Bristol, Canterbury, Coventry and Winchester get a reprint

The Trust would like to thank the Society of Merchant Venturers (Bristol) and the Ann Marks Charitable Trust (Canterbury) for their generous support which has enabled us to reprint these popular maps and keep them available in our online shop.

A reprint is always an opportunity to correct a few minor errors. However, the reprint of Bristol in 1480 includes a new inset map showing some of the trades which were present in the Redcliffe district, near to St Thomas's church. This was made possible by new archaeological and documentary research which identified evidence for some of the varied trades in the area. 

We knew that there were many cloth dyers, especially between Redcliffe Street and the River Avon, but recently published research has shown evidence of wool processing (which takes place before dyeing) and also of leather-working hide-processing, metalwork and bellfounding.

It's probably no coincidence that these industries took place here, south of the river and away from the main places where people lived in 1480 — they are smelly processes! Tanning and the preparation of hides are especially obnoxious, using dung and urine among other substances to treat animal skins. 

Also shown on the map is the location of a soap maker — again, a smelly process involving the rendering of animal fat. The Trust's maps of medieval and Tudor London show the same pattern of smelly and antisocial industries being placed in Southwark, a workable distance from the City itself.

This new map complements the more general map of trades and occupations which the Bristol 1480 map already carries, including coopers, turners and hoopers, as well as dockers, shipbuilders, cordwainers and cutlers.

Get a copy here.