Brimham Rocks, once known as Brimham Crags, is a 183.9-hectare (454-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Geological Conservation Review (GCR) site, 8 miles (13 km) north-west of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, on Brimham Moor in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The site, notified as SSSI in 1958, is an outcrop of Millstone Grit, with small areas of birch woodland and a large area of wet and dry heath.
The site is known for its water- and weather-eroded rocks, which were formed over 325 million years ago and have assumed fantastic shapes. In the 18th and 19th centuries, antiquarians such as Hayman Rooke wondered whether they could have been at least partly carved by druids, an idea that ran concurrently with the popularity of James Macpherson's Fragments of Ancient Poetry of 1760, and a developing interest in New-Druidism. For up to two hundred years, some stones have carried fanciful names, such as Druid's Idol, Druid's Altar and Druid's Writing Desk.
Brimham Rocks has SSSI status because of the value of its geology and the upland woodland and the acidic wet and dry heath habitats that support localised and specialised plant forms, such as chickweed wintergreen, cowberry, bog asphodel and three species of heather.


Brimham Rocks is a 183.9-hectare (454-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Geological Conservation Review (GCR) site, 8 miles (13 km) south of Ripon on Brimham Moor in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in North Yorkshire. It is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of Summerbridge and 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Pateley Bridge and the River Nidd. The site is managed by the National Trust along with a visitor's centre, public facilities and a car park. Brimham Rocks is open throughout the year between around 8.30 am and dusk, but on 21 March 2020 closed due to the coronavirus outbreak in the United Kingdom. The site reopened fully in the summer of 2021, following the lifting of the UK Government measures to deal with COVID-19.
The site was SSSI notified in 1958, with revisions in 1984 and on 19 February 1988. The site was listed for the value of its geology and because the "heath and bog habitats represent important examples of plant communities, formerly more widespread, which have been reduced by agricultural improvement, drainage and afforestation." Associated with the more well-known rocky outcrops, are birch woodland, acidic bogs, wet and dry heath, and plant communities which thrive when sheltered between the rocks and exposed on the moor.


Brimham Rocks are formed from a medium to coarse sandstone known both as the Lower Brimham Grit and also as the Lower Plompton Grit, one of a series of such sandstones laid down in the later part of the Carboniferous period in what is now the Pennine region. In formal terms this particular grit which is between 10 and 30m thick, forms a part of the Hebden Formation, itself a sub-unit of the Millstone Grit Group. It was deposited 318-317 million years ago during the Kinderscoutian substage of the Bashkirian stage. The rock which has traditionally been referred to as Millstone Grit, originated as river-deposited sands in a delta environment and contains both feldspar and quartz pebbles. Deposition from moving water has resulted in the cross-bedding which is very evident in most of the outcrops. Brimham Rocks has been described as "a classic geomorphological site, significant for studies of past and present weathering processes and their contribution to landscape evolution."
Although discussion continues around the formation and date of tors such as these throughout Britain, much of the development into the forms displayed at Brimham is likely to have taken place over the last 100,000 years before, during and after the last ice age – the Devensian. Some disintegration of the rock strata may have occurred along weaknesses such as fault and fracture planes whilst still buried. Sub-aerial weathering has continued the process. The outcrops were exposed when glacial action, gelifluction and further weathering and water erosion removed the loose material which separated them.
During periods of harsher climate, windblown-ice as well as particles of sand and dust have more effectively eroded weaker layers to give rise to these wind-carved shapes. Such processes have created holes in some rocks, and left dust on the ground below. Erosion continues, caused by weather and tourist numbers. One possibility for the mushroom shape of some stones is that they were exposed to sandblasting at ground level when an ice cap melted 18,000 years ago, narrowing the bases of outcrops, then they were subject to all-over sandblasting when the ice had gone, causing the irregular shapes. Due to this process the Idol rock, for example, will not exist for ever.


It was not until the early 20th century that it was understood that the rocks were created by natural forces. During the 18th and 19th centuries, some writers theorised that the rock-shaping could have been enhanced by Druidic carving. Their theories coincided with the growth of Neo-Druidism, and followed the 1760 publication of James Macpherson's Fragments of Ancient Poetry. After a lecture in 1786, the opinion of the antiquary Hayman Rooke was reported in 1788 with mild scepticism by the Sheffield Register:
"The extraordinary position of these rocks is supposed to have been owing to some violent convulsion of nature, but it is evident, we are told, that art has not been wanting to render their situation yet more remarkable. Fragments of rocks obtained great regard, even veneration, from people of very remote antiquity: here they are found placed one on another, some having plainly the marks of the tool. This writer, though he does not venture to determine, conjectures that they are the work of the Druids. The Britons having had early communication with the Egyptians and Phoenicians, it is probable, he thinks, that the Latter imparted their arts and religious ceremonies to the Druids, who would politically conceal them from the people, that by means of auguries and divinations, the greater submission might be yielded to their decrees. To purposes of this kind Mr Rooke imagines these rocks to have been destined. They are various forms, some are rock-idols, others are rocking-stones, several have been perforated, in one instance, at least, quite through. To these our author assigns the name of the oracular stone, supposing that hence the crafty Druids might contrive to deliver predictions and commands which the credulous people would receive as proceeding from the rock-deity. It is well known, that many, who enjoyed far superior advantages for religious knowledge, have in later times employed such deceitful and scandalous methods to promote their ambitious and tyrannical views. (Whether it was thus in the very remote and uncultured periods to which Mr Rooke alludes, must remain in the uncertainty wherein time has involved this with many other points of historical disquisition)."
In 1844, Druidic theories were strong enough for the Worcester Journal to publish a list of "British monuments, commonly called Druidical," to correct misunderstandings, including those by "antiquarian writers of celebrity." The list included the Rock Idol at Brimham Rocks. By 1849 John Richard Walbran, writing about erosion as the cause of the rocks' shapes, hesitated to support Druidical theories.
Nevertheless, in 1849, Druidic theories were still influential. John Williams (Ab Ithel), described Brimham Rocks in a poetic manner as if they were partly created by the hand of man: "Brimham Rocks, where amidst great natural acclivities, and on the verge of precipices, ancient architects of the school of the builders of the Tomb of Laius, seem to have derived an intense pleasure in vanquishing and triumphing over the difficulties which nature opposed to their exertions."

By 1890 Druidic theories were dying out, leaving some rock names to bear witness to past ideas. The Pateley Bridge & Nidderdale Herald quoted from Professor Phillips' Geology of Yorkshire:
"The wasting power of the atmosphere is very consipicuous in these rocks; searching out their secret lamination; working perpendicular furrows and horizontal cavities; wearing away the bases, and thus bringing slow but sure destruction on the whole of the exposed masses. Those that remain of the rocks of Brimham are but perishing memorials of what have been destroyed."


Many of the rock names have been used for over a hundred years. Some fanciful names may have been invented by the Rocks House caretakers in their efforts to amuse visitors. Some appear to have been inspired by antiquarians who adhered to Druidical theories about their origins. Just a few names, such as the Noonstone whose shadow indicated midday, and old local names, Great Cannon and Little Cannon (now the Smartie Tube), may come from an earlier tradition. In his 1786 lecture, Some account of the Brimham rocks in Yorkshire, Hayman Rooke mentions the Idol Rock, the Great Cannon, and the Noonstone next to which a fire was lit on Midsummer Eve.
In 1844 the Worcester Journal mentions the Rock Idol, and in 1843 the Leeds Times mentions the Rocking Stones, Lovers' Leap, Baboon's Head, Pulpit Rock, Parson's Head, Yoke of Oxen, Frog and Tortoise, Serpent's Head, Dancing Bear, Druid's Writing Desk, Druid's Aerial Altar, Druid's Coffin, Sphinx, Oyster Shell, Mushroom, Idol Rock, and Cannon Rocks. In 1849 J.R. Walbran mentions the Rocking Stones and illustrates the Anvil and Porpoise Head. In 1906 the writer Harry Speight mentions the Elephant Rock, the Porpoise Head, the Dancing Bear, the Boat Rock, the Idol and the Rocking Stones. The identity of the Porpoise Head rock has been forgotten, although it appears in a drawing by Walbran.
The mention of Druids appears in Brimham Rocks, the wonder of Nidderdale (c. 1920) by journalist Herbert W. Ogle (1871–1940) of Otley. He lists Druid's Head, Druid's Writing desk, Druid's Castle, Druid's Pulpit, Druid's Parlour, Druid's Kitchen, Druid's Coffin, Druid's telescope "and so on." The Parlour and Kitchen no longer exist. At the far end of the Eye of the Needle were once the Druid's Caves, which included a Parlour and Bedroom, but they have been exposed or obliterated by a rock fall. Other rock names mentioned in 1920 are Oyster Shell, Rocking Stones, Baboon Rock, Mushroom Rock, Wishing Rock, Yoke of Oxen, Boat Rock (also known as the Druid's Altar), Boat Rocking Stone ("first discovered to be movable in 1786"), Dancing Bear, Rhinoceros Head, Anvil Rock, Pivot Rock, Lovers' Leap, Frog and Tortoise, Cannon Rocks, Split Rock, Sphinx Rock, Rabbit Rock, Elephant's Head, Dog Rock (possibly the Watchdog) and Tiger's Head.
In his Guide to Brimham Rocks published in 1863, local historian William Grainge wrote "These names are frequently changed by the innovating, garrulous guide, who has changed the Baboon's Head to the Gorilla's, and the Yoke of Oxen to the Bulls of Babylon, which unsettling of nomenclature he calls keeping pace with the times. Unique as the rocks are amongst the freaks of nature, there is nearly as much originality about the guide but infinitely less grandeur."
In 2020 the National Trust produced Spot the Rocks, a discovery trail sheet for children, listing eleven of the rock names. Some recent rock names in use are Meerkat and Smartie Tube.


