"Iconic": We explore history of Bristol Zoo ahead of Clifton Closure
We've been given a behind closed doors tour of the site ahead of its final opening day on Saturday
As the closure of Bristol Zoo Gardens edges ever closer, we have been given an exclusive history tour of the site, before doors opened to the public.
With the Clifton location set to shut down on Saturday (September 3) all this week we are going behind the scenes of the zoo, which first opened to the public 186 years ago, in 1836.
Early this morning our Senior Reporter James Diamond met up with the zoo's Head of Public Engagement, Simon Garrett, to hear about the significance of several spots around the site.
The Entrance
"The two entrance lodges are original," Simon told us.
"When Richard Forrest drew up his plans (for the zoo) in 1835, the plan had two buildings here and a carriage turning circle in between them, for people arriving.
"I don't think that's what actually happened in reality but there's certainly these two lodges here.
"They're now joined by gates in the middle and this glass extension, so the original bits are actually just the two lodges on either side...but they've also served as accommodation as well."
"I think a lot of people don't have any inkling how old the zoo is," Simon said.
We're the fifth oldest zoo in the world, we're the oldest that's still surviving that's outside a capital city...and I don't think people really have an idea of actually how old that is.
"I don't know whether people actually think of this as a historic zoo, but it absolutely is, from start to finish."
Animal firsts
As you may have seen advertised if you have visited the zoo this week, over the years Bristol Zoo Gardens has been home to many pioneering projects and many animals never seen before in the UK.
"Things like, going back to the 1880's, first American black bear, bred here in the UK," Simon said.
"1958, first black rhino born in the UK as well, and I remember when I started working here I overlapped with a guy called Stan Evans and there's some great pictures of him in the 1960s actually milking the black rhinos here, a bit like milking a cow.
"Literally sat on a stool milking a rhino."
Another of Bristol Zoo's famous occupants over the years was Alfred the gorilla.
"Alfred, who came in 1930, I mean that was extraordinary to have a gorilla in captivity at that time anyway.
"Very few were in captivity anywhere in the world...Alfred came here in 1930 and lived here until 1948.
"We had the first UK breeding of gorillas here as well, successful breeding and raising of gorillas, (in) 1971, with Daniel, so (there have been) all sorts of firsts here."
The Main Lawn
Today the main lawn at Bristol Zoo Gardens is considered the meeting point of the site, perhaps where you may decide to have lunch while visiting, but over the years it has been used for many different things, including entertaining soldiers on leave during the First and Second World Wars.
"The zoo absolutely did its part during both the First and Second World Wars," Simon said.
"It was opened, and I think for free for wounded soldiers, coming in if they were wounded out of the war...and there was entertainment here.
"There's some fantastic pictures of the lawn absolutely full of soldiers, quite often with slings and crutches, all on the lawn, because there was a bandstand and so shows were put on and bands would play."
Simon told us how that was merely a continuation of a tradition that began in the 19th Century at the zoo.
"(There) was this sense of (it being) a place to come and do all sorts of other recreational activities," he said.
"So as I said the bandstand, but also there was a skating rink here.
"In the early days there were tennis courts in the zoo as well."
The Bear Pit and the Aquarium
Anyone who has visited the zoo in recent years will know at the end of the long Victorian promenade that begins at the entrance, is where you will find the aquarium, but the site once housed something very different.
Fairly hidden, half covered by a tree just outside the entrance to the underwater world, is a tall wooden pole on top of which the zoo's bears would once sit, so the public could see them more easily.
"The bear pit is an original part (of the zoo)," Simon said.
"People would walk up these steps from the front, which in recent years have been like a little waterfall, and then stand around with a balustrade around the top and in the middle is this deep pit.
"But so the animals are actually up on (the) visitors' level, there's this pole in the middle and the bears would climb the pole.
"Interestingly, and probably slightly embarrassingly this was still operating as a bear pit right up until the 1960s."
Elephants
Until 2002, now 20 years ago, elephants were one of the main features of the zoo.
Housed next to what is now Gorilla Island they would draw in large crowds and would often be walked around the grounds and even around wider Bristol, by the keepers.
We discussed that with Simon.
"Wendy and Christina were the most recent elephants that people remember," Simon said.
"I hesitate to use the word but I will anyway, but she (Wendy), was almost a pet elephant.
"She certainly wasn't part of a breeding herd of anything like that...and used to come out walking around the zoo even in later life as well.
"When she was little, she and Christina were taken out of the zoo and taken for walks around Clifton and down to the railway station and all sorts."
The future
After the site closes to the public on Saturday, the animals will slowly be moved on.
Some, including the gorillas will go to the zoo's sister site Wild Place Project, which is set to rebrand as the new Bristol Zoo in 2024, but many others will go to other zoos.
The Bristol Zoological Society which owns the site wants to sell it for housing and a planning application for work is set to be considered by Bristol City Council in the next few months.
If/once the application is approved, the Society plans to sell the site on the condition that the plans are followed through.
Due to the site's cultural significance and the age of many of the buildings, the intention is that many will be preserved and refitted as either homes or apartments, rather than being destroyed.
The gardens are also set to remain open to the public during daylight hours so they can continue to be enjoyed.
"I love working in this place," Simon said.
"I was lucky enough to do a summer job here after I graduated and I was overlapping with people who had worked here since the 1940s so I became interested in the history of the zoo as well as being very interested in wildlife and conservation.
"And in a way this site embodies all of that.
"It's got such a forward looking and forward thinking role and always has done and pushed the boundaries, and yet it's also a microcosum of the history of zoos going back to the 1830s and how we've looked after animals, how our knowledge has changed, just all in one places.
"It's a really iconic, really fascinating and interesting site and I've loved working here."