Bristol

  • In a cave in a cliff, there lived a hermit

    Steve WoodsBristol, Oddities

    On my way into the Bristol Wireless lab, I pass by the former Quakers’ Burial Ground opposite St Mary Redcliffe Church, now a pleasant, small green space amid the bustle of the city.

    Right at the back of the Burial Ground set into the sandstone of Redcliffe Hill itself is a small cave, now barred by a wrought iron gate, as shown in the picture below.

    image of Hermit's Cave in Redcliffe, Bristol
    The Hermit’s Cave in Redcliffe, Bristol

    According to the plaque to right of the entry, the cave was first used as a hermit’s habitation in the 14th century when John Sparkes (or Sparke, according to some sources. Ed.) was installed in 1346 by Thomas Lord Berkeley to pray for him and his family. The plaque continues by saying that the cave continued to be occupied by successive hermits until the 17th century.

    If the date of 1346 is true, the only Thomas Lord Berkeley to whom the text on the plaque could possibly refer is the third Baron de Berkeley (circa 1293 or 1296 – 27 October 1361), 8th feudal Baron Berkeley, also known as Thomas the Rich, whose ancestral home was Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire.

    Thomas definitely needed someone to pray for him. In 1327 Thomas was made joint custodian of the deposed King Edward II of England, whom he received at Berkeley Castle where he died, believed to have been murdered by an agent of Isabella of France (also known as the ‘She-Wolf of France’. Ed.), Edward’s wife, and Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March (whose daughter Margaret, was Thomas’ first wife. Ed.), on 11th October 1327.

    Thomas de Berkeley was tried an accessory to the murder of the Edward II by a jury of 12 knights in the 4th year of King Edward III of England, but was honourably acquitted.

    The land where the hermit’s cave now stands was acquired by the Religious Society of Friends (otherwise known as the Quakers) in 1667 and used as a burial ground until 1923. The gravestones from the former burial ground are now stacked in the hermit’s cave. The earliest recorded memorial is dated 1669 and the latest 1923, whilst the ages of the dear departed range from eight months to 99 years.

    According to the plaque, some well-known Bristol Quaker names are included amongst the memorials, i.e. Alloway, Grace, Harford, Houlden, Jennings, Ring, Smyth, Wall and Whitworth.

    My friend Julien remembers resorting to the hermit’s cave for a crafty smoke when he was a pupil at nearby St Mary Redcliffe & Temple School.

    The burial ground was handed over by the Quakers to Bristol City Council in 1959 – presumably to help allow the local environment and heritage to be destroyed by the council’s highway engineers (including the demolition of the world’s first lead shot tower. Ed.).

  • A nice word for dealing with something nasty

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language

    Yesterday’s Bristol Post carried a report on the start of building works at Wapping Wharf down by the city docks.

    On the whole the report is fairly bland and it looks like a standard bit of blurb produced from a property developer’s press release.

    Nevertheless, one sentence in particular drew my attention. It reads:

    In recent days large machinery has moved to the site to prepare for the start of remediation and ground works.

    After reading that, I began wondering how many of the Post’s readers know what remediation works actually are or what they involve.

    Turning to the dictionary, remediation is defined as “the act or process of correcting a fault or deficiency.”

    Correcting a fault or deficiency sounds fairly harmless and definitely a good thing to do, doesn’t it?

    However, one has to add the word ‘site’ or ‘environmental’ to remediation to get at its actual meaning as used in the Post’s report, which is cleaning up pollution or contaminated land.

    There are various means of effecting remediation, depending on the contamination or pollutant involved, but one very common means (and one which has been used extensively in the past by developers in Bristol. Ed.) is the use of heavy plant to dig up the contaminated soil, load it into lorries and cart it off to a toxic waste dump.

    image of Wapping Wharf site entrance
    The entrance to the Wapping Wharf site in Wapping Road. Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

    In the 18th and 19th centuries the Wapping Wharf site accommodated some as yet unspecified industrial buildings, but a contaminated land survey of the site mentioned in a Bristol City Council document from 2006 revealed contamination by heavy metals, hydrocarbons and solvents, hence the need for the clean-up.

    Finally, a small piece of advice: if you know of any remediation works taking place, for the sake of you health do try not to be downwind of them, especially in dry and/or windy weather.

  • Confused by translators and interpreters? You too can write for the Post!

