EPB-E01-S4

TimesBristol

Celebrating our proud history and keeping your memories alive

TUE03SEP2013

For more information call: 01275 839 839 or visit www.petercarol.co.uk

PETER CAROLPrestige Coaching

BAM

FIELDHOUSE, WHITCHURCH, BRISTOL BS14

OXD

ASCENDERE OMNIS COLLIS

BA XD

www.petercarol.co.uk01275 839 839

30 May, 30 July, 11 Aug, 21 AugAdult £44.95, Child (4-11) £29.95

Student £39.95

THORPE PARK

30 May, 30 July, 11 Aug, 21 Aug

Adult £43.95, Child (4-11) £34.95Student £39.95, 60Plus £41.95

CHESSINGTON

Sun 9 June - Adult £44.9560Plus £42.95, Child £36.95

Sun 9 June - Adult £45.95, 60Plus £41.95, Child £32.95

EDEN PROJECT

THE LOSTGARDENSOF HELIGAN

Sat 1st JuneWar Horse (2 Only)Full day including top priceevening tickets - Adults £132.95

Wed 28th AugLion King ‘Matinee’Top price evening ticketsAdults £99.95 - Child £79.95

ENJOY A WEEKENDIN LONDON

Next departure: June 1st / June 15th.• 4 Star Central London Hotel

• Full English Breakfast included

June 1st only - Why not add War Horse LuxuryTheatre day - Fully inclusive price £222.95pp

£109.95PP (2 SHARING)

ANDRE RIEU NEWDATE

Wembley ArenaFri 6 Dec

Adult £144.9560Plus £142.95

COACH ONLY SERVICEMonday 24 June – Sunday 7 July 2013 -Guaranteed departures every day.Adult £36.95 60Plus £34.95 Child£29.95 (£3 surcharge on finals weekend)

LEE EVANSMONSTER TOUR 2014HHNOW BOOKINGHH

Bournemouth International CentreThur 21 August 2014

NIA Birmingham - Sat 20 Sept 2014

Cardiff Motorpoint ArenaFri 28 / Sat 29 / Sun 30 Nov 2014Adults £69.95, 60Plus £67.95

Manchester (Etihad Stadium)

LAST 4 SEATSTues 18 June £129.95

ROBBIEWILLIAMS

COACH ONLY AVAILABILITY

The Last Tour 2014NOW ON SALE

Michael Bublé @ O2Rod Stewart @ NEC

Robbie Williams @ Wembley

Sun 30th JuneCoach only £47.95Including GeneralAdmission £199.95

BRITISH GRAND PRIX

BUCKINGHAM PALACE GARDENSCORONATION FESTIVAL

• Celebrate 60th Coronation Anniversary• 200 Royal Warranty Holders Exhibiting• Products available to Picnic on the Lawn• Specially Selected Restaurants and Cafe’s• Goods available include: Food, Fashion, Country & Equestrian.• Perfumiers etc etc - Adult £59.95, 60Plus £57.95

SAT 13 ORSUN 14 JULY

ALSO AUG/SEPT - A VARIED SELECTION OF BUCKINGHAM PALACE STATEROOMS,QUEEN’S GALLERY & ROYAL MEWS VISITS.

Sunday 16th June(Fathers Day)

Adult £59.95, 60Plus £57.95Child £49.95

Wed 12 JuneAdults £39.95 - 60Plus £37.95

with Kew PalaceAdults £45.95 - 60Plus £43.95

KEW GARDENS

LONDON THEATRE DAYS

‘Last few Places’Thur 20th June

£106.95 - £136.95

ROYAL ASCOTLADIES DAY‘Last few Places’

ROYAL ASCOT

ONEDIRECTIONWembley Stadium - Sat 7 June 2014Adults £99.95, Child (12 to 15inc.) £94.95Includes standing only tickets

Plus Free Time - Sun 2 JuneAdult £46.95 60Plus £45.95,

Child £32.95

Plus River CruiseSun 19 June - Adult £56.9560Plus £55.95, Child £38.95

LONDON EYE

WIMBLEDONTENNIS

TORVILL &DEAN’S

DANCING ON ICE

RIVER DARTCRUISE & STEAM

TRAIN RIDE

COACHSERVICE ONLYAVAILABLE£45.00pp

Page 4 When theHare Krishnasmet Keith Floyd

Page 6

Page 8 Thank youfor being a friend

The historic Underfall Yardhas been essential to thesmooth running ofBristol’s floating harbourfor more than 200 years.Now there are ambitiousplans to secure the yard’sfuture – not just as aheritage attraction, but asa place where people willstill work with boats andshipping. Eugene Byrnelooks at the past andfuture of the yard. Turn to page 2

MOST Bristoliansare familiarenough with thestory of thefloating har-bour. Until itsconstr uction,

shipping in the city’s docks wereat the mercy of the tides. At lowtide, ships would settle on mud orgravel, making it difficult to un-load them and impossible to movethem.

An idle ship is a ship that is notmaking money. Not only that, butsome vessels could also be dam-aged by lying at the bottom of theh a r b o u r.

Then there was theever-present, nagging fear of anage in which everything wasmade of wood – f i re.

Fire among close-packed shipsat low tide could spread very rap-i d ly.

There was serious talk of cre-ating a floating harbour – onefilled permanently with water –from the mid-1700s, and a bewil-dering number of plans were putforward by a succession of en-g i n e e r s.

But as is so often the case withofficial Bristol, the city fathersdithered and baulked at the cost.

Even the activities of John the

Painter did little to spur themon.

John the Painter, real nameJohn or James Aitken (1752-1777),has some claim to the title of thefirst terrorist to strike Bristol.

You can argue all you want overwhether he was a deranged fan-tasist or a noble freedom fighter.But in the light of America’spresent-day war on terror, it isironic to note that Aitken’scrimes were carried out to fur-ther the cause of American in-de pendence.

Aitken set fire to vessels in

Wonderful underfall� The Underfall Yard

How abolition paidoff for slave-owners

In association with

EPB-E01-S4

EPB-

E01-

S4

2 Tu e s d a y, September 3, 2013 3Tu e s d a y, September 3, 2013w w w. bristolpost.co.uk w w w. bristolpost.co.uk

Decline, fall andrise of Victorianengineer’s docksmasterpiece

Bristol’s docks. Fortunately the firefailed to spread – but at the time hisactions struck absolute terror amongall classes of Bristolians, who feared,rightly, not only the possible destruc-tion of shipping but the spread of fireacross the wooden buildings of thec i t y.

There has never been a Great Fireof Bristol – but that is purely down togood luck.

Finally, though, the city acted, andthe great engineer William Jessop(1745-1814) was engaged to create afloating harbour.

The work lasted from 1804 to 1809. Itwas hugely expensive and in its timewas one of the most complex andambitious engineering projects in thewo rl d .

Jessop created a 70-acre area ofwater in the middle of the city – m o re,as is often pointed out, than Veniceh a s.

No Bristolian nowadays would saythat it was money wasted, though inits time it was encumbered with hugedebts which the docks company triedto recoup by charging higher harbourdues than its competitors. So despitethis new state-of-the-art port facility,Bristol lost trade, especially to itsgreat Atlantic rival, Liverpool.

Still, the city docks would remainan important working port for 150years to come. Even after the openingof docks at Avonmouth and Portis-head, plenty of trade still came up theAvo n .

It was really only the revolution inseaborne trade brought about by con-tainerisation in the late 1960s thatended the trade coming into themiddle of Bristol.

The docks could not be equipped todeal with the new shipping contain-ers, and the ever-larger ships car-rying those containers would haveproblems getting up and down ther ive r.

To create his floating harbour,Jessop dammed the Avon to the eastand west of the city, while an artificialchannel – the New Cut – was dug byan army of navvies to divert ther ive r.

When the work was completed the

navvies were treated to a slap-up cel-ebration meal, along with plenty ofale. Not unexpectedly, proceedingsended with a huge brawl between theEnglish workers and their Irish coun-ter parts.

When the floating harbour wascomplete, water levels were main-tained, when needed, by supply fromthe Feeder Canal. Vessels could enterand leave via locks at the Cumberlandand Bathurst basins.

Jessop knew that his work was farfrom finished in 1809. The harbourwould always need to be maintained,and the biggest problem was mud. Itstill is today.

It was much worse in the 19thcentury because the Avon was also asewer. It was a convenient place fordumping all manner of other garbaget o o.

But now that the harbour was anexpanse of still water, it had lost thescouring effect of tides and currentsflushing mud and effluent downr ive r.

Jessop knew this would be a prob-lem, and had incorporated a weir intothe western dam. This was the over-fall and it was equipped with sluicesand culverts which, it was hoped,would prevent the build-up of muckin the harbour.

But it was not as effective as hoped.By the early 1830s young IsambardKingdom Brunel had been called in toadvise. Brunel modified the systemas an underfall.

