The Sugar House

now the Hotel du Vin in Bristol.
Bristol's access to the sea had made her one of Britain's earliest most important trading centers.   In 1497 it was from here that John Cabot (an Italian Navigator) sailed west in the Matthew and was the first European to set foot on Newfoundland soil.  Not long after Bristol became the port of choice for emigrants to this New World. In the 17 and 18th centuries Bristol was at the height of its triangular trading with goods to Africa, slaves to the West Indies and sugar, rum, cocoa and tobacco back to Britain.  The trade was fiercely condemned by local Quakers and Methodists but slavery wasn't abolished until the early 19th century.

This building was one of the factories that processed molasses into sugar.  You can see its chimney in the upper centre of the picture above the modern fire escape ladder. It is situated just below the old mediaeval city walls and in those days the river was navigable to its doors.