At the east side of the Brimham Rocks site cowberry grows, it is "a northern species found mostly in Yorkshire." On the dry heathland by the rocks, on shallow soil with sand, grows a scattering of oak, rowan and silver birch, although its main cover is wavy hair-grass, bilberry, bell heather and ling, with bracken under the rock stacks. Birch grows on the north-east side in a regenerating forest. Until at least 1920, crowberry used to grow here. In the north woodland is chickweed wintergreen, which is "uncommon" and "of note."
At the southern end of the site is wet heath which has shallow soil with peat, and a beck, and this habitat supports wood horsetail, marsh thistle, water blinks, marsh violet, and "Yorkshire's largest colonies of bog asphodel." The heath contains wet patches within the dry area where it is possible to find cranberry. Other wet heath plants are cross-leaved heath, bog mosses, purple moor-grass, deer grass and common cotton grass.


Green hairstreak and holly blue butterflies are among the protected creatures here. Invertebrates supported by heather around the rocks include green tiger beetle and the solitary bee Colletes succinctus.


The National Trust has a Countryside and Community Manager at Brimham Rocks to oversee maintenance. On all habitats on this site, fertiliser and pesticides would harm the flora and fauna, and should not be used. The use of herbicide is discouraged, it should be used with "extreme care." A selective herbicide is used on bracken, however.
A high proportion of the Brimham Rocks site is recognised common land, where local farmers may graze their livestock. National Trust wardens work the year round to maintain this site. The work includes maintaining visitor paths and roads, bird-recording, controlling bracken and silver birch, and removing litter and storm-damaged trees.


Where appropriate, the rocks should be kept clear of vegetation and rock debris, so that the geology remains visible. Building developments and trees should not conceal the exposed rocks. "Widespread rock climbing activities and high visitor numbers ... need to be balanced with the protection of the rock features." Collecting of geological specimens is not allowed.


For assessment, Natural England has divided the site into five units. Numbers one (73.0503 hectares (0.7305 km²; 0.2820 sq mi)), two (84.6384 hectares (0.8464 km²; 0.3268 sq mi)) and four (0.8937 hectares (0.008937 km²; 0.003451 sq mi)) are described as upland dwarf shrub heath, and units three (2.7438 hectares (0.02744 km²; 0.01059 sq mi)) and five (2.5707 hectares (0.02571 km²; 0.009926 sq mi)) are upland broadleaved mixed and yew woodland.
The units were assessed in 2012 and 2013, when all units were adjudged unfavourable and recovering, except unit 4 which was favourable. Plans for management of units 1 and 2 were in place, and recovery was expected. That left woodland units 3 and 5 still with problems. Woodland from unit 3 was encroaching onto unit 1 (supposed to be heath). Unit 3 had not enough ground flora, although it did have naturally regenerating trees. The problem with woodland unit 5 is that there was almost no understorey, and not enough ground cover plants, although it did have some new saplings. Both wood units 3 and 5 had some encroaching bracken. Unit 4, the visitor attraction with the rocks, was considered favourable because visitor damage did not appear noticeable, and there were not too many plants concealing the geology. The trees which conceal views from the rocks were not mentioned. Nevertheless, the rocky part of the site receives more than 175,000 people including families, climbers, naturalists and others every year, and this does affect the biodiversity of the rocky section.
On 17 February 2018 at Brimham Rocks the Police, the North Yorkshire National Parks and the RSPB launched Operation Owl, "an initiative to tackle the illegal persecution of birds of prey in the county. This was because North Yorkshire had the highest raptor persecution record in the country, and they wanted to do "random swoops" in places where they believed this might be happening. They were also asking the public to report "illegal pole traps, poisoned bait and habitat disturbance, associated with "shooting interests." Pole traps are "spring-loaded traps fixed to the top of posts which have been outlawed since Victorian times." The traps themselves are legal for catching vermin (e.g. rats) if used low on the ground and in tunnels, but are illegal on poles where birds will be killed.
In September 2018 a group of climbers assisted the National Trust in "to return many of the locations between Cubic Block and Titfield Thunderbolt at Brimham to their previous airy and open state," that is, they removed large trees and other growth which had caused obstructions to the climbing experience at Brimham Rocks.
At 8.45 pm on 1 June 2018, in "an act of mindless destruction," five youths were observed destroying one of Brimham Rocks' balancing stones by pushing it from its high spot so that it broke on the ground. The balancing stone had taken 320 million years to form by erosion.


Hayman Rooke found barrows and stone circles in this area before 1786:
"About eighty yards S.W. of the ... Great Cannon is a large tumulus of earth and stones one hundred and fifty feet in circumference: on the west side there seems to have been a little ditch and vallum, which probably inclosed the tumulus ... About a quarter of a mile farther to the west is a Druid circle, with a vallum of earth and stones, thirty feet diameter. It is exactly of the same construction as those on Stanton Moor, in the peak of Derbyshire. There are likewise several small tumuli. Thirteen of them are arranged in a kind of circle, the largest not above eighteen feet diameter. They are formed of earth and large stones. Two of these I opened: towards the bottom the effects of fire appeared on the stones, and ashes were scattered about, but there were no urns to be fournd."
Katie Croft, in the National Trust guidebook, Brimham Rocks (2009), says that these barrows have not been found. The name, Birnebeam, or  Birnebaha, meaning "tree in clearing," refers to Brimham in the Domesday Book of 1086. Fountains Abbey owned it as pasture by 1252, and had a fishpool, then at the Reformation it reverted to The Crown from the 1530s. It was granted to Richard Gresham, then in 1780 Lord Grantley bought it. Brimham Moor was fox-hunting country by the 18th century, used by Colonel Thornton's Hunt. Later, around 1827, the Earl of Harewood's foxhounds would meet at the crossroads on Brimham Moor, making it possible to hunt across the Rocks since there could be no standing crops there.
In April 1842 several newspapers voiced disappointment that "the appearance of that beautiful spot called Brimham Rocks ... has been greatly injured by the burning off of all the moss &c. with which they were formerly covered." The identity of the offenders was unknown. In early May of the same year, vandals set the moorland around Brimham Rocks on fire several times, taking advantage of a severe drought.

A newspaper report of 1846 gives a glimpse of local life and an odd reference to Brimham Rocks. At an August Ripon Race meeting, a nameless five-year-old brown mare, who was both a hunter and also a daughter of Sheet Anchor, was disqualified after some drama.
"The Sheet Anchor mare, whose Jockey was attired in very primitive colours, and flourished a stout ash sapling, took the lead at a furious pace, came tearing past the Grand Stand, amidst loud cries of, Hurrah for Pateley Brig and kept it once round, when the instant he was headed, his cudgel was brought into vigorous play, but all to no purpose, though he belaboured her in true Brimham Rocks style to the very confines of the distance, which he failed to reach in time."


The status of Brimham Rocks as a tourist attraction began in the late 18th and early 19th century, with about 100 visitors per year. It is still popular as a family venue and for rock climbing, with about 175,000 visitors per year as of 2009. In the late 18th century it was the Sublime aesthetic and the picturesque which inspired admiration for wonderfully strange shapes, and the great size of some of the rocks. In this vein a poem by F.C.S. appeared in the Leeds Intelligencer of 1826, describing a "momentary view" of the place. The following is an extract:
Suddenly, on the horizon's distant line,
Uprising, as by call of magic power
The farewell sunbeams on the sky define
Black shapes of battlement, and spire and tower.
Higher, and higher still, the turrets rise -
Wider, and wider, the long ramparts spread -
Darkly depicted on the glowing skies
Behold a mighty city rear its head!

By the early 19th century, Romanticism was encouraging imagination and storytelling here. Both the Sublime and Romanticism are reflected in this 1843 report of an autumn ramble at Brimham Rocks:
"It is impossible to convey an idea of the wild rude grandeur of the scene. We stood on the summit of the hill rivetted in astonishment. Huge ruin and desolation seemed on every side of us, and we thought of that superhuman battlefield, where the hostile armies of heaven plucked up the seated hills" for missiles, and "main promontories flung ... And gazing at the masses of rock strewn on the ground, in every wild and strange position, one might imagine that it had been the scene of some such superhuman conflict and that uptorn rocks, hurled to and fro with jaculation dire had fallen as they are now seen."
During the 19th century the Yorkshire Union of Mechanics' Institutes used to hold its annual conference at Ripon. One of the regular highlights following the procedures was an excursion to Studley Royal, Fountains Abbey and Brimham Rocks. On Wednesday 14 June 1848, the large party arrived with guides John Richard Walbran and Mr Harrison of Ripon, who brought not just "antiquarian and topographical knowledge," but also "taste." At Brimham rocks, after an "excellent repast," the party "rambled among the stupendous and fantastic rocks, observing the wonders of nature, and speculating on the extent to which the rude art of our earliest British ancestors might have aided the operations of water and air in producing the present extraordinary forms of the rocks." At this point they were not only joined by the memberships of local Mechanics' Institutes, but also (the event having been heralded in the newspapers) by hundreds of local working people who expected a lecture and received one: a twenty-minute talk on how to form their own mechanics' institutes. The Manchester Courier commented that, "The motley group listened with interest and intelligence; and possibly even this handful of corn on the top of the mountain may be the seed of new institutes, which may train up yet unborn communities in the paths of knowledge and virtue."


As of 2009, around 170 bouldering problems and 200 rock climbing routes have been recorded.
By 1920, climbers from Harrogate were already exploring routes up the rocks. Routes were first recorded from the 1930s, by Sidney Thompson and his colleagues, with perhaps 20 routes being put up by 1955. The first climbing guide to Brimham Rocks was published in 1956 in the form of an article in Yorkshire Ramblers' Club Journal. In 1957, various routes were recorded in the same journal, including Cracked Buttress, Lovers' Leap, Hatter's Groove Group, Fag Slab, Hawk Crag, Cannon Rocks, Stelling Crag, Boulders and Bat Buttress. More difficult routes were recorded by the Yorkshire Mountaineering Club between 1957 and 1961, although some of their aid climbing methods are not used now. Local climbers Robin and Tony Barley were putting up new routes for ten years or more until the 1970s, being regularly chased off the rocks by the warden, on the grounds of unpaid entrance fees. From 1970 Leeds University Climbing Club began climbing here. Army cadet training takes place here, and from the 1990s climbers have visited the rocks for bouldering.


This cup and ring stone, just west of the SSSI site, is a listed monument. The stone is over three metres long, it has about 21 cups or circular depressions, and some "sinuous lines" engraved on it.


