The Maire of Bristowe is Kalendar,begun in 1478/9 by the town clerk, Robert Ricart,contains the first fully developed chronicle to be produced in an English provincial town.The book represents a considerable investment of time, money and intellectual effort. Its conception was unusually ambitious, and it was the product of a prosperous, sophisticated and self-conscious urban community. Peter Fleming provides a new look on this important document, as well as providing insight on the context of its creation.
Year: 2002
Slimbridge and an American Connection
Eric Carpenter looks at the American connections with Slimbridge, relating to the many who travelled to the New World to find their fortune. Using church records and other available pieces of evidence, he looks to establish a background to the migration, as well as ascertain the motivations behind the original emigration of the Bridger's to the New World.
Guardians of the Poor: A Philanthropic Female Elite in Bristol
Being a Poor Law Guardian was an elected position which was open to certain middle and upper class women from 1869 and to women in general after 1894. The work was unpaid and in that sense similar to much work undertaken in the voluntary sector. Moira Martin examines the entry of women into one sphere of local government, the administration of Poor Relief.
Documents in Focus: The Stogursey Rising of 1801
In the spring of 1801, the county of Somerset was convulsed by some of the most severe and sustained food rioting ever experienced in the southwest region. Against a background of wildly spiralling prices in every basic commodity, large crowds toured the county’s mills,markets, baker's shops and farms demanding cheaper bread and forcing fair-price agreements on both producers and local magistrates. Steve Poole introduces a 200 year old letter recording tumultuous events in a small West Somerset village.
Of Trees and Kings: Some thoughts on the History Trail
Peter Fleming provides input on 'tree-hugging' in South Gloucestershire, and the process of adapting academic study for television's 'The History Trail'. He describes the processes explored whilst researching the Battle of Nibley Green, 'the last private battle fought on English soil'.
Regional Historian Report on the Museum of Bristol Meeting
How much has the history of ordinary Bristolians been portrayed in the city’s Museums? Blaise House, it is true has some charming material about childhood and rural life and the Industrial Museum does look at the history of the industrial and port work force. Temporary exhibitions at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery have also, at times, attempted to widen their usual focus on the Great and the Good. But these exceptions only prove the rule. For the most part, the lives of the mass of the city’s inhabitants, and the way the city itself has evolved —has been ignored.
Suffragette Photographs
As a small provincial city Bath is not the sort of place that historians would expect to find militant suffrage activity. And yet the city had a thriving branch of the militant group, the Women’s Social and Political Union. June Hannam looks at photographs of some of its integral members, and provides context relating to their activities and contribution to the cause.
From Norway to Narroways: A Short History of Narroways Hill in St Werburghs, Bristol
Narroways Hill is the southernmost outlier of the Purbeck Ridge in N.E. Bristol. It is a hundred foot high hill composed of red Keuper Marl – a sticky red limey mud-stone. Once the entire region was covered by oakwoods. Harry McPhillimy looks at the long history of this historic place, and its role in the development of the Great Western Railway.
Remarks on Two Prints: The ‘View of the Entrance to the Lower St. James’ Arcade, Bristol’ and the ‘Interior of the Upper St. James’ Arcade’.
These two delightful prints portraying the Upper and Lower St. James’s Arcades in Broadmead seem particularly appropriate for inclusion, in this issue of The Regional Historian,since they are from the Braikenridge Collection the subject of Sheena Stoddard’s new book reviewed here. They celebrate too the luxurious properties of glass - a subject discussed in Sue Gordon’s article on the Bristol glass industry.
From imitation to innovation: The art and industry of Bristol Glass manufacture in the Long eighteenth century.
The period between the sixteenth and the nineteenth centuries in the city and county of Bristol, in particular the long eighteenth century (roughly 1660 to 1830), witnessed a great transformation in the character and history of luxury glass.