{{Short description|Road in Bristol}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}} {{Use British English|date=February 2017}} [[File:Whiteladies Road, Bristol - DSC05700.JPG|thumb|Typical traffic and buildings along Whiteladies Road]] {{coord|51.466|-2.611|display=title|region:GB_scale:10000}} '''Whiteladies Road''' is a main road in [[Bristol]], England. It runs north from the [[Victoria Rooms (Bristol)|Victoria Rooms]] to [[Durdham Down]], and separates [[Clifton, Bristol|Clifton]] on the west side from [[Redland, Bristol|Redland]] and [[Cotham, Bristol|Cotham]] on the east. It forms part of the [[A4018]].
[[File:BBC Bristol TV Studios, Whiteladies Road - geograph.org.uk - 149571.jpg|thumb|[[Broadcasting House (Bristol)|Broadcasting House]]]] Significant buildings on Whiteladies Road include (from south to north): * [[Broadcasting House (Bristol)|Broadcasting House]], offices and studios of the [[British Broadcasting Corporation]]; * the [[Whiteladies Picture House]]; * [[Clifton Down railway station]]; *[[Tyndale Baptist Church]].
Historically, the part of the road north of Whiteladies Gate (at the junction with Cotham Hill) was the main route from the north west into Bristol, including the through route towards London and Bath from [[New Passage]] where there was a ferry from Wales.<ref name=parker/> Later it was also the route into Bristol and onwards from the Port at [[Avonmouth]]. The road was extended in the early 1800s with the building of the road south of Whiteladies Gate, and the route continued down [[Park Street, Bristol|Park Street]]. The main route from Avonmouth was superseded by the building of [[Portway, Bristol|The Portway]] in the 1920s. Most of the traffic from Wales was removed after the building of the Severn Crossing and M4 in the 1960s, and traffic was further reduced later by the [[M32 motorway|M32]]; however the modern [[A4018]] still goes along much of the same route through Bristol, and now meets the M5 at [[Cribbs Causeway]] and is today still one of the important routes into west Bristol from the motorway.
A shopping centre has been built around Clifton Down station, and to the north of the station Whiteladies Road has long been an important shopping area and zone for restaurants and bars including Italian restaurants, Pazzo, Tapas bars Bravas, Muino and Condesa as well as health food shops and delis (Better Food, Wild Oats, Papadeli). Its proximity to Bristol University creates a vibrant student scene. [[File:Blackboy Inn 1860.jpg|left|thumb|Blackboy Inn, 1860]] The upper part of the road is commonly known as '''Blackboy Hill''', named after the Black Boy Inn which stood on the hill until 1874.<ref>{{cite book|author=Winstone, R.|author-link=Reece Winstone|year=1966|title=Bristol As It Was 1874–1866|page=Photos 82 and 83.}}</ref> "Black Boy" was a common name for pubs after the [[Restoration (England)|Restoration]]. [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] was commonly known as "the black boy" due to his black hair<ref>{{Cite book|title = King Charles II|last = Fraser|first = Antonia|year = 1979|pages = 9}}</ref> and the pub sign on Blackboy Hill had, until very recently, a portrait of Charles II on it. The previous name of the pub in the early 18th century, The [[Blackamoor (decorative arts)|Blackamoor's]] Head, does however refer to ethnicity (as a common word for black people in English at the time<ref>{{Cite book |last=Das |first=Nandini |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/j.ctv1t8q92s |title=Keywords of Identity, Race, and Human Mobility in Early Modern England |last2=Melo |first2=João Vicente |last3=Smith |first3=Haig Z. |last4=Working |first4=Lauren |date=2021-07-27 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |isbn=978-90-485-5228-3 |doi=10.2307/j.ctv1t8q92s.7}}</ref>), and may have influenced any subsequent renaming.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Blackboy Inn, Blackboy Hill |url=https://archives.bristol.gov.uk/records/17563/1/89 |access-date=2025-09-26 |website=Bristol Archives online catalogue |language=en-gb}}</ref> [[File:Blackboy Hill 1904.jpg|thumb|Blackboy Hill, 1904]] The origin of the name of Whiteladies Road appears to be a pub, known as the White Ladies Inn, shown on maps in 1746<ref>G. H. Hammersley, 'Survey of the Manor of Clifton', reproduced in [http://www.locallearning.org.uk/christchurch/Downs%20History%20Final%20Report%20Feb%202006.pdf Clifton and Durdham Down: A Landscape History], p. 6, Plan 2.</ref> and 1804.<ref>Smith, V. (2002), ''Street Names of Bristol'', Broadcast Books, {{ISBN|1-874092-90-7}}.</ref> There is a popular belief in Bristol that the naming of both Whiteladies Road and Blackboy Hill had connections with the slave trade. However, both names appear to be derived from pubs. A map of 1826 shows a house called White Ladies, and the road at least as far as Whiteladies Gate (near the present site of Clifton Down station) had been given its name by that time.<ref name=parker>Map reproduced in {{cite journal |last1=Parker|first1=G. |date=1929 |title= Tyndall's Park, Bristol, Fort Royal and the Fort House Therein|url=https://www2.glos.ac.uk/bgas/tbgas/v051/bg051123.pdf |journal=Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society |volume=51 |issue= |pages=123-141 |doi= |access-date=7 June 2024}}</ref> At that time the road north of Whiteladies Gate was a [[Turnpike trust|turnpike]] leading to [[New Passage]].<ref>Tombs, R. C. (1905), ''The King's Post'' on [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28533 Project Gutenberg.]</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{commons category|Whiteladies Road}}
[[Category:Streets in Bristol]] [[Category:Shopping streets in Bristol]] [[Category:Clifton, Bristol]]