Herstory or History, and Isambard K Brunel.

Citizens and residents of Bristol U.K.  get a bit dewy eyed at any mention  of "The Suspension Bridge" (properly known as the "Clifton Suspension Bridge").

We have a deep seated pride in this Bridge which spans the River Avon Gorge between Clifton and Leigh Woods.  It is "our bridge".  It speaks "Bristol" to our our souls, and we love it.

The earliest memories of many Bristol children are rooted in that first time they were taken to the Bridge, there to walk across it from Clifton to Leigh Woods, and back again.

I am sure that I had been taken there previously, but one of my earliest memories is of the time when "Aunty Whitfield"  took me there to see it "all lit up"  in 1951 - the year of the Festival of Britain, (when I was seven years old).  It had not been illuminated since before WWII  (if ever).

(Aunty and Uncle Whitfield were not family members.  They were a couple who rented two rooms in our home at the time of the British housing shortage following WWII)
Such a gorgeous Bridge.  It makes Bristolian's  hearts beat fast!

The Bridge "all lit up"


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We Bristolians have long taken pride in the "fact" that the Bridge had been designed by the great railway, steamship and bridge Engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel,. see:

https//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isambard_Kingdom_Brunel

Brunel was indeed great.  But recent scholarship has discovered that he was NOT the designer.

In fact shock, horror disbelief  the bridge was designed by  a woman.

See this from the "Bristol Post"  (even as you get pissed off that the "Post" describes the terrific female inventor as a "Mum").

ttp://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Recognition-mum-designed-Bristol-s-Clifton/story-29325251-detail/story.html


1,  Was she no more than a "Mum"?

2.  How many other brilliant woman have been written out of herstory in favour of history?

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