It was founded by William Bertram, Baron of Mitford, in the reign of Henry I as an Augustinian priory. The exact date is not known but cannot have been later than 1135, as Henry died that year. About 1180 or so, Brinkburn became an independent house, and the building of the monastic church was commenced. The architectural style has been described as "transitional" (i.e. between Norman and Gothic).
Although the Priory acquired lands in Northumberland and Durham over the years it was never particularly wealthy. Little is known of the early history of the priory, although it is known that it survived some difficult times. In fact, as late as 1419 it was raided and robbed.


In the 1750s Thomas Sharp, Archdeacon of Northumberland, tried to effect repairs to the ruin. Although there was considerable support for the project, work was called off after a dispute between the owner William Fenwick and the Vicar of Felton.
In the 19th century the Cadogan family, owners of Brinkburn, revived the plans for the restoration of the church and work began in 1858. The roof was completed in the space of a year, and the stained glass windows had been inserted by 1864. The church, however, was not furnished until 1868. Brinkburn Priory today is a sympathetic 19th-century restoration of the mediæval original.
The tombstone of Prior William, Bishop of Durham (died 1484) was found during the reconstruction, as was the original altar stone with five crosses. The latter is still preserved along with an ancient font.
Religious services are still occasionally held here. It is also a venue for concerts, notably the Brinkburn Festival which is directed by Paul McCreesh. However, Brinkburn Priory today is usually a peaceful and tranquil place.


Brisbane Arcade is a heritage-listed shopping arcade at 160 Queen Street through to Adelaide Street in the Brisbane CBD, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Richard Gailey, Junior and built in 1923 to 1924 by J & E L Rees and Forsyth & Speering. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.


The Brisbane Arcade was opened in March 1924. It was built for a cost of £70,000 for Dr James Mayne, and his sister Mary Emelia Mayne. Their father, Patrick Mayne, had purchased the property as two adjoining allotments in 1853 (allotment 2 of section 10, with a frontage to Queen Street) and 1854 (allotment 17 of section 10, with a frontage to Adelaide Street).
The arcade was designed by Richard Gailey Jnr (the son of architect Richard Gailey) and built by J & E L Rees (Queen Street section), & Forsyth and Speering (Adelaide Street section). It provided a pedestrian and commercial link between Queen and Adelaide Streets. The arcade contained shops with frontages to Adelaide and Queen Streets, 20 shops on the ground level of the arcade, and a further 20 on the first floor. The building also contained office accommodation on the first level. The Arcade was one of a number of building projects in Queen Street during the 1920s including Ascot Chambers (1924), Tattersalls Club (1925) and the Regent Theatre (1928).
Although there does not appear to have been an official opening ceremony, in the first week of March 1924 a number of tenants announced the opening of their arcade stores full of luxury items, such as silks, ladies' fashion and floral art.
Since the deaths of James Mayne in 1939, and Mary Mayne in 1940, Brisbane Arcade has been operated by a board of trustees acting on behalf of their estates, with operating proceeds benefiting the University of Queensland School of Medicine (now known as the University of Queensland Mayne Medical School in honour of the bequest). McGees Property manages the arcade on behalf of the board of trustees.
On 5 February 1952, the Johnstone Gallery was opened in a former bomb shelter under Brisbane Arcade, where it remained until closing on 19 December 1957 in order to relocate to Bowen Hills.


The Brisbane Arcade connects Queen and Adelaide Streets in the block between Edward and Albert Streets. The facades at each end have similar features - both are three storeys high and five window bays across, of face brickwork with cement dressings, and use plain Classical details.
The Queen Street facade has triangular Classical pediments at parapet level above each end window bay. These end bays are separated by flanking brick pilasters and have cantilevered balconies on both levels with wrought iron railings consisting of vertical balustrading. The openings contain timber framed multi-paned windows and french doors which open onto the balconies. Ornate floral mouldings are situated on the pilasters to either side of the upper level openings. A deep bracketed cornice runs between the base of the pediments separating the parapet from the remainder of the facade. The parapet has raised sections at each end and in the centre where there is the name "BRISBANE ARCADE" in raised lettering.
The Adelaide Street facade has a similar arrangement of openings, but has arched windows in the end bays of the top floor with keystones that extend to the cornice line. A similar cornice occurs above all the other window openings as sun hoods. Cantilevered balconies occur only on the first floor level at each end and in the centre. These have wrought iron railings with diagonal balustrading.
The entry to the arcade is central on both facades. The three storey sections extend only part of the distance into the block from both ends and are linked by the two storey arcade. Some of the ground floor shops have been changed from the traditional materials polished timber shopfronts and lead-light windows to be replaced by marble and other modern products.
The central space has a void running the length of the arcade crossed by a central walkway leading to the galleries on each side. The upper level is accessed by stairs at each end which retain their original terrazzo finishes. The roof structure above the arcade consists of lightweight exposed steel trusses, and natural light is allowed into the space through clerestory windows on each side.
The arcade features art work from the hosting of Brisbane's World Expo '88, namely, "Mirage" by Swiss-Israeli artist Gidon Graetz.
Today the Brisbane Arcade features a range of artisan and boutique stores, with several fashion, jewellery and specialist businesses operating out of the location.


The City Hall was once the tallest building in Brisbane (see external links below for image from 1958). The building was designed by the firm Hall and Prentice, in association with four young New South Wales Architects: Bruce Dellit, Peter Kaad, Emil Sodersten and Noel Wilson.


In the 1980s, work commenced on a full-scale restoration of the building, opening up the side entrance vestibules and restoring a number of the reception rooms to their original design. These reception rooms are named for former local government areas subsumed into Greater Brisbane in 1925, such as the Sherwood Room, and the Ithaca Room. From 2003 the Museum of Brisbane replaced administration offices and had galleries positioned on both sides of the building's entrance from King George Square.


Serious problems were identified with the building, including subsidence, concrete cancer, a lack of reinforcing in the concrete and old wiring. The Brisbane City Council set up a taskforce to address the issues, raise awareness, co-ordinate restoration and raise funds. The Brisbane City Hall closed on 31 December 2009, for the three-year restoration project.
To undergo large scale restoration works, Brisbane City Hall was closed until April 2013. The restoration works involved replacement of all building services (electrical, mechanical, fire, hydraulic systems etc.), structural works to building interiors, dome and auditorium and conservation of the original heritage surfaces and building façade. The grand organs were removed from the building for the duration of the building works. The Museum of Brisbane was combined into a single venue on the 3rd floor.
The Brisbane City Hall was officially reopened to the public on Saturday, 6 April 2013 following a re-dedication ceremony and celebrations. The renovation cost $215 million.


The building was designed according to the Italian Renaissance style, symmetrical and formal. It has three floors and a partial basement. The total cost of the project including furniture, fitout and furnishing was approximately £980,000. Chariot statues included in the original plans were discarded to save costs.
The columns supporting the tympanum are of the Corinthian order while the columns extending on either side are of the Ionic order. Lions heads are found above these columns. Above the main entrance is a bronze awning and the doors are also made of bronze.


The centre of City Hall features an auditorium, based on the Pantheon, Rome, and several smaller reception rooms. The auditorium is a large circular hall that can seat up to 1,600 people and is covered by the largest copper dome in the southern hemisphere. Beneath this dome there are 8,500 L.E.D lights that display a light show. When originally built it was intended that the building would house most of the council's administrative offices, Aldermen's (councillors') offices, the Council Chamber, a public library and several reception rooms, in addition to the auditorium. As the role of local government increased in the 1950s and 1960s, the reception rooms, hallways and side entrance vestibules (in Adelaide and Ann Streets) were converted to office space. Additional offices were constructed on the roof and in the basement.


The building is constructed of concrete, brick and steel, with a base of Camp Mountain Granite. The granite was extracted by the first builder, Arthur Midson, from his quarry at Camp Mountain near Samford. This deposit was worked just for the City Hall project. Above Midson's granite base courses, the east, north and west sides are clad in Helidon freestone, a type of sandstone extracted from Wright's Quarry at Helidon. The sandstone cladding was constructed (together with the rest of the building) by builder Douglas Dunn Carrick. The clock tower has a steel framework, and is clad in the same sandstone. The interior includes four marble columns, two of which support an arch above a ground marble staircase. Granite for the ground floor and basement was sourced from Enoggera.


In 2009, as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Brisbane City Hall was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as a "structure and engineering feat".


The Brisbane Synagogue was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.
The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history.
The Brisbane Synagogue is Brisbane's first purpose built Synagogue, and is significant as an important development in nineteenth century Jewish worship in the city. The building reflects the development of Jewish settlement in the city during the 1880s.
The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage.
The addition of windows are a rare Brisbane memorial to Jewish people who died in the Second World War.
The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland's history.
Located within the foundation stone cavity are artefacts and memorabilia which have the potential for yielding information about the Jewish community in the 1880s.
The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.
The Brisbane Synagogue is significant as an example of the design work of Arthur Morry, prominent Brisbane architect, and of Arthur Midson, local building contractor. As an example of Australian-Jewish places of worship, the Brisbane Synagogue typifies the customs and liturgical practices of the Hebrew community.
The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.
As a free-standing element with an entry porch, the building contributes to the streetscape of Margaret Street.
The place is important in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period.
The adaption in its design of both circular and octagonal elements to a traditional plan form to create a style suitable for an inner-city Synagogue.
The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.
The building also has special significance to Brisbane's Hebrew community.


Brisbane Water is a wave-dominated barrier estuary located in the Central Coast region, north of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Brisbane Water has its origin at the confluence of the Narara and Coorumbine Creeks, to the south–east of Gosford and travels for approximately 18 kilometres (11 mi) in a southerly direction to its mouth at Broken Bay, about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) from the Tasman Sea, at Barrenjoey Head. A number of towns and suburbs surround the shores of Brisbane Water, including Blackwall, Booker Bay, Davistown, Empire Bay, Erina, Ettalong Beach, Gosford, Green Point, Hardys Bay, Kilcare, Kincumber, Koolewong, Phegans Bay, Point Frederick, Point Clare , Saratoga, Tascott, Wagstaffe, and Woy Woy. Contained within Brisbane Water is St Huberts Island, Rileys Island, Dunmar Island and Pelican Island; and adjoining the estuary is Brisbane Water National Park to the west and Bouddi National Park to the east. Forming part of the same tidal estuary system is a separate but connected basin, the Kincumber Broadwater, lying to the east of Davistown.
The total catchment area of the river is approximately 165 square kilometres (64 sq mi).
The land adjacent to the Brisbane Water was occupied for many thousands of years by Australian Aboriginal peoples, the Darkinjung and Kuringgai, who used the estuary and foreshore areas for cultural purposes.
Brisbane Water was named in 1825 in honour of Sir Thomas Brisbane, a Governor of New South Wales, serving between 1820 and 1825.


