Civic Environment, Civic Amenities & Housing Archives

Press releases: Standing up for the forgotten & Pauper burials

The following two press releases have been released this week (07 December 2025) and can be downloaded in pdf format here: Press release 1: Bristol Press release 2: National Press release 1: Bristol Pauper burials in private and public cemeteries in Bristol New research – Ridgeway Park, Greenbank and Arnos Vale In 2015, to great public interest, Eastville Workhouse Memorial Group (EWMG) released details of more than 4,000 paupers who had been buried in unmarked graves in Rosemary Green, […]

Hartcliffe Betrayed

The fading of a post-war dream

Plans were drawn up post-war for the Hartcliffe area which would develop it into a “garden city” with modernistic facilities and open spaces but mistakes, bureaucracy and political constraints led to these dreams not being fulfilled.Wrington URC Chapel Roper’s Lane BS40 5NF

Radical Lambeth 1978-1991

By Simon Hannah

This eminently readable and thoroughly researched book offers an insight to the rollercoaster ride of the London borough of Lambeth in the 1980s. For the whole of local government, the 1980s brought immense challenges. Under enormous pressure from the Thatcher administration, which stripped very substantial finance from councils, local government faced impossible challenges. But the story of Lambeth, as told by Hannah, offers a detailed insight into attempts to maintain local services, keep […]

City of Swimmers at the Henleaze Lake Literary Festival

BRHG's Steve Hunt will be speaking about his new book City of Swimmers at the Henleaze Lake Literary Festival. His talk will be aptly accompanied by a display of synchronised swimming. Full programme below. Saturday 14 June, Henleaze Lake, Lake Road, Henleaze, Bristol BS10 5HG Note: booking required.

Creating homes for Black Elders in Bristol

By Guy Bailey, Silu Pascoe

In 2023, I had the honour to meet Guy Bailey, OBE, whilst researching the Bristol Bus Boycott campaign of 1963. At that time I learnt of his social activism not only in relation to employment but also housing and cricket. In 2025, he graciously agreed to have a conversation with me about his activism against racism in Bristol housing. During the 1980s, he was particularly concerned about the housing needs of Black Elders who were either retired or nearing retirement. They were still experiencing […]

Hartcliffe Betrayed – runner up in local history book of the year

By Paul Smith

Bristol Radical History Group are happy and very proud to announce that Hartcliffe Betrayed, the Fading of a Post War Dream authored by Paul Smith has been awarded joint runner-up for the Alan Ball Award 2024 in the category of best Local History hardcopy publication. Since 1986, the Local Studies Group of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, acting on behalf of the Library Services Trust, has given annual awards to recognise outstanding contributions in local […]

Up the Archives

Housing, Gaols and Mozambique

Join our historians in the Bristol Archives Education Room to view original maps and documents from the special collections. We have materials on the three of the themes at the Bristol Radical History Festival: Incarceration: The plans for Bristol gaols in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including those that were never built, giving a fascinating insight into prison design and purpose in the period. Prof. Steve Poole will guide us through so-called 'the fitting receptacles of the […]

‘No Coloureds, No Irish, No Dogs’

The struggle against racial discrimination in Bristol housing

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 OBE outlines the setting up United Housing Association which was the first Black-led housing association in 1980s Bristol.

Plotlands of Shepperton

A reading by Stefan Szczelkun

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.

Hartcliffe Betrayed

The fading of a post-war dream

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 […]