evidence to settlement having been as early as 60.000 years ago, in the Palaeolithic era. Near to the city have been found hill forts dating back to the Iron Age, and during the Roman age there was a settlement at what is now Sea Mills, plus many villas and Roman settlements dotted over the area. See if you can find what was a Roman road connecting Sea Mills to Bath, while driving your car hire.

Brycgstow was known to have existed by the 11th century, and while under rule by the Normans obtained one of the strongest castles in southern England. The River Avon runs through the city’s centre, and since the 1100s the harbour (as it had developed) handled much of the trade with Ireland. In 1373 Bristol became a county as it consumed neighbouring towns, and by the 1300s it was England’s third largest town (after London and York). The Black Plague of the early 1300s kept the population fairly constant, and in 1542 the county became a diocese with the Saint Augustine’s Abbey becoming Bristol Cathedral – this traditionally equated being given city status.