Brisbane Water is part of the traditional lands of the Darkinjung and Kuringgai aboriginal peoples. Places of significance to Aboriginal people located in the area surrounding Brisbane Water that are listed on the Register of the National Estate include Daleys Point area and Staples Lookout, west of Woy Woy. Initial colonial explorers of the area were assisted by Bungaree, a leader of the Kuringgai tribe who went on to assist Phillip Parker King and Matthew Flinders in the circumnavigation of Australia.
Twentieth century European settlement led to the development of an extensive local ferry network, including one supplying an otherwise isolated orphanage, a commuter service from Gosford to Woy Woy and a third operation dedicated to carrying farm produce. The last commuter ferries between Brisbane Water townships ceased in 1971. The only ferry service to exist now services the communities of Empire Bay, Davistown, Saratoga and Woy Woy and is operated by Central Coast Ferries.
In 1973, local residents on Rileys Island requested a green ban after a development company intended to remove all native vegetation to make way for construction on the island.


The Brisbane Water estuary and foreshores have particularly high scenic value and include areas of pristine vegetation and extensive views of the water from a number of locations. Beaches, inlets and bays can be distinguished in the foreground with inherent juxtaposition of bushland-covered hills in the distance. Access to existing key vantage points allows for the public to experience the landscape character of the Brisbane Water estuary and its surrounds.
With the approximate average bed level at 5 metres (16 ft) and often as low as 3 metres (9.8 ft), Brisbane Water is considered mostly shallow, with a tidal impact of ±0.4 metres (1 ft 4 in). The inlet narrows at a point known as The Rip, located adjacent to Ettalong Beach. The Rip has a rapid tidal current.
The oyster industry is an important part of the local economy.  In terms of Sydney rock oyster production, in 2007–2008 a total of ~250,000 dozens of oysters were produced in the Brisbane Water estuary, with a total value of A$1.3 million representing approximately 3.6% of the NSW industry total for 2007–2008.
During 2009, over 110 bird species were recorded within the estuary; with sixty vulnerable and fourteen endangered animal species, and sixteen vulnerable and eight endangered plant species. Some 2,277 hectares (5,630 acres) of Brisbane Water is classified by BirdLife International as an important bird area because it has an isolated population of up to ten breeding pairs of bush stone-curlews and sometimes supports flocks of the endangered regent honeyeater and swift parrot during autumn and winter, when the swamp mahogany trees are in flower.


Brisbane Water National Park is described as a ‘living space’ for plant and animal communities in the National Parks Plan of Management. The park is a sanctuary for plant and animal communities to adapt and migrate in the face of climate change. The size and shape of the park should allow adjustment in the Northwest and South for biological adjustment. The park is a system of reserves protecting the states significant waterways of the lower Hawkesbury River, Broken Bay, Pittwater, and Brisbane Water. The park also protects a range of Aboriginal sites and extends the representation of rock art from the Sydney Basin in the National Park systems. The geology is mainly in the Hawksbury series of cross bedded quarts sandstone, conglomerates, and grey and red shales.


The park covers enough area to provide critical nesting and breeding sites for several species whose territories range over surrounding rural and urban areas. For many of these species the park provides the only secure available land for them to find seclusion from human impacts. For many of these plant and animal species the park is the only available habitat which provides the necessary resources for their survival such as tree hollows. The main vegetation communities found in the park are low-open forests, low-open woodland, and open woodland accompanied by either a dry or moist understorey. Rainforest communities occur in sheltered sections of valleys and along streams. 20 vegetation communities are represented in the park, all of which are considered endangered under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995. 5 are listed as critically endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC). The critically endangered communities listed in the EPBC act in the park are: Blue Gum High Forest in the Sydney Basin Bioregion, Littoral Rainforest in the New South Wales North Coast, Lowland Rainforest in the NSW North Coast and Sydney Basin Bioregions, Shale Sandstone Transition Forest in the Sydney Basin Bioregion, and Western Sydney Dry Rainforest in the Sydney Basin Bioregion.
The Blue Gum High Forest is a tall open forest community where the Sydney blue gum (Eucalyptus saligna) dominates the canopy layer. Other tree species that occur in this community are: blackbutt (E. pilularis), forest oak (Allocasuarina torulosa), and Sydney red gum (Angophora costata). Species occurring in the shrub layer are ones adapted to moist habitats. Only around 4.5% of the Blue Gum High Forest remains, now occurring in small remnants. It only occurs in areas where rainfall is high and soil fertility is good. For this reason it can only occur in small sections which are suitable for growth. Understorey species rely on bird and mammal species to distribute seeds and this community does not cope well in fire events. The Blue Gum High Forest is known to occur in Brisbane Water National Park and is now reliant on national park status as protection from habitat degradation, as well as good park management with regards to invasive species control and fire regimes.


A number of areas in Brisbane Water National Park contain rare and endangered plants. It is likely that these remnant populations demonstrate the ways that environmental conditions have changed in the past few thousand years. In some cases these rare species are remnants of populations that would have been extensive before widespread clearing took place for urban and agricultural use. The park encompasses a wide variety of flora with 814 species recorded. The diversity of plant species and plant communities is reflective of variations in geology, soils, hydrology, aspect, and fire history. Ten of the recorded plant species are considered to be rare and several others are uncommon or restricted in their distribution. The park hosts a number of vulnerable and threatened species as listed under the EPBC act. Vulnerable species include: thick-leaf star-hair (Astrotricha crassifolia), Camfield's stringybark (Eucalyptus camfieldii), Deane's paperbark]] (Melaleuca deanei), and Grevillea shiressii. The endangered Somersby mintbush (Prostanthera junonis) is also present in the park.
The donkey orchid (Diuris bracteata) has been recorded in the area in recent times after having been listed as extinct under the commonwealth status. The donkey orchid resides in dry sclerophyll woodland and forest with a predominantly grassy understorey. Recordings in the Gosford and Wyong areas are the only existing species known to survive.
The vulnerable Camfield stringybarks (Eucalyptus camfieldii) range in NSW has contracted and is now only found in small numbers isolated mainly to nationals parks surrounding Sydney. The species is either a mallee-like shrub or a tree up to 9 metres bearing heart shaped leaves as a juvenile. Too frequent or not frequent enough wildfire activity is a threat to its survival, where frequent fires impact its ability to grow seed capsules and infrequent fires result in competition from taller vegetation. The main threats to this species are: Competition from invasive non-native species and degradation of habitat from weeds, inappropriate or changed fire regimes including frequency, intensity, and timing, habitat loss and fragmentation from development, and low genetic diversity as a result of contracted population numbers.
The endangered Somersby mintbush (Prostanthera junonis) is only known to occur in the Somersby Plateau area in 9 locations after having been previously present in a broader range. The bush grows low with most of the branches growing along the ground to a maximum height of around 30 cm. Its flowers are pale mauve to almost white. Most of the remaining population are present in Brisbane Water National Park and face similar threats to Camfield's Stringybark which are: habitat degradation, invasive weed competition, and inappropriate fire regimes.


Brisbane Water National Park is vulnerable to various environmental threats. Introduced invasive feral animals are of particular concern, this includes foxes (Vulpes vulpes), wild dogs (Canis familiaris), and cats (Felis catus). Wild dogs and cats are of particular concern due to the proximity of the park to areas of highly urbanised land use. This makes the wild dog and cat issue particularly prevalent. Cats and wild dogs are significant predators because they interact with fauna in a number of ways, for instance predation, outcompeting natives for resources, and transmitting disease. This impacts the native fauna as wild dogs generally prey on large and medium species such as wallabies and possums, and cats prey on medium and small prey including reptiles and small mammals. These pests can cause local extinctions and are a real threat to species which are already vulnerable or endangered.
Invasive weeds are a threat to the natural processes within the park. The low fertility of the soil does not readily facilitate weed growth  ), however once they become established they can quickly out compete native species and are a real threat to the vulnerable and endangered species and communities. Eroding soils from degradation and increased transport of sediment from nearby runoff can transport sediments and nutrients which encourages weed growth. An example of the significance of weed invasion is the previously mentioned Blue Gum High Forest and Somersby mintbush (Prostanthera junonis) which are susceptible to weed invasion. Pest species displace natives and alter the ecosystem functions which creates ongoing implications such as altered fire patterns and changed nutrient cycling. The proximity of urban dwellings to the national park allows weed seeds to be easily introduced on a regular basis, which means regular maintenance and monitoring is required to ensure invasive species are kept in control. The biggest threat from invasive weeds is the degradation of biological diversity and is therefore a major environmental threat within the park. Further environmental threats are present in that the park is boarded by intensive urban, industrial, and agricultural development. The larger streams which form part of the park have their headwaters and catchment areas outside the park boundary giving rise to major management issues. These management issues are largely due to altered natural processes such as sedimentation and nutrient alterations.


