J.H. Bettey, 'Early Reformers and Reformation Controversy in Bristol and South Gloucestershire' (pp. 9-18).
For his presidential address Dr. Bettey took as his theme the religious controversies of the early 16th century. He examined the wealth of evidence for Bristol and south Gloucestershire and the influences affecting William Tyndale, the most important champion of religious reform to have been born in the area.
J.R.L. Allen and S.J. Rippon, 'A Romano-British Shaft of Dressed Stone and the Settlement at Oldbury-on-Severn, South Gloucestershire' (pp. 19-27).
A stone shaft, recovered on the shore of the Severn Estuary at Oldbury Flats, is considered to be an architectural object, possibly from a high-status building within the Romano-British settlement at Oldbury-on-Severn. The settlement included at least one substantial industrial area, and it is shown to have covered a wide area and to have expanded during later Roman times from a Ist- to 2nd-century core on the banks of a major palaeochannel appearing to pass inland.María P. Muñoz de Miguel, 'Anglo-Saxon Figure Sculpture at St. Mary's Priory Church, Deerhurst' (pp. 29-40).
A study of the iconography and style of the Virgin and Child and the Angel panels at St. Mary's church, Deerhurst, shows the variety of themes and techniques known by the 9th-century sculptors and by the patrons who commissioned the works and underlines the importance of the figure reliefs for understanding wall decoration in Anglo-Saxon buildings.
Michael Hare, 'Kings, Crowns and Festivals: the Origins of Gloucester as a Royal Ceremonial Centre' (pp. 41-78).
In considering the custom of ceremonial crown-wearing by kings at the great Christian festivals in the early and central Middle Ages, it is argued that the English evidence must be viewed in the wider European context. Michael Hare discusses the origin and nature of the ceremony on the Continent, the stages of its introduction to England and the reasons for the choice of Gloucester as one of the principal crown-wearing centres of the English kingdom in the later 11th century. The topographical and archaeological implications for Gloucester are also considered.
Alan Hannan, 'Tewkesbury and the Earls of Gloucester: Excavations at Holm Hill, 1974-5' (pp. 79-231).
In the Anglo-Norman period Tewkesbury became an important centre of the extensive interests of the earls of Gloucester, including members of the Clare family. Documentary and archaeological evidence shows that the earls maintained a residence on Holm hill in buildings of aristocratic proportions with a high-status material culture in which the military and equestrian featured prominently. According to Alan Hannan, whose report includes a preliminary analysis of Tewkesbury's town plan by Keith Lilley, Tewkesbury, with its origins in prehistoric and Roman times, grew rapidly under the patronage of the holders of the earldom, the granting of a market and the founding of a monastery being early events in the development of the medieval town.
Geoffrey Powell and Jill Wilson, 'The Chipping Campden Altar Hangings' (pp. 233-43).
The only complete set of English purpose-made medieval altar hangings known to survive in England is to be found in Chipping Campden parish church. Its history is considered in the light of evidence discovered during conservation work in the early 1990s.
N.R.R. Fisher, 'Colonel Edward Cooke of Highnam (c. 1622-84) and Henry Somerset, First Duke of Beaufort: Client and Patron' (pp. 245-64).
The relationship between Edward Cooke of Highnam and Henry Somerset, first duke of Beaufort, in the years c. 1653-84 demonstrates the continuing importance of patronage and of family ties in that period. It also illustrates the impact on the relationship of the perceived threat of Roman Catholicism to the English State.
J.R.L. Allen, 'A Scatter of Neolithic-Bronze-Age Flintwork from the Intertidal Zone at Hills Flats, South Gloucestershire' (pp. 265-71).
A transposed assemblage of flintwork recovered from the Severn Estuary at Hills Flats came possibly from two general contexts. In its typology and considerable diversity, the suite points towards the presence of earlier Neolithic to earlier Bronze-Age settlements along the low-lying eastern margins of the estuary. Some components may record hunting on contemporaneous marshes.
Charles Parry, 'The Strensham to Mythe Pipeline, 1991: Observations in Gloucestershire' (pp. 271-6).
In 1991 construction of a pipeline linking the Strensham and Mythe water works prompted a programme of archaeological observation and recording. Four areas of interest were discovered along the southernmost 1.5 km of the route, in Gloucestershire. Two scatters of Romano-British pottery found within alluvial silts forming the flood plain of the river Avon are interpreted as artefacts eroded by river action and deposited within a palaeochannel of the Avon. Two sites, one Romano-British and the other Anglo-Saxon, were represented by boundary ditches.
For his presidential address Mr. Price surveyed and brought together evidence from both documentary sources and fieldwork for the development of a small agricultural settlement from the post-Roman period. An early medieval monastic estate, possibly with earlier origins, was divided in the mid 16th century into two separate estates, which remained virtually intact for 400 years. Although superficially little changed in appearance, 20th-century pressures have led to the loss of much field evidence and the breakdown of the estates into smaller units.
Charles Parry, 'Excavations near Birdlip, Cowley, Gloucestershire, 1987-8 (pp. 25-92).
Excavation of a crop mark complex near Birdlip revealed a Middle Bronze-Age pit associated with a penannular ditch interpreted as the eroded remains of an early prehistoric funerary or ritual monument. The features lay within an area of later prehistoric activity, the crop mark record suggesting the presence of three adjoining settlement enclosures. One enclosure and an external group of pits dating to the Middle Iron Age were investigated: radiocarbon dates indicate that the pits were in use at some point during the 4th-2nd centuries B.C. During the Iron Age an adjoining enclosure was laid out, the new ditch cutting across the pits. After the Iron Age occupation apparently ceased the enclosure boundaries and pits lay disused and partly open until they were backfilled around the end of the Ist century A.D.
J.R.L. Allen, 'A Prehistoric (Neolithic-Bronze-Age) Complex on the Severn Estuary Levels, Oldbury-on-Severn, South Gloucestershire' (pp. 93-115).
Prehistoric worked flint, chert and stone of considerable diversity and chiefly Neolithic Bronze-Age date occur in three contexts at Oldbury-on-Severn. Most finds are unstratified and from the inter-tidal zone. A small assemblage (Neolithic) were recovered from a primary context exposed inter-tidally, in association with charcoal and many thermally-fractured pebbles. Other stratified or little-disturbed assemblages (earlier Bronze Age) were secured from excavations in the immediate hinterland. A structure of worked wood is recorded from one site. The stratified contexts are scattered for 800 m along the banks of a large tidal palaeochannel known to have been active as late as Iron-Age and Roman times. The character of the finds points to substantial settlement on the fringes of the tidal marshes building up along the margins of the Severn Estuary. Although of great geological diversity, the raw materials for the lithic industries could have been drawn from river and marine gravels in the region of the Severn Estuary Levels.
Alistair J. Barber and Graeme T. Walker, 'Home Farm, Bishop's Cleeve: Excavation of a Romano-British Occupation Site 1993-4 (pp. 117-39).
Excavation at Home Farm revealed Romano-British agricultural boundaries, garden plots and industrial/craft remains dating from the mid 2nd century. From the late 2nd century the site was incorporated within a field system, reverting to smaller garden plots in the late 3rd-4th centuries. Rubbish and cess pits were being dug across the site by the late 4th century and demolition material from a Roman building has been dumped on top of two pit groups. Grass-tempered pottery, tentatively dated to the 5th-7th centuries, and a possible Anglo-Saxon stone lamp may indicate continuity of occupation on or near the site in the sub-Roman period.
Nicholas Vincent, 'The Borough of Chipping Sodbury and the Fat Men of France (1130-1270)' (pp. 141-59).
Contrary to the mythological account devised by previous historians of Gloucestershire, the borough of Chipping Sodbury was established (c. 1218 by William Crassus or le Gros, a member of a substantial Norman family closely attached to the households of the earls of Gloucester and of William Marshal, earl of Pembroke. The borough charters themselves are for the most part forgeries concocted some time after 1300, by which time the Crassus family had migrated from Normandy by way of Gloucestershire to Ireland. The charters are printed here in a scholarly edition together with an account of their chequered archival history.
Denis Wright, 'The Road through Horfield: a reinterpretation of Samuel Seyer's notebook on the parish' (pp. 161-73).
Stories of an ancient trackway through Horfield to Aust ferry lack recorded evidence and are based on a late 19th-century misinterpretation of notes on the parish written by the Bristol historian Samuel Seyer, who was the incumbent of Horfield 1813-28. Those notes suggest instead an 18th-century realignment of an existing road from Bristol to Gloucester.
Colin Young, 'The Making of Bristol's Victorian Parks' (pp. 175-84).
Bristol acquired its Victorian parks later than most industrial cities and did so quite fortuitously. It was torn between the desire to emulate precedents set elsewhere and acaution driven by economic prudence. The first parks materialised in places of little social need and on the initiative of those with stronger personal economic and political motives than social consciences.
Martin Henig and E.G. Price, 'An Intaglio from Frocester Court, Gloucestershire' (pp. 185-6).
A cornelian intaglio discovered at Frocester Court dates from the mid 3rd century A.D. The find, appropriate to a villa site, apparently portrays the Roman goddess Fortuna and is closely paralleled by intaglios from the Middle East.
Martin Henig, 'A Relief of a Mater and ThreeGenii from Stratton, Gloucestershire' (pp. 186-9).
A Roman relief depicting a seated goddess with three male companions was found at Stratton. In this note it is compared with other sculptures from the vicinity, especially those from Cirencester and Daglingworth, portraying mother goddesses (matres) with genii cucullati. The newly discovered relief provides further evidence for an important local cult.
