Bristol—Metropolis of the West in the Eighteenth Century1The Alexander Prize Essay

W. E. Minchinton

doi:10.2307/3678852

Bristol—Metropolis of the West in the Eighteenth Century1The Alexander Prize Essay

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2009

W. E. Minchinton

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Althought anticipated by earlier writers, the clearest formulation of the idea of a metropolis as the focus of economic activity is to be found in Professor N. S. B. Gras' The Evolution of the English Corn Market. There he writes:

The metropolitan market may be described as a large district having one center in which is focussed a considerable trade. Trade between outlying parts of course may take place, but it is that between the metropolitan town and the rest of the area that dominates all. This is chiefly the exchange of the raw pro-ducts of the country for the manufactured or imported goods of the town. The prices of all goods sent to the metropolitan center are ‘made’ there, or, in other words, prices diminish as the distance from the center is increased.

Type: Research Article
Information: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 4 , December 1954 , pp. 69 - 89

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3678852 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1954

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References

^{page 69 note 2} Gras, N. S. B., The Evolution, of the English Corn Market, p. 95Google Scholar.

^{page 69 note 3} ‘London's export trade in the early seventeenth century’ in Econ. Hist. Rev., 2nd Ser., iii (1950), 151–61Google Scholar; ‘The development of the London food market, 1540–1640' in ibid., v (1935), 46–64; and ‘The development of London as a centre of conspicuous consumption in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries’ in Trans. Roy. Hist. Soc, 4th Ser., xxx (1949), 37–50Google Scholar.

^{page 70 note 1} For the position of Bristol in the fifteenth century see Carus-Wilson, E., ‘The overseas trade of Bristol’ in Power, E. and Postan, M. M., English Trade in the Fifteenth Century, pp. 183–246Google Scholar.

^{page 70 note 2} Defoe, D., A Tour through England and Wales (Everyman, ed.), ii. 36Google Scholar.

^{page 70 note 3} See port books; also Hancock, F., Minehead (1903), pp. 316–17Google Scholar; Vancouver, C., A General View of the Agriculture of the County of Devon, pp. 395–6Google Scholar; Supplement to Collinson's History of Somerset, pp. 112–13.

^{page 71 note 1} The Frome was obstructed by weirs. For the Avon see T. S. Willan, ‘Bath and the navigation of the Avon’, in Proceedings of the Bath and District Branch, Somerset Archaeol. and Nat. Hist. Soc, 1936.

^{page 71 note 2} For details see T. S. Willan, River Navigation in England, 1600–1750, English Coasting Trade, 1600–1750, and ‘The navigation and trade of the Severn valley, 1600–1750’ in Econ. Hist. Rev. viii (1937), 68–79Google Scholar; Farr, G., ‘Severn navigation and the trow’ in Mariner's Mirror, xxxii (1946), 66–95Google Scholar; and Davies, A. S., ‘The river trade of Montgomeryshire and its borders’ in Montgomeryshire Collections, xliii (1934), 37–46Google Scholar.

^{page 71 note 3} Wealth of Nations (Everyman, ed.), i. 16Google Scholar.

^{page 72 note 1} These figures were obtained from the port books (P.R.O., E/190). July 1698–June 1699 from 1157/1, 2: 1733–4 from 1211/2, 3: 1752 from 1217/2, 3: and 1788–9 from 1239/2, 3. No ‘coastwise In’books exist for Bristol in the eighteenth century.

^{page 72 note 2} Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 11255.

^{page 72 note 3} For a discussion of the organization of the coastal trade, see Willan, T. S., English Coasting Trade, pp. 34–54Google Scholar.

^{page 72 note 4} P.R.O., Customs 17/1–22.

^{apge 72 note 5} Barrett, W., The History and Antiquities of the City of Bristol (1789), p. 189Google Scholar.

^{page72 note 6} See Baker, J. L., ‘England in the seventeenth century’ in An Historical Geography of England before 1800, ed. Darby, H. C., p. 429Google Scholar.

^{page 72 note 7} Early in the eighteenth century it was stated that wheeled vehicles could use the road only four months in the year (Journals House of Commons, xxi. 437–8).

^{page 72 note 8} As the proverb had it, ‘Somerset bad for the rider, good for the abider’. See also Defoe, , A Tour …, i. 270Google Scholar.

^{page 73 note 1} Ibid., ii. 36.

