Great George
Around nine and a half tonnes in the lantern, England's ninth-largest bell, striking the hours and tolled only for the death of a monarch or the university's chancellor.
It looks like a medieval cathedral crowning the top of Park Street, yet it was finished only in 1925, when motor cars were already rattling around Bristol. The roughly 65-metre tower was designed by George Oatley in Perpendicular Gothic, and he claimed the idea came to him in a dream of a tower on a hill ringed with shields. The bill, about half a million pounds in the money of the day, was picked up by George and Henry Wills of the tobacco dynasty as a memorial to their father. Work began in 1915, stopped for the First World War, resumed, and King George V came in person to open it in June 1925. Up in the lantern hangs Great George, a bell of around nine and a half tonnes and England's ninth largest; it strikes the hours and is tolled only on the death of a monarch or of the university's chancellor. Inside, the Great Hall lost its hammerbeam roof to a 1940 air raid and was rebuilt in the 1960s to Oatley's own drawings; the University of Bristol holds its graduation ceremonies there today. The thing to know before you go: this is a working university building housing the law school and earth sciences, not a museum. For most visitors it is an exterior landmark. Stand at the bottom of Park Street and look up, or come back after dark when the floodlit facade becomes the best photograph in Bristol. If you want inside, guided tower tours run every Saturday at 11:00 and 13:00, last between 60 and 90 minutes, and cost GBP 5 per adult and GBP 3 for children under eight. Book ahead by email or phone because places are limited, and bring cash or pay online, as cards are not taken at the door. The climb is around 350 steps with no lift, up to the bell chamber and a view over the whole city, so it is no place for bad knees or pushchairs, but excellent for anyone who enjoys a climb and fine for school-age children under close supervision. Getting there is simple: ten minutes on foot from the city centre up Park Street, a steep hill worth bearing in mind with a buggy, or about 25 minutes from Temple Meads station. The setting does much of the work. Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is immediately next door and free, Royal Fort Gardens sit behind, and Cabot Tower on Brandon Hill is a few minutes' walk. In summer the street is thick with students and tourists; in winter the light is gone before half past four, though the floodlighting makes up for it.
Around nine and a half tonnes in the lantern, England's ninth-largest bell, striking the hours and tolled only for the death of a monarch or the university's chancellor.
Floodlit from dusk, it reads from the foot of Park Street like a six-hundred-year-old cathedral rather than a hundred-year-old one.
The reward for 350 steps on a Saturday tour: all of Bristol from the harbour to the Clifton bridge in one sweep.
Queens Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1RJ
If you only want the view, Cabot Tower on Brandon Hill is free, open daily and will do the job. The Wills tour earns its GBP 5 if you want to see the bell and the Great Hall from inside and hear the story, but it is Saturdays only and must be booked ahead.
From outside, yes, and the free Bristol Museum next door will keep them busy for an hour. The tower tour, with 350 steps and no lift, is not for pre-school children or pushchairs.