The management of Brisbane Water National Park is by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), under the Office of Environment and Heritage. Park management is vital in conserving biodiversity by offering physical protection to vulnerable and endangered wildlife. This refuge for Australian native plants, animals, and ecosystems allows research programs and conservation initiatives to be undertaken such as weeding and pest control programs to restore native habitats. Fire management strategies are developed in the balance of protecting life, Aboriginal sites, historical sites, and natural processes. The areas surrounding the national park on plateaus was easily settled, therefore the remaining area originally reserved for parkland was limited to remnant areas on the plateau and areas of the catchments in Mooney Mooney, Patonga, and Mullet Creeks, because these areas remained inaccessible for settlement, they are generally harder for access. The locations of settlements mean the national park is hemmed in on two sides by development. The threats to the park caused by intensive agricultural, urban, and industrial development on the boundaries and headwaters make the management of the park difficult, and are increasing over time with continual development proposals such as those on the Kariong and Somersby plateaus which are in various catchment areas of the park. The following are some of the other management issues in the park. Woy Woy refuse tip is an inholding within the park which is a particular management issue as it is within the Patonga Creek Catchment. Agricultural, industrial, and domestic runoff from surrounding developments have long term harmful impacts on aquatic plant communities. Weeds also spread down creek lines from runoff. Fire suppression and management trails need to be planned so potential impacts and erosion which leads to sedimentation of creeks is minimised. Dirt bikes and four wheel drive access to the park is not permitted. Physical damage to plants and soils occurs and erosion has further impacts. Their access is hard to manage as many possible entry points are available.


In 1949, Emden's son Hans Erich, who had emigrated to Chile accepted an offer from a consortium consisting of the Canton Ticino, the municipalities of Ascona, Brissago and Ronco sopra Ascona, plus the Swiss Nature Protection League (known today as the Swiss Heritage Society) to purchase the islands. The purchase agreement was signed on 2 September 1949.
On the morning of 2 April 1950 the Brissago Islands were opened to the public.


Geologically the Bristen belongs to the aarmassif. The southern part of the mountain consists of several different types of rocks, among them rhyolite and amphibolite. Further to the south the typical aare-granite can be found. For amateur geology the region around the Bristen is interesting, as it is famous for its many different types of minerals and quartz.


Bristol's name is derived from the Saxon Brycgstow or 'Brigstowe', meaning the 'place of the bridge'. However, it is unclear when the first bridge over the Avon was built. The Avon has a high tidal range, so the river could have been forded twice a day. The name may therefore refer to the many smaller bridges over the Avon's tributary, the River Frome, constructed in the marshy surrounding area, which is now largely built over.
The first stone bridge was built in the 13th century, and houses with shopfronts were built on it. A 17th-century illustration shows that these bridge houses were five stories high, including the attic rooms, and that they overhung the river much as Tudor houses would overhang the street. At the time of the Civil War the bridge was noted for its community of goldsmiths. Houses on the bridge were attractive and charged high rents as they had so much passing traffic, and had plenty of fresh air while waste could be dropped into the river. Its population was also perceived to be strongly parliamentarian.
In 1760 a bill to replace the bridge was carried through parliament by the Bristol MP Sir Jarrit Smyth.  By the early 18th century, increase in traffic and the encroachment of shops on the roadway made the bridge fatally dangerous for many pedestrians, but despite a campaign by Felix Farley in his Journal, no action was taken until a shopkeeper on the bridge employed James Bridges to provide designs. The commission accepted the design of James Bridges after many long drawn out disputes which are still unclear. Bridges fled to the West Indies in 1763 leaving Thomas Paty to complete it between 1763 and 1768.  Resentment at the tolls exacted to cross the new bridge occasioned the Bristol Bridge Riot of 1793.
The toll houses were turned into shops before they were removed. In the 19th century, the roadway was again congested, so walkways were added on either side, the supporting columns disguising the classical Georgian design. The current metal railings date from the 1960s.
Before the Second World War, Bristol Bridge was an important transport hub.  It was the terminus of tram routes to Knowle, Bedminster and Ashton Gate, and other trams also stopped here.  It lost importance when Temple Way was built further upstream in the 1930s, and when the tram system closed in 1941.
Bristol Bridge was closed to private motor cars and goods vehicles under 7.5 tonnes in 2020 as part of Bristol City Council's initiative to improve air quality, accelerated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prince's Wharf, including M Shed, Pyronaut and Mayflower adjoining Prince Street Bridge
Dry docks: SS Great Britain, the Matthew
St Augustine's Reach, Pero's Bridge
Bathurst Basin
Queen Square
Bristol Temple Meads railway station
Castle Park
Redcliffe Quay and Redcliffe Caves
Baltic Wharf marina
Cumberland Basin & Brunel Locks
The New Cut
Netham Lock, entrance to the Feeder Canal
Totterdown Basin
Temple Quay
The Centre
Canons Marsh, including Millennium Square and We The Curious
Underfall Yard
Bristol Bridge and Welsh Back


Bristol Motor Speedway could very easily have opened in 1961 under a different name. The first proposed site for the speedway was in Piney Flats, Tennessee, but, according to Carl Moore, who built the track along with Larry Carrier and R. G. Pope, the idea met local opposition. So the track that could have been called Piney Flats International Speedway was built 5 miles (8.0 km) up the road on U.S. Highway 11-E in Bristol. The land upon which Bristol Motor Speedway is built was formerly part of Gray's Dairy, at one point one of the largest dairies in the eastern half of the United States. Larry Carrier and Carl Moore traveled to Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1960 to watch a race and it was then that they decided to build a speedway in northeast Tennessee. However, they wanted a smaller model of CMS, something with a more intimate setting and opted to erect a .5-mile (800 m) facility instead of mirroring the 1.5-mile (2.4 km) track in Charlotte.
Work began on what was then called Bristol International Speedway in 1960 and it took approximately one year to finish. Carrier, Moore and Pope scratched many ideas for the track on envelopes and brown paper bags.
Purchase of the land on which BMS now sits, as well as initial construction of the track, cost approximately $600,000. The entire layout for BMS covered 100 acres (0.40 km²) and provided parking for more than 12,000 cars. The track itself was a perfect 0.5 miles (800 m), measuring 60 feet (18 m) wide on the straightaways, 75 feet (23 m) wide in the turns, and the turns were banked at 22 degrees. Seating capacity for the very first NASCAR race at BMS – held on July 30, 1961 – was 18,000. Prior to this race the speedway hosted weekly races. The first driver on the track for practice on July 27, 1961, was Tiny Lund in his Pontiac. The second driver out was David Pearson. Fred Lorenzen won the pole for the first race at BMS with a speed of 79.225 mph (127.500 km/h). Atlanta's Jack Smith won the inaugural event – the Volunteer 500 – at BMS. However, Smith was not in the driver's seat of the Pontiac when the race ended. Smith drove the first 290 laps then had to have Johnny Allen, also of Atlanta, take over as his relief driver. The two shared the $3,225 purse. The total purse for the race was $16,625. Country music star Brenda Lee, who was 17 at the time, sang the national anthem for the first race at BMS. A total of 42 cars started the first race at BMS but only 19 finished.
In the fall of 1969, BMS was reshaped and re-measured. The turns were banked at 36 degrees and it became a 0.533-mile (858 m) oval.
The speedway was sold after the 1976 season to Lanny Hester and Gary Baker. In the spring of 1978, the track name was changed to Bristol International Raceway. In August that year, the first night race was held on the oval, one that would become one of the most popular and highly anticipated events on the Cup Series calendar.
On April 1, 1982, Lanny Hester sold his half of the speedway to Warner Hodgdon. On July 6, 1983, Hodgdon completed a 100 percent purchase of Bristol Motor Speedway, as well as Nashville Speedway, in a buy-sell agreement with Baker. Hodgdon named Larry Carrier as the track's general manager. On January 11, 1985, Hodgdon filed for bankruptcy. Afterwards, Larry Carrier formally took possession of the speedway and covered all outstanding debts.
For many years, teams were unable to park their transporters inside the infield, nor did the track have any significant garage area. Team transporters were parked in a lot outside of the track. During racing periods, crews and participants were landlocked by the track, and thus, unable to return to the transporters for spare parts, repairs, or rest. In the early 1990s, the infield was reconfigured and completely paved. Teams began parking the transporters in an orchestrated, extremely tight arrangement that takes several hours, and highly skilled drivers, to accomplish. Teams are now able to work out of their transporters in the same fashion as other facilities.
In 1992, the speedway abandoned the asphalt surface that it had used since its inception, switching to the concrete surface it is now famous for.
In 1995, Lights were installed around the track to run races with permanently installed lights instead of the use of trucks with temporary lighting which was used for the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race from 1978 to 1994.
On January 22, 1996, Larry Carrier sold the speedway to Bruton Smith's Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (SMI), at a purchase price of $26 million. At the time of the sale, the facility seated 71,000. On May 28 of the same year, the track's name was officially changed to Bristol Motor Speedway. By August, 15,000 seats had been added bringing the seating capacity to 86,000.
BMS continued to grow and by April 1997, at 118,000 seats, it had surpassed the University of Tennessee's 102,000 seat Neyland Stadium to become the largest sports arena in Tennessee. The speedway also boasted 22 new skyboxes. For the 1998 Goody's 500, the speedway featured more than 131,000 grandstand seats and 100 skyboxes. Improvements to the speedway since Smith took possession are in excess of $50 million. Under Smith's ownership, all seating sections have been renamed for past race winners and NASCAR champions.
The capacity for the 2000 Food City 500 was 147,000 as the Kulwicki Terrace and Kulwicki Tower were completed. Both were named after NASCAR star Alan Kulwicki, who was the reigning Cup Series champion when he died in a plane crash in 1993 while on his way to the spring race at Bristol, which he won the previous year. As a tribute to retiring star Darrell Waltrip, the entire Turn 3 and 4 sections were renamed in his honor in 2000, including a section of seats in Turn 4 near the start-finish line marked as alcohol free. (Waltrip refused to drive for a team in 1987 because its sponsor was associated with alcoholic beverages.) Sections were also named in honor of the Allison family and David Pearson as part of the renaming of grandstands.
In both 2000 and 2001, the track was temporarily converted to a dirt track to host the World of Outlaws' Channellock Challenge.  The conversion involved moving 8,000 cubic feet (230 m³) of red clay onto the track's surface. 700 cubic yards (540 m³) of sawdust were laid down first to cover the paved surface. The track was widened by 12 feet (3.7 m) to 14 feet (4.3 m) and the banking was reduced from 36° to somewhere between 22° to 24°. While the races proved to be very popular, the process of installing and removing a temporary surface required 14,000 truckloads of material to be shipped in and out of the track which wore heavily on the roads around the track.
As has been the case since the SMI purchase of BMS, improvements continued in and around the Speedway in 2002. The season saw the addition of a long-awaited infield pedestrian tunnel, allowing access into and out of the infield during on-track activity. Also in 2002, a new building was constructed in the infield to house driver meetings. That same year also witnessed the christening of a new BMS Victory Lane atop the newly constructed building. Kurt Busch won the 2002 Food City 500 on March 24 and became the first Cup winner in the new BMS winner's circle. Additional improvements in 2002 included new scoreboards located on the facing of the suites in Turns 2 and 3. On Monday, August 26, 2002, work began on the most ambitious construction project since SMI's purchase of BMS in 1996. The entire backstretch, including the Speedway's last remaining concrete seats, was demolished. The new backstretch increased the venue's seating capacity to more than 160,000. The new backstretch includes three levels of seating and is topped with 52 luxury skybox suites. These seats are also named for leading NASCAR figures, with Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough and Junior Johnson each having a section of the new seats named for them; Dale Earnhardt was given a section on top in his memory.
A 5,000 seat section of the turn 1 and 2 grandstand, on top of the Alan Kulwicki Grandstand, is now named the Rusty Wallace Tower. Additional improvements included a scoring pylon with a four-sided video screen akin to those in sports arenas hanging from their ceilings; after the 2007 Food City 500, a resurfacing of the entire concrete track along with widening the track 3 feet (0.91 m) and reshaping the turns with variable banking, which was completed for the 2007 Sharpie 500 in August and their support events in the Busch (now Xfinity Series) and Truck Series.
The 2006 Disney/Pixar animated film Cars used Bristol Motor Speedway as the inspiration for the fictional Motor Speedway of the South, featured in the film's opening scene. Cars director and NASCAR fan John Lasseter made it a 1-mile track, compared with Bristol's half-mile, to make the straightaways little longer for some of the scenes and allow for fans in the infield.
A Guinness World Record was set in August 2008 when the sell-out crowd completed the largest crowd-wave in history.
Another world record was set in August 2009 for the largest karaoke with a sold-out crowd. Later, when the race was red flagged, the crowd performed the wave again, apparently tying the world record.
On Saturday, March 20, 2010, during the NASCAR "Saturday Night Showdown", where retired NASCAR drivers drove in a 35-lap race for charity, a terrifying crash involving Larry Pearson and Charlie Glotzbach ended up in a near-tragedy. The race was put under immediate red flag. Pearson spun out in turn 2, and as his car was sliding down the track, Glotzbach exited turn 2 and rammed into the driver's door of Pearson's car. As Glotzbach climbed out of his car and went to the infield care center, Pearson was unconscious in his car while rescue workers sawed off the roof of the car to get him out. After they got Pearson out, he regained consciousness, as reported by his brothers who talked to him. They also reported that Larry was able to move his arms around. Pearson was air lifted to a nearby hospital. Later, Glotzbach was driven to the same hospital. Before the race started back up, NASCAR legend David Pearson (Larry's father), who was also racing that day, withdrew from the race and went down to the hospital to see his son.
On the week ending August 21, 2010, Kyle Busch became the first driver ever to win races in all three NASCAR national series during a single race meeting. He began the historic week by winning the Truck race on Wednesday. Two days later, he won the Nationwide race following an incident with Brad Keselowski. Late in the race, the two raced for the lead side-by-side before Keselowski bumped Busch during a pass. Busch responded with a harder bump to Keselowski, spinning the latter out. After the race, the two took verbal potshots at one another. Then, during driver introductions immediately before the Cup series race, Keselowski introduced himself and then shouted "Kyle Busch is an ass!" Ultimately, there were no on-track incidents between the two in the Cup race. Busch also exchanged words with David Reutimann after the Cup race.
Busch would repeat this feat at Bristol in 2017, again winning all 3 races during a single race weekend.
In 2016 the scoring pylon was replaced by a large 4-sided display hung by cables over the center of the infield. Named "Colossus TV", the track claims it is the largest outdoor-hung display of its kind in the world, with each screen measuring 30 feet (9.1 m) by 63 feet (19 m).
BMS has announced a new event called the Short Track U.S. Nationals in May 2017. The event will feature five classes of cars that are featured at local weekly tracks: Super Late Models, Pro (Crate) Late Models, Southern Modifieds, Late Model Stock, Street Stocks, and Compact (4 cylinder) cars. Champion Racing Association will be the lead sanctioning body of the event. The Super Late Model class is co-sanctioned with CRA Super Series, CARS Super Late Model Tour, and Southern Super Series cars.
Every year since 2016, PJ1 TrackBite is applied on the bottom of the track in an attempt to restore racing in the bottom groove that has been lost with changes to the banking in 2007 and 2012.
Bristol was again converted to a dirt track in the spring of 2021. The Bristol Dirt Nationals super late model race was held on March 15–20; the NASCAR Cup Series Food City Dirt Race and NASCAR Truck Series Pinty's Dirt Truck Race will be held on March 29; the World of Outlaws Late Model Series Bristol Bash will be held on April 8–10; and the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Bristol Throwdown will be held on April 22–24.


