Brandon Hill was granted to the council in 1174 by the Earl of Gloucester and was used for grazing until 1625 when it became a public open space, possibly the oldest municipal open space in the country.

Before the Reformation, a hermitage and chapel dedicated to the Irish saint Brendan stood at the summit of the hill, in which a series of hermits, including the anchoress Lucy de Newchurch, lived between 1314 and 1480. 

During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century it was a popular venue for public meetings by reform groups like the Chartists.

In 1832, the hill was the location of the Great Reform Dinner, which was famously gatecrashed.

From 1840 onward Brandon Hill was improved with walls and walks.

A crowd of 30,000 watched the launch of SS Great Britain from the hill on 7 July 1843.

It remained a site of popular protest however, with 20,000 unemployed workers gathering at the top the hill in January 1880 to protest their situation.

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Cabot Tower is a tower in Bristol, England, situated in a public park on Brandon Hill, between the city centre, Clifton and Hotwells.

It is a grade II listed building.

The site of the tower was occupied in the Middle Ages by a chapel which may have belonged to St James' Priory. During the 16th century the chapel was replaced by a windmill.

The tower was constructed in memory of John Cabot, 400 years after he set sail in Matthew from Bristol and landed in what was later to become Canada.

It was paid for by public subscription.

The foundation stone was laid on 24 June 1897 by the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava and the tower was completed in July 1898.

The architect was William Venn Gough and it was built by Love and Waite of Bristol.

A lift was originally planned but never installed.

The tower gives its name to the area and Council ward of Cabot.

The tower is 105 feet (32 m) high and built from red sandstone with cream Bath Stone for ornamentation and emphasis.

It consists of a spiral staircase and two viewing platforms where balconies with wrought iron railings overlook the city, the higher of which is approximately 334 feet (102 m) above sea level.

The tower is supported by diagonal buttresses and its top by flying buttresses; it is surmounted by an octagonal spirelet topped with a ball finial and a carved winged figure representing commerce.

On three sides of the base of the tower are commemorative plaques.

They read as follows:

The foundation stone of this tower was laid by the Marquess of Dufferin & Ava on the 24 June 1897, And the completed tower was opened by the same nobleman on the 6 September 1898.
W.Howell Davies, Chairman of the executive committee
E.G.Clarke, J.W.Arrowsmith Hon. Secretaries

This tablet is placed here by the Bristol branch of the Peace Society in the earnest hope that peace and friendship may ever continue between the kindred peoples of this country and America

'Glory to God in the highest and on Earth, peace, good will towards men' Luke 2.14

This tower was erected by public subscription in the 61st year of the reign of Queen Victoria to commemorate the fourth centenary of the discovery of the continent of North America, on June 24, 1497, by John Cabot.
Who sailed from this port in the Bristol ship Matthew, with a Bristol crew, under letters patent granted by King Henry VII to that navigator and his sons Lewis, Sebastian and Sanctus.

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