Brunel, who was by now also work-ing on the Great Western Railway,constructed a number of sluicesbetween the harbour and the NewCut. He also designed a dredgerwhich would scrape silt from thequay walls; when the sluices openedat low tide, the silt was sucked intothe river to be carried away.

Br unel’s original system has beenmodified many times since the 1830s.But the basic principles are still inplace today. So we have to count hissystem for keeping the floating har-bour cleared among his greatest con-tributions to the city, along with therailway, Clifton Suspension Bridgeand the ss Great Britain,

When Jessop built the overfall, theland next to it was given over to

� Left, a paintingfrom 1837 byJames BakerPyne titledClifton From TheOverfall Damshowing clearlyhow the oldoverfall systemworked.Copyright: BristolMuseums, Galleriesand Archives

Future looking bright again for Underfall Yard

maintenance workshops for thedocks company. When Bristol’s cor-poration took control of the harbourin 1848 they took over the workshops,and in 1880 bought the adjoiningNova Scotia shipyard.

From about this time the wholearea became known as the UnderfallYard. This was the place from whichthe city docks were managed andmaintained.

The yard as we know it today dates

Under Girdlestone’s management,most of the former buildings on thesite were replaced.

There were new offices, and newworkshops for carpenters, joiners,blacksmiths and fitters, most of them

mostly from the 1880s and 1890s andwas largely the work of an energeticand visionary manager who is almostcompletely forgotten.

Clifton-born John Ward Girdle-stone (1840-1911) was Bristol’s docks

engineer from 1882 to 1890. This was atime of huge technological changewhich some historians characteriseas a second industrial revolution,when iron and steam were being sup-planted by steel and electricity.

designed by Girdlestone. He also de-signed and installed all manner ofbuildings and equipment for the citydocks. The biggest of these was ahuge corporation-owned granarywhich would become a local land-

From page 1

mark until destroyed by Germanbombing in the Blitz. The site is nowoccupied by the M shed museum andthe adjoining L shed.

With the aid of a 160-strong work-force, whose oldest member was 83,Girdlestone maintained the existingequipment and fabric of the docks,from roads and rails to dock gates. Heinstalled electric power at the yard,designed a new dredger for the docksand installed a hydraulic engine tocontrol the Cumberland Basin andthe corporation granary over a mileaway. The engine house, with its tallchimney, is one of the most recog-nisable features of the yard.

It all ended badly for him. Theall-powerful docks committee, incharge of all of Bristol’s docks, ac-cused him of spending money onimprovements without proper au-t h o r i s at i o n .

He admitted as much, but defendedhimself saying: “The error on mypart has … been due to over-zeal, to anintense love of my work and pro-fession, to the unforeseen way inwhich one item of expenditure fre-quently leads up to or involves an-other, and to a deep conviction that allI did would eventually prove to be inthe direct interest both of the com-mittee and of the ratepayers.” Here s i g n e d .

The yard continued to be the heartand muscle of the city docks. After theFirst World War, some of it was leasedto P and A Campbell which used it asa maintenance yard for the famousWhite Funnel Line pleasure steam-ers. The firm remained there until1958 and site was taken over by ship-builders Charles Hill and Sons.

As the city docks closed as a work-ing port, the number of staff based atthe remaining part of the yard wentinto steep decline, although to thisday the harbour requires plenty ofm a i n t e n a n c e.

In the early 1990s, with much of theyard in danger of becoming com-pletely derelict, a trust was formed torestore and preserve the historic siteand to ensure that it would remain inuse as a workplace related to boats,shipping and maritime activity. Withsupport from the council and volun-teers and with Lottery money, it hasbeen quite successful.

Visit today and you will see a rangeof small workshops which are thebases for individuals and small busi-nesses, all going about boat-relatedtasks. Some are involved in buildingold-style boats, others are makingropes. There is a blacksmith, butthere is also high-tech business, suchas a firm making fibre compositem at e r i a l s.

The trust is now set to unveil am-bitious plans for the future.

At the moment, the trust and itstenants run about a quarter of theUnderfall Yard. However, in the lastcouple of years improvements to thefloating harbour and its lock systemsmean that Bristol City Council nowno longer needs much of the space itcurrently occupies. The old hydraulic

system, for instance, is no longerre q u i re d .

The plan is now for the trust to takeover the entire yard, though the coun-cil will remain a tenant on a smallpart of the site because the harbourwill still need some engineers and itwill always require a harbourmas-t e r.

Alf Perry, the engineer who man-ages the Underfall Yard for the trust,told Bristol Times: “The aim is tocreate more workspaces, primarilymaritime-related businesses wherewe can, but in a couple of the build-ings there will be some high-qualityoffice space in order to provide adecent income stream to support theother things.”

The trust’s plans go on show at theyard on Doors Open Day on Saturday,September 14. The trust is very keento get comments and ideas from thep u bl i c.

After that, the planning applica-tions go in, along with a fundraisingappeal – about £500,000 is needed.With any luck, work will be underway by the middle of next year.

Though the public can walkthrough the yard at any time, you canget to see a lot more on Doors Open

Factfile� B R I S T O L’S Doors Open Daytakes place on September 14,when dozens of places acrossthe city which don’t normallyopen to the public will be lettingyou in free of charge. Nextweek’s Bristol Times will belooking at some of theattractions on offer, as well as anew book being published tomark Doors Open Day’s 20tha n n i v e r s a r y.

“ .................................................................

It still has a working atmosphere,and all the smells and sights

Alf Perry...............................................................................

Day. Some of the various workshopswill be open, along with the pumpbu i l d i n g .

Mr Perry said: “The Victorianworkshops are only going to be openon Doors Open Day.

“They were built by Girdlestone formaintaining the various bits of dockequipment. Then there are the hy-draulic pumps which used to powerthe lock gates, the cranes, bridges andso on. This is all in working order.

“It is a really atmospheric enginero o m . ”

Mr Perry is adamant that the yardis not going to be gentrified.

He said: “What most Bristolianslike about the place is that they canwalk through and they can see realwork happening – they can see boatsbeing built. It still has a workingatmosphere, and all the smells ands i g h t s.

“Everyone tells us not the tidy it upor sanitise it. They want it scruffy.They want it like it is.”

Visit www.underfallboaty ard.co.ukfor more details.

� An aerial view of the Underfall Yard as it is today

� Watercolour by Thomas Rowbotham, 1827,showing the overfall dam. Much of the present dayUnderfall Yard was later built on land reclaimed fromthe river Copyright: Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives

� The area of the Underfall Yard in the 1820s, when it wasthe Nova Scotia shipyard. Watercolour by ThomasRowbotham

Copyright: Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives

PETER CAROLThe Prestige Coaching CompanyASCENDERE OMNIS COLLIS

.... OutstandingValueOutstandingValue01275 839 839 • www.petercarol.co.uk

EPB-E01-S4

EPB-

E01-

S4

2 Tu e s d a y, September 3, 2013 3Tu e s d a y, September 3, 2013w w w. bristolpost.co.uk w w w. bristolpost.co.uk

Decline, fall andrise of Victorianengineer’s docksmasterpiece

Bristol’s docks. Fortunately the firefailed to spread – but at the time hisactions struck absolute terror amongall classes of Bristolians, who feared,rightly, not only the possible destruc-tion of shipping but the spread of fireacross the wooden buildings of thec i t y.

There has never been a Great Fireof Bristol – but that is purely down togood luck.

Finally, though, the city acted, andthe great engineer William Jessop(1745-1814) was engaged to create afloating harbour.

The work lasted from 1804 to 1809. Itwas hugely expensive and in its timewas one of the most complex andambitious engineering projects in thewo rl d .

Jessop created a 70-acre area ofwater in the middle of the city – m o re,as is often pointed out, than Veniceh a s.

No Bristolian nowadays would saythat it was money wasted, though inits time it was encumbered with hugedebts which the docks company triedto recoup by charging higher harbourdues than its competitors. So despitethis new state-of-the-art port facility,Bristol lost trade, especially to itsgreat Atlantic rival, Liverpool.

Still, the city docks would remainan important working port for 150years to come. Even after the openingof docks at Avonmouth and Portis-head, plenty of trade still came up theAvo n .

It was really only the revolution inseaborne trade brought about by con-tainerisation in the late 1960s thatended the trade coming into themiddle of Bristol.

The docks could not be equipped todeal with the new shipping contain-ers, and the ever-larger ships car-rying those containers would haveproblems getting up and down ther ive r.

To create his floating harbour,Jessop dammed the Avon to the eastand west of the city, while an artificialchannel – the New Cut – was dug byan army of navvies to divert ther ive r.

When the work was completed the

navvies were treated to a slap-up cel-ebration meal, along with plenty ofale. Not unexpectedly, proceedingsended with a huge brawl between theEnglish workers and their Irish coun-ter parts.

When the floating harbour wascomplete, water levels were main-tained, when needed, by supply fromthe Feeder Canal. Vessels could enterand leave via locks at the Cumberlandand Bathurst basins.