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language

    To paraphrase the Duke of Edinburgh’s famous retort from 1962, the Bristol Post is a bloody awful newspaper. Every day it manages to show its ignorance of the districts of Bristol, greengrocer’s apostrophes are not unknown and the command of terminology shown by its journalists is abysmal.

    As regards the latter, there was a prime example in this article about cannabis farms, as follows:

    Gardeners often appear in court with a translator and cases regularly detail how electricity at the grow houses is bypassed from the mains.

    In court with a translator? My heart sank. The writer has clearly not been following this blog or other sources about the interpreting fiasco in the English courts (posts passim). Moreover, he has clearly never read my early post on the BBC’s never-ending confusion of interpreters with translators.

    For the benefit of passing Post journalists, I shall once again quote from that article about the difference between the two:

    …here’s a brief explanation of the difference between interpreting and translation: interpreting deals with the spoken word, translation with the written word.

    Simple isn’t it? So simple on would think even a Bristol Post hack would be able to understand the difference. 🙂

  • My two homes united – by a medieval clerk

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language

    The two places where I’ve lived the longest are Bristol (where I’ve lived since graduation) and Market Drayton (where I grew up). These 2 places are ones I’d call home.

    It’s therefore quite a surprise for me to find the two of them brought into close contact by a writer who lived 6 centuries ago.

    I’m currently reading ‘The Maire of Bristowe is Kalendar’ by Richard Ricart, who became clerk to the Mayor of Bristol in 1478 in the reign of Edward IV, (re)printed in 1872 by the Camden Society and available from the Internet Archive.

    image of Robert Ricart's 15th century map of Bristol
    Bristol as seen by Robert Ricart, clerk to the mayor

    Ricart recorded Bristol’s history from 1217, mentioning the name of the mayor and other chief officers of the town (Bristol did not become a city until the reign of Henry VIII. Ed.), along with major national or local events.

    Imagine my surprise at the following text – in the original Middle English – appearing at the end of the entry for 1459:

    And the Sondaye by fore Mighelmas, James Lorde of Audeley was slayne at Blourehethe besides Drayton in the countee of Stafford.

    In modern English: “And the Sunday before Michaelmas, James, Lord of Audley was slain at Blore Heath near Drayton in the county of Stafford”.

    The Battle of Blore Heath, which was fought on 23rd September 1459, was an echo from my childhood: as a child I’d looked for Audley’s Cross – marking the spot where Audley allegedly fell – from the tops of buses, whilst a popular childhood haunt was Salisbury Hill just outside Market Drayton, so called because it was where Lord Salisbury’s troops had apparently spent the night before the battle.

    Besides exhaustive detail, the Blore Heath 1459 website has a brief introduction to the battle, as follows:

    In September 1459 the armies of the House of Lancaster and the House of York met on a damp Sunday morning at Blore Heath and fought the battle which would begin the English Wars of the Roses. Thousands of men from across England fought and died in a bloody battle, which lasted for the rest of that day.

    Legend has it that Queen Margaret of Anjou watched the battle from the nearby Mucklestone church tower, only to flee when she realised her army had lost. A stone cross still stands on Blore Heath to this day, to mark the spot where the Lancastrian leader is said to have been killed.

  • “A most illustrious place”

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language

    I’ve been very preoccupied recently with the history of Bristol (posts passim) and have now obtained a copy – in jpeg format – of James Millerd’s map of Bristol from the 1670s.

    image of Millerd's map of Bristol
    Millerd’s map of Bristol. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

    As a long-term resident of the city, several things strike me about the map: the city’s medieval walls appear to be largely intact, as are all the city gates (only one survives today in situ); the old four arch early medieval Bristol Bridge is there complete with housing and chapel; there’s no New Cut and Floating Harbour (i.e. port is still tidal); Bristol Castle may have gone, but its moat still remains and Brandon Hill looks like it gets a lot of use of washing days (This Hill is a publick convenience to ye Cittie for ye use of drying cloaths).

    The text in the bottom right corner of the map makes particularly interesting reading and is reproduced below in the original 17th century English.

