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I have not been able to find an adequate explanation for why the city of Bristol is this ridiculous shape.
Wikipedia just casually references the fact and carries on as if it's not unusual at all.
No other administrative geography in the UK extends beyond the low water line.
Wikipedia just casually references the fact and carries on as if it's not unusual at all.
No other administrative geography in the UK extends beyond the low water line.
The BBC wrote an article in 2007 about the Lord Mayor of Bristol beating the bounds (for which he somehow managed to commandeer a warship), but it does not attempt to explain *why*.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/7019663.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/7019663.stm
Here's that boundary on a 1956 OS map, courtesy @natlibscotmaps.
It's clearly something to do with shipping - but (at least these days) there's no reason why the city boundary has to extend out that far.
Statutory port authorities frequently have jurisdiction further out to sea than the local authority does.
Statutory port authorities frequently have jurisdiction further out to sea than the local authority does.
As this reddit post points out, this technically means that Bristol extends into Wales. https://twitter.com/invisiblecomma/status/1304853570760704001
I have been made aware that Aberdeen and Torbay council areas also clearly extend beyond the low water line.
There are likely others which accidentally do so due to seabed movements, but those two at least seem intentional (although not quite as egregious as Bristol).
There are likely others which accidentally do so due to seabed movements, but those two at least seem intentional (although not quite as egregious as Bristol).
It turns out this is technically known as a "seaward extension" and there's also a substantial one covering the Yell Sound in Shetland.
Even weirder, someone has apparently registered the title to all that seabed with the Land Registry.
That someone is, of course, THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY IN RIGHT OF HER CROWN.
(The Crown owns all the seabed below the low water line.)
(The Crown owns all the seabed below the low water line.)
But why bother to register it? It was registered in 2006.
Did the Crown decide to register all their property in 2006 and because it was possible to register this seabed due to it being within a local authority area, they did?
Did the Crown decide to register all their property in 2006 and because it was possible to register this seabed due to it being within a local authority area, they did?
Though it that was their plan, they apparently didn't do it in Torbay.
After painstakingly copying the boundaries of what is apparently known as "The Welsh Zone" from legislation, I can confirm that 2.8 square kilometres of Bristol lies within Wales.
Honorary mention to the second weirdest local authority district, Norwich, which claims a long stretch of the River Yare for some (also poorly-documented) reason. Presumably also involving boats.
Back to Bristol, then, and @jcberk pointed me to a document which dates the origin of this boundary back to at least 1724.
We also know that the modern boundary of the port of Bristol doesn't quite match the boundary of the city, so at some point they diverged and the city was left with its old boundary.
Update!
Thanks to some sleuthing by @PM_Keeling we have now managed to date this boundary back to - incredibly - the charter issued to Bristol by Edward III in September 1373.
I'll spare you the original Latin.
Thanks to some sleuthing by @PM_Keeling we have now managed to date this boundary back to - incredibly - the charter issued to Bristol by Edward III in September 1373.
I'll spare you the original Latin.
"Porteshevedeford" is what Portishead was called back then, apparently.
I don't think this is the end of the story. It seems like other county boundaries extended into the Bristol Channel at that time, and Bristol took a chunk away from Somerset and Gloucester.
(Also: how on earth was the county of Gloucester to the north of Steep Holm?)
(Also: how on earth was the county of Gloucester to the north of Steep Holm?)
So did other counties have their seaward extensions removed at some point, but somehow Bristol didn't?
Shout out to the Bristol Record Society whose excellent publications have contained pretty much all the pieces of knowledge I have uncovered.
The 1373 charter is only 150 pages into volume 1 so perhaps I should have just started from the beginning.
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/Depts/History/bristolrecordsociety/publications.htm
The 1373 charter is only 150 pages into volume 1 so perhaps I should have just started from the beginning.
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/Depts/History/bristolrecordsociety/publications.htm