Jessop knew that his work was farfrom finished in 1809. The harbourwould always need to be maintained,and the biggest problem was mud. Itstill is today.

It was much worse in the 19thcentury because the Avon was also asewer. It was a convenient place fordumping all manner of other garbaget o o.

But now that the harbour was anexpanse of still water, it had lost thescouring effect of tides and currentsflushing mud and effluent downr ive r.

Jessop knew this would be a prob-lem, and had incorporated a weir intothe western dam. This was the over-fall and it was equipped with sluicesand culverts which, it was hoped,would prevent the build-up of muckin the harbour.

But it was not as effective as hoped.By the early 1830s young IsambardKingdom Brunel had been called in toadvise. Brunel modified the systemas an underfall.

Brunel, who was by now also work-ing on the Great Western Railway,constructed a number of sluicesbetween the harbour and the NewCut. He also designed a dredgerwhich would scrape silt from thequay walls; when the sluices openedat low tide, the silt was sucked intothe river to be carried away.

Br unel’s original system has beenmodified many times since the 1830s.But the basic principles are still inplace today. So we have to count hissystem for keeping the floating har-bour cleared among his greatest con-tributions to the city, along with therailway, Clifton Suspension Bridgeand the ss Great Britain,

When Jessop built the overfall, theland next to it was given over to

� Left, a paintingfrom 1837 byJames BakerPyne titledClifton From TheOverfall Damshowing clearlyhow the oldoverfall systemworked.Copyright: BristolMuseums, Galleriesand Archives

Future looking bright again for Underfall Yard

maintenance workshops for thedocks company. When Bristol’s cor-poration took control of the harbourin 1848 they took over the workshops,and in 1880 bought the adjoiningNova Scotia shipyard.

From about this time the wholearea became known as the UnderfallYard. This was the place from whichthe city docks were managed andmaintained.

The yard as we know it today dates

Under Girdlestone’s management,most of the former buildings on thesite were replaced.

There were new offices, and newworkshops for carpenters, joiners,blacksmiths and fitters, most of them

mostly from the 1880s and 1890s andwas largely the work of an energeticand visionary manager who is almostcompletely forgotten.

Clifton-born John Ward Girdle-stone (1840-1911) was Bristol’s docks

engineer from 1882 to 1890. This was atime of huge technological changewhich some historians characteriseas a second industrial revolution,when iron and steam were being sup-planted by steel and electricity.

designed by Girdlestone. He also de-signed and installed all manner ofbuildings and equipment for the citydocks. The biggest of these was ahuge corporation-owned granarywhich would become a local land-

From page 1

mark until destroyed by Germanbombing in the Blitz. The site is nowoccupied by the M shed museum andthe adjoining L shed.

With the aid of a 160-strong work-force, whose oldest member was 83,Girdlestone maintained the existingequipment and fabric of the docks,from roads and rails to dock gates. Heinstalled electric power at the yard,designed a new dredger for the docksand installed a hydraulic engine tocontrol the Cumberland Basin andthe corporation granary over a mileaway. The engine house, with its tallchimney, is one of the most recog-nisable features of the yard.

It all ended badly for him. Theall-powerful docks committee, incharge of all of Bristol’s docks, ac-cused him of spending money onimprovements without proper au-t h o r i s at i o n .

He admitted as much, but defendedhimself saying: “The error on mypart has … been due to over-zeal, to anintense love of my work and pro-fession, to the unforeseen way inwhich one item of expenditure fre-quently leads up to or involves an-other, and to a deep conviction that allI did would eventually prove to be inthe direct interest both of the com-mittee and of the ratepayers.” Here s i g n e d .

The yard continued to be the heartand muscle of the city docks. After theFirst World War, some of it was leasedto P and A Campbell which used it asa maintenance yard for the famousWhite Funnel Line pleasure steam-ers. The firm remained there until1958 and site was taken over by ship-builders Charles Hill and Sons.

As the city docks closed as a work-ing port, the number of staff based atthe remaining part of the yard wentinto steep decline, although to thisday the harbour requires plenty ofm a i n t e n a n c e.

In the early 1990s, with much of theyard in danger of becoming com-pletely derelict, a trust was formed torestore and preserve the historic siteand to ensure that it would remain inuse as a workplace related to boats,shipping and maritime activity. Withsupport from the council and volun-teers and with Lottery money, it hasbeen quite successful.

Visit today and you will see a rangeof small workshops which are thebases for individuals and small busi-nesses, all going about boat-relatedtasks. Some are involved in buildingold-style boats, others are makingropes. There is a blacksmith, butthere is also high-tech business, suchas a firm making fibre compositem at e r i a l s.

The trust is now set to unveil am-bitious plans for the future.

At the moment, the trust and itstenants run about a quarter of theUnderfall Yard. However, in the lastcouple of years improvements to thefloating harbour and its lock systemsmean that Bristol City Council nowno longer needs much of the space itcurrently occupies. The old hydraulic

system, for instance, is no longerre q u i re d .

The plan is now for the trust to takeover the entire yard, though the coun-cil will remain a tenant on a smallpart of the site because the harbourwill still need some engineers and itwill always require a harbourmas-t e r.

Alf Perry, the engineer who man-ages the Underfall Yard for the trust,told Bristol Times: “The aim is tocreate more workspaces, primarilymaritime-related businesses wherewe can, but in a couple of the build-ings there will be some high-qualityoffice space in order to provide adecent income stream to support theother things.”

The trust’s plans go on show at theyard on Doors Open Day on Saturday,September 14. The trust is very keento get comments and ideas from thep u bl i c.

After that, the planning applica-tions go in, along with a fundraisingappeal – about £500,000 is needed.With any luck, work will be underway by the middle of next year.

Though the public can walkthrough the yard at any time, you canget to see a lot more on Doors Open

Factfile� B R I S T O L’S Doors Open Daytakes place on September 14,when dozens of places acrossthe city which don’t normallyopen to the public will be lettingyou in free of charge. Nextweek’s Bristol Times will belooking at some of theattractions on offer, as well as anew book being published tomark Doors Open Day’s 20tha n n i v e r s a r y.

“ .................................................................

It still has a working atmosphere,and all the smells and sights

Alf Perry...............................................................................

Day. Some of the various workshopswill be open, along with the pumpbu i l d i n g .

Mr Perry said: “The Victorianworkshops are only going to be openon Doors Open Day.

“They were built by Girdlestone formaintaining the various bits of dockequipment. Then there are the hy-draulic pumps which used to powerthe lock gates, the cranes, bridges andso on. This is all in working order.

“It is a really atmospheric enginero o m . ”

Mr Perry is adamant that the yardis not going to be gentrified.

He said: “What most Bristolianslike about the place is that they canwalk through and they can see realwork happening – they can see boatsbeing built. It still has a workingatmosphere, and all the smells ands i g h t s.

“Everyone tells us not the tidy it upor sanitise it. They want it scruffy.They want it like it is.”

Visit www.underfallboaty ard.co.ukfor more details.

� An aerial view of the Underfall Yard as it is today

� Watercolour by Thomas Rowbotham, 1827,showing the overfall dam. Much of the present dayUnderfall Yard was later built on land reclaimed fromthe river Copyright: Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives

� The area of the Underfall Yard in the 1820s, when it wasthe Nova Scotia shipyard. Watercolour by ThomasRowbotham

Copyright: Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives

PETER CAROLThe Prestige Coaching CompanyASCENDERE OMNIS COLLIS

.... OutstandingValueOutstandingValue01275 839 839 • www.petercarol.co.uk

EPB-E01-S4

EPB-

E01-

S4

4 Tu e s d a y, September 3, 2013 5Tu e s d a y, September 3, 2013w w w. bristolpost.co.uk w w w. bristolpost.co.uk

to start. The website tells you all aboutthe society and its various publica-tions, and has a lot of useful inform-ation and links. It is atw w w. b a f h s. o rg. u k

Behind the scenes atM shed:YOU know all that interesting stuffthey have on show at M shed? Well,there is even more stuff that they donot have the space to display.

The good news is that you can get alook at some of the city’s hidden treas-ures with one of the behind-the-scenestours that they run at 11.30am everyTuesday, Thursday and, now, Friday,and at 2.30pm every Wednesday andS at u rd ay.

You can usually just sign up at theinformation desk on the day. But, to besure of a place, book in advance bye-mailing info@mshed.org or calling0117 352 6600. Tours last about 45minutes and are suitable for anyoneaged 12 and upwards. M shed suggestsa £2 donation per person.

Silly Season hangover:LAST week’s column looking at a fewbizarre local news stories in honour ofthe journalistic Silly Season promp-ted some discussion in the pub. Theassembled company voted the follow-

ing the best Silly Season storyeve r.

It is not from Bristol. Itis not very historical. Butit came from our sisternewspaper the Wester nDaily Press, so that isgood enough for us.

