"‘Those who have not been within six miles of Bridgwater within the last fortnight have missed one of the most remarkable sights ever witnessed in this country’, remarked the Western Gazette in November 1875. ‘Floods are no new thing in Somersetshire... but never,since the moors were artificially drained, never since railways were introduced, have the floods attained such a height, covered so enormous an area and caused so much loss and misery, as during the last few days". Steve Poole looks at the history of flooding in the West Country and how it has been presented, whilst taking into consideration how it has shaped the physical development of the region.
Tag: Somerset
Aftermaths of war: Bristol in three civil defence plans, 1939-1967
"Three civil defence exercises covering Bristol – in 1939, the 1950s and 1960s – not only have an eerie fascination for their word-pictures of a city plunged into imaginary wars; the written scenarios also throw light on what concerned the scenario writers. As the likely damage in war became more than the authorities could handle, so the planners’ responses took a sinisterly authoritarian turn"
The Missing Coins of Ilchester: An analysis of the Roman coins from the Stevens-Cox collection
Somerset has a rich history of human habitation stretching back many centuries, and indeed the Roman occupation made a considerable impact on the county. Benedict Sayers gives an insight into a collection of Roman coins discovered at Ilchester, and what they can tell us about the history of the region.
The 1913 Suffrage Pilgrimage, Electioneering and Women’s Politics in Bristol
"The aim of this article is also to shift attention away from the suffragettes towards a consideration of the broader base of suffrage politics in Bristol in the immediate pre-war years. By examining the non- militant, or constitutional movement, we can gain a more complex picture of the nature of support for women’s suffrage and can assess its long lasting influence on the politics of the city".
‘The Public Ways of the City were become like so many Dunghills’: Collecting Nightsoil in Eighteenth Century Bath
"In 1644 a visitor to Bath wrote ‘the public ways of the city were become like so many dunghills’. As both the popularity of Bath and the population itself increased, less land became available for the disposal of waste in communal middens or cesspits and households resorted to disposing of their sewage into the street. The City’s runnels and ditches were little more than open sewers, awash with household, and in particular, human waste. Whose job was it to clean up the mess? Kay Ross explores the world of the Nightsoil Collector".
Property Crime in Georgian Bath: Evidence from the Guardian Society, 1783-1800
"Though we have long boasted of having fewer robberies committed here than in any place of equal size, yet it is impossible to be entirely exempted from lawless plunderers’, according to a sober assessment from 1786. Indeed, by the later eighteenth century, there were few places so full of temptations and opportunities as Bath,with all its well-to-do residents and visitors,opulent shops, fine houses and well-stocked gardens. In this article,Trevor Fawcett examines the record of the city’s prosecution society in the constant fight against property crime".
Somerset Working Memories: The ‘Home in Frome’ Oral History Project
"This article is intended as an exercise in‘reflective practice’ rather than a piece of academic writing. It describes an innovative and successful oral history project at Frome in Somerset, which resulted in the publication of a book called Working Memories, reviewed elsewhere in this edition of Regional Historian.The article covers the background to the project;the choice of sample of 90 people interviewed;the collection of photos and memorabilia; the editing of the interviews; how oral history relates to other forms of history; and some substantive and methodological conclusions that might be drawn from the project".
Imagining ‘Silbury and Parnassus the same’: Edward Drax and the Batheaston Vase Adventure
"Despite assuring readers of his Ancient History of Wiltshire in 1812 that, 'We speak facts not theories', the Stourhead antiquary Sir Richard Colt Hoare (1758-1838) found the facts about Silbury Hill hard to come by. 'This stupendous artificial mound of earth cannot fail to arrest the attention of every passenger from Marlborough to Bath,' he wrote. 'An attempt was made to open it some years ago by a Dorsetshire gentleman, Colonel Drax'... But who was Drax, and what was his interest in Silbury?"
William Crouch of Englishcombe and Wellow (1503-1586): M.P., Ruthless Property-Dealer, Administrator and Trouble-maker
16th century Cornish historian, Richard Carew, marvelled at the way in which ‘the golden shower of the dissolved abbey lands rained well-near into every gaper’s mouth. Among those with open mouths eager to receive this monastic bounty in the Bath area was William Crouch. Bettey provides insight into one the most unscrupulous men of this era, who seized the opportunity of the sale of monastic property to amass huge wealth.
A Purpose for Purposefulness? Seeking a role for perceptual drawing in historical research
"I am a figurative painter whose work is rooted in drawing (both literally and metaphorically) from the world around me. After many years spent coming to terms with the purposelessness of my art practice, I have found that other people are beginning to find a purpose in what I do. This article will explore whether my artist's perception of place, expressed through the indeterminate medium of drawing, can find some purpose by making a contribution to historical research".