To close this year’s conference we wanted to explore Bristol, which was new to most of our delegates, but not just from an architectural view point. We were particularly interested in exploring the complex layers of history, memory and decolonisation in the Bristol area. We initially approached the authors of this 2024 Open Access e-book for advice:
Two of the co-authors give tours in Bristol and we were delighted to be able to arrange a combined tour and talk with them:
Mark Steeds runs ‘Abolition’ walks in the city and has published pamphlets with the Bristol Radical History Group (BRHG) which he joined in 2006. Mark is a publican and former draughtsman with a deep commitment to uncovering and addressing historical injustices. Passionate about Bristol’s maritime and literary heritage, he has spent decades researching and sharing the city’s complex past.
Dr. Richard White is a Visiting Research Fellow and former Senior Lecturer in Media Practice at Bath Spa University. Over the past decade, his work has focused on creatively uncovering hidden, overlooked, and often challenging histories—particularly those linked to slave-ownership and colonialism – via his ‘(dis)enchanted walks’.
Their styles were quite different and very complementary, encouraging us to deep-dive into the history and also experience it physically, for example with tactile explorations of historical structures e.g. our delegates enjoyed feeling the Exploration Statue as a reflective activity:
Gallery 1: Richard introduces the Exploration Statue, a tactile approach and engages with the aspects of maritime history and the slave trade often hidden from public view.
Whilst the heatwave on the day meant we had to shorten the walk, our guides quickly adapted with a longer indoor introduction, mapping the city visually with flipchart and providing a lot of the context for the tour. We then braved the weather and walked a concise loop around several highlights. For example, for me The Seven Stars was particularly impactful to visit. It was quite shocking to hear how much effort had been put in to surface the significance of this location and its part in history. So much is still hard to spot unless you are actively looking, have a guide or have done research in advance.
Gallery 2: Mark Steeds explains the vital importance of Thomas Clarkson and the Seven Stars pub in the history of Abolition which you can read about in more depth via the BRHG website.
Overall it was a real highlight of the conference and tied together a number of major themes in such a way that we really couldn’t planned it better if we had tried. Many of our delegates were focused on diversity and inclusion in the profession, which also featured prominently in Q&As during the conference. In addition, we had a lot of talks about object-based learning, materials libraries and materiality which encouraged hands-on engagement – using the senses and a deductive approach as we did on the walk. This was particularly strong in our Wednesday ice-breaker.
I think the geographical/historical scene-setting prior to the walking element was really helpful as most delegates were visiting Bristol for the first time – and for those like me who are somewhat familiar, it was a real eye-opener to dig beneath a surface level and the tourist-friendly face Bristol largely presents. I highly recommend Mark and Richard if you are interested in booking on a walking tour of Bristol. Don’t forget to check out their chapters in Breaking the Dead Silence… linked above.
Gallery 4: further exploration… moving from shade to shade as it was a scorcher!
If you were on the walk and would like to add your thoughts/highlights please do so in the comments.
Review by David Stacey | University of Bath
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