    The Cittie of Bristoll standeth upon ye borders of Somersett & Gloucester sheirs, yet belongeth to neither but is a Cittie & Countie of itself. It’s seituation is in a pleasant Vale upon ye two Rivers of Avon & Froome. The river Froome is much the lesser river yet on it standeth the Cheif Key of this Cittie. The water floweth there at an high spring tide neere 40 foot in height bringing up thither shipps of great burthens, but there greatest ships ride about three miles downe the river and are for the most part discharged by lighters. Just below this Cittie the river Froom falleth into the river Avon which about Six miles lower falleth into the great River Seaverne but by the way hath a wonderfull passage through a mighty hill leaveing on each side very high & stupendious Rocks, that on the North side is called St Vincents rock where are found those adamantine like stones or Bristoll-Diamonds, which are famous in most parts of Europe & elsewhere & which (as Cambden affirmeth) only in point of hardness come short of ye Diamonds of India. On ye top of this rock are seene ye footsteps of some larg, but very antient fortification. And out of ye bottom thereof issueth a famous medicinall warme Bath water comonly called ye Hotwell, much frequented at all convenient seasons of ye yeare, both by ye neighbouring cittizens & also by Others, who liveing farr remote resort thither for health sake. This Cittie is governed by A Mayor, 12 Aldermen, two shrieffs & a Common Councill consisting in all of ye number of 48. Vsually once every yeare there is held a generall sessions of ye peace & Court of Oyer & Terminer before ye Right worshipfull the Mayor ye Recorder & Court of Aldermen for delivering of ye Goale & for inquirie into ye dammages of ye Crown. Toward ye East end of this Cittie formerly stood a very larg & strong Castle which since ye late Warrs hath bin demollished & is now turned into faire streets & pleasant dwelling retaining still ye name of ye Castle. At ye West end of ye Cittie standeth ye Cathedrall Church & Bishops seat in a most pleasant & wholesome aire neere where-unto are to be seene ye remaynes of Antient Cloysters & other Religious houses which in ye time of ye Warrs of England were defaced & for ye most part ruined & since continues in ye same condition. This Cittie sheweth 19 faire Churches whereof 17 are Parochiall, the chiefest of which standeth on ye south side of ye Cittie without ye Walles which from ye Red rock whereon it is founded is called St Marie Redcliff which by reason of it’s Stately seituation (being ascended unto on ye Cittie-side by above 30 steps of stone) it’s Archie foundation heigth strength & largeness of building, both for Chappell Church & Tower, it’s cross shape & loftie Isles, it’s beautifull porches, pinnacles, battlements and other Ornaments that renders it admireable, is held & deemed to be in all respects ye fairest parochiall Church in England by reason whereof it is highly esteemed by ye inhabitants & much admired by Strangers. It is wholly built of free-stone without the Concurrance of any timber either to ye structure or tecture of ye same that bears the lead. Over ye River Avon passeth a very faire & loftie stone Bridg built on either side with houses & shopps which though in length it cometh much short of yet in fairnesse of buildings goeth as much beyond ye famous Bridg of London over Thames. There are no sincks that come from any houses into ye streets, but all is conveyed under ground rendering ye Cittie exceeding sweet & delightsom. They use no Carts there as in London, but carry all uppon Sledds. In few yeares last past this Cittie hath bin much augmented by ye increase of new buildings in most parts thereof, especially on ye West & Northwest sides where ye riseing of ye Hill St Michael being converted in Comely buildings & pleasant gardens makes a very beautifull addition to the suburbs thereof; it is a a place of verie great trade & Merchandize sending forth shipps into all parts of ye World where tradeing is allowed. In which respect as also for its number of inhabitants and good Government it may well be accounted One of ye cheiff Citties of this Kingdome. It is so pleasant to ye Eye & so well accomodated with all things necessarie for life or delight, so well furnished with plentifull Marketts, wholesome waters, faire buildings, Schooles, Hospitalls & what ever else may be desired that it well answers to its antient Saxon name Brightstop, Signifying in English A most illustrious place. It hath been formerly dignified with the honourable title of an Earldome which the truely Noble familie of the Digbyes now enjoy. 1673.

    As a linguist, what also intrigues me about the above description of the city apart from the erratic spelling and capitalisation is the presence of a large number of superfluous (or greengrocer’s) apostrophes; these are the earliest examples I’ve yet seen.

    The full resolution (5,931 × 5,365 pixels (4.6 MB)) version of Millerd’s map is available from Wikimedia Commons.