^{page 73 note 2} Larimer, J., Annals of Bristol in the Eighteenth Century, p. 288Google Scholar.

^{page 73 note 3} Matthew's New History of Bristol or Complete Guide and Bristol Directory for the Year 1793–4, pp. 94–8.

^{page 73 note 4} See Defoe, , A Tour …, ii. 306Google Scholar. ‘Bristol drove a great inland trade with all the western counties and thus it drew to itself the bulk of the water-borne commerce of Wales.’

^{page 73 note 5} Gras, , English Corn Market, p. 124Google Scholar.

^{page 73 note 6} Young, A., A Six Weeks' Tour through the Southern Counties of England and Wales (1769), pp. 310, 316–17Google Scholar. But see also Gras, , op. cit., p. 122Google Scholar. Figures from Houghton's Collections indicate that London had cut into the Severn trade between 1691 and 1702.

^{page 74 note 1} Fisher, F. J., Econ. Hist. Rev., V (1935), 56Google Scholar.

^{page 74 note 2} Both the evidence of the port books (P.R.O., E/190) and the series of General Views drawn up for the Board of Agriculture from 1794 have been used for these and subsequent statements about the source of agricultural produce. W. Marshall's Rural Economy of Gloucestershire has also been used.

^{page 74 note 3} Willan, , Coasting Trade, pp. 81, 82, 148Google Scholar.

^{page 74 note 4} General Committee Books, i (1757–99), City Archives, Council House, Bristol.

^{page 74 note 5} Ibid.

^{page 74 note 6} Bristol Presentments, 1770–1806, Reference Library, Bristol. In 1791, for example, 10,828 bushels of wheat and 5,040 bushels of barley were imported.

^{page 74 note 7} Marshall, , op. cit., i. 153Google Scholar.

^{page 74 note 8} Turner, G., General View of the Agriculture of the County of Gloucester, P. 53Google Scholar.

^{page 74 note 9} Defoe, , A Tour …, ii. 55Google Scholar.

^{page 74 note 10} P.R.O., HO 67/3, 11. See also Minchinton, W. E., ‘Agriculture in Gloucestershire during the Napoleonic wars’ in Trans. Bristol and Glos. Archaeol. Soc, lxviii (1949), 169Google Scholar.

^{page 75 note 1} Warner, R., A Walk through Wales in 1797, p. 31Google Scholar.

^{page 75 note 2} Common Council Proceedings, January 1704 and May 1770. Council House, Bristol.

^{page 75 note 3} Glass, D. V., ‘Gregory King's estimate of the population of England and Wales, 1695’, in Population Studies, iii (1951), 347Google Scholar.

^{page 75 note 4} For comparison, the population of London in 1801 was 900,000, of Manchester-Salford 84,000, of Liverpool 78,000 and of Birmingham 74,000.

^{page 76 note 1} Port books (P.R.O., E/190).

^{page 76 note 2} Billingsley, J., General View of the Agriculture of the County of Somerset (1795), p. 110Google Scholar.

^{page 76 note 3} Chappell MSS., National Library of Wales: Caerleon MSS., Newport Public Library: Knight MSS., Kidderminster Public Library.

^{page 76 note 4} See Gough, J., Mines of Mendip, p. 169Google Scholar.

^{page 76 note 5} See port books. For Cardiff see also P.R.O., T 64/281 for the years 1739/43 and An Account of Wool sent Coastwise from Cardiff for the years 1763/70. Cardiff Public Library.

^{page 76 note 6} See Bristol Presentments, Reference Library, Bristol.

^{page 76 note 7} The Journeys of Celia Fiennes, ed. Morris, C., p. 243Google Scholar.

^{page 77 note 1} Eden, F. M., The State of the Poor, ii. 183Google Scholar. See also Hist. MSS. Comm., Charlemont MSS., p. 40: ‘Bristol, a large commercial city remarkable for affording and manufacturing the best woollen nightcaps in the world.’

^{page 77 note 2} See Jenkins, R., ‘The Copper Works at Redbrook and at Bristol’, Trans. Bristol and Glos. Archaeol. Soc., lxiii (1942), 145–67Google Scholar.

^{page 77 note 3} Matthew's Directory, p. 40. A writer in the Builders' Dictionary (1703) complained that though Bristol window glass was the best it was seldom seen in London owing to the difficulty of getting it there safely.

^{page 77 note 4} Court, W. H. B., The Rise of the Midland Industries, 1600–1838, p. 124Google Scholar.

