Pero's Bridge Bristol - Britain All Over Travel Guide

Pero’s Bridge, Bristol

Linking Queen Square and Millennium Square on Bristol‘s waterfront, Pero’s Bridge is a pedestrian, bascule (moveable) bridge at St Augustine’s Reach in Bristol Harbour.

The bridge in Bristol is named after an African slave

History

The bridge, which was designed by Irish artist Eilis O’Connell and built by Ove Arup & Partners in 1999 is named after “Pero” the black African slave of local merchant John Pinney (1740-1818).

Bristol’s wealth as a port was built upon the back of slavery and the slave trade and the naming of the bridge after a former slave is recognition of this.

The bridge is named after a former slave in Bristol

John Pinney’s former 18th-century residence is now a museum – The Georgian House – at 7, Great George Street, just off Park Street. Pinney’s elegant, six-storey, townhouse was built between 1788 and 1791.

The bridge was used as part of an art installation by the Japanese artist, Fujiko Nakaya in 2015. Her veil of fog transformed the bridge and sought to provoke contemplation of climate change.