For his presidential address Mr. Dickinson described the conduct of the 1682-3 heralds' visitation of Gloucestershire and, from the working papers of the visitation, illustrated the preparatory work that was carried out, notably the use of hearth tax records and freeholders' books to compile the lists of those summoned before the heralds. The papers also made it possible to reconstruct the heralds' itineraries on their two visits. The moving force behind the enterprise was Gregory King, the noted antiquary and statistician. There is clear evidence that on his second journey King and his colleague, Henry Dethick, encountered Abel Wantner, a Minchinhampton innkeeper destined to achieve modest fame for making the first attempt at a county history of Gloucestershire.
Carrie M. Hearne and Neil Adam, 'Excavation of an Extensive Late Bronze-Age Settlement at Shorncote Quarry, near Cirencester, 1995-6' (pp. 35-73).
When Wessex Archaeology undertook excavations across a 9-hectare extension to Shorncote Quarry in 1995 and 1996 the archaeological evidence, like that revealed by excavations in an adjoining part of the quarry in 1992, mainly related to Late Bronze-Age unenclosed settlement dated to the 10th-8th centuries B.C. Virtually the whole of the quarry extension contained evidence, including the remains of at least 36 circular structures, for the settlement which can now be demonstrated to be very extensive. The site produced a very limited range of material and environmental evidence. The plan of the settlement over the 9 hectares will prompt discussion on the layout and organisation of late Bronze-Age settlement and will be significant for wider Bronze-Age studies. Among a small number of features apparently not contemporaneous with the settlement were a hengiform ring-ditch interpreted as of late Neolithic/Early Bronze-Age date (c.2500-1500B.C.), two small circular ring-ditches, and two small penannular enclosures.
Charles Parry, 'Excavations at Camp Gardens, Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire' (pp. 75-87).
Excavations at Camp Gardens, Stow-on-the-Wold, have investigated an area previously identified as the defences of an Iron-Age hillfort. In 1991-2 two parallel ditches of defensive proportions were discovered on the postulated alignment of the rampart. One ditch yielded two radiocarbon dates of the Middle Bronze Age and also a sherd of pottery dated to the Late Bronze Age. The evidence points towards the presence of a hilltop enclosure-perhaps of the type excavated at Rams Hill, Oxfordshire-although more evidence is required to confirm this interpretation. The date and significance of the second ditch is uncertain. In 1994 limited excavations were undertaken c. 60 m west of the area excavated in 1991-2 on a site examined by Helen O'Neil in 1972, when a large ditch was observed. A note on O'Neil's unpublished investigation is presented to aid interpretation of the results obtained in 1994.
Charles Parry, 'Iron-Age, Romano-British and Medieval Occupation at Bishop's Cleeve, Gloucestershire: excavations at Gilder's Paddock 1989 and 1990-1' (pp. 89-118).
The excavations at Gilder's Paddock, Bishop's Cleeve, have revealed evidence for Iron-Age, Romano-British and medieval occupation. The earliest features were enclosure ditches and two groups of food storage pits interpreted as elements of a settlement dating to the Middle Iron Age. Romano-British activity was represented by a ditch and an inhumation cemetery containing seven individuals; these features probably relate to a settlement-perhaps a villa-situated c. 100 m to the west. Two medieval ditches dating to the 12th century may represent property divisions. The results of the work are discussed with reference to excavations elsewhere in Bishop's Cleeve.
Michael Oakeshott, 'Saxon South Cerney' (pp. 119-26).
A reconsideration of the Cerney charter of 999A.D. clarifies its detail and corrects some widespread errors. Study of the charter in the context of an associated charter of the same date provides an insight into late 10th-century Mercia. It also illuminates the strategic and economic importance of the large estate, later parish, of South Cerney and suggests why in both late Saxon and early Norman England it was much coveted.
Nicholas Herbert, 'Stroud Tradesmen in an Age of Enterprise, 1770-1832' (pp. 127-39).
Stroud was one of the most successful Gloucestershire towns during the 'take-off' period of the industrial revolution, when its favourable geographical position was enhanced by improved communications, the provision of financial and legal services and new building. This article highlights the role in local enterprise at the period of the town's business community - -shopkeepers, bankers, canal carriers, master tradesmen and attorneys. Members of the Winchcombe, Grazebrook, Hollings, Aldridge, and Leversage families were among those who, linked by family ties and a common interest to the dominant cloth manufacturing class, provided the investment and expertise that enabled Stroud to flourish as the commercial centre of its region.
Jeannie Shorey Duckworth, 'The Cheltenham Female Orphan Asylum' (pp. 141-9).
The Cheltenham Female Orphan Asylum, which existed for 147 years, was founded in 1806 as a charitable institution by Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, and patronised later by Queen Victoria and Queen Alexandra. Starting as a school of industry for poor girls, it evolved to become a female asylum and, eventually, a public orphanage. Its history mirrored that of Cheltenham itself, reflecting the prevailing characteristics of the town through the period of its existence.
Dawn Enright, 'A Bronze-Age Pin from Siddington, Gloucestershire' (pp. 151-3).
A Bronze-Age pin, of the type sometimes referred to as 'Picardy', has been found at Siddington. This note compares it with six similar pins, the only ones of the type recovered to date from England.
Martin Henig and Susan Byrne, 'A Roman Relief at Little Shurdington' (pp. 153-5).
A carved relief of high quality was incorporated in a fireplace of a cottage at Little Shurdington in the 1970s. It is argued that the carving, thought to have been found in the neighbourhood of Little Shurdington, is a Roman portrayal of a warrior, possibly the god Mars. Comparisons are made with Roman sculpture and images from elsewhere, including Gloucester and Cirencester.
Richard Bryant and David Viner, 'A Late Saxon Sculptural Fragment from All Saints' Church, Somerford Keynes' (pp. 155-8).
Following its conservation a fragment of late Saxon sculpture has been re-displayed in Somerford Keynes parish church. The fragment dates from the reign of Cnut (1016-35) and probably formed part of a standing headstone to a grave. Its design is described and compared with carvings elsewhere, including nearby Bibury.
Carolyn Heighway and Pascal Mychalysin, 'Masons' Marks at Gloucester Cathedral Tower' (pp. 159-63).
The tower of Gloucester cathedral was built in the mid 15th century and this note draws attention to the unusual set of marks identified on it in the early 1990s. The marks, which include simple masons' marks and other more elaborate marks, fall into three main groups. Some are of a type found on the 15th-century tower of Bradford cathedral.
John Parsloe, 'The First Issue of Samuel Rudder's The History and Antiquities of Gloucestershire' (pp. 163-6).
A hitherto unknown first issue of Rudder's book gives details of an earlier preface dated 5 August 1781 at Cirencester. The preface appears to include a veiled reference to disturbances during recent local elections in Gloucester. In this context Rudder's support for Lord Bathurst and the Tories is considered.
For his presidential address Dr. Rodwell described the investigations that he carried out at Daneway House, Bisley (1993-6), and Lodge Park, Sherborne (1991-6). Both were connected with major restoration and refurbishment projects, the former as a private house and the latter as a property of the National Trust. The long architectural history of Daneway was unravelled. The medieval hall was dated by dendochronology to 1315 and the tower-like addition to 1674. Lodge Park was built as a deer-coursing lodge in the early 163Os and underwent many structural changes, including partial demolition. It was discovered that the primary building was considerably larger than hitherto believed and that it had an extensive basement (later infilled) containing a kitchen and cellars.
Alistair J. Barber and Neil Holbrook, 'A Roman Iron-Smelting Site at Blakeney, Gloucestershire: excavations at Millend Lane 1997' (pp. 33-60).
Excavations by Cotswold Archaeological Trust in advance of residential development revealed ditches, hard-standings, waste pits and a hearth datable to the 3rd-4th centuries A.D. The absence of furnace remains suggests that the excavations were on the periphery of a late Roman iron-working site. Analysis of the slag present indicates that it was the product of the first stage of iron production in which ore was smelted into a bloom comprising a mixture of slag and metal. Examination of the charcoal remains shows that this fuel for the smelting process was derived from coppice woodland. A notable discovery was a hoard of nine coins, buried c. 337-40, alongside two iron hoops from a stave-built bucket.
Neil Holbrook, 'The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Lower Farm, Bishop's Cleeve: excavations directed by Kenneth Brown 1969' (pp.61-92).
In 1969 topsoil stripping in preparation for gravel quarrying exposed several skeletons associated with Anglo-Saxon burial goods, and the late Kenneth Brown, then of Cheltenham Museum, quickly organised a salvage excavation using local volunteers. In all twenty six burials were found, sixteen accompanied by grave goods. The records and finds from the excavation were presumed to be lost until Cotswold Archaeological Trust located them in Yorkshire in 1995. The cemetery dated to the period from the mid 6th century to the early 7th century and comprised both adult and juvenile burials. Grave goods included cast saucer brooches, a cross-brooch, spears, knives, buckles, an iron snaffle bit, pins and beads. The cemetery lay at the south-western end of the known distribution of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in the Avon valley and it has close affinities to those sites in Worcestershire and Warwickshire. A small quantity of Bronze-Age and Iron-Age pottery was also recovered.
Martin Locock and Martin Lawler, 'Moated Enclosures on the North Avon Level: survey and excavation at Rockingham Farm, Avonmouth, 1993-7' (pp.93-122).
A group of earthwork sites along the Salt Rhine, north of Avonmouth, was investigated prior to development: one moated site (Site 2) was extensively excavated and evaluation and survey was carried out elsewhere. Evidence of a prehistoric soil horizon found 0.8 m below the present ground surface reflected two periods of stabilisation of an upper salt marsh c. 1000 B.C. Site 2 appears to have originated in the medieval period; it was occupied from the 13th century and until the late 18th century, when the centre of occupation moved to Rockingham Farm (Site 1). Despite the size of its earthworks Site 2 was apparently of fairly low status. Palaeoenvironmental evidence suggests arable farming in the vicinity with wheat, oats and common arable weeds. The remaining moated sites were created in the late medieval-early post-medieval period and were abandoned when farms were merged in the 18th century. The finds include Roman and medieval metalwork, two coins, medieval, transitional and later pottery, clay pipes and animal bones; these correspond with the occupation of a small working farm.