^{page 77 note 5} Matthew's Directory, p. 40.

^{page 78 note 1} Barrett, , History of Bristol, p. 185Google Scholar.

^{page 78 note 2} Matthew's Directory, p. 33.

^{page 78 note 3} Sulivan, R. J., Observations made during a Tour (1780), p. 118Google Scholar.

^{page 78 note 4} Account book of John Milton, Quay Master at Barnstaple. County Record Office, Taunton.

^{page 78 note 5} Willan, , Coasting Trade, pp. 95–6Google Scholar.

^{page 79 note 1} Walpoole, G., The New British Traveller (1784), p. 362Google Scholar.

^{page 79 note 2} Campbell, J., Political Survey of Britain (1774), p. 147Google Scholar.

^{page 79 note 3} Details about the markets from Common Council Proceedings, Council House, Bristol.

^{page 79 note 4} Matthew's Directory, p. 44.

^{page 80 note 1} Matthew's Directory, p. 44.

^{page 80 note 2} John, A. H., Industrial Development of South Wales, p. 10Google Scholar.

^{page 80 note 3} Ibid., p. 14.

^{page 80 note 4} Wadsworth, A. P. and Mann, J. de L., The Cotton Trade and Industrial Lancashire, 1600–1780, p. 269Google Scholar.

^{page 81 note 1} Marshall, W., Rural Economy of Gloucestershire, ii. 348Google Scholar.

^{page 81 note 2} These statements are drawn from the various General Views of agriculture for counties in the Bristol hinterland. For a discussion of the general position of the middleman see R. B. Westerfield, Middlemen in English Business.

^{page 81 note 3} Maclnnes, C. M., in The Trade Winds, ed. Parkinson, C. N., p. 64Google Scholar.

^{page 81 note 4} Munckley Correspondence in Ashton Court MSS., Council House, Bristol.

^{page 81 note 5} Account Book of Samuel Brown of Chard, 1773–8, County Record Office, Taunton.

^{page note 6} See Dickinson Papers, County Record Office, Taunton.

^{page 82 note 1} The Midland trade in iron has been mapped by Johnson, B. L. C., ‘The charcoal iron industry in the early eighteenth century’, Geog. Journal, cxvii (1951), 167CrossRef Google Scholar ff.

^{page 82 note 2} See John, A. H., ‘Iron and coal on a Glamorgan estate, 1700–40’, Econ. Hist. Rev., xiii (1943), 98–9Google Scholar.

^{page 82 note 3} Raistrick, A., Quakers in Science and Industry, p. 100Google Scholar.

^{page 82 note 4} Dickinson Papers, County Record Office, Taunton.

^{page 82 note 5} Knight MSS., Kidderminster Public Library.

^{page 82 note 6} Caerleon MSS., Newport Public Library.

^{page 82 note 7} John, A. H., Econ. Hist. Rev., xiii (1943), 99Google Scholar.

^{page 82 note 8} See Ashton, T. S., Iron and Steel in the Industrial Revolution, p. 242Google Scholar.

^{page 82 note 9} Johnson, B. L. C., ‘The Foley partnerships: the iron industry at the end of the charcoal era’, Econ. Hist. Rev., 2nd Ser., iv (1952), 333Google Scholar, n. 2.

^{page 82 note 10} Reprinted in E. H. Brooke, Appendix to Chronology of the Tinplate Works of Great Britain, 1665–1949, pp. 234–6.

^{page 82 note 11} Ashton, , op. cit., pp. 167–8Google Scholar.

^{page 83 note 1} John, A. H., Econ. Hist. Rev., xiii (1943), 94Google Scholar.

^{page 83 note 2} Roberts, R. O., ‘Dr. John Lane and the foundation of the non-ferrous metal industries in the Swansea valley’, Gower, iv (1951), 19–24Google Scholar.

^{page 83 note 3} John, A. H., Industrial Development of South Wales, p. 28Google Scholar.

^{page 83 note 4} Ibid., p. 28.

^{page 83 note 5} Plymouth MSS. 755, 1404, 1426, 1435, 1437. National Library of Wales.

^{page 83 note 6} Lloyd, J., History of the Old South Wales Iron Works, pp. 23–4Google Scholar.

^{page 83 note 7} Ibid., p. 148.

^{page 84 note 1} John, , Industrial Development, pp. 8, 32Google Scholar.

