Black Castle Public House is a historic building in Junction Rd, Brislington

Brislington

Brislington is an area in the south east of the city of Bristol, England. It is on the edge of Bristol and from Bath. The Brislington Brook runs through the area in the woodlands of Nightingale Valley...

, Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is also known as Arno's Castle.

It was built in 1745—1755 as a folly

Folly

In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...

 sham castle and office, but may have originally been a stable block and laundry for the lord of the manor. The building was probably designed by either by William Halfpenny

William Halfpenny

William Halfpenny was an English 18th-century architectural designer; in some of his publications he described himself as "architect and carpenter". He also wrote under the name of Michael Hoare.-Life and architectural work:...

 or James Bridges

James Bridges (architect)

James Bridges was an architect and civil engineer working in Bristol between 1757 and 1763. He was the son of Henry Bridges, an Essex carpenter and clockmaker and famous for his Microcosm...

, for William Reeve of Mount Pleasant, now the Arno’s Court Hotel from which it is now separated by a major road junction. Reeve was a prominent local Quaker and business man.

It is built from pre-cast black copper

Copper

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...

-slag

Slag

Slag is a partially vitreous by-product of smelting ore to separate the metal fraction from the unwanted fraction. It can usually be considered to be a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide. However, slags can contain metal sulfides and metal atoms in the elemental form...

 blocks from Reeve's foundry at Crew's Hole

Crew's Hole, Bristol

Crew's Hole is located in east Bristol near St George.From the early 18th century it was an industrial area including oil refineries and a tar works site at the bottom of Troopers Hill....

. They were cast from waste, solving the problem of disposing of the large amounts of waste produced by the industry, and made more profit for the brassworks. Reeve went bankrupt in 1775 and his house and business were sold to a member of the Tonge family, who were important slave traders.

Much of the freestone carving and dressings are reputed to have come from the city's demolished medieval gateways, and St Werburghs

St Werburghs, Bristol

St. Werburghs is an area in central north-east Bristol, England. Surrounded by the M32 motorway, railway embankments and allotment slopes it has the feel of a green village in the inner city.- History :...

 Church , rebuilt by James Bridges

James Bridges

James Bridges was an American screenwriter and film director.Bridges was born in Paris, Arkansas. He got his start as a writer for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and one of his episodes, "An Unlocked Window", earned him a 1966 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Episode in a TV...

 in 1758—1761. It has been designated by English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

 as a grade I listed building. Arno's Court Triumphal Arch

Arno's Court Triumphal Arch

Arno's Court Triumphal Arch is in Junction Rd, Brislington, Bristol, England.- Construction :The arch was built around 1760 by James Bridges, for William Reeve, a prominent local Quaker and business man. It is built from Bath stone, of classical proportions but with Gothic and Moorish detail...

 used to stand in front of the building but was moved in 1912 approximately 100 metres away.

The building is now a public house

Public house

A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...

 and immediately adjacent to the car park of a large Sainsbury

Sainsbury

Sainsbury may refer to:* Sainsbury * Sainsbury family, in British business and philanthropy- See also :* Sainsbury's, British business centered on supermarket chain* Harry Arthur Saintsbury , English actor...

store.