Steve Hunt, author of Bristol Radical History Group book, Yesterday’s To-morrow: Bristol’s Garden Suburbs, will tour us through the principles and practical impact of the garden-city movement in our city. The 1918 Tudor Walters Report came with the well-known aspiration to build “homes fit for heroes” after the First World War. The interwar council housing boom that followed shaped much of the development of Bristol as we know it today. It aimed to create new neighbourhoods based on high-quality […]
Bristol’s new gaol on Cumberland Road first opened its doors for business in 1820. Ambitiously conceived as a modern alternative to the crumbling, insecure and insanitary old prison at Newgate, the architects of the New Gaol sought to turn punishment into a science. Systems of hard labour, a treadwheel, constant surveillance, segregation, religious instruction and minimal interpersonal association were intended to target prisoners’ minds as well their bodies. The New Gaol’s reputation amongst […]
During the strike, in response to the horrific images of miners and their supporters being battered by the police, donations of cash were received from around the world, More money was raised in Ireland per head of population than anywhere else, Britain included, with many support groups being set up to 'adopt' individual mining communities. The story is told of one elderly woman in Dublin putting a £10 note, a large proportion of her pension, into a collection tin. She said it was to repay the […]
Catch Bristol’s wonderful Red Notes Choir, who will support the Bristol Radical History Festival by performing at 11:30am. They’ll be singing in the Ground Floor Foyer by the M Shed main entrance. The Red Notes Choir is a Bristol-based socialist choir. They have a repertoire of songs from around the world on historical, union, peace, green and human rights themes. We use the streets of Bristol and further afield to spread our message of fighting for the rights of working people, those who are […]
The Great Hunger of the late 1840s devastated Ireland and had a profound impact on the wider world. Around 10% of the population perished from hunger and disease, while a further 10% fled into exile to escape the famine at home. The Irish population in Britain doubled between 1841 and 1861. By 1900, two in every five Irish people were living overseas. Unsurprisingly, this remains one of the most contested chapters in Irish history. In this presentation Fin Dwyer tackles the history of this most […]
Paul Smith’s talk will draw on his research into the history of Hartcliffe, designed by planners in the 1940s on the garden city model, built as a housing estate in the 1950s. This tale of the steady removal of planned facilities and the reduction in the quality of homes presented huge challenges to a community of ‘pioneers’ exported to the outskirts of the city. The story of Hartcliffe was repeated across the country as estates were built on the edges of towns and cities. This story has […]
Chris Bowkett’s talk focuses on the untold history of Stapleton Prison, the home of captured soldiers and sailors during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Using stories of the prisoners themselves, this talk reveals the surprising amount of freedom offered to Britain’s “enemies” whilst in captivity, contrasted with their biggest problem: boredom. This talk covers both the inventive and self-destructive ways “the miserables” occupied their time at His Majesty’s pleasure.
BRHG brings together a selection of posters of the Mozambican Revolution from the ‘Our Sophisticated Weapon’ exhibition and other archival material relating to the campaign for independence and the ensuing civil war. Speaker: 11.30am - Dave Spurgeon will guide you through the exhibits. A full exhibition of ‘Our Sophisticated Weapon: Posters of the Mozambican Revolution’ will be held by Bristol Link with Beira at Bristol Central Library from 12 May to 15 June 2025 commemorating 50 years of […]
A walk though time and space with Mark Steeds, covering no less than 1,500 years of Bristols historic connections with Dublin and featuring Saints and Sinners, Roundheads and Royalists, Colonists and Criminals, Transportees and Treachery, Merchants and Murders… From the efforts of Wulfstan in 1090 to ban the trade in Anglo Saxon slaves with the invading Vikings in Dublin, via the Easter Monday massacre of 1209 in Killin Woods, outside of Dublin, when 500 new settlers from Bristol were attacked […]
In the mid-1980s radical photographer Carlos Guarita gained access to a youth detention centre which was part of the 'short, sharp, shock' system introduced in 1979 by the Tory Home Secretary, Willie Whitelaw. Through a fascinating series of images this exhibition exposes the living conditions for inmates subject to the harsh, quasi-military discipline. Carlos Guarita will guide us through the exhibition at 12:30pm.