The paper reportedon August 9, 2001 thatScrumpy Jack, an Afric-an grey parrot, had es-caped from the home ofits owner Beverley Wil-liams in Stonehouse,G l o u c e s t e r s h i re.

Scrumpy Jack’s cagewas in the living room, near the tele-vision on which Beverley watched herfavourite quiz show – as, evidently, didScrumpy Jack.

The bird’s last words before makingits escape were “You are the weakestlink. Goodbye.”

Cheers then.Get in touch: E-mailB r i s t o l . Ti m e s @ b - n m . c o . u k , or writeto Bristol Times, Bristol Post, TempleWay, Bristol, BS2 0BY.

A lifetime of guilt dept:TIME is a great healer, goes the cliche.But not, apparently, if you have a con-s c i e n c e.

I recently came across this tale fromthe summer of 1969.

The Western Daily Press received aletter containing a 10s note – that is 50pin your fancy Common-Market-styledecimal money. And with the ten bobcame a letter from a pensioner whohad been bothered about somethingfor 58 years.

Back in 1911, he said, he was a tramconductor in Bristol. One night, a lady

got on and asked for two 1d tick-e t s.

It was dark, and bothmust have assumed thatthe small coin she handedhim was a sixpence, and sohe handed her 4d change.

It was only later that herealised she had given hima half-sovereign – a goldcoin worth 10s, or half apound sterling.

They were commonenough before the FirstWorld War, and were onlywithdrawn from mass circu-lation when Britain came offthe Gold Standard in the1 9 3 0 s.

The pensioner wrote:“I have intended manytimes to make in-quiries aboutthe matter toreturn themoney, butowing to

financial embarrass-ment have not, untilnow, been in a positiont o. ”

The newspaper forwar-ded the money to the BristolOmnibus Company’s fund forwidows and orphans.

Website of theweek:BRISTOL and Avon Family HistorySociety was formed in 1975 and is verywell run. It produces a quarterlyjournal, holds regular meetings andevents, and even has its own researchroom at the Bristol Record Office.

If you are thinking about research-ing your family tree and are reason-ably confident your roots are roundthese parts, the society is a good place

HELLO, and welcome tothe column, as StSimeon Stylites usedto say. (I have beenreading improvingbooks on holiday andthought I would start

with an intellectual joke. If you do notget it, you can always look up StSimeon on Wikipedia – but it is notworth the trouble.)

Enough nonsense. Onwards!

Berni Inns appeal:ONE day Bristol Timeswill get around to doinga big article on BerniInns, a great and iconicfirm which started outin Bristol. In its hey-day the firm providedsteak, chips, BlackForest gateaux andschooners of sherryto the world.

But in the mean-time, someone else isdoing something onBernis first. Red-cliffe Press is aboutto publish a book,by local historianand author SueShephard, entitledFrom Cod To Cal-laloo.

Subtitled Th eStory Of BristolThrough Food And Wine, itis nothing less than a culin-ary history of the city. Thatsounds really good. We willhave a feature on it when it comesout.

In the meantime, though, the book isabout to go to the printers and thereare no decent Berni Inns pictures.

So Redcliffe Press is in urgent needof some good photos.

The publishers are looking for pic-tures of the Berni brothers, or the in-teriors of the Rummer or LlandogerTrow when they were both BerniI n n s.

The publishers are also keen on see-ing old Berni Inns menus. If you haveany of these, give Redcliffe a shout.

Redcliffe Press boss John Sansomsaid: “The first person to offer what wewant will be thanked in the book, willhave a free copy and will be invited tothe book launch,”

Do not contact us – go straight toJohn, and do not delay! He is on 0117973 7207, or johnsansom@aol.com

Latimer’sDiary

How religious‘gang’ left KeithFloyd incensed

BRISTOL Times recentlypublished a photo-graph of three HareKrishna devotees inBroadmead in 1971,which reminded me ofhow they first came to

Bristol. At that time, I was workingfor chef and restaurateur Keith Floydin his restaurant in Oakfield Road inClifton.

I was approached by Roy Chapman,a BBC television researcher who wassetting up a discussions programmeon various religions. He asked if Iwould become involved. At that time,I was interested in Bhuddism, havingrecently returned from a trip to Indiaand Nepal.

The programme was to be recordedlive at the BBC in Bristol. I had a largeflat above Keith's restaurant, and wasasked if I could put up, overnight, aguest who was appearing on the pro-g ramme.

This I agreed to do – and when hearrived complete with flowing saf-fron robes, Shayam Sundra Das de-scribed himself as a devotee of theHare Krishna movement. He wasAmerican and quite high up in theorganisation as he was their UK fin-ancial director.

He insisted that I called him by hisEnglish name, Michael. During thetelevision programme, Michael in-vited me to meet, in London, BeatleGeorge Harrison, who was very in-volved in the movement. Immedi-ately I took up his offer.

Some weeks later I found myselfsitting opposite George in HareKrishna headquarters called anashram. George asked me if I couldaccommodate some of the devotees inBristol as they wished to establish anew base in the West Country.

Flattered and amazed at even meet-ing George, I agreed. He shook myhand, giving me a copy of a recordthat he had produced with the de-votees of the London Temple whichreached No 12 in the charts in 1969.

In hindsight I should have asked

� Left, the photo thatprompted RichardHope-Hawkins’memories – a BristolPost picture of HareKrishna movementadherents inBroadmead, 1971.Above, Richard at thetime of the story, and,right, on his travels inKathmandu. Thesouvenirs of his visitwould prove to have anunexpected usefulness.Bottom left, The Har eKrishna Mantra singlepresented to Richard byBeatle George Harrison

Clifton flat was base for spreading the word

Members of the International Society for KrishnaConsciousness, commonly known as the HareKrishnas, were once a common sight in our cities.Writer and broadcaster Richard Hope-Hawkinsrecalls the time the Hare Krishnas came to hishome – and how they outstayed their welcome.

nection to The Beatles. But after a fewweeks, Keith, my neighbours and Iwere rather fed up with the situation– but it was difficult to say anythingbecause my guests were so peaceful,spiritual and rather amicable.

The main problem was that theyarose early and, upon so, beganchanting their mantra. To add to theinconvenience, they insisted thateveryone tiptoe around the flat afterthey went to bed at 8pm which re-stricted me in my own home, and myneighbours too.

They went out on to the streets ofBristol every day, visiting Broadmeadsometimes but mainly walking thestreets of Clifton, and always causinginterest as the area was very bo-hemian during the early 1970s. Theplace was full of hippies and peoplewho wanted an alternative, trendyl i f e s t y l e.

My guests built up a followingevery day, with passing people chant-ing with them. Often you would see agroup of young people following themPied Piper-style. They became a fa-miliar sight welcomed by, it seems,eve r yo n e.

(If you visit London, Hare Krishnadevotees can still be seen daily onOxford Street near their headquar-

ters. They offer free lunches and din-ners to anyone who wishes to jointhem.)

One day, my friend RobbieRobertson – a lighthouse keeper whoI knew while I spent time living onLundy Island – came to stay. I ex-plained that all of the bedrooms wereoccupied by the Hare Krishnas andhe would have to sleep in the livingro o m .

His response was “Are they somesort of gang? The Krishna Boys!”

I explained the situation and hisexpression upon meeting them was apicture. He was a great characterrarely lost for words – but he was leftspeechless by their appearance.

That night, we decided to go out fora drink in Clifton Village. On re-turning home, Keith, Robbie and aneighbour, a lawyer called Enoch Far-rington Hunt, and I sat in my livingroom discussing how we could ask,politely, the devotees to leave as soonas possible.

Robbie had an idea – we would allchant a Buddhist mantra.

I had a Tibetan thigh-bone trumpetwhich Enoch began to blow while wechanted. I had brought variousTibetan artefacts back to the UK,including a lama’s robe – which Rob-

� A half-sovereign.Not to be confusedwith a sixpence.

� Berni Inns menufrom the 1970s

him to autograph the copy – it wouldhave been worth a great deal today.

Some weeks later, five members ofthe Hare Krishna movement arrivedat Oakfield Road, having taken a taxi– which I found myself paying for –from Temple Meads station.

Upon entering my flat, they im-mediately seemed to take over, sayingthat they would establish a veget-arian kitchen so that they could in-vite people they met to share not onlyfood but music and spiritual enlight-enment.

Somehow, they managed to borrow,from a bemused Keith, a variety ofcatering pots and pans and soonbegan to create various deliciousd i s h e s.

Within days, I was reduced to livingin one room in my own flat while theywalked through the streets of Bristolchanting and giving out invitations toattend meals offered free at myh o m e.

Soon, I got used to the smell ofincense, the music accompanied by

drums and cymbals and the singingof “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna,Krishna Krishna, Hare Krishna”.

It did not take long for the BristolPo s t to cover their visit, made evenmore newsworthy because of the con-

bie wore – a Tibetan handbell which Irang, and some brightly-colouredTibetan shoes.