^{page 84 note 2} Raistrick, A., Quakers in Science and Industry, pp. 128, 148–9;Google ScholarChappell, E. L., Historic Melingriffith, pp. 30–44Google Scholar.

^{page 84 note 3} Buckley, F., ‘The early glasshouses of Bristol’, Journal of the Society of Glass Technology, ix (1925), 47Google Scholar.

^{page 84 note 4} Jones, I., History of Printing and Printers in Wales, p. 38Google Scholar.

^{page 84 note 8} Green, F., Calendar of the Crosswood Deeds, p. 143Google Scholar.

^{page 84 note 6} Latimer, J., Annals of Bristol in the Eighteenth Century, p. 66Google Scholar.

^{page 84 note 7} Buckley, , J. Soc. Glass Tech., ix (1925), 48Google Scholar.

^{page 84 note 8} Latimer, , op. cit., p. 67Google Scholar.

^{page 84 note 9} Raistrick, , op. cit., pp. 124–140Google Scholar; Dynasty of Iron Founders, pp. 47–98.

^{page 84 note 10} Dodd, A. H., Industrial Revolution in North Wales, p. 311Google Scholar.

^{page 85 note 1} Willan, T. S., River Navigation in England, pp. 47–8Google Scholar; Latimer, , Bristol in the Eighteenth Century, p. 499Google Scholar.

^{page 85 note 2} Dickinson Papers, County Record Office, Taunton.

^{page 85 note 3} Cave, C., A History of Banking in Bristol, pp. 9–19Google Scholar.

^{page 85 note 4} Ashton, T. S., Industrial Revolution, p. 103Google Scholar. For illustrations see John, , Industrial Development, p. 49Google Scholar; Hodges, T. M., ‘Early Banking in Cardiff’, Econ. Hist. Rev., xviii (1948), 84–90Google Scholar; Green, F., ‘Early banks in west Wales’, West Wales Historical Records, vi (1916)Google Scholar.

^{page 85 note 5} Raynes, H. E., History of British Insurance, pp. 94, 154, 208Google Scholar; Clapham, J. H., Economic History of Modern Britain, i. 286Google Scholar.

^{page 86 note 1} Munckley Correspondence in Ashton Court MSS., Council House, Bristol, and Hobhouse Correspondence in Jefferies Collection, Reference Library, Bristol.

^{page 86 note 2} Clarke, E. D., A Tour through the South of England (1791), p. 148Google Scholar.

^{page 86 note 3} Among these may be noted Defoe, A Tour; Samuel Gade, Journal (MSS., University of Bristol Library); Sulivan, R. J., Journal of a Tour (1778?), pp. 48–9Google Scholar.

^{page 86 note 4} Clarke, , op. cit., p. 148Google Scholar.

^{page 86 note 5} See, for example, H.M.C., Bath MSS., i. 293; Charlemont MSS., p. 400; Hastings MSS., ii. 19; Somerset MSS., p. 268; Verulam MSS., p. 250. Also Pembroke Papers, 1380–1391, ed. Herbert, Lord, p. 72Google Scholar; Journeys of Celia Fiennes, ed. Morris, C., p. 239Google Scholar.

^{page 86 note 6} Latimer, , Bristol in the Eighteenth Century, pp. 48–52Google Scholar.

^{page 86 note 7} John, , Industrial Development, p. 15Google Scholar.

^{page 86 note 8} W. Ison, The Georgian Architecture of Bristol.

^{page 87 note 1} See A. E. Richardson and C. L. Gill, Regional Architecture of Bristol, passim, for examples of Bristol's influence.

^{page 87 note 2} These statements are based on documents in the records of the Society of Merchant Venturers of the City of Bristol, to whom I am indebted (and in particular to Miss G. E. Whitaker) for permission to consult the Society's records. See Latimer, J., A History of the Society of Merchant Venturers of the City of Bristol, p. 220Google Scholar.

^{page 87 note 3} John, , Industrial Development, p. 15Google Scholar.

^{page 88 note 1} Melingriffith iron works marketed its products this way. See Melin-griffith MSS. in the possession of Mr. S. Gazard, to whom I am indebted for permission to see them.

^{page 88 note 2} Commerce of Rhode Island, i. 129. I owe this reference to Dr.W. Savadge.

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Bristol—Metropolis of the West in the Eighteenth Century1The Alexander Prize Essay

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