Bristol

The name derives from the Old English Brycgstow, meaning "assembly place by the bridge" or simply "site of the bridge", presumably in reference to a crossing over the Avon. The final 'L' is an unetymological addition that first appears in the 12th century, which may be due to the unique "Terminal L" found in the Bristol dialect. An older form of the name survives as the surname Bristow, which derives from the city.

Archaeological finds, including flint tools believed to be between 300,000 and 126,000 years old made with the Levallois technique, indicate the presence of Neanderthals in the Shirehampton and St Annes areas of Bristol during the Middle Palaeolithic. Iron Age hill forts near the city are at Leigh Woods and Clifton Down, on the side of the Avon Gorge, and on Kings Weston Hill near Henbury. A Roman port, Portus Abonae (Avonport) – abbreviated to Abona in the Antonine Itinerary, existed at what is now Sea Mills (connected to Bath and Gloucester by Roman roads); another settlement was at the present-day Inns Court. Isolated Roman villas and small forts and settlements were also scattered throughout the area. Bristol was founded by 1000; by about 1020, it was a trading centre with a mint producing silver pennies bearing its name. …

Bristol's boundaries can be defined in several ways, including those of the city itself, the developed area, or Greater Bristol. The city council boundary is the narrowest definition of the city itself. However, it unusually includes a large, roughly rectangular section of the western Severn Estuary ending at (but not including) the islands of Flat Holm (in Cardiff, Wales) and Steep Holm. This "seaward extension" can be traced back to the original boundary of the County of Bristol laid out in the charter granted to the city by Edward III in 1373. …