Within minutes, a devotee ap-peared asking us to keep the noisedown. Robbie said “You have yourreligion and we have ours”' and thestartled devotee left the room.

The next morning, taxis wereordered and, in haste, the devoteesleft me to restore the flat and ponderon the whole experience.

While in Bristol, they attracted agreat deal of publicity and it took awhile for me to get used to thesolitude of my kitchen and flat afterthe hustle and bustle of strangerscoming and going after having re-ceived free food and spiritual guid-a n c e.

A week later, a delivery crate wasleft on my doorstep. It was full of Hare

Krishna incense – and I must admitthat for weeks afterwards, I sold thecontents. It at least paid for theirimpromptu stay in my flat.

I was saddened to learn, as weremillions of people, that on November29, 2001, George Harrison passedaway at Paul McCartney’s home inAmerica. He was 58.

I learned that George, surroundedby his family and with Ravi Shankarplaying sitar music, had at his bed-side two pictures of the Hindu godsKrishna and Rama. and there weretwo devotees chanting a mantra. Oneof those devotees was Shayam SundraDas who I met originally at the BBCin Bristol.

Georg e’s ashes were flown to Indiaand, in accordance with the Krishnafaith, scattered into the Gangesr ive r.

PETER CAROLThe Prestige Coaching CompanyASCENDERE OMNIS COLLIS

.... Unrivalled OualityUnrivalled Ouality01275 839 839 • www.petercarol.co.uk

EPB-E01-S4

EPB-

E01-

S4

4 Tu e s d a y, September 3, 2013 5Tu e s d a y, September 3, 2013w w w. bristolpost.co.uk w w w. bristolpost.co.uk

to start. The website tells you all aboutthe society and its various publica-tions, and has a lot of useful inform-ation and links. It is atw w w. b a f h s. o rg. u k

Behind the scenes atM shed:YOU know all that interesting stuffthey have on show at M shed? Well,there is even more stuff that they donot have the space to display.

The good news is that you can get alook at some of the city’s hidden treas-ures with one of the behind-the-scenestours that they run at 11.30am everyTuesday, Thursday and, now, Friday,and at 2.30pm every Wednesday andS at u rd ay.

You can usually just sign up at theinformation desk on the day. But, to besure of a place, book in advance bye-mailing info@mshed.org or calling0117 352 6600. Tours last about 45minutes and are suitable for anyoneaged 12 and upwards. M shed suggestsa £2 donation per person.

Silly Season hangover:LAST week’s column looking at a fewbizarre local news stories in honour ofthe journalistic Silly Season promp-ted some discussion in the pub. Theassembled company voted the follow-

ing the best Silly Season storyeve r.

It is not from Bristol. Itis not very historical. Butit came from our sisternewspaper the Wester nDaily Press, so that isgood enough for us.

The paper reportedon August 9, 2001 thatScrumpy Jack, an Afric-an grey parrot, had es-caped from the home ofits owner Beverley Wil-liams in Stonehouse,G l o u c e s t e r s h i re.

Scrumpy Jack’s cagewas in the living room, near the tele-vision on which Beverley watched herfavourite quiz show – as, evidently, didScrumpy Jack.

The bird’s last words before makingits escape were “You are the weakestlink. Goodbye.”

Cheers then.Get in touch: E-mailB r i s t o l . Ti m e s @ b - n m . c o . u k , or writeto Bristol Times, Bristol Post, TempleWay, Bristol, BS2 0BY.

A lifetime of guilt dept:TIME is a great healer, goes the cliche.But not, apparently, if you have a con-s c i e n c e.

I recently came across this tale fromthe summer of 1969.

The Western Daily Press received aletter containing a 10s note – that is 50pin your fancy Common-Market-styledecimal money. And with the ten bobcame a letter from a pensioner whohad been bothered about somethingfor 58 years.

Back in 1911, he said, he was a tramconductor in Bristol. One night, a lady

got on and asked for two 1d tick-e t s.

It was dark, and bothmust have assumed thatthe small coin she handedhim was a sixpence, and sohe handed her 4d change.

It was only later that herealised she had given hima half-sovereign – a goldcoin worth 10s, or half apound sterling.

They were commonenough before the FirstWorld War, and were onlywithdrawn from mass circu-lation when Britain came offthe Gold Standard in the1 9 3 0 s.

The pensioner wrote:“I have intended manytimes to make in-quiries aboutthe matter toreturn themoney, butowing to

financial embarrass-ment have not, untilnow, been in a positiont o. ”

The newspaper forwar-ded the money to the BristolOmnibus Company’s fund forwidows and orphans.

Website of theweek:BRISTOL and Avon Family HistorySociety was formed in 1975 and is verywell run. It produces a quarterlyjournal, holds regular meetings andevents, and even has its own researchroom at the Bristol Record Office.

If you are thinking about research-ing your family tree and are reason-ably confident your roots are roundthese parts, the society is a good place

HELLO, and welcome tothe column, as StSimeon Stylites usedto say. (I have beenreading improvingbooks on holiday andthought I would start

with an intellectual joke. If you do notget it, you can always look up StSimeon on Wikipedia – but it is notworth the trouble.)

Enough nonsense. Onwards!

Berni Inns appeal:ONE day Bristol Timeswill get around to doinga big article on BerniInns, a great and iconicfirm which started outin Bristol. In its hey-day the firm providedsteak, chips, BlackForest gateaux andschooners of sherryto the world.

But in the mean-time, someone else isdoing something onBernis first. Red-cliffe Press is aboutto publish a book,by local historianand author SueShephard, entitledFrom Cod To Cal-laloo.

Subtitled Th eStory Of BristolThrough Food And Wine, itis nothing less than a culin-ary history of the city. Thatsounds really good. We willhave a feature on it when it comesout.

In the meantime, though, the book isabout to go to the printers and thereare no decent Berni Inns pictures.

So Redcliffe Press is in urgent needof some good photos.

The publishers are looking for pic-tures of the Berni brothers, or the in-teriors of the Rummer or LlandogerTrow when they were both BerniI n n s.

The publishers are also keen on see-ing old Berni Inns menus. If you haveany of these, give Redcliffe a shout.

Redcliffe Press boss John Sansomsaid: “The first person to offer what wewant will be thanked in the book, willhave a free copy and will be invited tothe book launch,”

Do not contact us – go straight toJohn, and do not delay! He is on 0117973 7207, or johnsansom@aol.com

Latimer’sDiary

How religious‘gang’ left KeithFloyd incensed

BRISTOL Times recentlypublished a photo-graph of three HareKrishna devotees inBroadmead in 1971,which reminded me ofhow they first came to

Bristol. At that time, I was workingfor chef and restaurateur Keith Floydin his restaurant in Oakfield Road inClifton.

I was approached by Roy Chapman,a BBC television researcher who wassetting up a discussions programmeon various religions. He asked if Iwould become involved. At that time,I was interested in Bhuddism, havingrecently returned from a trip to Indiaand Nepal.

The programme was to be recordedlive at the BBC in Bristol. I had a largeflat above Keith's restaurant, and wasasked if I could put up, overnight, aguest who was appearing on the pro-g ramme.

This I agreed to do – and when hearrived complete with flowing saf-fron robes, Shayam Sundra Das de-scribed himself as a devotee of theHare Krishna movement. He wasAmerican and quite high up in theorganisation as he was their UK fin-ancial director.

He insisted that I called him by hisEnglish name, Michael. During thetelevision programme, Michael in-vited me to meet, in London, BeatleGeorge Harrison, who was very in-volved in the movement. Immedi-ately I took up his offer.

Some weeks later I found myselfsitting opposite George in HareKrishna headquarters called anashram. George asked me if I couldaccommodate some of the devotees inBristol as they wished to establish anew base in the West Country.

Flattered and amazed at even meet-ing George, I agreed. He shook myhand, giving me a copy of a recordthat he had produced with the de-votees of the London Temple whichreached No 12 in the charts in 1969.

In hindsight I should have asked

� Left, the photo thatprompted RichardHope-Hawkins’memories – a BristolPost picture of HareKrishna movementadherents inBroadmead, 1971.Above, Richard at thetime of the story, and,right, on his travels inKathmandu. Thesouvenirs of his visitwould prove to have anunexpected usefulness.Bottom left, The Har eKrishna Mantra singlepresented to Richard byBeatle George Harrison

Clifton flat was base for spreading the word

Members of the International Society for KrishnaConsciousness, commonly known as the HareKrishnas, were once a common sight in our cities.Writer and broadcaster Richard Hope-Hawkinsrecalls the time the Hare Krishnas came to hishome – and how they outstayed their welcome.

nection to The Beatles. But after a fewweeks, Keith, my neighbours and Iwere rather fed up with the situation– but it was difficult to say anythingbecause my guests were so peaceful,spiritual and rather amicable.