In 1961, the track hosted a National Football League preseason game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins.
In 2005, track owner Bruton Smith made a public offer of $20 million apiece to the University of Tennessee (UT) and Virginia Tech to schedule a non-conference college football game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Virginia Tech Hokies. Smith suggested that grass could be grown in the infield section of the racetrack. Virginia Tech showed much interest and nearly agreed to the proposal, but UT, on the other hand, showed little or no interest and in fact avoided the offer which made this possibility ultimately fall by the wayside.
On October 14, 2013, after years of attempts to schedule a game, Virginia Tech, UT, and Bristol Motor Speedway announced plans for the game to be held on Saturday, September 10, 2016. Organizers envisioned attendance for the non-conference game, dubbed the Battle at Bristol, to draw 150,000 spectators, which would surpass the current NCAA record for highest single-game attendance of 115,109 then held by Michigan. Bristol Motor Speedway's location near the Virginia/Tennessee state line placed the game about 125 miles (201 km) from the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, and about 110 miles (180 km) from the UT campus in Knoxville. The game, won 45–24 by the Volunteers, drew an announced crowd of 156,990, breaking the previous record by more than 40,000.
The football field remained in place for one week after the Tennessee–Virginia Tech game. On September 17, the local East Tennessee State Buccaneers played their scheduled Southern Conference home game against the Western Carolina Catamounts at BMS, an event billed as Bucs at Bristol. This was ETSU's first Southern Conference home game since dropping football after the 2003 season, not reinstating the sport until 2015. The Buccaneers came back from a 21–3 second-quarter deficit to win 34–31.


The Britannia Adelphi Hotel is in Ranelagh Place, Liverpool city centre, Merseyside, England. The present building is the third hotel on the site, and is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. The building is owned and managed by Britannia Hotels. It contains 402 en-suite bedrooms, conference and dining facilities, and a gymnasium.


The first hotel on the site was built in 1826 for the hotelier James Radley by the conversion of two 18th-century town houses.  It was built on the site of the former Ranelagh Gardens, the first open space for public recreation in Liverpool.
This hotel was replaced by another hotel in 1876, which was bought in 1892 by the Midland Railway, being renamed the Midland Adelphi.  A feature was a basement set of heated tanks to keep live turtles for turtle soup which was not only served, but the basis of a significant business being sent to banquets etc. around the country and beyond. The railway company replaced it between 1911 and 1914 with the present building, designed by Frank Atkinson. When opened, it was "regarded as the most luxurious hotel outside London".
Owing to Liverpool being a major arrival and departure point for ocean liners during the early 20th century, the Adelphi served as the most popular hotel in the city for wealthy passengers before they embarked on their journey to North America. The RMS Titanic was registered in Liverpool (though it never visited the port), and the Sefton Suite is said to be an exact replica of the ill-fated liner's First Class Smoking Lounge.
Guests at the hotel have included world leaders, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. Artistes appearing at the Empire Theatre, including Frank Sinatra, Laurel and Hardy, Judy Garland, Bob Dylan, and Roy Rogers have also stayed at the hotel. Rogers made an appearance outside the main entrance with his horse, Trigger.


The Britannia Adelphi Liverpool is constructed in Portland stone. It has seven floors, and its entrance front contains eleven bays. The central three bays of the ground floor comprise the entrance, which is enhanced by columns. The windows on the first floor are round-headed; the rest of the windows are rectangular. In the central three bays of the fourth and fifth floors is a recessed balcony with Ionic columns. There are similar columns on these floors in the second and tenth bays. Above the sixth floor is a cornice with a balustrade.


The public rooms contain columns, marble panelling, and coffered arches.  The Central Court is top-lit, and contains pink marble pilasters, glazed screens, and French doors opening into restaurants on its sides. Beyond this is the Hypostyle Hall, containing Empire-style decoration and four Ionic columns. Beyond this is the Fountain Court.


In November 2010 the hotel received a very poor report following a hygiene inspection by Liverpool City Council and enforcement action was threatened if improvements were not made. This resulted in the hotel general manager being removed from his post. A subsequent inspection reported that things were "much improved". However, this was only temporary. Three consecutive Liverpool City Council inspections gave it a zero rating with "urgent improvement necessary". In June 2017 the owners, Britannia Hotels, admitted in the Liverpool Magistrates' Court to three breaches of food safety laws and were fined £232,500. In July 2019 the Hotel received a 4 Star food safety hygiene rating.


