Welsh steam coal was in high demand among steamship companies in England. Well-connected train transport was essential to meet this demand, which consequently led to the construction of the Severn Tunnel. Thomas Andrew Walker oversaw the project and expanded the site at Sudbrook (1880-1886, Wales) into a village with basic provisions for the navvies. However, navvy villages in New Passage in Gloucestershire were tainted by disease and unsanitary living conditions. Mead’s article investigates the problems the navvy settlements faced and their impact on New Passage and Bristol.
Tag: Great Western Railway
Constructing a rail ferry across the Severn: 1845-68
Palm Oil and Elephant Tusks: The Merchant Kings of Bristol
'Over the years of the slave trade Bristol's merchants learned the best combination of 'sortings' to facilitate their business in the West Indies. It was an eclectic, international collection of trade goods containing, for instance Maldive cowries, Manchester cottons, Birmingham guns, Swedish iron bars, Bristol copper and glassware, West Indian rum, Virginian tobacco and South Gloucestershire felt hats. The goods were used as customs duties and homage for the coastal kings, 'dash' payments for African middlemen, and barter for slaves'.
Sea Change and C. Claxton: an evolving Bristolian, 1800-1850
In this article, Geoff Mead illustrates the interesting overlap between old and new worlds that characterised the early nineteenth century through the story of Captain Christopher Claxton. His story exemplifies the dynamic tensions, changes and continuities of the period. His activities sometimes literally bridged old and new worlds. Yet this 'Age of Reform' also increasingly challenged his political and social perceptions. This interpretation of Claxton's long life and work in early steam navigation and in iron-bridge building illustrates well how at the cusp of technological advance changes in culture follow.
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.