Digitised Images


In August 2020, the Bristol Record Society received a generous donation from Anistatia and Jared Brown to sponsor a new element to our Digitisation Initiative: the high-resolution digitisation and electronic publication of 17th-18th century topographical prints of Bristol. The prints come from the collection of the Society of Merchant Venturers and are being made available on a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY). Any use can be made of the images, in whole or part, provided users attribute the Society of Merchant Venturers and the Bristol Record Society in any publications.

Since 2020 hundreds of other high resolution images relating to the history of Bristol have been added to Wikimedia. These include maps, buildings and people, often taken from secondary works, such as books, as well as some modern photographs.

In December 2025 the BRS digitised James Millerd’s 1671 map An Exact Delineation of the Famous Cittie of Bristoll and Suburbs of Bristol and his 1673 prospect The Citty of Bristoll, using the copies belonging to University of Bristol Library: Special Collections. The photographs of these items were also added to Wikimedia. They include the complete maps, higher resolution sections and detail images of the prospect. See links below for individual items. The digitisation was carried out by Jamie Carstairs, University of Bristol. All the files are available on Wikimedia as high resolution jpg files.

Samuel and Nathaniel Buck, The South East Prospect of the City of Bristol (London, 1734)  Sponsors: Anistatia and Jared Brown.

Samuel and Nathaniel Buck, The North East Prospect of the City of Bristol (London, 1734) Sponsors: Anistatia and Jared Brown.

James Millerd, Map of Bristol: 1728 version (Bristol, 1728). Sponsors: Anistatia and Jared Brown.
While this map describes itself as being the product of the seventeenth-century Bristol cartographer, James Millerd, this is actually an updated version of the map, produced 55 years after the 1673 original. While the 1728 version takes the original map as its template, it incorporates many new buildings built in the intervening period. Details of the map allow users access to the highest resolution images we could produce. This includes:

Nine photographs, taken in a 3×3 grid of the main map: top left, top middle, top right, middle left, middle middle, middle right, bottom left, bottom middle, bottom right.

Also photographs of the map of the city centre and Redcliffe.

Border images: All Saints Church & Tolzey, Bristol Bridge, Castle, Cathedral, Cathedral Great Gatehouse, Corn Market, Custom House, Great House back, Great House in Redcliffe, Guildhall, High Cross, Hotwells, St Mary Redcliffe church, Merchant’s Hall, Prospect of Bristol, Prospect of Bath, Queen’s Crest, Royal Crest, Royal Fort map, Severn map, St Stephen’s church, Tolzey south prospect.

James Millerd, An Exact Delineation of the Famous Cittie of Bristoll and Suburbs of Bristol (Bristol, 1671)
Map in sections: top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right

James Millerd, The Citty of Bristoll (Bristol, 1673)
Prospect in ten sections (1-5 top, 6-10 bottom): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

The Citty of Bristoll, details:
River: Avon, Avon Flu, boat 1, boat 2, boat 3, boat 4, ferryboat, ship 1, ship 2, ship 3, ship 4, ship 5, ship 6.
Places: Ashley,Brandon Hill, Bristol Bridge, Canon’s Marsh, Clifton, Cotham, The Marsh, Rack Close, Redland, Royal Fort, Royal Fort detail, St Mary Redcliffe, St Michael’s Hill, St Philip’s,Temple Church.
Supporting information: title bar, information panel, head on information panel, key to locations, key to churches, head on key to churches, Publication details, Dedication, Dedication head, King’s Arms, Queen’s Arms, Bristol’s Arms, Merchant Venturers arms, Mermaid, ‘Time’s head.