On 10 April 1846, the foundation stone for the Britannia Bridge was laid, marking the official commencement of construction work at the site. The resident engineer for the structure's construction was civil engineer Edwin Clark, who had previously aided Stephenson in performing the complex structural stress calculations involved in its design process. The first major elements of the structure to be built were the side tubes, this work was performed in situ, using wooden platforms to support it. The construction method used for the iron tubes was derived from contemporary shipbuilding practices, being composed of riveted wrought iron plates 5⁄8 inch (16 mm) thick, complete with sheeted sides and cellular roofs and bases. The same technique as used for the Britannia Bridge was also used on the smaller Conwy Railway Bridge, which was built around the same time. On 10 August 1847, the first rivet was driven.
Working in parallel to the onsite construction process, the two central tube sections, which weighed 1,800 long tons (1,830 tonnes) apiece, were separately built on the nearby Caernarfon shoreline. Once they had been fully assembled, each of the central tubes was floated, one at a time, into the causeway and directly below the structure. The in-place sections were gradually raised into place using powerful hydraulic cylinders; they were only raised by a few inches at a time, after which supports would be built underneath the section to keep it in place. This aspect of the bridge's construction was novel at the time. Reportedly, the innovative process had been responsible for costing Stephenson several nights of sleep at one stage of the project. The work did not go smoothly; at one point, one of the tubes allegedly came close to being swept out to sea before being recaptured and finally pushed back into place. The tubes were manoeuvred into place between June 1849 and February 1850.
Once in place, the separate lengths of tube were joined to form parallel prestressed continuous structures, each one possessing a length of 1,511 feet (460.6 m) and weighing 5,270 long tons (5,350 tonnes). The pre-stressing process had increased the structure's loadbearing capacity and reduced deflection. The tubes had a width of 15 feet (4.5 m) and differed between 23 feet (7 m) and 30 feet (9.1 m) in overall depth, while also having a 10 foot (3 m) gap between them; they were supported on a series of 15-foot-long (4.6 m) cast iron beams that were embedded in the stonework of the towers. To better protect the iron from the weather, an arched timber roof was constructed to cover both tubes; it was roughly 39 feet (12 m) wide, continuous over their whole length, and covered with tarred hessian. A 12 foot (3.7 m) wide central walkway was present above the roof for the purpose of producing maintenance access.
On 5 March 1850, Stephenson himself fitted the last rivet of the structure, marking the bridge's official completion. Altogether, the bridge had taken over three years to complete. On 18 March 1850, a single tube was opened to rail traffic. By 21 October of that year, both tubes had been opened to traffic.
For its time, the Britannia Bridge was a structure of "magnitude and singular novelty", far surpassing in length both contemporary cast beam or plate girder iron bridges. The noted engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a professional rival and personal friend of Stephenson's, was claimed to have remarked to him: "If your bridge succeeds, then mine have all been magnificent failures". On 20 June 1849, Brunel and Stephenson had both looked on as the first of the bridge's tubes was floated out on its pontoons. The construction techniques employed on the Britannia Bridge had obviously influenced Brunel as he later made use of the same method of floating bridge sections during the construction of the Royal Albert Bridge across the River Tamar at Saltash.
There was originally a railway station located on the east side of the bridge at the entrance to the tunnel, run by the Chester and Holyhead Railway company, which served local rail traffic in both directions. However, this station was closed after only 8+1⁄2 years in operation owing to low passenger volumes. In the present day, little remains of this station, other than the remnants of the lower-level station building. A new station named Menai Bridge was opened shortly afterwards.


In November 2007, a public consultation exercise into the ‘A55 Britannia Bridge Improvement’ commenced. The perceived problems stated include:
It is the only non-dual-carriageway section along the A55
Congestion during morning and afternoon peak periods
Congestion from seasonal and ferry traffic from Holyhead
Queuing at the junctions at either end
Traffic is expected to significantly increase over the next ten years or so
In the document, four options are presented, each with their own pros and cons:
Do nothing. Congestion will increase as traffic levels increase.
Widen existing bridge. To do this, the towers would have to be removed to make room for the extra lanes. This is an issue as the bridge is a Grade 2 listed structure and also as the bridge is owned by Network Rail. The extra lanes would have to be of reduced width as the existing structure is not capable of supporting four full-width lanes.
New multi-span concrete box bridge alongside. Building a separate bridge would allow the existing bridge to be used as normal during construction. The bridge would require support pillar(s) in the Menai Strait, which is an environmental issue as the strait is a Special Area of Conservation. Visual impact would be low as the pillars and road surface would be aligned with the current bridge.
New single span cable-stayed bridge. This would eliminate the need for pillars in the Strait, but the bridge would have a large impact on the landscape due to the height of the cable support pillars. This is also the most costly option.
Respondents were overwhelmingly in favour of seeing some improvements, with 70 per cent favouring the solution of building a second bridge.


The Britannia Mines Concentrator is a National Historic Site of Canada. The large, inclined gravity mill was built on the northwest side of Mount Sheer to assist the transfer of copper ore through the chemical and mechanical processes of the plant. It is a landmark in Britannia Beach, British Columbia some forty-five kilometers north of Vancouver.
The nearby volcanic peak of Mount Garibaldi indicates the presence of magmatic inclusions and volcanic cores, in which copper is usually found. As such, the town and mill sit on the western shore of the Britannia Range and defined by the large fjord of Howe Sound.
The mining claims were discovered in the 1880s and the Britannia Beach Mining and Smelting Company established in the Edwardian years. Copper was first mined in the area in 1903 and the distance from smelters necessitated the construction of an ore concentrator, a system to deliver ore, and a system to ship the ore concentrate. A primitive concentrator, No. 1, was built in 1904, which was upgraded with two more units, collective known as No.2, built in 1914 and 1915. A fire in 1921 destroyed these, and a concrete and steel structure to house a new concentrator was completed (immediately to the right of the 1914 plant) in early 1923. In the late 1920s, Britannia Mines was the most productive copper mine in the British Empire, and it also produced silver and gold.
Now owned by the Britannia Beach Historical Society, it is part of the Britannia Mine Museum.


In 1922, Britannia Mines began building a new gravity concentrator capable of processing 2,500 tons of ore daily. The monolithic concrete and steel structure to house it, No. 3 Concentrator, was completed in January 1923 on the northwest side of Mount Sheer, and by 1925 Britannia Mines produced more copper ore concentrate than any other mining operation in the British Empire, a distinction it held until 1930. During this time it also produced "significant amounts of silver and gold". The No. 1 Concentrator, which sat adjacent to the mine wharf, was dismantled.
To feed the large new works, dozens of miles of tunnels were cut to ore bodies.  The adits stretch high into the mountains and down in the mountain below sea level.  Large fans for ventilation, electric lights, pumps and air drills assisted the work.
At No. 3 Concentrator, ore was crushed and pulverised in ball mills.  It was then ground into a powder and run through separation machines and flotation mills.
After, it was graded and dried.  Ore concentrate is roughly 40 percent metal and needs to go to a smelter for further refining.
Britannia Beach was a company town with its own company store. Workers lived in town and were unable to leave except by scheduled Union Steamship Company boat.  Highway 99 was not completed until 1955. The company was very strict with its workers and difficult to work for.  The company was unionized only after the war, in 1946.  Men had few safety precautions and used hard rock air drills without ear protection.  Britannia Beach miners would often go deaf, receiving no compensation.


British Airways i360 is a 162 m (531 ft) observation tower on the seafront of Brighton, East Sussex, England at the landward end of the remains of the West Pier. The tower opened on 4 August 2016. From the fully enclosed viewing pod, visitors experience 360-degree views across Brighton, the South Downs and the English Channel.
British Airways i360 was designed, engineered, manufactured and promoted by the team responsible for the London Eye. The attraction cost £46 million, with £36 million being funded by a Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) loan through Brighton and Hove city council.
Formerly known as the "Brighton i360", the project aimed to attract 739,000 paying customers every year. The owner of the site, the West Pier Trust, hoped in 2014 that a successful i360 would lead to the rebuilding of the historic West Pier. Although much of Brighton and Hove seafront has undergone extensive renovation during the years 2020–2022 the West Pier was not significantly re-imagined during this period.


British Airways i360 was designed by the architectural company Marks Barfield, which also designed the London Eye. The building was conceived as a "vertical pier".  The tower is located at the shore end of the ruined West Pier, and the design recreated the original Italianate ticket booths of the West Pier, placed on either side of the entrance, serving as ticket office and tea room.  The design also includes a beachfront building that allows access to the tower and houses a brasserie, café and gift shop.
The tower is designed as a 162 m (531 ft) tall needle structure with an ascending and descending circular viewing platform with capacity for 200 people.
The tower's initial design had included a wind turbine at the top and rainwater harvesting facilities, to help mitigate the attraction's environmental impact. In October 2015 the developers dropped both these proposals, claiming that the turbine would have stopped the tower's damping system from working and be susceptible to wind damage, and that the water would be "too dirty to be useable".


Plans were submitted in June 2006 and were approved by Brighton and Hove City Council later that year with construction projected to start in 2007. Following delays of around 15 months, the off-site construction of the sections of the tower began in 2008 in the Netherlands, and work on reconstructing the arches beneath and to the east of the pier to allow the tower construction began in November 2012. Work on the tower itself began in May 2014, with the attraction being scheduled to open in 2016.
The Dutch steelwork specialist Hollandia prefabricated the cylindrical steel sections of the tower, known by the team as cans. The column is 12.7 feet (3.9 m) in diameter, and with a height-to-width ratio of 41.15 to one, it is the world's thinnest tower.
The glass passenger pod was designed and built by cable car specialists Poma, which also built the London Eye capsules. The passenger pod is 18 m (59 ft) in diameter and holds up to 200 people. The viewing pod travels from street level to a height of 138 m (453 feet) before returning to beach level. The pod provides a 360-degree view through curved glass and is heated and air-conditioned, with full wheelchair accessibility and bench seating. It also contains a bar and restaurant in the base building.
English Heritage felt that the 2006 plan would "provide an outstanding feature on the seafront, and a worthy companion to any successor to the West Pier". In a statement, the West Pier Trust hoped that the project would "regenerate a key blighted city site and send out a loud message that Brighton is open for business".
The project was the winner of the Judges' Special Award at the British Construction Industry Awards 2017. It also won The Award for Tall or Slender Structures and The Supreme Award for Structural Engineering Excellence at The Institution of Structural Engineers' Structural Awards 2017.


