College Green, Bristol

from a drawing by W.H. Bartlett]] Originally a small hill north of the River Avon separated from Brandon Hill to the north west by a narrow gully, College Green was enclosed to form the precincts of St Augustine's Abbey (now Bristol Cathedral) in the 12th century. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the abbey became a collegiate church and its precincts thenceforth became known as 'College Green'. Before the English Reformation, a chapel named after a saint called Jordan stood on the green beside an open-air pulpit. A hymn found in a 15th-century book of hours in Bristol suggested Jordan's relics had been entombed in the chapel and were venerated there. After the Reformation, the…

College Green is surrounded by a number of historic and important public buildings, including City Hall, the Lord Mayor's Chapel, the Cathedral and the Abbey Gatehouse. Queen Victoria's statue stands at the apex of the Green, and in the south-western corner near the Central Library is a statue of social reformer Raja Rammohun Roy.

The Green was a filming location for scenes for the 2007–2013 E4 drama series Skins, and the 2008 BBC Three comedy-drama Being Human. College Green is mentioned in "Wash Away", a song by Bristol-based band Coasts from their 2016 debut album 'Coasts'.