Janet Hudson, 'The Early History of Two Stonehouse Mills: a re-interpretation' (pp. 123-32).
Bond's Mill, Stonehouse, has been thought to date from c. 1714 and earlier references to local mills have been attributed to nearby Lower Mill. This article proposes that Bond's Mill was one of the earlier cloth mills of the Stroud district. It was probably established before 1496, during the expansion of the rural cloth industry in Gloucestershire, and for a time it was the main base of the cloth business of the Fowler family of Stonehouse.
Brenda J. Buchanan, 'The Africa Trade and the Bristol Gunpowder Industry' (pp. 133-56).
The African connection played an important but neglected role in the commercial and industrial life of the Bristol region in the 18th century through the market it provided for manufactured goods, especially gunpowder. As demand grew the powder industry moved from the city to water-powered sites in the countryside. Despite its rural locations gunpowder manufacture remained a port industry in terms of the raw materials imported, the powder exported in ships engaged in the slave and colonial trades, and the merchant network which sustained it. There was also a coastal traffic, supplying both mines on the west coast and Liverpool, where a magazine was maintained until the end of the 18th century. By then the industry was in decline but, although its manufacturing sites were to be reclaimed for agricultural use, its effects lived on in the wealth of the Bristol merchant community and the disruption to many lives caused by the Africa slave trade.
Oliver Bradbury, 'Overlooked Aspects of the 18th-Century Bishop's Palace at Gloucester' (pp. 157-71).
This article considers building work carried out at the bishop's palace at Gloucester, demolished in 1860, and particularly that undertaken during the episcopate of Martin Benson (1734- 52). It discusses somewhat overlooked architectural and archaeological remains comprising 18th-century painted glass and classical masonry and it suggests architectural attributions.
John Rhodes, 'Thomas Gambier Parry and the Founding of the Gloucester Schools of Science and Art' (pp. 173-82).
As a fresco painter and county magistrate Thomas Gambier Parry (1816-88) pleaded for all to enjoy the practical, social and spiritual benefits of science and art education. He persuaded county gentry to subscribe to an academic building in Gloucester and in the subscribers' names developed institutions that are now Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery and the Gloucester schools of the Gloucestershire College of Arts and Technology.
J.R.L. Allen, 'Rounded Pebbles in Late Holocene Estuarine Silts, Oldbury-on-Severn: use as slingshot?' (pp.183-9).
The later Holocene silts (Wentlooge Formation) exposed on the marsh cliff at Oldbury-onSevern have yielded from within a narrow stratigraphical horizon numerous, scattered pebbles of a restricted range of shape and weight. The pebbles are smooth, rounded to well-rounded, discoidal to tetrahedal, and typically of a variety of tough, compact quartzites but with some vein-quartz. They are unaccompanied by any other coarse debris and do not appear to have been emplaced naturally. Given the salt-marsh origin of the silts in which they occur, the lack of associated artefacts, and the evidence of deliberate selection by shape and weight, it seems most likely that the pebbles are slingshot used in wildfowling. The date of the horizon in which they occur is uncertain but the general context suggests the Bronze Age or the Iron Age.
Carolyn Heighway, 'A Medieval Water Tank in the Cloister Garth of Gloucester Cathedral' (pp.190-201).
A medieval water tank uncovered in the cloister garth of Gloucester Cathedral in the late 1 880s has recently been reburied. This note describes the tank in detail and presents evidence for its date and original purpose. It was constructed for the monks of Gloucester Abbey in either the 12th or the 13th century and was probably intended to form part of a flushing system for drains in the abbey precinct.
David Viner, 'The Martyrdom of St. Erasmus and Other Lost Wall Paintings from Holy Rood Church, Ampney Crucis' (pp.201-6).
Late 13th-century wall paintings in the north transept of Ampney Crucis church are the remains of a larger decorative scheme that included 15th-century paintings in the nave. Although recorded in part at the church's restoration in 1870-1, these paintings have been concealed or perhaps destroyed. Two illustrations have survived. One depicting the martyrdom of St. Erasmus has been conserved for preservation in the church and its subject is considered with references to similar examples elsewhere. The morality of the Three Kings Living and Three Kings Dead, the subject of the other illustration, is also discussed. A reference to a painting of St. Christopher signed by Thomas 'ye payntre' of Malmesbury is noted.
William Evans, 'Redland Hill House and Redland Chapel, Bristol' (pp. 206-12).
Redland Hill House is the surviving half of a mid 18th-century pair of houses in northern Bristol. Its design has been attributed to James Bridges, the architect of Bristol Bridge, St. Nicholas's church and other buildings in Bristol and its construction to John Cossins of Redland Court, as part of his endowment of Redland Chapel. Documentary evidence shows that the designer was Philip West, a local mason, and that the houses built for the chapel's endowment were on another site.
P.M. Warren, 'From Bristol and Gloucestershire to Greece and Turkey' (pp. 9-26).
For the millennial presidential address and to mark the 125th year of the Society Professor Warren reviewed the Society's present achievements. He emphasised the strength of the current publications record and suggested that many of the objectives outlined by Sir William Guise in the first presidential address in 1876 had been fulfilled by the Society or by other bodies. On the theme of the Society's overseas activities he discussed visits by Bristol and Gloucestershire people long before the Society was founded to the Aegean, the Near Fast and Turkey. He began with ill-fated merchant voyages in 1446 and 1457 and then concentrated on James Dallaway's residence in Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1794-6 and his tour of Asia Minor (western Turkey), including references to Dallaway's unpublished letters of that period.
J.R.L. Allen, 'The Landscape Archaeology of the Lydney Level, Gloucestershire: natural and human transformations over the last two millennia' (pp. 27-57).
The Lydney Level is a small, detached outcrop of alluvium (mudflat, salt marsh) lying below the eastern flank of the Forest of Dean on the western side of the Severn Estuary. Over the last two millennia the outcrop roughly doubled in area as the result of episodic growth to the southeast, three abandoned shorelines remaining visible on the ground. Against this background of uneven natural change, an increasing proportion of the alluvial outcrop was enclosed behind banks and farmed but not settled. Six episodes of seabank construction, beginning apparently in the Roman period, can be recognised. In the largest land-claim, of medieval date, only c. 62 per cent of the enclosure was ever ploughed, in sharp contrast to the settled and much more fully cultivated, embanked alluvium on the eastern margins of the estuary. A later medieval episode of coastal erosion and retreat demanded the setting back of great lengths of seabank on the level. Subsequently, the coast readvanced, allowing further embanking, especially in the northeast of the outcrop. The tidal creeks of the level, reaching back across the agricultural landscape, were exploited for trade and comnumication and for ship building.
Mark Leah and Christopher Young,'A Bronze-Age Burnt Mound at Sandy Lane, Charlton Kings, Gloucestershire: excavations in 1971' (pp. 59-82).
Excavations at Sandy Lane, Charlton Kings, revealed remains of a burnt mound on the edge of a minor, infilled palaeochannel, which had been buried by colluvium and alluvium. Little environmental evidence survived, but the artefactual evidence, consisting of pottery, flintwork, and a spear mould, suggested a late Bronze-Age date for the site.
Thomas Moore, 'An Archaeological Assessment of Hailey Wood Camp, Sapperton, Gloucestershire: a Roman temple complex in the Cotswolds? (pp. 83-93).
Geophysical and surface surveys at Hailey Wood Cramp revealed a double-ditched enclosure of Roman date. Finds of late Iron-Age and Roman pottery, flint and building material were recovered. The surveys, together with previously reported finds from the site, suggest that it was a Roman temple comparable to others in and beyond Gloucestershire. The site may be a shrine established at or near a source of the river Thames.
I.M. Ferris, 'Excavations at Greyfriars, Gloucester, in 1967 and 1974-5' (pp. 95-146).
Excavations in 1967 and 1974-5 on the site of Gloucester's medieval Franciscan friary concentrated on examining the remains of the friary church below ground and associated burials. New light was thrown on the construction and plan of the original 13th-century church as well as on its so-called 'Berkeley rebuild' in the early 16th century; parts of the last church still stand on the site. Archaeological features pre-dating the friary, principally of the Roman period, were also encountered, and the examination of levels post-dating the friary helped to elucidate the later history of the site as a brewery in the 18th century.
Jean Birrell, 'Aristocratic Poachers in the Forest of Dean: their methods, their quarry and their companions' (pp. 147-54).
The many poachers in the medieval Forest of Dean included a small number of barons and knights, and the court records of their exploits shed light not only on their hunting practices but also on the company they kept. Enthusiastic hunters, these men followed deer into the forest when hunting nearby, stole deer as they travelled through the forest or journeyed to the forest expressly to poach there. They used a range of methods to take red or fallow deer, and were ready to take young animals out of season if need be. Their companions ranged from brothers, sons and their squires to experienced poachers from far lower down the social scale, revealing relationships based on a shared passion for hunting.
John Fendley, 'Martin Benson, Bishop of Gloucester' (pp. 155-76).
Martin Benson, who was bishop of Gloucester from 1735 until his death in 1752, is remembered as one of the best of 18th-century bishops. He was devoted to his diocese and took a close interest in the affairs of its parishes. As a member of the House of Lords he showed a conscientious independence, which occasionally brought him into conflict with the Court. His death at the age of 62 was universally regretted.
Julie Reynolds, 'A Romano-British Brooch from Pope's Hill, Gloucestershire' (pp. 177-9).
