Today is the 70th anniversary of the start of the Bristol Blitz. November 24, 1940 saw the first of six major bombing raids on the city that left more than 1,400 people dead and much of the historic city centre destroyed. A plaque on the bombed-out St Peter’s Church in Castle Park lists the name of the dead, while the area around the church’s shell bears testament to the devastation wreaked by the German Luftwaffe.
What is now Castle Park used to be the beating heart of Bristol, full of streets of timber-framed houses and shops, cinemas, pubs and cafes, all completely destroyed along with much of the original medieval city between November 24, 1940 and April 11, 1941.
Bristol was attacked because of its docks and industry, including important aircraft manufacturing in Filton. German planes traced a course up river to the city from Avonmouth using reflected moonlight on the water.
During the first air raid almost a quarter of the medieval city around where Castle Park is now, historic buildings (including the 17th century timber-framed Dutch House [right] and St Peter’s Hospital), and four churches were destroyed.
The presence of Broadmead and latterly Cabot Circus is a direct consequence of the bombing that began 70 years ago today, flattening vast swathes of the city centre and giving city fathers in all their wisdom carte blanche to redesign Bristol.
Park Street fared more fortunately. Despite more than half of its buildings being damaged or destroyed by bombing, they were rebuilt during the 1950s in a sympathetic and similar style, so the skyline and character remained fairly unchanged.
The photograph below is of a car which has fallen into a bomb crater at the top of Park Street, overlaid onto a shot of the same scene today, with shoppers oblivious to the devastation seen in our city 70 years ago. (Visit Sky News for more of these pictures)
Also in the photograph is the City Museum, which today is holding special events to mark the 70th anniversary. There will also be a memorial service at 11am this morning in Arnos Vale cemetery, where many of the victims of the Bristol Blitz were buried.
With thanks for historical facts to www.bristolblitzed.org.
Bristol Culture 
Your comments on the Bristol blitz fail to answer a crucial question which is Where did the German bombers come from? The short answer is that they came from about 34 airfields in Northern France reaching as far south as Orleans and Nantes, my reference is the Luftwaffe Order of Battle August 1940. Apparently according to the capitulation agreement the Germans were given use of these airfields to bomb cities in Britain. Without the French capitulation in 1940 there would have been no bombing of Bristol or any of the other cities.