The main problem was that theyarose early and, upon so, beganchanting their mantra. To add to theinconvenience, they insisted thateveryone tiptoe around the flat afterthey went to bed at 8pm which re-stricted me in my own home, and myneighbours too.

They went out on to the streets ofBristol every day, visiting Broadmeadsometimes but mainly walking thestreets of Clifton, and always causinginterest as the area was very bo-hemian during the early 1970s. Theplace was full of hippies and peoplewho wanted an alternative, trendyl i f e s t y l e.

My guests built up a followingevery day, with passing people chant-ing with them. Often you would see agroup of young people following themPied Piper-style. They became a fa-miliar sight welcomed by, it seems,eve r yo n e.

(If you visit London, Hare Krishnadevotees can still be seen daily onOxford Street near their headquar-

ters. They offer free lunches and din-ners to anyone who wishes to jointhem.)

One day, my friend RobbieRobertson – a lighthouse keeper whoI knew while I spent time living onLundy Island – came to stay. I ex-plained that all of the bedrooms wereoccupied by the Hare Krishnas andhe would have to sleep in the livingro o m .

His response was “Are they somesort of gang? The Krishna Boys!”

I explained the situation and hisexpression upon meeting them was apicture. He was a great characterrarely lost for words – but he was leftspeechless by their appearance.

That night, we decided to go out fora drink in Clifton Village. On re-turning home, Keith, Robbie and aneighbour, a lawyer called Enoch Far-rington Hunt, and I sat in my livingroom discussing how we could ask,politely, the devotees to leave as soonas possible.

Robbie had an idea – we would allchant a Buddhist mantra.

I had a Tibetan thigh-bone trumpetwhich Enoch began to blow while wechanted. I had brought variousTibetan artefacts back to the UK,including a lama’s robe – which Rob-

� A half-sovereign.Not to be confusedwith a sixpence.

� Berni Inns menufrom the 1970s

him to autograph the copy – it wouldhave been worth a great deal today.

Some weeks later, five members ofthe Hare Krishna movement arrivedat Oakfield Road, having taken a taxi– which I found myself paying for –from Temple Meads station.

Upon entering my flat, they im-mediately seemed to take over, sayingthat they would establish a veget-arian kitchen so that they could in-vite people they met to share not onlyfood but music and spiritual enlight-enment.

Somehow, they managed to borrow,from a bemused Keith, a variety ofcatering pots and pans and soonbegan to create various deliciousd i s h e s.

Within days, I was reduced to livingin one room in my own flat while theywalked through the streets of Bristolchanting and giving out invitations toattend meals offered free at myh o m e.

Soon, I got used to the smell ofincense, the music accompanied by

drums and cymbals and the singingof “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna,Krishna Krishna, Hare Krishna”.

It did not take long for the BristolPo s t to cover their visit, made evenmore newsworthy because of the con-

bie wore – a Tibetan handbell which Irang, and some brightly-colouredTibetan shoes.

Within minutes, a devotee ap-peared asking us to keep the noisedown. Robbie said “You have yourreligion and we have ours”' and thestartled devotee left the room.

The next morning, taxis wereordered and, in haste, the devoteesleft me to restore the flat and ponderon the whole experience.

While in Bristol, they attracted agreat deal of publicity and it took awhile for me to get used to thesolitude of my kitchen and flat afterthe hustle and bustle of strangerscoming and going after having re-ceived free food and spiritual guid-a n c e.

A week later, a delivery crate wasleft on my doorstep. It was full of Hare

Krishna incense – and I must admitthat for weeks afterwards, I sold thecontents. It at least paid for theirimpromptu stay in my flat.

I was saddened to learn, as weremillions of people, that on November29, 2001, George Harrison passedaway at Paul McCartney’s home inAmerica. He was 58.

I learned that George, surroundedby his family and with Ravi Shankarplaying sitar music, had at his bed-side two pictures of the Hindu godsKrishna and Rama. and there weretwo devotees chanting a mantra. Oneof those devotees was Shayam SundraDas who I met originally at the BBCin Bristol.

Georg e’s ashes were flown to Indiaand, in accordance with the Krishnafaith, scattered into the Gangesr ive r.

PETER CAROLThe Prestige Coaching CompanyASCENDERE OMNIS COLLIS

.... Unrivalled OualityUnrivalled Ouality01275 839 839 • www.petercarol.co.uk

EPB-E01-S4

EPB-

E01-

S4

6 Tu e s d a y, September 3, 2013 7Tu e s d a y, September 3, 2013w w w. bristolpost.co.uk w w w. bristolpost.co.uk

Bristol people donot say ‘Bristle’

IT’S wonderful that you pub-lished such an iconic article asthe one about ‘Bristle’ (BristolTimes, July 16). It really was asumptuous piece. The photowas brilliant, especially as itfeatured Professor Colin Pill-

inger, one of our very great Bris-tolians – and as you say ‘a r g u ablyK i n g swo o d ’s most famous son’. (Andhe still speaks like a native!)

Unfortunately, there’s an elephantin the room. The word ‘Bristle’. Whyoh why did Derek Robinson ever useit to convey the sound of our city’sname?

And then, why oh why did all the

� Professor Colin Pillinger, a Kingswood boy who hasn’t lost his accent

Mispronunciation makes hair stand on end

local media perpetuate the ‘my t h ’.I challenge you to name one person

who has ever used that pronunciationfor that meaning. I know very well itis meant to be funny, and Robson’sbooks themselves are funnier thanfunny, as are their successors. Butthey’ve spoiled everything with thatwo rd .

I suppose ‘Ro b s o n’ was constrainedby the difficulty of spelling such asound, which can only be properlyconveyed by the phonetic alphabet.And I suppose also that his suc-cessors felt obliged to keep the termfor publicity reasons. As far as I’mconcerned even when ‘bl o ke s ’de-value the city name with thatawful cockney rhyming slang, ‘Bris-tols’, it’s more amusing than the ex-ecrable ‘Bristle’.

Now, all because of local literatiwho ought to know better, peoplefrom near and far have the idea that‘Bristol’( spelt ‘Bristle’) is somethingthat sticks out of a paint brush or anunshaven chin.

It certainly makes me bristle!Brian IlesHanham

Descendants of George Hawkins, born 1832

Can anyone help me trace this Bitton family?

End of the pier show

Tra i n ’s enginemade in Bristol

Beaufort Arms

The pub, notthe off licence

Website will show who was paid to release their slaves

AUGUST 28 saw the180th anniversary ofthe passing of the Ab-olition of Slavery Act.The campaigners whohad been lobbying fordecades to end slavery

throughout British empire had fi-nally got their way.

Or most of it anyway; the Act didnot apply to British India, which wasat this time run by a private com-p a ny.

The slave trade had been madeillegal some years previously, butnow the entire institution was finallydone away with.

But for many Britons, this wasnothing to do with an overnightchange of heart. Many people stood tolose what they regarded as valuableproperty when the slaves workingplantations in the West Indies weregiven their freedom.

The pathway to the Abolition Act

Hidden legacy of slave trade revealed

Castle Street memories

MARIONS’ Memories in the Po s t ofAugust 8 brought back all the happymemories I have of shopping in thebig Co-op store in Castle Street withmy mum and grandmother, espe-cially at Christmas time when thewhole of Castle Street was aglow withtwinkling fairy lights.

But the one memory that sticks inmy mind is walking past the Co-opstore and seeing, at the very top,statues of choirboys singing carols.

Where we lived on Fishponds Roadthere was a little shop run by a lovelylady and her husband where youcould buy nearly everything, fromhair slides to stocks, etc.. But the one

Singing choirboys on the Co-op

� A WestIndiessugarplantationaround thetime ofAbolition

I AM researching the family historyof the Hawkins family who resided inand around the Bitton area fromabout the early 1800s and, throughyour paper, I am seeking any in-formation your readers may haveabout any family members.

The following members of the fam-ily are of particular interest.

George Hawkins: born about 1832;christened January 6, 1833, at HolyTrinity, Bitton; lived at Mount Hill,K i n g swo o d .

He married Elizabeth Brain, bornabout 1830, on December 1, 1856 at St

WITH reference to your article inBristol Times, August 20, 2013 aboutthe Know Your Place website.

Around four years ago my wife andI were on holiday in the New Forestand decided to go shopping inSouthampton via the Hythe Ferry.

What a great choice that was.When you arrive at Hythe Pier, you

board the World’s Oldest Pier Train(Guinness World Record) and afterthe short ride of 640 metres (2,100ft)you will have travelled along one ofthe ten longest piers in the BritishI s l e s.

I inquired of the train driver themethod of propulsion.

He gave me a leaflet with someinformation and I found the trainwas driven by a large electricm o t o r.

The source of this motor was…Avonmouth in Bristol.

It had once been used to producepoisonous gas for use during theFirst World War. Now it is still in useall day every day.

Terry Belton

� DO any Bristol Times re a d e r shave a photograph of the old pub,the Beaufort Arms, that wassituated in Great Western Street? Ineed it for my family research.