An unusual Romano-British brooch has been found near Pope's Hill in Gloucestershire. This note examines the parallels for particular features of the brooch and suggests a date range during which it may have been made.
Eric Boore, 'A Medieval Lamp from Peter Street, Bristol' (pp. 179-82).
A medieval copper-alloy lamp found during excavations in Bristol in 1975 and 1976 is similar to others found in Lincoln, London and Europe and to lamps depicted in post-medieval illustrations. It is suggested that the Bristol lamp is a Sabbath Lamp contemporary with the 12th to 13th century building remains recorded in Peter Street and associated with the Jewish community established in Bristol by the late l lth century. This community was attacked in antiSemitic riots in 1266 and 1275 before the expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290.
G.C. Boon and M.J. Crossley Evans, 'The Question of Hannah More's Membership of the French Academy Resolved' (pp. 182-3).
This note looks at the evidence for Hannah More's membership of the French Academy. Suggested in the edition of her correspondence by William Roberts in 1834, the claim, unchallenged by successive writers, is considered and refuted.
Christopher Dyer, 'Villages and Non-Villages in the Medieval Cotswolds' (pp. 11-35).
In his presidential address, a survey of medieval rural settlements in the Cotswold region of Gloucestershire, Professor Dyer traces the origins of villages in the early Middle Ages, their changing character in the 12th and 13th centuries, and their troubles after c. 1320. He emphasizes the presence of a variety of non-village settlements and gives detailed examples of the latter to show how they help historians understand the process by which nucleated villages were formed.
Adam Brossler, Mark Gocher, Granville Laws and Mark Roberts, 'Shorncote Quarry: excavations of a late Prehistoric landscape in the Upper Thames Valley, 1997 and 1998' (pp. 37-87).
Further excavations at Shorncote Quarry revealed evidence of later Bronze-Age, middle Iron Age and Romano-British activity. The earliest features comprised a number of large pits, waterholes and a house gully adjacent to the remains of a late Bronze-Age settlement excavated in 1992. A timber-lined well of similar date was located to the east of the settlement. Middle Iron-Age activity was represented by a post-built structure cut by a later house gully probably representing the remains of a domestic farm stead. A cluster of pits and an associated waterhole are thought to represent an industrial area possibly for metal working also dating to the Iron Age period. Romano-British activity was indicated by a trackway leading towards a previously excavated farmstead and a number of field boundaries.
Toby Catchpole, 'Excavations at West Drive, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire 1997-9' (pp. 89-102).
Archaeological fieldwork took place between 1997 and 1999 on three sites at West Drive, Cheltenham. The work recorded a mostly rectilinear Romano-British system of enclosures, delineated to the east and south by a ditched track or droveway. The enclosures were laid out in the late 1 st or early 2nd century. The layout was substantially changed in the late 2nd century, after which it was subject to slight modific ations until the 3rd century. A poorly preserved system of curvilinear enclosures was partly uncovered to the east of the trackway. No definite structures were identified, but the presence of building materials and domestic objects such as quern fragments suggests the presence of settlement. The density of finds increased gradually towards the north-east suggesting that the settlement was located in that direction. Larger enclosures were present to the west, further away from the proposed location of the settlement. Activity during other periods was represented by probably residual prehistoric pottery and unstratified organic-tempered sherds of early to mid Saxon date.
Andrew Breeze, Chaceley, Meon, Prinknash, and Celtic Philology (pp. 103-6).
Dr. Breeze suggests that the name Chaceley seems to refer to the wood or clearing of a Briton called Cadui or Cadwy and proposes that the name Meon refers to a stream called 'flowing one' by the Britons. The name Prinknash apparently contains Celtic elements meaning 'tree' and 'ridge' with an English suffix meaning 'ash tree' or 'headland'.
D. H. Higgins, 'The Anglo-Saxon Charters of Stoke Bishop, a study of the boundaries of Bisceopes Stoc' (pp. 107-31).
A comparative study of the three charters shows that the most reliable interpretation of the charter of 883 A.D. was that by the Revd. C. S. Taylor in 1900. The charters of 969 and 984 have received hitherto only one interpretation, in 1959. A modern linguistic approach appears to resolve most of the inherent problems, reveals the strong possibility that the two charters define the same area of book-land and throws new light on unexpected features of Abona at Sea Mills, surviving in the 10th century.
J. Philip McAleer, 'The Rooms over the Porches of Bishop's Cleeve and Bredon Parish Churches: a question of dating' (pp. 133-75).
The parish church at Bishop's Cleeve, Gloucestershire, shares an unusual feature with its 'neighbour' at Bredon, Worcestershire: a projecting lateral porch with a room over it. In both, porch and room have been judged contemporary with the church and consequently dated to the late 12th century. Each porch and room appears externally to be of one build, but the rooms' interiors have no features which need to be dated before the 14th century and the fabric at Bredon suggests that the room there was created no earlier than the early 14th century. The history of the room at Bishop's Cleeve is more complex, partly owing to the successive alterations which the church itself has undergone. Analysis of its fabric reveals that the porch was built several decades after the Romanesque church was completed and that the room was most probably added in the early 14th century and enlarged a century later with a new mode of access. A revised chronology for the successive alterations and additions is suggested. The initial function of the rooms seems to have been quite different. The smallness of the room at Bredon, reached only by a ladder and with three sizeable windows and numerous cupboards built into the walls, suggests that it was intended for storage. The much larger room at Bishop's Cleeve, initially less well lighted but with permanent access and lacking any built-in storage, was perhaps intended for more frequent use by a greater number of people.
Julian M. Luxford, 'Art and Ideology on the Eve of the Reformation: the monument of Osric and the Benedictines of Gloucester' (pp. 177-211)
The monument of King Osric in Gloucester Cathedral, built between c. 1515 and 1530 under the auspices of Abbot William Malvern, has in general not received due attention from historians. The same may be said, by and large, for the iconographic genre to which it belongs. This study offers a thorough analysis of the monument, beginning with a formal assessment and discussion of patronage followed by an examination of the question of function, with reference initially to the aspirations of Abbot Malvern (15 14-39) and subsequently to the convent as a whole. The monument is interpreted as both an expression of conventual esprit de corps and a plank in the monastery's campaign to retain its traditional rights, privileges and dignity against the stiff opposition it faced during the later Middle Ages. A summary discussion of the iconographic genre to which the monument belongs refers particularly to West Country Benedictine art of the 14th-early 16th centuries.
Peter McRorie Higgins, 'Medical Care in Three Gloucestershire Prisons in the Early 19th Century' (pp. 213-28).
#It is generally acknowledged that concern for health care was an important factor in the late 18th-century prison reform movement. Although modern writers on the subject make references to medical care in prisons in the early 19th century, no systematic study on the subject has been performed so far. This paper seeks to rectify that defect using journals which record the clinical activities of the medical attendants at three Gloucestershire prisons between 1801 and 1849. Contrary to some views previously expressed, the results of this study lead to the conclusion that the quality of care provided was good in relation to the standards of the day.Martin Henig and Rachel Atherton, 'Two Intaglios from the Gloucester Area' (pp. 229-32).
Recent discoveries in the Gloucester area include a gem of high quality dating from no later than the mid 2nd century and bearing a portrait of Socrates. A fragment of another intaglio, thought to date from the 3rd century, shows a wing and feathers of an eagle exactly as they are depicted on glass gems found elsewhere.
M. J. Crossley Evans, 'Further Thoughts on a probable Medieval Pyx' (p. 232).
Dr. Crossley Evans reveals that the description on the back of a photograph of the probable medieval pyx formerly in St. Peter's church, Bristol, was written by the Revd. Canon Cole (d. 1948). The photograph, reproduced in Transactions 113, was taken c. 1910 and apparently was once part of a systematic record of: Bristol's old churches and their contents.
Mary Bliss, 'The Last Years of John Rudhall, Bellfounder of Gloucester, 1828-35' (pp. 11-22).
John Rudhall (d. 1835) was the last of a dynasty of bell founders established in Gloucester in the later 17th century. For her presidential address Mary Bliss studied the notebook in which Rudhall recorded his work in the years after the business was sold to the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. It shows that Rudhall remained in control of the Gloucester foundry. Entries in the notebook and other evidence are used to describe work on the bells of a number of church towers in particular and to comment on the practice of casting and installing bells in general. Some of Rudhall's correspondence provides an insight into his personal life and relationships.
Clifford Bateman, Dawn Enright and Niall Oakey, 'Prehistoric and Anglo-Saxon Settlements to the rear of Sherborne House, Lechlade: excavations in 1997' (pp. 23-96).
Excavation in advance of a housing development revealed a complex site spanning a period from the prehistoric to the Anglo-Saxon. Three late Bronze-Age or early Iron-Age roundhouses were the earliest structures found. In the early to middle Iron Age there was a major reorganisation of the landscape. A long linear ditch may be part of a feature found on other sites in Lechlade that seems to have demarcated an area of land at the confluence of the Rivers Thames and Leach. In the middle Iron Age the ditch was recut and it formed the western boundary of a dense cluster of 69 storage pits. Little evidence was found for late Iron-Age or Romano-British activity, but the site was reoccupied in the Anglo-Saxon period when six sunken-featured buildings and three sub-rectangular post-built structures were erected. This is presumably at least part of the settlement associated with cemetery that was previously excavated at Butler's Field.
Richard Bryant and Carolyn Heighway, 'Excavations at St. Mary de Lode Church, Gloucester, 1978-9' (pp. 97-178).
Excavations at St. Mary de Lode church established the presence of an early 2nd-century Roman building, which is interpreted as part of a baths building. In the 5th century the building was levelled and a timber mausoleum built in which was a group of three burials. Two of the graves were emptied of their occupants and the head of the third was removed; the mausoleum was destroyed by fire. A sequence of buildings on the site thereafter, preserving the alignment of the mausoleum, is interpreted as a series of churches, culminating in the medieval church of St. Mary de Lode. The documentary evidence is examined and research suggesting that St. Mary's was a British church is cited. Finds were of Anglo-Saxon, medieval and post-medieval date.
