Ian Waller and his family enjoy a fantastic walking tour that unveils secrets of the city
Look closely and you might catch a glimpse of Margaret the ghost as she flits through the underground chambers below the traders and stalls of St Nicholas market in centre Bristol. No-one is quite sure quite why Margaret’s ghostly image floats around the rooms, but apparently she’s very friendly and certainly makes a star attraction on the most excellent St Nicholas Market and Air Raid Tour which has recently opened up to adventurers in the city.
The tour is the creation of artist, performer and local history enthusiastic Duncan Mckellar. Right from the start, as we meet by the nails at the front of St Nick’s market, Duncan – resplendent is a blue fedora – is sharing stories and anecdotes from Bristol’s not-always impressive past, while also welcoming tales, comments and questions from the assembled guests.
The two hour tour starts around the side streets and alleyways around the market, taking us right back to the city’s earliest days as a Saxon settlement through Romans, wars, ghosts, the Rolling Stones and today’s market.
Throughout the facts and stories come thick and fast, with Duncan knowing how to keep his crowd focused, while moving from one point of interest to another. Along the way we learn about how the name Bristol came from Brig-stow for a meeting place on a bridge, its role in the slave trade, how All Saints Lane housed Britain’s first ever public library, how the Grand Hotel was the check-in desk for politicians and spies using Bristol Airport during the war, why the city still has its iron kerbs and how come the clock on market has three hands.
As we moved around the streets and alleyways, Duncan is constantly pointing out items and moments in history that you might have otherwise walked straight past, such as the stables for the horses used by the old Post Office and now used to house the council’s bin store, to the old city’s boundary markers and doors to a secret nuclear bunker.
However, the highlight of the tour has to be a visit to Bristol’s only surviving air raid shelter that exist beneath the market. Accessed through a couple of plain wooden doors, visitors are soon descending down a narrow staircase to fantastic time warp of years gone by. It’s here that Bristol residents and workers fled when the enemy aircraft of World War II rained incendiary bombs down on the city, sometimes staying for up to 12 hours at a time.
Duncan and his team have collected a fascinating display of items from the time, including a few precious remnants from the shelter itself. While tables display old rations of chocolate and tea, there’s also ration packs, first aid kits and even an old stirrup pump of the type dished out to help the brave wardens of the Air Raid Protection to douse the flames above.
Meanwhile, on the walls there remains the remains of posters and signs from those terrifying days, and even artwork on the walls carefully drawn by those seeking shelter. As Duncan leads you from room to room, the sound of a period gramophone plays music from the time while, out of the corner of your eye, you might just catch a glimpse of Margaret’s spectral visit.
But it’s not wartime memories, with Duncan going on to tell us about the venue’s 1960’s role as a speakeasy drinking joint, frequented by rock stars from the Rolling Stones, The Who and more, enjoying a drink after playing in the market above.
There is so much to like about this wonderful tour, with even the Bristolians taking part picking up any number of pub-quiz ready fun facts and more. OK, our children did lose a bit of interest about half way around, although the mention of ghosts and underground bunkers kept them going until the end.
As for us older visitors, we loved it – what a great event with an excellent tour guide.
To find out more about the St Nicholas Market and Air Raid Tour, go to www.st-nickstours.com