NEW IRON BRIDGE, BATH.

The present age is distinguished for improvements in all the useful as well as ornamental arts; and iron, from its abundance and comparative cheapness, has been employed for various purposes: hence cylinders, beams, and pumps for steam-engines, boats and barges for canals and navigable rivers, and, lastly, bridges have been constructed of this material.

Iron bridges possess the advantages of lightness, strength, and durability, combined with a superior elegance of form; and as the termination of a great public road, as it enters the precincts of a first-rate city, this erection, in every respect of a superior description, is peculiarly appropriate.

This new road is considerably shorter than the old one through Walcot; it enters the suburb of Bathwick nearly opposite to Sydney Gardens, and the City near its centre, by a second passage over the Avon at Pulteney Bridge.

QUEEN SQUARE, BATH.

This elegant Square is on the north-west, on high ground, airy, pleasant, and healthy; forming a conspicuous and highly ornamental object from almost every part of the City. It is in length from north to south, between the buildings, three hundred and sixteen feet; and from east to west, the breadth is three hundred and six feet. In the centre there is an enclosure, according to the original design, measuring equally on each side two hundred and six feet: there was originally a reservoir, supplied with clear water from a natural spring; and an obelisk rose from the centre of the reservoir to the height of seventy feet from the foundation; but as, from some cause or other, the spring that supplied the water has been destroyed, or carried off in some other direction, the place has been filled up, and earth raised against the base of the obelisk, by which it has lost ten feet of its altitude, and rises, apparently, baseless, from the ground.

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This column was built in 1738, by order of Mr. Nash, in honour of the Prince and Princess of Wales, who had visited Bath about that time. It bears on its southern side the following inscription :

In Memory of Honours conferred,

and in Gratitude for Benefits bestowed,
in this City,

By His Royal Highness, FREDERICK, Prince of Wales,

and his

ROYAL CONSORT,

in the year 1738,

This Obelisk is erected
By RICHARD NASH, Esq.

Of the numerous splendid buildings by the celebrated Mr. Wood, the ARCHITECT OF BATH, this of Queen's Square is not the least excellent, and remains a durable monument of his taste and genius. The statement given by the Architect, of the design and execution of the obelisk, is curious, and accounts for the peculiarity of its terminating in a point. He observes, that the size of this obelisk is the same as that described by Pliny, which was erected by Ramisses, king of Egypt, about the time of the Trojan war. "I should not have deviated," he observes, " from the common form of an obelisk, if there had been any other authority for such form than modern examples. The Egyptian name for this kind of pillar, as Pliny attests, implies a ray of the sun; and, consequently, the pillar that represented such ray, must have terminated, like it, in a point. It was usual, as Scaliger observes, for the Grecians to make statues of their gods in the form of pyramidal columns, or obelisks, terminating in a point; many of which, the learned Mr. Greaves tells us, he found standing in the East; and from hence I took my authority; in which I shall think myself right, till I am induced to think otherwise, from further information."

The north wing of the Square is composed of stately buildings, so contrived as to give the appearance of a palace, when viewed from a central station. The body is of the Corinthian order, on a rustic basement, decorated with all the ornaments of that order; and, as the aspect of this pile of building is directly south, it enjoys all the advantages of light and shade from the sun, to give a picturesque appearance, which its situation, raised above the other buildings of the City, insures to it.

The east and west sides are composed of buildings too extensive to bear the character of wings; either of them might, with propriety, form the front for a country villa of the first-rate description. The houses of the south side form a distinct building; they are of the Ionic order, and nine in number. The houses facing this Square are all fronted with white freestone, and before each there is an enclosed area, to separate it from the street; the whole may be considered correct as to design, durable as to materials, and beautiful in the execution.

THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY REDCLIFF, BRISTOL.

Of this venerable structure, ancient and modern authors have spoken in terms of admiration. Leland characterizes it as "by far the most beautiful of all churches ;" and Camden observes of it, "So large it is, and the workmanship so exquisite, the roof so artificially vaulted with stone, and the tower so high, that in my opinion it is the most elegant of all the parish churches that I have yet seen in England."

This admirable Gothic building was founded in the year 1292, by Simon de Burton, a person distinguished as having been six times elected Mayor of Bristol. The quarries of Dundry supplied the materials; and having its foundation in a rock of red sandstone, known by the name of Red Cliff, joined to the name of the patron saint to whom it is dedicated, the name is thus appropriated to the church.

In the records of the Mayoralty of Bristol, it is stated, that this building was not completely finished till the year 1364; and that even at that early period, the beauty of its architectural embellishments had raised it to celebrity all over England. Its tower and spire were about 250 feet high; but, in 1445, the spire was nearly destroyed, and the roof of the church much injured, by a violent thunder-storm. The spire has never been rebuilt, but the tower was finished as it now remains, and the whole building completely repaired, by Mr. William Canynge, an opulent merchant, who was several times Mayor of Bristol.

