[3] Hotwells is approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Bristol city centre lying just north of the Floating Harbour and the River Avon.

Nearly half of Rownham Mead was excavated in the early 19th century to construct the Cumberland Basin, part of the entrance lock system to the city docks.

The west of the area marks the beginning of the Portway road which connects Bristol to Avonmouth, passing under the Clifton Suspension Bridge which lies about 0.25 miles (0.40 km) north of Hotwells.

Hotwells takes its name from the hot springs which bubble up through the rocks of the Avon Gorge underneath the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Thomas Fuller, who had been a student of Dr Samuel Ward in the late 1620s, reported that 'beer brewed thereof is wholesome against the spleen; and Dr. Samuel Ward, afflicted with that malady, and living in Sidney College, was prescribed the constant drinking thereof, though it was costly to bring it through the Severn and narrow seas to Lynn, and thence by the river to Cambridge.

[9] Sutherland says of it that "BRISTOL-WATER received in a glass, appears, to the naked eye, colourless, pellucid, and manifestly impregnated with Air, sparkling and bounding through its substance, in the form of little bubbles, as if the whole had been in a ferment."

Many visitors came, including the diarist John Evelyn and the travel writer Celia Fiennes, who hunted for Bristol Diamonds in the gorge.

The Somerset historian John Collinson came to Hotwells in 1793 seeking recovery from an unspecified lingering illness and died there on 27 August 1793.

Daniel Defoe noted in 1724 that there were over 15 glass-houses in Bristol, 'which are more than in London...and vast numbers of bottles are used for sending the water of the Hotwell not only over England but all over the world."

The laboratory superintendent was Humphry Davy, who investigated nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, using equipment designed by James Watt.

Under Davy's supervision laughing gas parties were held, attended by guests such as Robert Southey, Thomas Wedgwood and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Hotwells has several of Bristol's Grade II* listed buildings, including the Church of Holy Trinity, designed by Cockrell, and Albemarle Row, a Georgian terrace.

[2] In 034C the figures were a population of 1,522 with about 66% being described as economically active, 12% students and 6.5% retired; 65% of homes were owner occupied; 55% of residents had university degrees or equivalent; 50% described themselves as Christian and 46% as having no religion;[22] and 1,438 persons in 034A were described as white, with 28 of mixed race, 19 Asian, 17 black and 18 Chinese.

In the 1920s, the A4 Portway Road was driven through the Avon Gorge to provide better access from the city to Avonmouth Docks, in the process removing all signs of the Bristol Port Railway and Pier's station.

[36] Hotwells and Cliftonwood Community Association (HCCA),[37] is a registered charity run by volunteers to improve the quality of life for those who live and work locally.