Neil Holbrook, 'Great Witcombe Roman Villa, Gloucestershire: field surveys of its fabric and environs, 1999-2000' (pp. 179-200).
A study of the fabric and environs of the villa was commissioned by English Heritage to assist the preparation of a management plan for the property. It is now clear that a large proportion of the visible villa masonry is the product of reconstruction during consolidation following excavations. The environs of the villa were investigated by a combination of geophysical survey, field inspection and topographical measured survey. The surveys show that the Guardianship remains are only part of a much larger building: the villa had a second lower courtyard measuring 85 by 35 m downslope of the visible remains. Beyond the lower courtyard, near a stream at the base of the hillside, were other buildings, one of which is probably the structure examined in 1820 by Sir William Hicks. There is also some evidence for tile manufacture or minor industrial activity in this area. Another previously unknown Roman structure (possibly a small temple or shrine) was found on the higher ground above the villa.
J.R.L. AlIen, 'A Post-Roman Pottery Assemblage from Hills Flats, South Gloucestershire: Trade and Communication by Water in the Severn Estuary' (pp. 201-212).
An assemblage of largely dispersed, post-Roman pottery from the intertidal zone at Hills Flats suggests that shipping touched the coast there over the entire last millennium. Regional wares are especially well represented. The medieval group, augmented by a fourth stratified sherd from the palaeochannel of Hill Pill crossing the Flats, can be linked to a rough stone quay in the pill and suggests a degree of trading at this minor creek. Among the cargoes landed were coal and iron ore, almost certainly from the Forest of Dean. The post-medieval groups, however, are not associated with a recorded landing place, and may simply represent items of daily use discarded from vessels that berthed on the open shore when tides and weather were unfavourable. A major episode of coastal erosion may have caused the change in function of the site.
Russell Howes, 'John Smyth the Younger of North Nibley and His Papers' (pp. 213-231).
The Smyth of Nibley Papers are collections of the manuscripts written by John Smyth the elder and by his son and namesake. While the papers of the father have been the subject of several studies, those of his son, the theme of this article, have not received so much attention. After a brief description of the different collections of papers, Russell Howes surveys the information they give about the younger John Smyth and Gloucestershire in the period from the Civil War to the reign of William and Mary. Smyth's activities as steward of Lord Berkeley are examined and his personal life is treated in sections dealing with his family and his estate.
Jan Broadway, 'The Probate Inventory of Phillip Greene, a Restoration Brickmaker in Gloucester, 1685' (pp. 233-241).
Phillip Greene, the first freeman of Gloucester to give his occupation as brickmaker, was an important figure in the attempt to establish brickmaking in the city in the aftermath of the Civil War. He died in 1685 at the most active time of the year, the spring, for brickmakers. Dr. Broadway uses an examination of his probate inventory to cast light on the development of the industry in Gloucester, the effect of the seasonal nature of the work, and the social and economic position that brickmaking had enabled Greene to achieve.
Anthea Jones, 'The Gloucester Music Meeting of 1781: glimpses of Gloucester and the triennial music meetings in the letters of Mary Yorke' (pp. 243-266).
Mary Maddox, the daughter of a bishop of Worcester, had inherited Forthampton Court by 1762 when she married James Yorke, a future bishop of St. David's, Gloucester and Ely. The couple spent summer holidays at Forthampton and while at Gloucester visited the music meetings (later known as the 'Three Choirs Festival') at both Gloucester and Worcester. Mary was a fluent, humorous and interesting letter-writer, and in this article her accounts of the festivals are collected together; an extensive account of the 1781 meeting at Gloucester is given in full. Some incidental lights cast on Gloucester life, for example during the period of the Gordon Riots, are also included. After 1781, when James Yorke was translated to Ely, Gloucester and Worcester music rarely features in Mary's letters.
Nicholas Orme, 'Education in Medieval Bristol and Gloucestershire' (pp. 9-27).
Bristol and Gloucestershire furnish a valuable array of evidence about the history of education, beginning with the first appearance of schools as free-standing bodies in the late 11th century. In his presidential address Professor Orme investigates the provision of education in the region, the siting and layout of schools, the kinds of people who taught, and the school curriculum. It concludes by showing how medieval education was transformed first by the rise of humanist Latin in the late 15th century and then by the Reformation in the middle of the 16th.
Graeme Walker, Alan Thomas and Clifford Bateman, 'Bronze-Age and Romano-British Sites South-East of Tewkesbury: evaluation and excavations 1991-7' (pp. 29-94).
Archaeological investigations in advance of development recovered significant new information in the nature of Bronze-Age and Romano-British settlement and craft activity in this part of the Severn valley. An early-middle Bronze-Age ‘D’-shaped enclosure was excavated at one site, while at another a pit produced fragments of a mould used for casting middle Bronze-Age channel-bladed spearheads datable to c.1500-1150 B.C. The site occupied by the enclosure was also adopted for a Romano-British farmstead dating to the 2nd and early 3rd centuries A.D. A second farmstead lying 200 m away originated in the 1st century B.C. or 1st century A.D. and was occupied until at least the second quarter of the 4th century. No building plans could be discerned at either farmstead, presumably because the structures were of timber or cob that has left little trace.
Paul Masser and Bridget McGill, 'Excavations of Romano-British Sites at Tockington Park Farm and Westerleigh, South Gloucestershire, in 1997' (pp. 95-116).
Two Romano-British sites were investigated in advance of the construction of a gas pipeline to the north and east of Bristol. A small inhumation cemetery within a system of ditched enclosures was excavated near Tockington Park Farm, the site of a Roman villa. The cemetery and the associated ditches probably date to the late 2nd or early 3rd century A.D., although evidence for activity continuing into the later 3rd or 4th century nearby was also found. As the villa at Tockington is thought to have been built in the late 3rd century, the cemetery may be associated with a phase of settlement pre-dating the villa. The second site, near Westerleigh, was interpreted as part of a Romano-British rural settlement with evidence of activity spanning the 1st to late 3rd centuries A.D. Four cremation burials of 1st-2nd-century date and a rectangular pit containing traces of a coffin represent a phase of funerary use. Seven other shallow pits containing burnt material appear to be somewhat later than the cremation burials. A phase of activity in the 3rd or 4th century is represented by ditches and a spread of sandstone rubble
David Kenyon and Mark Collard, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Remains at Kent Place, Sherborne Street, Lechlade: excavations in 2000' (pp. 117-26).
Excavation revealed that a ditched boundary, established in the mid to late Anglo-Saxon period, was maintained by repeated re-digging into the medieval period. The boundary, fossilised as part of the modern street pattern, may represent evidence for a shift in settlement from an earlier Anglo-Saxon focus found to the north-west at Sherborne House to a nucleated settlement which became the medieval town of Lechlade.
Joe Hillaby and Richard Sermon, 'Jacob’s Well, Bristol: Mikveh or Bet Tohorah?' (pp. 127-52).
The discovery of two medieval Jewish ritual baths (mikva’ot) in the City of London has lead to the re-examination of the claim that Jacob’s Well in Bristol served a similar purpose. Doubts about the earlier interpretation were raised by the location of the site. Following Leviticus 15:19-24, a mikveh was used principally for ritual purification by the women-folk of the community. Visiting the remote Jacob’s Well, in a society often antipathetic, they would have been extraordinarily vulnerable. Further the previous interpretation of a Hebrew inscription on the stone lintel over the entrance has been questioned. Also the low height of the entrance and the chamber would have made it very restricted for bathing. As Jacob’s Well was situated very close to Bristol’s medieval Jewish cemetery, it may well have served as a bet tohorah, a house for washing the dead before burial. Further detailed investigation is required if the date, extent and structural sequence of this unique monument are to be understood fully. The authors have discussed its character with Professor Ronny Reich of Haifa University, who is a leading authority on the early mikva’ot, Sven Schütte of the Kölnisches Stadtmuseum, who has re-assessed Cologne’s medieval mikveh, and Bruce Watson of the Museum of London, at the Leeds International Medieval Congress in 2003.
Joseph Bettey, 'Feuding Gentry and an Affray on College Green, Bristol, in 1579' (pp. 153-9).
The rivalry and ill feeling between Hugh Smyth of Ashton Court and Sir John Young, whose ‘Great House’ was on the site of the former Carmelite friary in Bristol, provoked a confrontation between their respective adherents on College Green in 1579. Depositions in the subsequent inquiry into the event yield evidence about the status of the Green and its former use as a burial ground. Particularly interesting are the references to the cult of St. Jordan whose chapel was on the Green together with an open-air pulpit or preaching cross. In spite of his veneration in Bristol throughout the Middle Ages, little information survives about St. Jordan, and the statements of witnesses to the affray in 1579 provide useful additional material.
W. John Lyes, 'William Adams Brodribb, a Transported Attorney' (pp. 161-8).
In January 1816 a party of men from the Thornbury district entered a neighbouring game reserve in order to provoke a confrontation with the gamekeepers that they knew would be waiting for them. In the ensuing skirmish one gamekeeper was killed. This article describes the part played in the incident by William Adams Brodribb, a local attorney. Before the men set off they each swore, in Brodribb’s presence, not to betray any of their companions. This article looks at the fate of Brodribb, who was convicted of administering an unlawful oath and sentenced to seven years’ transportation, the maximum sentence prescribed for the offence. After being joined in Tasmania by his wife and children he was allowed to practice as an attorney but he later became a farmer and lived out his later years with his daughter in Victoria.
Joseph Bettey and Hugh Harrison, 'A Twelfth-Century Door in Bristol Cathedral’ (pp. 169-71).