  • “One tombstone….4s”

    Steve WoodsBristol

    I’m currently reading Charles Wells’ ‘A short history of the port of Bristol’, published in 1909 and available free of charge online from the Internet Archive.

    Apart from the changes in the course of the Bristol Avon, what particularly interested me was the story of the development of the early port up until the completion of the Floating Harbour in 1809.

    What intrigued me in particular was a very brief passage in Wells’ first chapter relating to the 16th century, as follows:

    image of St Stephen's, Bristol
    St Stephen’s, Bristol, 16th century purveyor of cheap repair materials.

    As the centuries passed nothing seems to have been done to further improve the facilities of the port, and many merchants were content with their own private landing-stages on the banks of the tidal Avon. There is, however, now and then a mention of repairs to the Quay in the Corporation records. In November, 1577, for example, is this entry in the audit book: “Paid the churchwardens of St Stephen’s for one tombstone for the Quay wall, 4s.”

    The tombstone intrigued me: I’ve long observed that old tombstones are often used for paving on church property. However, this is the first time I’ve seen their use for other purposes off church property recorded. Was the actual tombstone new and unused? If an old one, had the family whose grave it marked long died out? If used, did it still have an inscription? How many tombstones ended up in the walls of the city docks and the paving of the quay over the centuries?

    Historians of Bristol are invited to leave possible answers below.

  • Plain talk about plane trees

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Media

    The Bristol Post is not particularly renowned for the quality of its journalism.

    This point of view was borne out by its report today on public works in Weston-super Mare, which features the following paragraph:

    The species to be planted include silver birch, hazel, Scots pine, Himalayan plain, London plain and common alder. Work on removing the trees is due to start this week.

    Himalayan plain? London plain? The Post should be sent to sit in shame in homophone corner until it learns the difference between a plain tree and a plane tree and promises not to make such elementary sub-editing errors in future.

    However, the Post is not only guilty of falling victim to homophony and failing to do a bit of basic sub-editing. Indeed it is also guilty of churnalism – “a form of journalism in which press releases, wire stories and other forms of pre-packaged material are used to create articles in newspapers and other news media in order to meet increasing pressures of time and cost without undertaking further research or checking”.

    Checking back on the source of the story in question, one arrives at a North Somerset Council news item of 20th February 2013, where – lo and behold – the following sentence appears:

    The species to be planted include silver birch, hazel, Scots pine, Himalayan plain, London plain and common alder.

    Thus the anonymous Post hack quoted initially has merely repeated the error of the original author of the news in North Somerset.

    This blog has pointed out before that North Somerset is a strange place (posts passim), but having an illiterate write news on the council website is just plain perverse.

  • North Somerset crime special

    Steve WoodsBristol, Oddities

    image of Dixon of Dock Green
    Crime has certainly changed since the heyday of the fictional Sgt. Dixon
    As this blog has previously noted (posts passim), from the author’s lofty perch in Bristol, North Somerset is a part of the UK that seems to live in an alternative reality (could this have something to do with the consumption of cider? Ed.).

    Today’s Bristol Post carries a report of a crime in Yatton that is so heinous, it has been reproduced in full below:

    Police want to talk to two drivers who got involved in a road rage incident in Yatton.

    At around 8am on Tuesday, January 29, two vehicles were travelling in opposite directions on Mendip Road.

    One of the vehicles used Mendip Gardens to turn around and pulled out into the path of the other car.

    There was a disagreement between the drivers which resulted in the car horns being sounded.

    The car which had turned around then stopped just past the junction with Chescombe Gardens.

    The drivers of the vehicles, or anyone who witnessed the incident, should contact DC Nicholas Riley at Weston-super-Mare Police Station on 101.

    As you can see, Avon & Somerset Constabulary consider this crime so serious they have assigned a detective constable to pursuing the malefactors.

    Presumably Mr Plod is keen to apprehend the villains in question as sounding one’s horn when stationary is an offence.

    Notwithstanding that, one could legitimately ask which is the greater crime: two irate petrolheads making idiots of themselves or the waste of police time and resources involved in its investigation?

    Answers in the comments below please!

  • 3D printing for students – a first for UWE

    Steve WoodsBristol, Tech

    Bristol’s University of the West of England announced yesterday that it is leading the way amongst UK universities by making 3D printing technology available to all students (and staff. Ed.) by locating a 3D printer in the main university library.

