Some years ago my distant cousin, the artist and author Ian Pillinger bought a bag of items in a junk shop which “looked interesting”. Being a man of many talents, he started to put...
It has been said often enough that “Bristol is a village”; you will generally meet someone you know, or if you were my Dad, you would “get talking, and know their Auntie Fanny” or...
I love synchronicity. The story of how I was given my treasured drawing of the Five Collier Boys was at that very moment in preparation and not quite ready to go up on the...
Visit this 19th century mine site, with the remains of the mine shaft, horse-gin, bunkers and Dramway. Take a walk through the woodland area and enjoy this fine example of local history. Find us...
“Why didn’t they use their cell phones?” an American child is reported to have said recently at the 9/11 Memorial Exhibition in New York. A British boy or girl may have been equally baffled....
A few years ago, an emailer to my website asked me to help find her Jewish ancestor who lived in Bristol. Alas I found nothing on the lady’s particular family, but after a few...
On pages 126 -127 of my book, ‘Killed in a Coalpit’ there is a picture of five young colliers named Stephen Hill, Daniel Poole, George Garland, Charles Lewis and Isaac Britain. They were entombed...
Looking for a simple paragraph or two before my executive technical adviser goes on holiday, I dug this up. It proved more than I anticipated. Sorry Kevin: From Bristol Gazette, 5 March 1807: “To...
Harriet’s Story Thomas Bumford and Amelia Evans were married on 3rd August 1828 at Abergavenny, a small Welsh market town on the river Usk about six miles from the border with England. This is...
Avon and Somerset Police were called to St Paul’s when rendering on the side of a building came loose. They then called on firefighters from Temple to join them in Byron Street after part...
I have been researching the social history of the West Country for 45 years. During this time I have collated information on a wide range of people living and working in the West Country including miners, ethnic minorities, petty criminals, sailors, tommies, benefactors, brassmakers and many more. The thing that I find amazing is that ordinary people always lived extraordinary lives. I hope you like my blog that brings together my lifetime of research.
Brooklea House, Brislington and the Budgett Link
03 April 2025
The War of 1812 – Bristol’s American POWs
13 March 2025
Richard Hendy, mariner, 1926-2024
12 December 2024
The War of 1812 – Bristol’s American POWs
Mar 13, 2025