A MISCELLLANY OF HISTORY
A TEXTUAL WEAVING OF A CABINET OF CURIOSITIES
A TEXTUAL SAMPLER
Chapter Four
A few short years after our walk along Stroud’s High Street in the previous chapter http://radicalstroud.co.uk/a-peoples-local-history-chapter-3/ , William Cobbett made his way through Stroudwater, as recorded in Rural Rides:
“From AVENING I came on through NAILSWORTH, WOODCHESTER, and RODBOROUGH, to this place. These villages lie on the sides of a narrow and deep valley, with a narrow stream of water running down the middle of it, and this stream turns the wheels of a great many mills and sets of machinery for the making of woollen-cloth. The factories begin at AVENING, and are scattered all the way down the valley. There are steam-engines as well as water-powers. The work and the trade is so flat, that, in, I should think, much more than a hundred acres of ground, which I have seen today, covered with rails, or racks, for the drying of cloth, I do not think that I have seen one single acre where the racks had cloth upon them. The workmen do not get half wages; great numbers are thrown on the parish; but … Here are a series of spots, every one of which a lover of landscapes would love to have painted. Even the buildings of the factories are not ugly … At present, indeed, this valley suffers; and, though cloth will always be wanted, there will yet be much suffering here, while at ULY and other places, they say that the suffering is great indeed.”
Now let us travel south in the county, courtesy of Trevor Simpson on one of his Bristol Rides, to Kingswood.
Kingswood Miners
‘Coal mining is recorded as taking place in the Kingswood area from at least the 13th century. By the end of the 17th century the community had developed a fiery reputation. Lawless and ungovernable or potential revolutionaries?
Most lived in the forest which gave its name to the area. It was seen as being independent and outside of societal norms. It was also largely impenetrable to the authorities across the border in Bristol and even more so to those in Gloucester to whom they were supposedly answerable.
The miners did venture out when their livelihoods were threatened by economic downturns or legislation which seemed to serve the same end, for example, the Turnpike Act 1731. Such actions invariably led to trips into Bristol with violent outcomes to and from the miners. A bit like Orgreave.
Throughout its existence the Kingswood coalfield’s main consumer was the ever-growing city of Bristol. By the end of the 18th century times were more settled, the forest had largely disappeared and the arrival of Methodism had changed the nature of Kingswood (although the impact of Methodism has tended to be overstated). Mining continued until the first half of the 20th century when it became no longer viable.’
(I asked Trevor if he thought Bristol’s demand for coal in the 18th century was fuelled by sugar refining expansion rather than population growth. He replied: ‘It fed the pre-industrial machine of which sugar and tobacco would have been a feature. Glass for wine etc. The population of Bristol in 1700 was 20k and in 1801 was 64k. In 1901 it was 330k.’)
Post-script from Trevor:
‘Hanham, near the River Avon, was also a mining village. Its football team, Hanham Athletic, still has the nickname, ‘The Miners’.
Post-script from me: saw this in Peter Strong’s The Bristol Connection: The Frost Family and Chartism in Newport and Bristol: ‘There was a widespread sense within south Wales that further outbreaks were likely to spread across the Severn. At the opening of the Special Commission in Monmouth in January 1840 there were rumours that a “vast body” of miners from Kingswood “were coming up to Monmouth to attend the trial and, if necessary, rescue the prisoners.”’
This piece was previously placed at http://radicalstroud.co.uk/16558-2/ but the radicalstroud website has been playing up a bit. Directly going to www.radicalstroud.co.uk tells us that this site can’t be reached, but a search for Radical Stroud for a particular topic gives a link that will open (as above). Trying to get it fixed when time and motivation allow.
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