The Hanging At Kenn tells of historian Steve Poole's quest for the reasons behind Britain's last public hanging to be carried out at the "scene of the crime". It happened at Kenn in North Somerset in the early 1830's. A bitter tale of the power of law and order in pre-Victorian Britain. The film will be followed by a question and answer session with Steve Poole. Not in World War II but Bristol in the English Civil War (Revolution). Bristol At War follows Professor Ronald Hutton's search to […]
Events
This is a list of all the events that we have ever done in chronological order. You can also see a list of Event Series, or a list of forthcoming events in the Event Diary.
Current & forthcoming Event Series:
Miscellaneous 2024 : toSouth Bristol History Festival 2024 : to
The Turnips Unplugged
The Surfin' Turnips played a raw and acoustic set as a treat for Sunday afternoon. The Surfin' Turnips played a fully amplified gig on Wednesday 1st November.
The New Model Army’s Relief of Bristol
History Walk from St Werburghs City Farm to the centre of Bristol focusing on The New Model Army's relief of Bristol in 1645 Meet at 12noon at the St. Werburghs City Farm Cafe for breakfast (to cure hangovers from the Sea Shanty night at the Cube). Leaving at 1.00pm, Jim McNeill, local historian, storyteller and member of Living Easton, retraced the steps of the New Model Army's relief of Bristol in 1645. We found out why Cromwell Hill is so named, why the Royalist Prince Rupert cared more about […]
Burn!
Pontecorvo's memorable sequel to Battle of Algiers sees Brando in finely ambiguous form as the drunken, cynical Sir William Walker, a British agent sent to the Caribbean island of Queimada in the mid-1800s to stir up a native rebellion against the Portuguese sugar monopoly; ten years later, he is forced to return there to destroy the leader he himself created, in order to open up trade with Britain. Falling between epic adventure and political allegory, the film is occasionally clumsily […]
Can’t Y’Dance The Polka?
Sea Shanties from The Harry Browns and Gunner's Mate.
Treasure Island
Disney's adaptation of Robert Louis Stephenson's classic tale. Newton, in splendid form, arguably gives the best big screen characterisation of literature's most famous unidexter. Join such legends as Ben Gunn, Israel Hands, Jim Hawkins and Blind Pew in this ripping yarn. 1950, 96 mins Starring : Robert Newton, Bobbie Driscoll Directed by : Byron Haskin
Bristol & The Revolutionary Atlantic
A Spot in Time: The Opposition between Terror and the Commons in the Perspective of the Atlantic Revolutions - Peter Linebaugh Was the coincidence on 2 April 1792 in the attempts to abolish the African slave trade and to make the English working class 'a spot of time', to paraphrase William Wordsworth, where vivifying virtue may restore our minds to the sense of right in the midst of fiercest strife, or instances of the perfidy of Albion, splitting the race of Man in twain? What role has the […]
A Riot Of Colour
Nanoplex brings you a workshop extraordinaire! Children (5+) are invited to interact with works of art and connect to historical events from Bristol's past. Using b/w copies of sketches by Bristol colourist W.J.Muller (1812-45) of the 1831 Bristol riots, the children will help bring to life segments that will be filmed/animated and put together to make up the original like a giant multicolored jigsaw.
Insurrectionary Bristol: 1932
Revolt of the Unemployed : Bread or Batons in Bristol c. 1932. As unemployment topped 3 million and the Labour government collapsed, benefit cuts and the means test sparked unrest across the country. In 1932 Bristol was briefly at the forefront of the protests which rocked the country. The mass demonstrations met brutal repression including police ambushes and the arrest of key activists. This will discuss the character of the movement, tracing its roots back to the ex-servicemen's protests of […]
Insurrectionary Bristol: 1980
Riots In 1980 St. Pauls in 1980 Southmead in 1980 The events of April 1980: Riot or uprising? How the St. Pauls riot was viewed by the media 1981 : Like a summer with a thousand July's Why is the Southmead riot forgotten?