The door at the head of the night stairs at Bristol cathedral has the date 1667 formed in nails along its top rail, and has therefore been regarded as dating from the 17th century. Detailed examination of the door carried out by Hugh Harrison in 2000 revealed that the door was made in the mid 12th century and is of similar construction to the west door at Kempley church which has been dated to 1120-40. It is the paneling fixed to the north side of the Bristol door which dates from 1667. Apart from this addition, the oak door is a remarkable survival from the earliest years of Bristol’s Augustinian abbey founded in 1140
H.G.M. Leighton, 'County Houses Acquired with Bristol Wealth' (pp. 9-16).
In his presidential address Mr. Leighton described the circumstances that led people whose fortunes were derived from trade to acquire county houses and estates. He illustrated this process and the changing motives for it through the centuries with examples of houses bought with wealth arising from Bristol.
Jo Vallender, 'Iron-Age Occupation at Guiting Power, Gloucestershire: excavations at Guiting Manor Farm 1997' (pp. 17-54).
In January and February 1997 an archaeological excavation was undertaken on the site of a proposed grain storage building at Guiting Manor Farm in Guiting Power. Approximately one third to one half of an Iron-Age enclosure with a single, wide entrance was recorded. Although structural remains were sparse, due to the truncation of the occupation surface, pits and postholes excavated within the enclosure suggest an area of domestic occupation. The results of the work are discussed with reference to archaeological surveys undertaken elsewhere in and around Guiting Power.
Paul Masser, Julie Jones and Bridget McGill, 'Romano-British Settlement and Land Use on the Avonmouth Levels: the evidence of the Pucklechurch to Seabank pipeline project' (pp. 55-86).
During archaeological work on the route of a pipeline across the Avonmouth Levels evidence for Romano-British activity was encountered in four locations. An extensive rural settlement was occupied during the 2nd and mid 3rd centuries on the Levels' edge at Farm Lane, near Easter Compton. At Lower Knole Farm, near Almondsbury, a late 1st/2nd-century ditch was sealed beneath a sequence of colluvial and alluvial deposits. Further evidence for late Roman occupation was recovered in two locations at Crook's Marsh, further out on the Levels near the coast, where previous investigations have documented 2nd-4th-century enclosures and field systems. A suite of techniques has been used to reconstruct past environmental conditions at Farm Lane and Crook's Marsh, and the implications of this evidence for the history of Romano-British land use on the Avonmouth Levels are discussed. Principally, it has been possible to address the extent to which the area was subject to tidal inundation in the past and the strategies that may have been used to cope with or modify the high salt-marsh environment.
Paul W. Nichols, 'Excavations at St. Andrew's Church, Churchdown, Gloucestershire, 2000' (pp. 87-93).
Excavations by Gloucestershire County Council Archaeology Service, prior to the construction of a new church centre, revealed evidence for late Saxon and medieval occupation. The excavated features were interpreted as field boundaries or drainage ditches associated with agricultural use of the site, along with pits and postholes which are indicative of associated settlement. A degree of late Saxon to medieval continuity of occupation is suggested by the rectilinear patterns of the ditches. Finds from the site include a late Saxon copper-alloy strap end and pottery of mainly Saxon and medieval date.
Timothy Longman, 'The Excavation of an Early Medieval Field System at Hillesley Farm, Hillesley, Gloucestershire, 1997' (pp. 95-119).
Excavations in Hillesley revealed evidence of late Neolithic/early Bronze-Age, late Anglo-Saxon and medieval activity. The earliest evidence was a small assemblage of flints thought likely to be part of a large background scatter brought to the surface during ploughing in the medieval period. The earliest features comprised pits and postholes but, apart from the blade of a possible late Saxon whittle-tang knife, no datable finds were recovered from them. Early medieval activity was represented by a buried soil horizon and several shallow ditches, possibly boundaries indicating the orientation of strips within an early medieval field system. Two ditches also delineated a trackway into/from the fields. Later archaeological features, specifically a number of large pits, suggested a change of land use from arable in the late 11th/early 12th century to perhaps animal husbandry by the mid/late 12th century.
Reg Jackson, 'Pottery Production in Westbury-on-Trym during the late 17th and 18th Centuries' (pp. 121-131).
Pottery production in Westbury-on-Trym had probably started by 1691 and the Yeamans, the leading family of potters in Westbury during the last decade of the 17th century and until the 175 as, owned a pottery in the parish during that period. The Burfield or Sugar House pottery in existence by 1742 was located to the east of what is now Westbury Road and was operated by a succession of proprietors, including the Yabbicom family from around 1784. The Yabbicoms relocation of their business to Avon Street in Bristol between 1795 and 1797 marked the end of pottery production in Westbury. In common with a number of other potteries operating in the Bristol area during the 18th century, the output of the Burfield pottery seems to have consisted entirely of utilitarian earthenwares including sugar moulds, chimney-pots, flower-pots and kitchen vessels. While it mainly served a relatively local market there is evidence that pottery was traded as far as Ireland.
Jeannie Shorey Duckworth, 'The Open-Air Schools of Bristol and Gloucester' (pp. 133-141).
In the first half of the 20th century children were excluded from school if they were suffering from an infectious disease or were considered too weak to benefit from instruction. This article describes the efforts by authorities in Bristol and Gloucester to provide an opportunity of education for such children in the form of open-air schools. Classes in the open air were believed to lessen the chances of cross-infection and to build up a child's resistance to disease. Medical attention was given along with a wholesome diet and, despite the discomfort of outdoor learning, many children improved in health and some recovered completely.
Anthony Sale, 'Four Nonconformist Communion Cups' (pp. 143-145).
Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery has acquired four silver tankards that once belonged to city's former Southgate chapel. The tankards, dating from the early 18th century, were originally acquired by the nonconformist minister James Forbes for use in communion services at his chapel in Barton Street. Following his death in 1712 his meeting split and the tankards passed to the new Southgate congregation. From 1923, when they were sold to raise funds for the Southgate
E.G. Price, 'Richard Bigland of Frocester' (pp. 145-147).
Richard Bigland (1738-1811), son of the herald and antiquary Ralph Bigland (1711-84), was brought up in Frocester by his maternal grandfather John Wilkins, a farmer and cheese factor there. Richard continued to farm at Frocester after Wilkins's death, maintaining a large dairy herd and being one of the principal dealers in cheese in the vale of Berkeley, but his later years were marked by financial problems leading to bankruptcy.
John Rhodes, 'The Severn Flood-Plain at Gloucester in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods' (pp. 9-36).
The level of the Severnside plain at Gloucester has risen continuously since Roman times. It was managed as meadowland by the 8th century. By the 12th century the meadows east of the Old Severn (the original watercourse) had been divided into strips in multiple ownership. Meadows on the west bank generally belonged to Gloucester Abbey and St. Oswald's Priory, but the town's burgesses had common pasture there (a subject of dispute, but not of rioting, in 1513), and Castle Mead became Crown property in 1265. Installations on the river included short-lived mills, four fish-weirs and the Common Quay, which was relocated in the 13th or 14th century. A 'long bridge' or causeway across the plain existed in 1086 and was linked to the borough in the following century by Westgate Bridge and Foreign Bridge. About 1485 the west channel of the Severn broke through the causeway and necessitated further bridges at Over and, upstream, at Maisemore. They (like the centre of Westgate Bridge) had timber spans until the 18th century.
Stewart Road, 'RA.F. Fairford: archaeological evaluation and excavations conducted between 1999 and 2001' (pp. 37-54).
This report presents the results of the Cotswold Archaeological Trust evaluation and the Museum of London Archaeology Service excavation at R.A.F. Fairford, prior to the upgrading of the site facilities. The investigations, between October 1999 and August 2001, included a test pit survey and full excavations.
A scatter of prehistoric features was found across the site. The earliest was dated to the Bronze Age with the discovery of a barbed-and-tanged flint arrowhead. The remains of nine re-interred and partially articulated bodies of a possible Early Iron-Age date were also uncovered. Associated with these were a number of pits, postholes and gullies. Features attributed to the Roman period included two inhumation burials. Medieval and post-medieval features comprised a series of plough furrows on different alignments. A series of inter-cutting ditches aligned NW -SE was interpreted as the remains of the county boundary between Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. A large stone-lined drain fed into these ditches. Layers of compact crushed stone throughout the airfield were thought to represent the remains of temporary roads used during the airfield's construction.
Simon Cox, Alistair Barber and Mark Collard, 'The Archaeology and History of the Former Bryan Brothers' Garage Site, Deanery Road, Bristol: the evolution of an urban landscape' (pp. 55-71).
Excavations in advance of housing redevelopment revealed the remains of a previously unknown dovecote sealed beneath substantial landscaping deposits and the remains of 18th-century resiThe site lies within a former valley, now largely obscured by the modern urban landscape but clearly shown on Rocque's plan of 1742. The medieval dovecote is one of a number known from the area and probably stood within a park belonging to the abbot of the adjacent Augustinian abbey, the church of which is now Bristol Cathedral. Following the Dissolution the valley remained undeveloped until the second half of the 18th century, when it was landscaped to accommodate extensive urban housing, much of which was demolished during slum clearance in the 1950s. Information on the local environment from the early Neolithic (c.4000 B.C.) onwards was also recovered from borehole samples.
David Kenyon and Martin Watts, 'An Anglo-Saxon Enclosure at Copsehill Road, Lower Slaughter: excavations in 1999' (pp. 73-110).
