Bristol in the Post-War Period

A 1930’s view of the River Avon and the Portway, looking downriver. A paddle steamer of the White Funnel Fleet is steaming towards a trip on the River Severn, probably calling at Swansea and Ilfracombe. A family are enjoying an outing in an open-top tourer, heading for the coast. The right cutting in the trees is for the Bristol to Severn Beach Railway, whilst the left cutting is for the newly built Portway. The Portway, seen here with its pendant mercury-vapour street lamps, was built in the 1920's, for ease of transporting cargo by road from Avonmouth to Bristol, when the much larger ships of the day could no longer navigate the notorious Horseshoe Bend to reach the City Docks. Many a ship has been grounded at this particular point in the river, often spelling an end to its useful life when the ebbing tide created stresses that sometimes ‘broke its back’, so rendering the ship useless for carrying further cargo. This fact eventually led to the closure of the City Docks to merchant shipping, and led to its present status as a leisure area in modern times. For several decades, the Portway was the widest road in Bristol, until the advent of the Motorways in the early 1960’s.