With all this talk of Yorktown and battles that took place far away I am sure you are now asking what was going on in Ralph's neck of the woods - in North Somerset at the time of the American and French Revolution? Well quite a lot but I tend to ignore it as I am an amateur military historian and industrial history isn't my bag but to add a global perspective I'll fill you in on what was happening here at the time of Yorktown's surrender and beyond.
Coal was discovered in Radstock in 1763 at the end of the Seven Years War but difficult conditions meant that it was slow growth but a boom was in place by the end of the 18th century when one of the engines of Jonathon Hornblower was installed in 1782. A poor transport infrastructure meant most of the coal only went to local markets - nearby Bath was in its heyday as a British Las Vegas and the world famous Royal Crescent had been recently built. In 1795 during the French Revolution the Somerset Coal Canal was commenced - at the bottom of our garden - by French prisoners of war - . In 1760 Stoney Littleton Longbarrow was discovered when stone was being excavated for road mending. Later in 1816 it was explored by the famous Reverend John Skinner but it was raided by riotous colliers who helped themselves to bones and other objects. I wonder what went missing? Skinner is pretty famous and his diaries Journal of a Somerset Rector 1772-1839 are still widely read. Skinner seemed to consider the local miners as the worst kind of humanity and eventually shot himself, depressed. His observations are priceless, though gloomy ‘I was not a little astonished, as I walked through Bath, to observe the streets so crowded with prostitutes, some of them apparently not above 14 or 15 years of age’ or "I drove to Priston [Rectory] to dine with Mr. Hammond . . . and had an entertainment better suited to Grovesnor Square than a clergyman's home - French dishes and French wines in profusion. I hope such feasts will not be repeated often, or I am sure I shall not be one of the guests."
The Scots Greys bivouaced at Radstock in 1815 on the way to Southampton eventually giving the road Waterloo Road. My house was built about 1840 for the workers of the newly opened Tyning Colliery and within a decade or so the railways replaced the canal which interestingly was in its turn replaced by a cycle path.
Mining ended in the 1960s in Radstock but an excellent museum keeps the period of boom in focus with excellent displays.
There is a story from the 18th century in Radstock where a soldier commenced an illicit affair with a clergyman's daughter - thwarted they enacted a suicide pact but the soldier managed to back out and survive. At least men haven't changed.
Wiki on Bath in the 18th century
Coal was discovered in Radstock in 1763 at the end of the Seven Years War but difficult conditions meant that it was slow growth but a boom was in place by the end of the 18th century when one of the engines of Jonathon Hornblower was installed in 1782. A poor transport infrastructure meant most of the coal only went to local markets - nearby Bath was in its heyday as a British Las Vegas and the world famous Royal Crescent had been recently built. In 1795 during the French Revolution the Somerset Coal Canal was commenced - at the bottom of our garden - by French prisoners of war - . In 1760 Stoney Littleton Longbarrow was discovered when stone was being excavated for road mending. Later in 1816 it was explored by the famous Reverend John Skinner but it was raided by riotous colliers who helped themselves to bones and other objects. I wonder what went missing? Skinner is pretty famous and his diaries Journal of a Somerset Rector 1772-1839 are still widely read. Skinner seemed to consider the local miners as the worst kind of humanity and eventually shot himself, depressed. His observations are priceless, though gloomy ‘I was not a little astonished, as I walked through Bath, to observe the streets so crowded with prostitutes, some of them apparently not above 14 or 15 years of age’ or "I drove to Priston [Rectory] to dine with Mr. Hammond . . . and had an entertainment better suited to Grovesnor Square than a clergyman's home - French dishes and French wines in profusion. I hope such feasts will not be repeated often, or I am sure I shall not be one of the guests."
The Scots Greys bivouaced at Radstock in 1815 on the way to Southampton eventually giving the road Waterloo Road. My house was built about 1840 for the workers of the newly opened Tyning Colliery and within a decade or so the railways replaced the canal which interestingly was in its turn replaced by a cycle path.
Mining ended in the 1960s in Radstock but an excellent museum keeps the period of boom in focus with excellent displays.
There is a story from the 18th century in Radstock where a soldier commenced an illicit affair with a clergyman's daughter - thwarted they enacted a suicide pact but the soldier managed to back out and survive. At least men haven't changed.
Wiki on Bath in the 18th century
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