I believe it was demolished eitherin the late Fifties or early Sixties.

I know there was an off licenceof the same name in Henry Streetbut that’s not the one I’minterested in! I am looking for apicture of the public house itself.I would be grateful if anyone whodoes have a photo of the BeaufortArms pub would contact the BristolTi m e s .

Mr C P Elvins

had to be smoothed with money – anda huge amount of it.

On Abolition, slave owners, manyof whom were companies and in-dividuals in Britain who might neverhave even set foot in the West Indies,were compensated for the loss of theiri nve s t m e n t .

The total bill came to £20 million.It’s notoriously difficult to put mod-ern values onto old monetary prices,but by any estimation this was astupendous sum. It was the equi-valent of almost half of the Britishgover nment’s entire spending in asingle year.

One estimate puts that £20 millionat the equivalent of £16 billionn ow a d ay s.

The pay-out went to some 47,000owners, so it’s little surprise to findthat their descendants are numerous.Modern day individuals who hadslave-owning ancestors includePrime Minister David Cameron andscientist Richard Dawkins. If youknow that your family has been reas-onably well-off for several genera-tions then it is fairly likely one ofyour forebears had a financial in-terest in sugar and slaves at somepoint.

While thousands of people, fromaristocrats and bishops all the waydown to widows of modest meanswere sharing in this bonanza, theex-slaves got absolutely nothing. Thisscandal was compounded by the factthat many slaves were now forced towork, unpaid, for their former mas-ters, for some years as “ap p re n -t i c e s. ”

Historians are still puzzling overthe consequences of this massive in-

Britain abolished slavery180 years ago, but thelegislation could only bepassed with the promiseof paying a vast amount ofmoney to compensateslave owners. EugeneByr ne looks at a newonline database that istrying to trace who thecash went to.

� ONE for the end ofsummer … This was taken bya Post photographer on theprom at Weston-super-Mareon August Bank Holiday1978, and if you look at itclosely you’ll notice itcontains an interesting socialcomment of sorts.

Notice how loads of peoplein the picture are (as you doat the seaside on BankHolidays) eating ice creamsand burgers and hot dogs.

And now notice how notone person in this picture isanything near obese, or evenjust a bit chubby. Any crowdpictured anywhere in Britainnowadays would include afew individuals who are alittle on the stout side.

But back in the Seventies alot fewer of us wereoverweight.

(The Bristol Times editorwould here like to stress thathe is not being in any wayjudgemental and could dowith losing a few poundshimself. Well, quite a lot ofpounds, actually.)

Picture of the Week

George, Bristol. In the 1881 census thefamily were shown living at MountHill, Bitton, and with George Hawkinsa labourer and his wife a cordwainer.He died in September 1922.

Known children:Martha Hawkins: born about 1857

at Bitton (deaf and dumb from birth).Possibly died September 1880.

Louisa Hawkins: born about 1859 atBitton; christened February 6, 1859,at Holy Trinity, Kingswood. Shoem a ke r.

Hannah Hawkins: christenedSeptember 2, 1860 at Holy Trinity,

Kingswood. (Married Samuel LearSeptember 1882. Died September 1896possibly in childbirth – Bertie Wil-liam Lear born September 1896)

Harriet Hawkins: born about 1862at Bitton. Shoe maker. (Deaf anddumb from birth). Possibly diedSeptember 1881

Eliza Hawkins: born about 1865 atBitton; christened April 2, 1865, atKingswood. Shoe maker. (Married aJames Jenkins on May 22, 1882)

Emily Hawkins: born June 1867 atBitton. Shoe maker. (Married SamuelBrain September 1890.)

George Hawkins; born about 1869at Bitton. Scholar. (1871 census deafand dumb from birth). Died June1931.

William Hawkins: born about 1869at Bitton. Scholar. (1891 census, deafand dumb from birth). Died Septem-ber 1948.

Lilly Hawkins: born about 1872 atBitton. Scholar. Possibly died March1935.

In 1861 the family were living inCock Road, Oldland, and by 1871 hadmoved to High Elm, Oldland. In the1881 census they are shown as living

jection of cash into the British eco-n o my.

Much of it was paid to institutionsand individuals in Bristol. By the1830s many well-to-do Bristolian fam-ilies still had business interests,either directly in the West Indies asslave and plantation owners, or atsecond hand as sugar refiners, fore x a m p l e.

Not all refiners were supporters ofslavery. The father of Elizabeth Black-well, who would later become famousas the world’s first qualified womandoctor, owned a refinery on Coun-terslip and was himself a passionateabolitionist. His daughter wouldlater campaign against slavery in theUSA.

Those receiving compensation hadto do something with the money, andwhile historians need to do morework, it is certainly the case thatsome of it was invested in the newrailways, including Brunel’s GreatWestern. Some of it went towardsfounding banking and insurancecompanies, or was used for buildingcountry houses.

Researchers based at UniversityCollege London have been workingfor some years now to assemble adatabase of slave owners in the Carib-bean at the time of Abolition, and totrace the fallout from slave owner-ship and its ending.

The Legacies of British Slave-own-ership website is at www.ucl.ac.uk/lbsand its use will go well beyond theusual groves of academe. Those re-searching their ancestors, for in-stance, will be interested to seewhether their forebears benefitedfrom slave ownership.

in Mount Hill Road. Sons George andWilliam were still living there in 1901along with their father.

I suspect there are relatives of Geo-rge Hawkins (born 1832) who still livein the area since both Eliza and Emilymarried into local, well-establishedfamilies some of whom lived in andaround Cock Road.

Any information and/or photo-graphs would be most welcome.Please email john.hawkins873@btin-ternet.com or call 01642 312053 after6pm.

John Hawkins

thing my family and I loved most ofall was the lovely ham on the bone,which was sliced on a bacon-slicer.

I have never tasted ham like thats i n c e.

When I got married in 1963, myhusband and I were out to work allday and we would write out a list ofgroceries and hand it in to our cornershop. When we came home in theevening, our groceries would be onour doorstep all wrapped up in paperbags, ready for us. No one ever tookthem from our doorstep – ima ginedoing that today!

Also when I went shopping I al-ways took a wicker basket with me,

or my grandmother’s leather bag, asthings were never wrapped in any-thing other than newspaper,greaseproof paper or brown paper

bags – not like today with all thisplastic!

Carol DyerBarrs Court

� TheCo-Op,Castlestreet in1954

PETER CAROLThe Prestige Coaching CompanyASCENDERE OMNIS COLLIS

.... Professional ServiceProfessional Service01275 839 839 • www.petercarol.co.uk

EPB-E01-S4

EPB-

E01-

S4

6 Tu e s d a y, September 3, 2013 7Tu e s d a y, September 3, 2013w w w. bristolpost.co.uk w w w. bristolpost.co.uk

Bristol people donot say ‘Bristle’

IT’S wonderful that you pub-lished such an iconic article asthe one about ‘Bristle’ (BristolTimes, July 16). It really was asumptuous piece. The photowas brilliant, especially as itfeatured Professor Colin Pill-

inger, one of our very great Bris-tolians – and as you say ‘a r g u ablyK i n g swo o d ’s most famous son’. (Andhe still speaks like a native!)

Unfortunately, there’s an elephantin the room. The word ‘Bristle’. Whyoh why did Derek Robinson ever useit to convey the sound of our city’sname?

And then, why oh why did all the

� Professor Colin Pillinger, a Kingswood boy who hasn’t lost his accent

Mispronunciation makes hair stand on end

local media perpetuate the ‘my t h ’.I challenge you to name one person

who has ever used that pronunciationfor that meaning. I know very well itis meant to be funny, and Robson’sbooks themselves are funnier thanfunny, as are their successors. Butthey’ve spoiled everything with thatwo rd .

I suppose ‘Ro b s o n’ was constrainedby the difficulty of spelling such asound, which can only be properlyconveyed by the phonetic alphabet.And I suppose also that his suc-cessors felt obliged to keep the termfor publicity reasons. As far as I’mconcerned even when ‘bl o ke s ’de-value the city name with thatawful cockney rhyming slang, ‘Bris-tols’, it’s more amusing than the ex-ecrable ‘Bristle’.

Now, all because of local literatiwho ought to know better, peoplefrom near and far have the idea that‘Bristol’( spelt ‘Bristle’) is somethingthat sticks out of a paint brush or anunshaven chin.

It certainly makes me bristle!Brian IlesHanham

Descendants of George Hawkins, born 1832

Can anyone help me trace this Bitton family?

End of the pier show

Tra i n ’s enginemade in Bristol

Beaufort Arms

The pub, notthe off licence

Website will show who was paid to release their slaves

AUGUST 28 saw the180th anniversary ofthe passing of the Ab-olition of Slavery Act.The campaigners whohad been lobbying fordecades to end slavery

throughout British empire had fi-nally got their way.

Or most of it anyway; the Act didnot apply to British India, which wasat this time run by a private com-p a ny.

