Custard Castle: The brilliant names Bristol families call the city's landmarks
Cups and Saucers? Cheese-grater? Sand Castle? Anyone?
Sarah TurnnidgeSenior Reporter
The Dower House, Stoke Park (Image: Western Daily Press)
The beauty of living in a city as diverse as Bristol is the way in which we all, within our families and groups of friends, find our own way to identify the landmarks many of us pass on a daily basis.
Whether its stories about fictional characters living in a particular brightly-coloured house, aliens in a tower, or names revolving around stories of hauntings and ghosts, Bristol's distinctive landmarks mean something a little different to each of us.
These are just a few of the names we've heard for some of the city's most iconic sights:
The Dower House, Stoke Park
Overlooking the M32, the imposing Dower House stands out against the rolling green of the landscape thanks to it's bright yellow exterior - making it one of the most recognisable symbols of Bristol for those travelling to and from the city via the motorway.
With a long history dating back to the 1550's the house and surrounding estate have seen significant changes throughout the centuries, from use as a magnificent home, a psychiatric hospital throughout most of the 20th century, and was converted into residential apartments in 2004.
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With thousands of people passing the house each day, it's become an iconic sight and one that has inspired countless names made up by families and friends making their way in and out of the city.
We asked around the Bristol Live newsroom and our readers what names they had come up with for the house - these are just a few of the submissions we received:
Custard Castle
Yellow Castle
Mustard Mansion
The Butterhouse
Cheesehouse
Purdown BT Tower, Stoke Park
Purdown BT Tower, Bristol (Image: Bristol Post)
The Dower House is not the only standout landmark you'll see on your approach into the city - the same estate also contains Purdown BT Tower, which can be seen from many parts of north and east Bristol and beyond.
Standing at 70.1metres, the reinforced concrete tower dominates the skyline and is used as a telecommunications tower, but has also earned its place in the imaginations of many of those who pass or overlook the tower each day.
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Here are just some of the names we have heard for the eye-catching landmark:
The cups and saucers
Batman tower
Perhaps, as one Mr Skidmore of Montpelier put it back in 2017, it could even be a UFO refuelling station.
Meads Reach Bridge, Temple Quay
The "cheese grater" bridge was re-opened on May 18 (Image: Bristol Live)
If you were to ask many of the commuters who pass over it daily where the Meads Reach Bridge, it's likely that many would shrug even as they stood on it.
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With it's holey panels and sleek metal finish, the bridge has earned itself a rather more distinctive name - the Cheese-grater bridge.
It may have had a rather troubled past (it only recently reopened more than a year after a lorry tried to drive over its strictly pedestrian and cyclist surface only), but the Cheese-grater has become one of the most frequently-used routes for those making their way in and out of the station.
To the best of our knowledge, nobody has yet attempted to actually grate cheese on its sides.
St James Barton roundabout, City Centre
A general view of the bear in The Bearpit. (Image: Dan Regan)
It might officially take its name from the nearby St James Church, but ask almost any Bristolian and they'd probably tell you it's called the Bear Pit - a name that long predates the presence of Ursa, the iconic bear that stands atop the roundabout.
The busy underpass may never have actually been a real bear pit - there was no hole in the ground at all until the late 1960s - but that hasn't stopped the name from catching amongst generations of city residents.
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