Excavations in advance of housing redevelopment revealed the remains of part of a large ditched enclosure within the historic core of the village. A series of fourteen ditches, representing at least five phases of activity, contained both Roman and Saxon potsherds, suggesting an early medieval origin. This was confirmed by radiocarbon dating, which indicates a period of use from the mid 7th century A.D. to the end of the 9th century. No Anglo-Saxon remains were known from the village previously, although the historical record points to the presence of an 8th-century settlement at Slaughter and indicates that Slaughter was a royal manor of considerable importance and the site of a 'national assembly' in the late 10th century. The unexcavated southern part of the enclosure appears to have continued in use and remains a distinct feature of the village landscape. It is argue that it was the site of the 10th-century royal manor and assembly, with the excavated northern part of the enclosure forming part of an earlier and larger farmstead or manorial enclosure.Andrew Breeze, 'The Rivers Boyd of Gloucestershire and Bude of Cornwall' (pp. 111-112).
For an explanation of the name of the river Boyd, near Bath, Dr. Breeze looks also at its Cornish namesake, the river Bude. He suggests that their names are from a Celtic form meaning 'virtue, special quality', probably because their water was thought to have healing powers.
>William Evans, 'Hannah More's Parents' (pp. 113-130).
According to Hannah More's earliest biographer, William Roberts (1834), her mother was 'a woman of plain education, the daughter of a creditable farmer'. Named by Henry Thompson (1838) as Mary Grace, daughter of John Grace, little else is known about her: subsequent biographers have repeated Thompson's assertion. Documents show that More's mother was Mary Lynch, daughter of a Stoke Gifford journeyman mason, employed from time to time by Norborne Berkeley's steward to work on the Stoke estate. As More's father Jacob ceased to work for Berkeley's father the same year that he married Mary Lynch, William Shaw's allegation that Hannah More's mother was a servant may be correct. Documentary traces are also used to test what Roberts and others have written about Jacob More: where and when he was born; what school he attended; what property could have been the subject of the lawsuit said to have led him to leave Norfolk; whether he held an excise post; what connection may have brought him to Bristol; and what happened during his schoolmastership.
Although recent writers have speculated about the apparent suppression of details about Hannah More's parents, it is not clear why she and her biographers should have represented her mother as the daughter of John Grace. More was sensitive of her social position. A wish to substitute someone of a higher rank cannot have been the motive, because Grace was a journeyman carpenter (and so a possible model for 'Will Chip'?) with the same earning capacity and social status as Mary Lynch's actual father.
M.J. Crossley Evans, 'Methodism in Late 19th-Century Bristol: as exemplified by the life, preaching engagements and writings of Joseph Perry Distin (1844-98) (pp. 131-207).
In the second half of the 19th century two strands of Methodism occupied a central position in the ecclesiastical and the social life of the city of Bristol, the Wesleyan Connexion and the United Methodist Free Church. The latter was formed as a result of a bitter division from the parent body between 1849 and 1853. The division was particularly severe in Bristol and Kingswood, and numerically the Wesleyans did not recover their strength in Bristol for 40 years. The variable survival of church records from the period and the infrequency of personal papers written by the laymen most actively involved in the work of both churches have hindered any detailed consideration of their work. The recent discovery of the 'diary' of Joseph Perry Distin (1844-98), coupled with chapel and circuit records and the writings of Distin's contemporary Charles Richard Parsons (1841-1918), has now allowed a study of church life, home missions and Sunday school work for which Bristol was noted. The evidence, which chronicles Distin's work both as a local preacher, firstly with the United Methodist Free Church and then with the Wesleyans, and as a Sunday school superintendent, shows a remarkable relaxation of many of the Protestant sectarian divisions. It also provides an opportunity to consider the pioneering work of the Old Market Street bible class in the slums of the parishes of SS. Philip and Jacob and St. James, which may be seen as a prototype of the endeavours of the Revd. Hugh Price Hughes (1847-1902) in the West London Mission. Distin's literary work is placed in its contemporary setting, together with the novels of C.R. Parsons, the Revd. Mark Guy Pearse (1852-1930) and others, as part of the genre of 'religious fiction'.
David Viner and Stephen Wood, 'John Cornock's Silver Tankard of 1781 from the Vale of Berkeley' (pp. 209-212).
From an established Vale of Berkeley family, John Cornock became captain of one of two local companies of Volunteers raised in the 1790s against the invasion threat from revolutionary France. Cornock's company survived until 1808 when Local Militia were formed and on its disbanding he was presented with a commemorative tankard as a token of esteem. The tankard, a relic of this period of local military history, has recently been acquired by the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum.
David Smith, ‘The Berkeley Castle Muniments’ (pp. 11–28).
The Berkeley castle muniments reflect the history of the Berkeley family since it first acquired the castle and honour in 1154. From its own inception the Society has had a major role in making the muniments available for study by publishing documents kept at the castle and recently printing a catalogue of those of a date prior to 1492. In his presidential address the castle archivist chronicles what has so far been discovered about the accumulation, preservation and management of the archive from earliest times to the present day. Reasons are offered for some of the losses of documents in earlier periods. Suggestions are made about how and why some of the most puzzling items, including the earliest charters, were written and how others arrived at the castle. Some of the more important manuscripts are discussed. The effects of attempts to produce catalogues during the 19th century are charted. The nature and location of previous places of storage, known as ‘evidence houses’, are briefly mentioned.
Jo Vallender, ‘Excavations at Spratsgate Lane, Somerford Keynes, Gloucestershire, 1995 and 1996’ (pp. 29–93).
The excavations at Spratsgate Lane produced evidence of limited Bronze-Age and extensive Middle Iron-Age activity in two areas of settlement, one enclosed and the other, to the east, apparently unenclosed. A ditch defining the enclosed settlement to the west was interrupted by two gateways giving access to two distinct areas and directly in front of the northern gate were the remains of a well. Each area of activity centred on a circular enclosure approached by a ditched trackway. The enclosures have been interpreted as evidence for houses and structures associated with them as representing extensions and delineating possible livestock paddocks. The layout is suggestive of a small Middle Iron-Age village with field systems to the west, south and east. The environment appears to have comprised essentially open ground and scrub with stands of water probably within the ditches associated with the settlement. Fresh water was also likely to have been located nearby and occasional water shortages appeared to have necessitated the digging of wells.The settlements may be part of a much wider community of Middle Iron-Age activity which extended into areas recently excavated at Cotswold Community and Shorncote Quarry to the north and east. Evidence from the excavations at all three sites indicates an economy depending on animal husbandry, predominantly cattle and sheep, and trading widely for other necessities such as salt from Droitwich, pottery from the Malvern area and perhaps grain.
Julie Lovell, Jane Timby, Gail Wakeham and Michael J. Allen, ‘Iron-Age to Saxon Farming Settlement at Bishop’s Cleeve, Gloucestershire: excavations south of Church Road, 1998 and 2004’ (pp. 95–129).
Excavations in advance of the construction of a store in 1998 discovered enclosure ditches, pits and roundhouses of a Middle to Late Iron-Age settlement together with a handful of ditches and pits representing the peripheries of a Romano-British settlement and a number of features dated to the Saxon period in the north-west of the site. Excavations carried out prior to extensions to the store and car park in 2004 provided evidence in the southern part of the site of a local landscape dominated by at least two river channels which had mainly silted up by the end of the Saxon period.
Saxon pottery found in the channels has potential local and regional significance and provides evidence for an undiscovered Saxon settlement in the vicinity of the site. The presence of remnant topsoil suggests that the final tertiary silting of the channels may have extended into the medieval period. No archaeological features of medieval date were discovered but the foundations of a post medieval building together with a probable associated ditch and pit were recorded.
Toby Catchpole, ‘Excavations at the Sewage Treatment Works, Dymock, Gloucestershire, 1995’ (pp. 137–219).
Excavations at Dymock Sewage Treatment Works uncovered a later 1st-century rectilinear ditched enclosure containing rectangular timber buildings which were removed and backfilled in the early 2nd century. The site was occupied by a community whose diet, mode of dress and funerary practices were typical of a rural Gloucestershire population of the period but the layout of the excavated enclosure and buildings was not typical and the occupants utilised unusually ‘Romanised’ material culture and construction methods from c.AD 70. A number of interpretations of this evidence are explored. While convincing evidence for the presence of a military garrison was lacking, it is possible that the enclosure served an official function. The manufacture of copper alloy objects was indicated by a small assemblage of brooch and tool moulds, amongst which were a Chester type trumpet brooch and its mould, the first such example from Roman Britain. The site also produced considerable amounts of iron-smelting slag, although direct evidence for furnaces was lacking. The local manufacture of greyware in non-indigenous forms was also indicated.
Activity on the site was much reduced from c.AD 150 onwards and apparently ceased during the 3rd century. Five adult inhumations of mid 2nd-century date were situated outside the earlier enclosure, while a number of infant inhumations were cut into the backfill of the enclosure ditch. A single probably later Roman building with stone foundations was also recorded.
Andrew Simmonds, ‘Excavations at land adjacent to the Rectory, Dymock, Gloucestershire, 2002’ (pp. 220–235).
During October 2002 excavation on land adjacent to the Rectory at Dymock uncovered evidence for occupation commencing during the late 1st or early 2nd century AD with the establishment of linear boundaries across the site in the form of a fence-line and gully. A small number of rubbish pits associated with the boundaries indicated that occupation lay nearby. The linear features were superseded by a rectangular building, again with associated pits, a row of which were dug along the building’s gable end.
The absence of evidence for earlier occupation suggests that the settlement was founded de novo in the Roman period. While no evidence for a road was uncovered on the site, a substantial quantity of metal-working debris was recovered, suggesting that exploitation of the iron sources of the nearby Forest of Dean formed a significant part of the settlement’s economy. The ceramic evidence indicated that occupation, as elsewhere in Dymock, did not extend long into the 3rd century.
Toby Catchpole, Tim Copeland and Andrew Simmonds, ‘Dymock: its origins and function’ (pp. 235–237); Toby Catchpole, ‘Regional Context’ (pp. 237–238).