The slave trade had been madeillegal some years previously, butnow the entire institution was finallydone away with.

But for many Britons, this wasnothing to do with an overnightchange of heart. Many people stood tolose what they regarded as valuableproperty when the slaves workingplantations in the West Indies weregiven their freedom.

The pathway to the Abolition Act

Hidden legacy of slave trade revealed

Castle Street memories

MARIONS’ Memories in the Po s t ofAugust 8 brought back all the happymemories I have of shopping in thebig Co-op store in Castle Street withmy mum and grandmother, espe-cially at Christmas time when thewhole of Castle Street was aglow withtwinkling fairy lights.

But the one memory that sticks inmy mind is walking past the Co-opstore and seeing, at the very top,statues of choirboys singing carols.

Where we lived on Fishponds Roadthere was a little shop run by a lovelylady and her husband where youcould buy nearly everything, fromhair slides to stocks, etc.. But the one

Singing choirboys on the Co-op

� A WestIndiessugarplantationaround thetime ofAbolition

I AM researching the family historyof the Hawkins family who resided inand around the Bitton area fromabout the early 1800s and, throughyour paper, I am seeking any in-formation your readers may haveabout any family members.

The following members of the fam-ily are of particular interest.

George Hawkins: born about 1832;christened January 6, 1833, at HolyTrinity, Bitton; lived at Mount Hill,K i n g swo o d .

He married Elizabeth Brain, bornabout 1830, on December 1, 1856 at St

WITH reference to your article inBristol Times, August 20, 2013 aboutthe Know Your Place website.

Around four years ago my wife andI were on holiday in the New Forestand decided to go shopping inSouthampton via the Hythe Ferry.

What a great choice that was.When you arrive at Hythe Pier, you

board the World’s Oldest Pier Train(Guinness World Record) and afterthe short ride of 640 metres (2,100ft)you will have travelled along one ofthe ten longest piers in the BritishI s l e s.

I inquired of the train driver themethod of propulsion.

He gave me a leaflet with someinformation and I found the trainwas driven by a large electricm o t o r.

The source of this motor was…Avonmouth in Bristol.

It had once been used to producepoisonous gas for use during theFirst World War. Now it is still in useall day every day.

Terry Belton

� DO any Bristol Times re a d e r shave a photograph of the old pub,the Beaufort Arms, that wassituated in Great Western Street? Ineed it for my family research.

I believe it was demolished eitherin the late Fifties or early Sixties.

I know there was an off licenceof the same name in Henry Streetbut that’s not the one I’minterested in! I am looking for apicture of the public house itself.I would be grateful if anyone whodoes have a photo of the BeaufortArms pub would contact the BristolTi m e s .

Mr C P Elvins

had to be smoothed with money – anda huge amount of it.

On Abolition, slave owners, manyof whom were companies and in-dividuals in Britain who might neverhave even set foot in the West Indies,were compensated for the loss of theiri nve s t m e n t .

The total bill came to £20 million.It’s notoriously difficult to put mod-ern values onto old monetary prices,but by any estimation this was astupendous sum. It was the equi-valent of almost half of the Britishgover nment’s entire spending in asingle year.

One estimate puts that £20 millionat the equivalent of £16 billionn ow a d ay s.

The pay-out went to some 47,000owners, so it’s little surprise to findthat their descendants are numerous.Modern day individuals who hadslave-owning ancestors includePrime Minister David Cameron andscientist Richard Dawkins. If youknow that your family has been reas-onably well-off for several genera-tions then it is fairly likely one ofyour forebears had a financial in-terest in sugar and slaves at somepoint.

While thousands of people, fromaristocrats and bishops all the waydown to widows of modest meanswere sharing in this bonanza, theex-slaves got absolutely nothing. Thisscandal was compounded by the factthat many slaves were now forced towork, unpaid, for their former mas-ters, for some years as “ap p re n -t i c e s. ”

Historians are still puzzling overthe consequences of this massive in-

Britain abolished slavery180 years ago, but thelegislation could only bepassed with the promiseof paying a vast amount ofmoney to compensateslave owners. EugeneByr ne looks at a newonline database that istrying to trace who thecash went to.

� ONE for the end ofsummer … This was taken bya Post photographer on theprom at Weston-super-Mareon August Bank Holiday1978, and if you look at itclosely you’ll notice itcontains an interesting socialcomment of sorts.

Notice how loads of peoplein the picture are (as you doat the seaside on BankHolidays) eating ice creamsand burgers and hot dogs.

And now notice how notone person in this picture isanything near obese, or evenjust a bit chubby. Any crowdpictured anywhere in Britainnowadays would include afew individuals who are alittle on the stout side.

But back in the Seventies alot fewer of us wereoverweight.

(The Bristol Times editorwould here like to stress thathe is not being in any wayjudgemental and could dowith losing a few poundshimself. Well, quite a lot ofpounds, actually.)

Picture of the Week

George, Bristol. In the 1881 census thefamily were shown living at MountHill, Bitton, and with George Hawkinsa labourer and his wife a cordwainer.He died in September 1922.

Known children:Martha Hawkins: born about 1857

at Bitton (deaf and dumb from birth).Possibly died September 1880.

Louisa Hawkins: born about 1859 atBitton; christened February 6, 1859,at Holy Trinity, Kingswood. Shoem a ke r.

Hannah Hawkins: christenedSeptember 2, 1860 at Holy Trinity,

Kingswood. (Married Samuel LearSeptember 1882. Died September 1896possibly in childbirth – Bertie Wil-liam Lear born September 1896)

Harriet Hawkins: born about 1862at Bitton. Shoe maker. (Deaf anddumb from birth). Possibly diedSeptember 1881

Eliza Hawkins: born about 1865 atBitton; christened April 2, 1865, atKingswood. Shoe maker. (Married aJames Jenkins on May 22, 1882)

Emily Hawkins: born June 1867 atBitton. Shoe maker. (Married SamuelBrain September 1890.)

George Hawkins; born about 1869at Bitton. Scholar. (1871 census deafand dumb from birth). Died June1931.

William Hawkins: born about 1869at Bitton. Scholar. (1891 census, deafand dumb from birth). Died Septem-ber 1948.

Lilly Hawkins: born about 1872 atBitton. Scholar. Possibly died March1935.

In 1861 the family were living inCock Road, Oldland, and by 1871 hadmoved to High Elm, Oldland. In the1881 census they are shown as living

jection of cash into the British eco-n o my.

Much of it was paid to institutionsand individuals in Bristol. By the1830s many well-to-do Bristolian fam-ilies still had business interests,either directly in the West Indies asslave and plantation owners, or atsecond hand as sugar refiners, fore x a m p l e.

Not all refiners were supporters ofslavery. The father of Elizabeth Black-well, who would later become famousas the world’s first qualified womandoctor, owned a refinery on Coun-terslip and was himself a passionateabolitionist. His daughter wouldlater campaign against slavery in theUSA.

Those receiving compensation hadto do something with the money, andwhile historians need to do morework, it is certainly the case thatsome of it was invested in the newrailways, including Brunel’s GreatWestern. Some of it went towardsfounding banking and insurancecompanies, or was used for buildingcountry houses.

Researchers based at UniversityCollege London have been workingfor some years now to assemble adatabase of slave owners in the Carib-bean at the time of Abolition, and totrace the fallout from slave owner-ship and its ending.

The Legacies of British Slave-own-ership website is at www.ucl.ac.uk/lbsand its use will go well beyond theusual groves of academe. Those re-searching their ancestors, for in-stance, will be interested to seewhether their forebears benefitedfrom slave ownership.

in Mount Hill Road. Sons George andWilliam were still living there in 1901along with their father.

I suspect there are relatives of Geo-rge Hawkins (born 1832) who still livein the area since both Eliza and Emilymarried into local, well-establishedfamilies some of whom lived in andaround Cock Road.

Any information and/or photo-graphs would be most welcome.Please email john.hawkins873@btin-ternet.com or call 01642 312053 after6pm.

John Hawkins

thing my family and I loved most ofall was the lovely ham on the bone,which was sliced on a bacon-slicer.

I have never tasted ham like thats i n c e.

When I got married in 1963, myhusband and I were out to work allday and we would write out a list ofgroceries and hand it in to our cornershop. When we came home in theevening, our groceries would be onour doorstep all wrapped up in paperbags, ready for us. No one ever tookthem from our doorstep – ima ginedoing that today!

Also when I went shopping I al-ways took a wicker basket with me,

or my grandmother’s leather bag, asthings were never wrapped in any-thing other than newspaper,greaseproof paper or brown paper

bags – not like today with all thisplastic!

Carol DyerBarrs Court

� TheCo-Op,Castlestreet in1954

PETER CAROLThe Prestige Coaching CompanyASCENDERE OMNIS COLLIS

.... Professional ServiceProfessional Service01275 839 839 • www.petercarol.co.uk