Bristol Cathedral spent more than three centuries without a nave. Augustinian monks founded an abbey here in 1140, but when Henry VIII dissolved it in 1539, the unfinished nave was abandoned. The grand western front only arrived with a Victorian restoration.

Henry changed his mind in 1542 and made Bristol one of his “New Foundation” cathedrals. The likely reason is that the city was England’s most important trading city after London, and its citizens were hard to ignore. The Norman chapter house survives inside. The Abbey Gatehouse is said to be haunted by a monk still searching for his scattered brothers.

VoiceMap’s self-guided audio tours pass the cathedral on College Green. They tie its monastic story to Bristol’s merchant wealth and the Merchant Venturers’ uneasy legacy, then move on to a nearby Banksy stencil and the lawn where the city gathers to protest.