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PhD: synopsis |
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The Maritime Trade of the Smaller Bristol Channel Ports in the Sixteenth Century.
Historians have tended to assume that the maritime trade of Bristol, and in particular the overseas trade of Bristol, was the only trade that mattered so far as the Bristol Channel was concerned in the late medieval and early modern periods. Yet the term 'Bristol Channel' is anachronistic in this context, and the combined populations of the towns surrounding the 'Severn Sea' as it was then known, were considerable in excess of that at Bristol. My research therefore concentrated upon maritime trade in these smaller ports to determine to what extent, if any, such trade differed from that at Bristol, and how this migh affect our understanding of trade in this period. Based principally on overseas customs accounts, but also incorporating coastal customs records, local port records, cases heard in Chancery, contemporary descriptions of trade, State papers, and local borough and corporation records, a substantially different picture emerged of trade through these ports than has previously been recognised. In particular linking the Bridgwater water bailiff's accounts with Exchequer sources revealed a large scale trade form the South Welsh ports to England during this period which remained hidden to historians. This has implications for the interpretation of the origins and development of the Welsh coal and iron industries, as well as throwing into question the whole basis of the coastal accounts which have been largely uncritically adopted by historians. The smaller port towns around the Bristol Channel are thus shown to have handled much more trade than previously supposed, and to have had sharply differentiated patterns of trade, both from each other and from Bristol. By the end of the sixteenth century they were far from moribund as some historians have believed, but were enjoying a vigorous trade whose merchants were emerging as specialist distributors and niche marketeers. There has been no survey
of the trade of the Somerset ports, and very little work on the smaller
ports of the Bristol Channel more generally, or indeed of minor ports
elsewhere in Britain during this period. The research therefore was valuable in itself, but it also complemented a research project undertaken at
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The following
are the constituent chapters of my PhD .
IntroductionNorth Devon: Barnstaple & IlfracombeSomerset: Minehead & BridgwaterGloucesterWales: Chepstow, Newport, Cardiff & Swansea
Wales: Carmarthen, Tenby, Milford & Haverfordwest.
ConclusionAppendicesBibliographyThe completed thesis can be downloaded here
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