Winstanley – Andrew Mollo & Kevin Brownlow, UK / 1975 / 95 mins / cert 1 Join us and the Bristol Anarchist Bookfair Collective for this screening of a restored version of this important film from 1975. In the run up to the Bristol Anarchist Bookfair on 12 September, this film evokes some of the earliest examples of anarchist thought and practice. Indeed the occupations by the Diggers have been described by some as the first anarcho-communist revolution in history. The context of the film […]
Talks by BRHG stalwarts contributed to The Working Class Bookfair Where Now For The Left? - Ian Bone Ian Bone, Class Warrior, Ciaran Walsh IWW (involved in Traveller education), plus one other speaker (tbc). It has become common place to patronise working class people, whether those who tell us that we don't exist or the condescending description of us as 'chavs' etc. and 'dole scum'. We are working class and we are proud of it. The British working class is the oldest in the world created in the […]
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 […]
Suggested areas of discussion…. The religious/political turmoil of the 17th century Non-conformism and women preachers Hazzard's early life, her beliefs and her non-conformism Hazzard, the English Civil war and the Royalist attack on Bristol Why was Hazzard forgotten and why she should be remembered
Based on the 1962 David Caute novel Comrade Jacob. This film deals with some of the life story of the 17th Century revolutionary and writer Gerard Winstanley, who, along with a small band of followers known as The Diggers tried to establish a self-sufficient farming community on common land at St. George's Hill near Cobham in Surrey (wikipedia). Directed by Andrew Mollo and Kevin Brownlow, this is a true masterpiece of British Independent Cinema. The talent of these two film makers […]
Be 'your own personal Jesus' and join in with the 'Hosannas' as James Nayler, his palm wielding Cancan Dancers and a troop of Roundhead pike and musketmen parade from the Centre via Corn St. to Castle Green. Refuse to 'doff your caps' to the agents of the Crown and celebrate freedom from the religious hierarchy. Dress : Floppy Hats Attitude : Blasphemous If you see this text the video has failed to play. Please let us know by emailing brh@brh.org.uk.
Two of the most common types of popular disorders in late Tudor and early Stuart England were the food riots and the anti-enclosure riots in royal forests. Of particular interest are the forest riots known collectively as the Western Rising of 1626-1632, and the lesser known disorders in the Western forests which took place during the English Civil War. The central aims of this volume are to establish the social status of the people who engaged in those riots and to determine the social and […]
Find out about why it was the English Revolution and not just the English Civil War. Discover the 'third force' of the period, Levellers, Diggers, Ranters, Religious Radicals and the rebellious New Model Army that frightened the Royalists and Parlimentarians alike with their 'communist' ideas. Absolute classic, to be read aloud to your mates on stormy nights (with a few beers). (BRHG)
350 years ago this month a small group of men and women approached the gates of Bristol, singing hosannas before a man on a horse. They appeared to be imitating Christ's entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. The man was James Nayler (1617-1660), a leader of the upstart Quaker movement and onetime member of Cromwell's New Model Army. The Puritan authorities were outraged. Nayler was seized and charged with blasphemy. Sent to London where he was the subject of a full Parliamentary debate for ten […]
Taken from Bristol Past and Present by J. F. Nicholls and John Taylor, published in 1882 In our ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, at 24 and 285, we have already given some description of the rise and sufferings of that section of the church of Christ known originally as the Quakers, but now more frequently called the Friends, who were the first sufferers in Bristol for conscience sake since the days of the Marian persecution. Their first appearance in Bristol was probably in 1652; certainly they were here […]
