This chapter is the first of three looking at the transport infrastructure of Bristol and how different modes of transport individually and collectively helped to shape the fabric of the city. Although the railways, waterways and roads are treated separately they were necessarily and intimately connected; the extent and quality of physical integration was of immense social and economic significance, while attempts to improve integration were often politically contentious. The importance of good transport links to national and international markets was well understood, especially in places such as Bristol with long histories of prosperity through overseas trade. In the Victorian period it was even more important that such links were in place, not only to facilitate the production and distribution of manufactured goods, but also to bring in the food and fuel needed by urban populations. As the British economy expanded, and its share of world trade grew, the importance of the transport infrastructure also increased both between and within towns. Ships, obviously, handled overseas trade and travel, but during the nineteenth century smaller vessels carrying cargoes from one coastal port to another accounted for a significant proportion of traffic visiting ports such as Bristol, and the efficient movement of goods away from the quaysides necessitated improved land-based transport. Inland transport, especially over longer distances, came to be dominated by the railways. However, neither waterways nor railways were suited to short-distance urban journeys, which were mostly undertaken by road. The urban road networks of ancient towns were not designed for the Victorian volumes of traffic and local authorities came under pressure to address congestion on narrow streets and bridges and, in particular, to ensure that the roads provided convenient access to ports and railway stations.

From an urban point of view, interest in the longer-distance modes of transport focuses on the points, namely railway depots (as stations were first known) and ports, within or adjacent to towns where goods and people transferred to and from other forms of transport. Functionally, depots and ports had much in common, being places primarily for loading and unloading and for facilitating transition to or from another form of transport, and therefore stimulating the construction of buildings for those purposes, plus warehouses and hotels.