    It is believed to be the first 3D printer in a UK academic library. The new initiative is made possible through a machine donation from 3D Systems Ltd.

    image of 3D printer during the Rencontres mondiales du logiciel libre 2012, Geneva. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
    3D printer during the Rencontres mondiales du logiciel libre 2012, Geneva. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

    3D print technology, also known as additive layer manufacturing, is a rapidly developing technology with applications in manufacturing, engineering and academic research. It is sometimes available to university students on relevant courses – such as creative product design or engineering courses. For example UWE Bristol already has 3D printers within the Faculty of Technology and in the leading Centre for Fine Print Research.

    The machine, a triple head smoked 3DTouch, will be situated in the main library on the Frenchay Campus, where it will be available for all students and staff to use. During term time the UWE library has over 2,000 users per day.

    This new initiative will enable students to engage with the latest 3D print technology and develop their understanding of how it can be used in different subject areas. Students will be able to ‘draw’ their design in a 3D CAD package. The file will then converted through a process that will make it readable by the 3DTouch printer using free downloadable Axon software. When it is printing the 3DTouch print head moves back and forward, building up layers of thermoplastic polymer, as it prints the 3D object layer-by-layer.

    Andrew Bathchelor, UWE Senior lecturer in Product Design, says, “This initiative offers a valuable new resource for students. By linking with Bits from Bytes we are able to bring the concept of 3D printing to all students. Many of our Creative Product Design, Engineering and Fine Art Students, are already familiar with this technology, and use it within their academic work in their own departments. However, by offering this to the wider student body, we hope to stimulate usage of this technology and help students develop their understanding of how it can be applied. We hope students will come up with interesting applications, relevant to their subject. For example our students who are training to be teachers can familiarise themselves with technology that their pupils may have access to in the future. In addition Architecture and Planning students may choose to use the technology to ‘print’ out models for project work. We are sure UWE students will be inventive once they begin to see the possibilities of this technology. The 3DTouch will enhance the extensive range of resources we offer to students though UWE’s library service.”

  • Snow in Bristol

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language

    A snowflake under the microscope
    A snowflake under the microscope. Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
    It snowed in Bristol yesterday, as it did over a large part of the UK. No more than 2-3 inches of the frozen white stuff caused complete chaos with bus services withdrawn, schools closed and similar over-reactions. A friend called me yesterday afternoon: he works in Geneva and told me that several times that amount – nearly 2 feet in fact – fell there on Tuesday afternoon and life continued as normal.

    When snow settles in the Bristol area, it does something unique that’s not repeated elsewhere in the country or in the English-speaking world (to the best of my knowledge. Ed.): it pitches. When it’s snowing, Bristolians have been known to confuse people from elsewhere simply by asking, “Is it pitching?”

    Chambers 21st Century Dictionary defines the verb to pitch as follows:

    pitch verb (pitches, pitched, pitching) 1 to set up (a tent or camp). 2 to throw or fling. 3 tr & intr to fall or make someone or something fall heavily forward. 4 intrans said of a ship: to plunge and lift alternately at bow and stern. 5 tr & intr said of a roof: to slope • is pitched at a steep angle. 6 to give a particular musical pitch to (one’s voice or a note) in singing or playing, or to set (a song, etc.) at a higher or lower level within a possible range • The tune is pitched too high for me. 7 to choose a level, e.g. of difficulty, sophistication, etc. at which to present (a talk, etc.) • was pitched too low for this audience. 8 a cricket to bowl (the ball) so that it lands where the batsman can hit it; b golf to hit (the ball) high and gently, so that it stays where it is on landing; c tr & intr, baseball said of the pitcher (sense 1): to throw the ball overarm or underarm to the person batting. 9 to pave (a road) with stones set on end or on edge.

    Out of these possible definitions, from whence could this bit of Bristolian dialect come? Sense 9 above, i.e. paving in the sense of covering something over, seems a strong possibility.

    In addition, users of the WordReference Forum have also discussed what snow does when it settles, including pitching in Bristol. In this thread, one user, Loob, suggests that Bristol’s pitching could have originated from Somerset since Somerset dialect for to lie is to pitch.

    Pitch itself comes from the 13th century Middle English verb picchen, meaning to throw or put up.

    One final point: whatever snow does where you are – pitch, settle,lie or anything else – don’t forget to let your inner child enjoy it!

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