The publication in this volume of two excavations within Roman Dymock provides an opportunity to update Gethyn-Jones’s discussion of the settlement in Transactions 109(1991). It is proposed that Dymock may have been founded as a roadside settlement with a function in the official transport system. New evidence for metal working is placed in context and the absence of archaeological material for later Roman Dymock is explored. In the second article Dymock is contrasted with recently excavated sites in the Severn vale and it is suggested that it can be interpreted as an outlying element of the early Roman Forest of Dean iron industry. Evidence for control of that industry by local élites rather than the Roman military is also discussed.
>David, Cemlyn, ‘Alfred Jowett Selley (1854–1945): the man and his ‘collection’ (pp. 247–257).
The Bristol Museum and Art Gallery houses several thousand artefacts, mostly stone cools, collected originally by A.J. Selley. In his research David Cemlyn describes the man and his manner of collecting and acquiring finds and assesses his contribution to the understanding of the archaeology and history of the Bristol area.R. Lacock, ‘Quakers in Gloucester: the first fifty years, 1655–1705’ (pp. 259–293).
Quakers or ‘Friends of Truth’ were at the radical end of the spectrum of dissenting religious groups that emerged during the 17th century. This study investigates their early history in the city of Gloucester, in which they have had a continuous presence since 1655. Their refusal to conform to the social and religious norms of the time meant that in a turbulent period they were perceived as a real threat to both State and Church and were subject to occasional, often harsh, persecution. The timing and severity of the persecutions reflected the political situation in London and the prejudice or spite of local officials. Gloucester’s Quakers were always a small minority in the city and were drawn primarily from its artisan and trading classes. During the 17th century, despite the persecutions, their number grew and a hierarchy of meetings was created to provide help and comfort and instil unity.George H. Nash, ‘Walled Gardens at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire’ (pp. 295–310).
This paper records the result of an archaeological field evaluation that took place within the 19th-century walled gardens of Berkeley castle in 2003. The castle and its grounds are located up against the medieval town form of Berkeley that includes High Street and Canonbury Street. Two trenches within the smaller of the two gardens revealed evidence of the foundations of medieval buildings that once fronted Canonbury Street. Associated with the foundations was a small assemblage of medieval pottery. Within the larger 19th-century garden the evaluation identified an earlier formal garden; restrictions on excavation left any older archaeological deposits, features or structures uncovered.Alan Sparkes, ‘The Reform of Gloucester’s Municipal Corporation in 1835’ (pp. 311–329).
This article is derived from a study of the composition, structure and functions of Gloucester’s municipal corporation before and after the introduction of the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. Using the records of the corporation and other primary sources, it investigates local support for municipal reform in Gloucester; official assessments of the state of the city’s unreformed corporation; the detail of the 1835 Act as it related to Gloucester; and the immediate impact of reform on the city’s corporation.Oliver Bradbury, ’13 Portland Street, Cheltenham: an example of the architecture of Masonic preferment’ (pp. 331–339).
For a few years in the 1820s the town of Cheltenham was home to the little-known architect G.A. Underwood (d. 1829), a pupil of Sir John Soane. In attributing the design of the house at 13 (later 25) Portland Street to Underwood’s practice the author explores Soane’s influence on the town’s architecture.Carolyn Heighway, ‘Reading the Stones: archaeological recording at Gloucester cathedral’ (pp. 13-30).
On its creation in 1541 the diocese of Gloucester was endowed with property formerly belonging to the abbey of St Peter, with the abbey church dating from 1089 becoming its cathedral church. In her presidential address the cathedral’s consultant archaeologist describes how 25 years of observation and recording have augmented our understanding of the architectural development of the Abbot Serlo’s church.
Dan Stansbie, Alex Smith, Granville Laws and Tim Haines, ‘Excavations of Iron-Age and Roman Occupation at Coln Gravel, Thornhill Farm, Fairford, Gloucestershire, 2003 and 2004’ (pp. 31-82).
Excavations at Coln Gravel, Thornhill Farm, in 2003 and 2004 revealed outlying areas of an Iron-Age and Roman settlement, the main part of which had been excavated between 1985 and 1989. A ring-ditch and several pits dating to the early to middle Iron Age were discovered, along with three sub-circular ditched enclosures and the remains of a roundhouse belonging to the middle Iron Age. In the late Iron Age to early Roman period a series of field systems and enclosures developed. These features were elaborated throughout the early Roman period, but gave way to trackways and possibly hay meadows in the middle to late Roman period. A double ditched enclosure established in the south-west corner of the site during the later Roman period contained several inhumations. It was probably related to the settlement immediately to the south at Kempsford Bowmoor.
Neil Wright, ‘A Lead-lined Stone Coffin Cremation Burial from Harnhill, Gloucestershire’ (pp. 83-90).
Gloucestershire County Council Archaeology Service excavated a limestone container found by metal detectorists adjacent to the Roman villa at Harnhill near Cirencester. It contained a lead box within which were the cremated remains of an adult female thought to be of early Roman date.
Neil Holbrook and Clifford Bateman, ‘The South Gate Cemetery of Roman Gloucester excavations in Parliament Street, 2001’ (pp. 91-106).
Excavations in 2001 uncovered eight inhumation burials and one cremation to the south of the defences of the Roman colonia at Gloucester. The inhumations date to the 3rd or 4th centuries AD and include two burials laid prone (face down) and one that had been decapitated. A woman aged between 26 and 35 had been buried holding a glass snake-thread flask in her right hand. This remarkable artefact, the first of its kind found in Britain, was manufactured in the Rhineland.
Mark Brett and Annette Hancocks, ‘Excavations at Lower Mill Farm, Somerford Keynes, Gloucestershire, 2001’ (pp. 107-111).
The report summarises the nature, character and extent of two phases of archaeological investigation that revealed Roman and medieval field systems. An assemblage of late 17th century pottery from a pit discovered during the work was almost exclusively made up of products of the Ashton Keynes kilns and was reported in Medieval Ceramics in 2006.
Stewart Brown, ‘Excavations at Temple Church, Bristol: a report on the excavations by Andrew Saunders, 1960’ (pp. 113-129).
A series of trench excavations carried out by Andrew Saunders in 1960 within the standing ruins of Temple Church, Bristol, established the layout of the original church built by the Knights Templar sometime between the late 1120s and 1147. The church had a round nave, one of only sixteen examples known from Britain, with a projecting apsidal chancel and a western porch. Following the suppression of the Templars in England in 1308, the church and their estate at Bristol were transferred to the Knights Hospitaller. The church acquired its present rectangular form from the late 13th or early 14th century to the 15th century. Its nave was probably largely complete by the late 1390s and its tower, which now leans by more than 1.6 m was added in the period 1441-60. Also present in summary form are the results of excavations carried out at the church in 1971.
Edward Carpenter, ‘A Circular Moat at Long Hills Farm, Mickleton, Gloucestershire’ (pp. 131-138).
A circular moat has been discovered on aerial photographs consulted as part of English Heritage’s National Mapping Programme survey of the northern Cotswolds. The moat occupies a prominent location between the villages of Mickleton, which was a Benedictine estate of Eynsham abbey, and the deserted settlement of Overton. In symbolism and function the construction of moats provided a display of social division which, judging by the Mickleton moat’s position in the landscape was intended to be apparent to the population of both settlements. Possibly dug in the13th century, the moat appears to have been abandoned and ploughed over in the early 14th century. The relatively short life of the moat might have been the result of a dispute between competing individuals or groups.
Roy Martin Haines, ‘Roger Mortimer’s Scam’ (pp. 139-156).
The article examines the background to the death of Edward II at Berkeley castle in 1327 and the burial of his remains in a magnificent tomb in Gloucester abbey, since the Reformation a cathedral. It explores the report, based on a copy of the mysterious ‘Fieschi letter’, that he somehow escaped and settled as a hermit in Lombardy, where he died in the odour of sanctity, as well as the widespread rumour that he remained a prisoner in England, a ruse which trapped the unwary earl of Kent into believing that he was in Corfe castle and might be reinstated as king. It assesses the validity of a recent hypothesis which attempts to combine elements of these stories and to argue that the former king was not murdered at Berkeley but kept alive by Roger Mortimer and then by Edward III, his son, who ‘for propaganda reasons’ claimed that he was dead.
William Evans, ‘Paradise on a Limited Budget: how Norborne Berkeley funded his improvements at Stoke Park’ (pp.1 57-165).
The article explores how far Norborne Berkeley’s funding of his improvements to his principal mansion house and grounds at Stoke Gifford followed the pattern outlined by R.G. Wilson and A.L. Mackley in Creating Paradise: The Building of the English Country House, 1660-1880 (2000). Documentary sources are examined to show what resources Berkeley inherited; what his sources of income were; what other financial commitments he had; and what money he borrowed. The conclusion is drawn that Berkeley acted prudently, limiting his expenditure, for example by giving up horseracing, ad adopting economies such as engaging local craftspeople and carrying out landscaping that required low maintenance. His plan was upset when he felt obliged to mortgage his estate to satisfy promises given by the duke of Beaufort’s trustees in connection with his niece’s dowry; documentary sources suggest that the details of the transaction were not quite as related by Horace Walpole.
Joseph Bettey and W. John Lyes, ‘The Consistory Court of the Bristol Diocese’ (pp. 167-171).
Following the creation of the diocese of Bristol in 1542 a consistory court was established. Until the early 20th century it met in the cathedral in a small and inconvenient room at the top of the night stairs of the former Augustinian abbey. The badly worn stone steps leading to the room testify to the number of offenders and witnesses summoned before the court and to the wide range of its jurisdiction. The old court room survives and its door has recently been recognised as part of the original fittings of the abbey which was founded in 1140.