The Church-yard is enclosed by a balustrade of freestone. This Church, though of great extent, has yet a light and airy appearance, from its numerous windows, and tall and slender pillars, with most delicate mouldings. The length of the Church, including the Chapel of our Lady, is 239 feet; and the cross aisle, 117 feet, from north to south. The breadth of the nave and aisles is 59 feet, and at the transept 44 feet. The body of the Church rises to the height of nearly 60 feet, the roof arched with stone, in the nave and aisles, abounding with beautiful carvings; the whole covered with lead. A peculiarity in this Church is, in the extension of the aisles through the cross of the transepts.

The principal entrance at the western door is eight feet wide, and twelve feet high; and there are handsome porches on the northern and southern sides. Three styles of architecture are distinguishable in this building: the oldest is seen in the middle north porch, which, in its pilasters, columns, arches, and mouldings corresponds with the erections of the thirteenth century, and with the time in which Simon de Burton is said to have been engaged in founding, or in re-edifying, a church on this foundation.

The Tower and grand Northern Porch are evidently of a later date than the tracery of the ceilings and the niches; and mouldings of more elaborate and ornamental workmanship. These are supposed to mark the character of the architecture of the time of Edward III.: the elder William Canynge was member of parliament for Bristol about

this time, viz. 1364 and 1384, and probably built these parts of the Church. And though the nave, choir, and transepts are not precisely in the same style, yet the probability must be admitted of their being the work of the same individual. In the door-way entering the vestry, and in Sir Thomas Mede's monument in the north aisle, a more elaborate style of architectural decoration is characteristic of the time it is understood to have been raisedabout the year 1430. The tower, richly decorated, the western front, the north transept, and porch of singular appearance, with flying buttresses, pinnacles, and perforated parapets, unite to delight and astonish the beholder. The shelving ground on which this Church is built, necessarily required a numerous flight of steps, by which it is approached on the north; and this circumstance, by adding to the apparent height of the tower, increases its picturesque effect.

VIEW IN CORN-STREET, BRISTOL.

Many of the most important commercial buildings of the city of Bristol are included in this View. The COUNCIL HOUSE is a new erection on the site of the old building of the same denomination, which was erected in 1703, and pulled down in 1824. The new house is a handsome building of freestone, from the design and under the superintendence of R. Smirke, Esq.: it presents an Ionic front towards Corn-street, which measures 78 feet; and the side towards Broad-street is 68 feet. A figure of Justice, by E. H. Baily, R.A., is placed in a recess in the cornice; over the entrance, and on one side of this figure, is sculptured the royal arms, and on the other the arms of the city; on shields, in relief. The entrance is by a flight of five steps, into the hall, which is 16 feet in width, and in length the whole depth of the building. The ground-floor contains the Mayor's court, with eight offices. The Council Chamber is a noble room, on the upper floor, 38 feet by 22, and 20 feet in height, lighted by a large circular skylight, in the centre: on the same floor, there are two Committee rooms, and four offices. The height of this building is 45 feet: it was finished in 1826.

The EXCHANGE is an elegant structure, built from a plan by Mr. Wood, at an expense of nearly fifty thousand pounds. The north front is of the Corinthian order, upon a rustic basement, extending 110 feet; but the east and west sides are 135 feet each, and it is supposed capable of containing about 1500 persons within its peristyle. The southern front towards the market-place consists of a rustic arcade, which, with its superstructure, forms a central projection supporting a pediment; the tympan of which bears the arms of the city: above this there rises a turret-clock with one face for the Exchange, and another for the Market. The place where the merchants assemble is a peristyle, of capacity sufficient for 1440 persons.

The COMMERCIAL ROOMS, nearly opposite the Exchange, constitute a building erected by the merchants of Bristol, for a public establishment, similar to the Athenæum at Liverpool, or Lloyd's in London. The architect was Mr. C. A. Busby, of London.

BROAD-STREET, BRISTOL.

The entrance to Broad-street is by the original northern gate of the city, under a handsome Gothic arch, supporting the tower belonging to the adjoining parish-church of St. John. On the inside of this gateway are the statues of Belinus and Brennus, the former of whom was the reputed founder of the city, according to the monkish traditions preserved in the writings of Geofrey of Monmouth. These statues of antique appearance

have been by some respectable authors believed to be as old as the city; but the more reasonable belief is, that they are coeval with the arch and spire, which were rebuilt in the fourteenth century by Walter Frampton, an opulent merchant, and three times mayor of the city of Bristol.

The Guildhall is a building of considerable antiquity in Broad-street; it has been newly fronted not many years ago. Over the entrance on the southern side is a statue of king Charles II. in a niche; and on the north are the royal arms; both of these are in freestone, and of superior workmanship. Adjoining the Great Hall, is St. George's Chapel, in which the election of the mayor and sheriffs takes place annually, on the 15th of September. The front of this edifice is 69 feet in extent; and the Great Hall of Justice is in proportion, and lofty; with side galleries; but the accommodations for the professional attendants, are complained of as by no means convenient for the purpose. The Courts of Oyer and Terminer, and of Nisi Prius; the Quarter Sessions, and the Sheriff's Court, as well as the Courts of Conscience and of Requests, are held here; and the meetings to elect the members of Parliament.

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