Peter Fleming, Time, Space and Power in Later Medieval Bristol (Bristol Record Society electronic publication, Feb. 2023), 312pp.
We are delighted to announce that Professor Peter Fleming’s book, epublished by the BRS in February, is now being professionally published by the Yorkist History Trust. The print edition has been copyedited, indexed and includes the images Peter intended. It will have a slightly revised title: Late Medieval Bristol: Time, Space and Power. The book should be out before the end of the year. Subscribers can obtain the book for £25 (inc. p&p, UK). The names of subscribers will be published in the book, to record their appreciation of Peter’s work. If you would like to subscribe, please contact the book’s managing editor before 10 October 2023, Dr Christian Steer: christian.steer@york.ac.uk
Books and articles epublished since April 2023
A lengthy article by the rabbi Rev. Michael Adler (d.1944). This remains the most detailed account of the Jewish community of medieval Bristol.
A key source for one of Bristol’s most famous mayors and the founder of Red Maids’ School.
Primarily a local chronicle, but preceded by a thirty-page section outlining walks and rides that visitors might undertake.
A short official history of the cathedral, written by the Canon Residentiary and Keeper of the Manuscripts. The BRS epublished this in tribute to Dr Jon Cannon (medieval art / architectural historian of Bristol), who sadly died of cancer this summer.
E. A. Lewis (ed.), The Welsh Port Books (1550-1603) (Cymmrodorion Record Series, No. XII, London, 1927)
While not specifically about Bristol, this volume is very relevant to the city and its trade, given how closely connected south Wales was to Bristol during the early modern period.
Philp & Evans, The New Bristol Guide for 1842 (Bristol, Philp & Evans, 1842)
An early tourist guidebook to Bristol, including fascinating information about how the city saw itself and the priorities of visitors. The BRS dedicates this epublication to Hannah Lowrey, Head of Special Collections, University of Bristol (1969-2023), who died this summer.
Useful primarily for historiographical reasons, having been superseded by later scholarship. It is interesting, however, both for its author and, possibly more, its publishers.
Published by a Somerset gentleman. Apart from two copies in Bristol central library, the only library copy in the UK appears to be one held by the British Library.
Wikimedia / Wikipedia
Since 2020 the BRS has been engaged in digitising / epublishing some high-resolution visual sources – such as the Millerd Map (1728), the 18th century Buck prospects of Bristol and the Pocock prints. Those images have now been uploaded to Wikimedia as well. This increases the images’ accessibility and makes them easier to use in Wikipedia pages. In many cases we have now inserted the images into relevant Wikipedia pages, as well as editing the pages where necessary. Examples include the pages for Queen’s Square and the Tolzey Court.
In a number of other recent cases we have also been uploading high-resolution copies of images from regular books to Wikimedia. Examples include an engraving of the Great Western Steamship (taken from The New Bristol Guide for 1842) and a print of now-destroyed early nineteenth century monument to John Whitson (taken from Eden’s Pious Meditation). Where relevant, these images have also been added to Wikipedia pages, such as the ones for the SS Great Western and John Whitson.
Bristol 650 and the Bristol Perambulation
As many members will know, Bristol was established as an independent county in August 1373, which the city has marked with a number of associated events, advertised on its Bristol 650 website. On the whole, however, there has been little emphasis on the actual history. Our General Editor: Digitisation (Evan Jones) has sought to address this by producing: a google map that allows people to perambulate the county boundaries as they existed from 1373-1835. The perambulation of the boundaries (also called ‘beating the bounds’) was a civic annual ritual until the mid 19C. The map marks the location of the shirestones as they existed in the 18th century and provides a safe 9-mile walking route, which allows for detours necessary as a result of later building work. The map has now been viewed over 5000 times (1 September) and quite a few people have reported back on their experiences in walking it. A civic perambulation, following the route, is to take place on 30 September, to mark the 650th anniversary of the original perambulation. This will be led by the Deputy Lord Mayor and High Sheriff. Dr Jones has also created a Wikipedia article for the Bristol Perambulation and has created or augmented Wikipedia articles that provide information about some of the interesting places on the route, such as Jews Acre, Jacob’s Well, Fucking Grove, Bewell’s Cross and the Forlorn Hope Estate. Some of these have attracted a lot of viewers.
Bristol County Boundary 1373 – Google My Mapswww.google.com
Bristol Historical Association Pamphlets
The pamphlets were all digitised and put online by the Bristol Record Society and the Bristol Historical Association in 2019. To ensure long term accessibility in a proper e-repository, the texts are also being placed in the Internet Archive. This will take some time because the existing scans need to be edited before this can happen. So far, twelve pamphlets have been placed on archive.org, prioritising those that are still regularly cited, or are useful for teaching purposes.
Donations
In May we received a generous donation of a historic map of Bristol that we were able to sell to an antiquarian book dealer for £375. This was used to purchase twelve books for digitisation – including four of those listed above. Donations from members to support our digitisation work are always welcome. While much of our work is surprisingly cheap (esp. books), some ventures, such as the high-resolution digitisation of large engravings, are more expensive.
Bristol Record Society 