The British Museum Reading Room is the subject of an eponymous poem, "The British Museum Reading Room", by Louis MacNeice. Much of the action of David Lodge's 1965 novel The British Museum Is Falling Down takes place in the old Reading Room. The 'Glass Ceiling' of Anabel Donald's 1994 novel is the ceiling of the Reading Room, where the denouement is set.
Alfred Hitchcock used the Reading Room and the dome of the British Museum as a location for the climax of his first sound film Blackmail (1929). Other movies with key scenes in the Reading Room include Night of the Demon (1957) and in the 2001 Japanese anime OVA Read or Die, the Room is used as a secret entrance to the British Library's fictional "Special Operations Division".
In Sir Max Beerbohm's short story, Enoch Soames, first published in May 1916, an obscure writer makes a deal with the Devil to visit the Reading Room one hundred years in the future, in order to know what posterity thinks about him and his work.
The British Museum and the Reading Room serve as the settings for An Encounter at the Museum, an anthology of romance novellas by Claudia Dain and Deb Marlowe, among others.
Virginia Woolf made reference to the British Museum Reading Room in a passage from her 1929 essay, A Room of One's Own. She wrote, "The swing doors swung open, and there one stood under the vast dome as if one were a thought in the huge bald forehead which is so splendidly encircled by a band of famous names."
Richard Henry Dana, Jr. visited the Reading Room on 10 September 1860 with his London friend Henry T. Parker, and reported that
Parker calls & takes me to the British Museum, to see the Reading Room, wh. has been built since 1856 [Dana's prior visit]. It is the room where students & readers have their desks, & consult the textbooks, cyclopedias, catalogs &c., & from wh. they send orders for books to the Library – the Library not being visited, at all, for study. There is no such room as this in Europe. It is a circle, with a dome, lighted from above, & its diameter is 4 feet greater than that of the dome of St. Paul's. The autographs are now open to the view of all, spread out in glass cases, – as well as much other lit. curiosities.  This is the grandest Literary & Scientific institution (not for instruction) in the world. The Reading Room, I told Parker, was a temple to the deification of Bibliology.
The writer Bernard Falk (1882-1960) quotes the British historian Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) as having declared that the Reading Room of the British Museum was a convenient asylum for imbeciles whose friends wished them out of mischief's way.


Britomart Transport Centre, also known as Britomart railway station, is the public transport hub in the central business district of Auckland, New Zealand, and the northern terminus of the North Island Main Trunk railway line. It combines a railway station in a former Edwardian post office, extended with expansive modernist architectural elements, with a bus interchange. It is at the foot of Queen Street, the main commercial thoroughfare of Auckland city centre, with the main ferry terminal just across Quay Street.
The centre was the result of many design iterations, some of them being substantially larger and including an underground bus terminal and a large underground car park. Political concerns and cost implications meant that those concepts did not proceed. However, at the time of its inception in the early 2000s the centre was still Auckland's largest transport project ever, built to move rail access closer to the city's CBD and help boost Auckland's low usage of public transport. It is one of the few underground railway stations in the world designed for use by diesel trains, although their use is now prohibited. Diesel trains from Hamilton and Wellington terminate at The Strand station, where a connecting bus continues onto Britomart.
Initially seen as underused and too costly, it is now considered a great success, heading for capacity with the growing uptake of rail commuting. Limitations on further patronage are primarily due to the access tunnel from the east which provides only two rail tracks, and the lack of a through connection via a rail link to the North Shore or to the Western line via a tunnel, which would change it into a through station. A tunnel to the Western Line is now under construction, as part of the City Rail Link project. Additionally, Auckland Transport and Auckland Council have made a joint submission to the New Zealand Geographic Board to have the station's official name changed to Waitematā railway station.


Designed by California architect Mario Madayag in collaboration with local Auckland architects Jasmax, construction of Britomart commenced in October 2001, with structural design having been provided by OPUS. It involved 14 km of piling, some being 40 m long and driven 16 m into the underlying bedrock, mainly to provide good earthquake protection, and to futureproof the area for potential later construction of buildings on top of the station. 200,000 cubic metres were excavated for the station, and 40,000 cubic metres of concrete poured. Approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) of new rail track was built, of which half was in a cut and cover tunnel. The station has a site area of 5.2 ha and includes 236 m² retail area.
The station opened to passengers on 7 July 2003, with the official opening on 25 July 2003 by Sir Edmund Hillary and government ministers. Services to the Beach Road terminus ceased, except for some peak-time commuter services and excursion trains using the former Platform 4 (originally Platform 7), renamed 'The Strand'. The commuter services ceased after a few months.
Cost over-runs and differing tastes made the centre politically controversial, the design often being described as a large hole in the ground, both literally and figuratively. Despite this and a NZ$204 million price tag, it has won numerous design awards and is internationally recognised for its innovative but heritage-sympathetic architecture. The main source of contention was the relatively great expense of this public transport development in the Auckland Region, where for many decades the focus had been on private vehicle ownership and travel.


In its early days, Britomart was criticised because it was built on a scale and level of grandeur that was well in excess of the capacity and patronage of the rail network. Auckland Regional Council transport committee chairwoman Catherine Harland acknowledged that "Britomart opened ahead of its time", raising public expectations that could not be fulfilled at the time due to the state of the rail network.
Patronage on Auckland's rail network increased from 2.5 million journeys in 2003 to just over 14.2 million in July 2015, and by April 2017 had reached 19 million journeys.


London Buses routes 2, 3, 35, 37 (at Lambeth Town Hall); 45, 59, 109, 118, 133, 159, 196, 250, 322, 333, 345 (at Brixton Police Station), 355, 415, 432, 689, 690, P4, P5 and night routes N2, N3, N35, N109 and N133 serve the station.


The Brno Public Transportation Office operates boat rides on the reservoir during the summer season. The boats run from Bystrc harbour (“Přístaviště”) to Veveří Castle, and sometimes continue to Veverská Bítýška (depending on the water level). The newest boats are named Lipsko, Utrecht, and Vídeň (after Leipzig, Utrecht and Vienna, Brno's twin cities); and the older ones are called Brno, Dallas, and Veveří. The boats run every 45 minutes. Tickets can be purchased at the harbour at the ticket office.


The present-day church is possibly located on an ancient pre-Christian sacred site. There is a well nearby the church which tradition claims to have been a sacrificial well. More concretely, the area is rich in ancient remains, notably a number of picture stones dating from the 5th century.
A first Christian church was probably built in the form of a stave church during the 12th century, of which nothing however remains. Building of the presently visible  limestone  church probably began in the early 13th century. The present tower, dating from the 1240s, is a remains of this first, Romanesque building. During the middle of the 13th century, a new Gothic apse replaced the previous Romanesque, and likewise a new nave was erected at the end of the century. During this time the profusely rich medieval interior decoration of the church was also successively added.
No further greater changes has been made to the exterior of the church since; however, the interior of the church has been affected by additional adornment and also attempts at re-painting the older murals in 1686, ruining the medieval paintings to some extent. Several of the interior details, such as the pulpit and altarpiece, were also added during the Baroque era. Even so, the church remains one of the most well-preserved medieval churches on Gotland.
Bro Church today belongs to  Väskinde parish in the Diocese of Visby of the Church of Sweden.


The Broad Exchange Building, also known as 25 Broad Street, is a residential building at Exchange Place and Broad Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The 20-story building was designed by Clinton & Russell and built between 1900 and 1902. The Alliance Realty Company developed the Broad Exchange Building as a speculative development for office tenants.
The Broad Exchange Building is either 20 or 21 stories tall. its articulation consists of three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column, namely a base, shaft, and capital. The lowest three stories of the facade are clad with rusticated granite blocks; the fourteen-story shaft is clad with brick; and the top stories are clad with granite and terracotta, topped by a copper cornice. Inside, the building originally contained office space, but as of 2019, has 307 residential units. With 326,500 square feet (30,330 m²) of rental space in total, the Broad Exchange Building was Manhattan's largest office building upon its completion.
Due to the Broad Exchange Building's proximity to the New York Stock Exchange Building, many financial firms sought space in the building. The Broad Exchange Building was sold off numerous times in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The Broad Exchange Building was gutted and renovated into apartments in the late 1990s, and a southern wing of the building was demolished in the early 21st century. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1998, and was designated a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2000. It is also a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, a NRHP district created in 2007.


The building was designed by Clinton and Russell in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. It is 276.55 feet (84 m) tall. Sources differ on whether the building has 20 or 21 stories.


The primary elevation on Broad Street contains 10 vertical bays, while the Exchange Place elevation has 26 bays. The Broad Exchange Building's articulation consists of three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column, namely a base, shaft, and capital. The lowest three stories of the facade are clad with rusticated granite blocks. The fourteen-story shaft is generally clad with brick and contains terracotta trim. The highest three stories contain a facade of granite and terracotta, topped by a copper cornice.
At ground level, there is an entrance portico projecting slightly from the center of the Broad Street elevation, measuring two bays wide and two stories high. The portico consists of fluted Doric columns supporting an entablature with the text broad exchange, underneath which is a cast-iron aedicule containing the main doors. On either side of the portico are two stories of paired sash windows flanked by granite pilasters, with cast-iron vertical mullions and decorated cast-iron horizontal spandrels. The six center bays at the 3rd story are topped by an alternating series of four granite modillions and three heads depicting Greek figures. The secondary entrance on Exchange Place is similar to that on Broad Street, except that this entrance is six bays wide, has no projecting portico, and contains wall niches containing bronze lamps. There are two tertiary entrances along Exchange Place as well. A frieze runs above the second floor, and a granite string course runs above the 3rd floor.
The 4th through 17th stories are clad with brick, except for the two outermost bays on either end of the Exchange Place and Broad Street elevations, which are instead clad with rusticated terracotta. In the six center bays on the Exchange Place and Broad Street elevations, there are elaborate cartouches between the 4th and 5th floors, and two cartouches and three lions' heads between the 16th and 17th stories. A terracotta string course runs above the 17th story. These elevations contain one rectangular window opening in each bay. The 18th through 20th stories comprise the attic; the two outermost bays on either end of the Exchange Place and Broad Street elevations are clad with rusticated terracotta. On the 18th and 19th story along Exchange Place, three of the pairs of bays are flanked by a pair of Ionic columns. A copper cornice runs above the 20th story. A penthouse, sometimes considered the 21st story, is atop the roof.
The rear elevations are composed mostly of brick, as was the now-demolished south wing, and contain arched and rectangular window openings. The east elevation contained cornices above the 16th and 20th floors. The south wing was topped by a decorative cartouche similar to those on the Exchange Place and Broad Street elevations.