Brunel’s SS Great Britain site in Bristol changes historic name in rebrand
The docks area in Bristol, home to the historic ocean liner SS Great Britain, will change its name as part of a rebranding to make it more inclusive.
The 19th-century cruise ship, once the world’s largest, was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for transatlantic voyages between Bristol and New York. The ship, now a tourist attraction, lies in the dry dock where it was built.
The ship and associated museum are billed as Brunel’s SS Great Britain but will be relaunched as Bristol Dockyard in July as it aims to focus on the role the ship played in the imperial days.
Andrew Edwards, chairman of the SS Great Britain Trust, said: Guard He added that some people might consider this decision a “wake-up call” but added: “Change is never easy.”
Mr Edwards said: “You always find the resilient, but in shaping the vision I tried to consider where the city is and what the city is about.
“We consciously tried to avoid falling into stereotypical ideas of what a maritime museum should look like and tried to deliver something that felt a little more rooted in Bristol.”
Mr Edwards said some visitors thought the “SS” in the ship’s name meant “slave ship”. However, it means “steamboat” and the SS Great Britain was built after the British abolished the slave trade.
The site’s new name comes as an expanded museum is scheduled to open in July.
This museum will focus less on the engineering behind the ship and more on the human stories associated with the ship, such as the personal histories of the passengers and its impact on communities in the Caribbean, India, Australia and the United States.
Mr Edwards said: “We live in a very diverse world and in Bristol we live in a very diverse city.
“I believe the role of organizations like ours is to represent this diversity to the best of our ability and to offer something that appeals to everyone, no matter who they are or where they come from.
“In my view, inheritance only works when there is ownership within the community in which it is located.”
Mr Edwards said that although it would change its name, the site would still be identified as the “home of the SS Great Britain”, so the ship’s name would not be removed from its branding entirely.