Ireland is one of the few countries in Europe that escaped fascist rule in World War Two and where neo-Nazi parties have never enjoyed success. Yet over the last decade Ireland, north and south, has seen a new wave of far-right street demonstrations, arson attacks, and racist violence. Historian and best-selling author Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc's new book BURN THEM OUT! A history of fascism and the far-right in Ireland exposes for the first time the hidden histories of the hate filled ideologies […]
After the financial crash of 1929 and during the years of the 'great depression' in the 1930s, the Ministry of Labour in Britain introduced a series of 'instructional camps' for the long-term unemployed, which were supported by successive governments. Over 150,000 men from 'distressed areas' were sent to do hard labour in these remote settlements. Using contemporary images and excerpts of oral history from the film Old Hands this talk explains the nature of these camps, how they functioned and […]
John Boughton’s talk will cover the early history of public housing from the almshouses and parish housing of pre-industrial times to the council housing of the interwar period. As the Industrial Revolution came to transform Britain’s economy and society and democratic forces grew, Victorian elites came slowly to accept the inevitability of state intervention in housing. John will discuss the forces that shaped council housing in the later nineteenth century and the ideals motivating housing […]
Radical Alternatives to Prison (RAP) was set up in 1970 in London by a group of ex-prisoners and people connected with the prison service. We are very pleased to have Ros Kane speaking, one of the co-founders of RAP, along with the late Sandra Roskowski. Ros practiced as a psychiatric social worker at Wormwood Scrubs Prison Hospital before helping found the organisation. Ros's talk will cover why RAP was set up, how it operated and what it proposed as alternatives (schemes from both sides of the […]
The three-year strike which followed the July 1984 refusal of eleven workers at Dunnes' Stores Henry Street branch in Dublin to handle South African goods is perhaps the most celebrated episode of anti-apartheid activism outside Southern Africa, yielding memoirs, academic scholarship, radio and television documentaries and even a play. While still recounting the essential narrative of the strike for those unfamiliar with it, Padraig Durnin's talk will explore what made it exceptional in […]
In conversation with Silu Pascoe, members of the 'Windrush Generation' share memories and experiences of how they overcame racial discrimination when finding somewhere to live in Bristol. In particular, Joyce Morris-Wisdom recalls the 'pardner-hand' system that enabled her parents to become home-owners. Guy Bailey talks of setting up United Housing Association which was the first Black-led housing association in 1980s Bristol.
The 1984/85 miners strike was arguably the most significant labour dispute in British history. Before the strike began, Arthur Scargill (President of the 200,000 strong National Union of Mineworkers) told his members and anybody else who would listen, that the future of the coal industry, and the people and communities whose futures depended on it were at stake. This was perfectly summarised in the strike slogan COAL NOT DOLE. The Tory Government used a combination of starvation, police […]
High-rise housing has been held up in the mainstream media as the tombstone of welfare state: a symbol of the failure of state-led reform. But does this map onto residential opinion on the ground – or, more accurately, up in the air? Based on years of historical research of grassroots struggles on a range of estates, this talk explores how multi-storey housing served as a crucible for the welfare state’s reimagination. It illustrates the resilience of investments in public housing: throughout […]
In 1979 the new Tory government led by by Margaret Thatcher and Home Secretary, Willie Whitelaw, abolished borstals for young offenders and introduced a new system of 'youth detention centres' employing harsh, quasi-military discipline. They proudly claimed in their Party Manifesto that they were going to "experiment with a tougher regime as a short, sharp shock for young criminals". Using a series of fascinating images taken inside one such institution in the mid 1980s by radical photographer […]
Mary Muldowney will give an overview of the appalling abuses that took place in many of the mother and baby homes in Ireland since the foundation of the state in 1922. The homes were supposed to provide safety and support for unwed mothers at a time when there was considerable stigma attached to having sex outside marriage. They were mainly run by religious bodies, predominantly Roman Catholic nuns, and the regimes they established had more to do with punishing the ‘sins’ of the mothers than […]
The exhibition illustrates the diverse experiences of identity, heritage, migration and belonging of local Irish people in Bristol. The portraits include objects of significance to their stories, and celebrate the contributions made by Irish immigrants to the life and culture of the city. Faces of the Irish Diaspora features the work of local photographer Frances Tolson, who has taken portraits that capture the essence and spirit of each individual and beautifully recorded the objects that hold […]
The Greater Bedminster area was once covered by coal mines stretching from East Street to Long Ashton. This walk will take you around the sites of nine of the mines, each of which have their own stories, many ending in tragedy for the mineworkers. Although there is little left above ground now, this will soon change with plans to memorialise the memories of the thousands of almost forgotten working class Bristolians who worked, and often died, in the deep pits below the surface of Bedminster, […]
Local author Lin Clark introduces the subject of her new book Swift Blaze of Fire - the Life of Robert Hilliard: Olympian, Cleric, Brigadista her grandfather. Robert Hilliard was born in 1904; his family were loyalist Killarney factory owners who hoped he’d find a niche in Ireland’s British-run establishment. Yet 32 years later, as a member of the International Brigades, he was overjoyed to see Barcelona under workers' control. Fatally wounded at the Battle of Jarama, he died in February 1937. […]
How did a Bristol grandmother end up with a 20 month prison sentence for taking part in a peaceful protest? How did the law change after the acquittal of the Colston 4 to prevent future protestors talking about the issues that motivated their actions in court? Why did the police think they could arrest a man in Oxford for criticising the King? Is it true that, in the words of Liberty lawyer Katy Watts, "broad anti-protest laws are shutting down people’s freedom of expression"? In this session, […]
Stefan Szczelkun will read from his book Plotlands of Shepperton - a unique artist’s book on a massively under-researched area of the history of housing, soon to be re-released in large format. Szczelkun's commentary on Britain's plotlands reveals the houses to be haunted by their radical history. Do they contain a key to the ‘housing problem’ that the establishment dare not countenance? Following his reading, Stefan will discuss this and more in conversation with BRHG's Paul Smith.
After a 10 year wait BRHG are very pleased to announce a special one-off showing of London Recruits as part of this years festival. The film will be followed by a discussion by some of those who took part in actions against the apartheid regime in South Africa in the 1960s and 70s. By the late 1960s, the Apartheid regime in South Africa had reached brutal new heights. Nelson Mandela and other freedom fighters had been imprisoned, killed or forced into exile. The African National Congress (ANC) […]
The Institute for Social Ecology (ISE) was a significant flowering of political ecology from the 1960s and 1970’s counterculture. It was co-founded in 1974 by its most prominent thinker, Murray Bookchin, and Dan Chodorkoff. Bookchin wrote extensively about food and agriculture from the early 1950s. In 1962, his first book on pesticides appeared, shortly before Rachel Carson’s more famous Silent Spring on the same topic. As an autoworker brought up in The Bronx district of New York, he was an […]
Reviewing the relationship between the Counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s and the LGBT movement, this talk concentrates on the origins of LGBT periodicals as part of the alternative press of the period. It will cover such topics as the underground culture of gay men when male homosexuality was illegal, the repercussions of the decriminalisation of male homosexuality in 1967 and the campaign of legal discrimination to which both the early LGBT press and the alternative press were subjected in […]
A personal account of the experience of growing up gay in 1970’s Ireland ,and how gay activists and punk rock musicians (including artists like Phil Chevron along with British bands and songwriters) inspired a new generation defending and fighting for ‘a love that did not have a name'. Presented by Eoin Freeney, Punk Rocker member of Chant! Chant! Chant!, Former Gay activist, and cofounder in 1991 of ‘ Muted Cupid" Irelands first gay community theatre group.
In this audio/visual talk Richard Jones makes the case for Bristol Counter Culture of the 1980s thriving on neglect and follows a thread from the St Paul’s uprisings to the Wild Bunch, the Dug Out club, punk, the Battle of the Beanfield, street art in Barton Hill to the emergence of Banksy.
70 mins – 2020 (Dir. Christopher Reeves) Introduced and Q&A with Ann Field (SOGAT official during the strike). A film about the momentous year-long industrial dispute which began in 1986 when Rupert Murdoch plotted to move production of his papers overnight from central London’s Fleet Street to a secretly equipped and heavily guarded plant at Wapping, a docklands district in east London. 5,500 men and women lost their jobs and centuries of tradition in one of London’s last manufacturing […]
