City Treasures Visited by MP
March 18, 2010 12:00 AM
A medieval map of Bristol, the original of which is stored in the city's archives
Bristol West MP Stephen Williams has visited Bristol Record Office at Cumberland Basin, where he was shown around the vaults by city archivist John Williams. Stephen saw some of the city's treasures, such as the original charter granted for Bristol by Edward III in 1373, changing the status of Bristol from a borough to a county in its own right. Stephen also saw work underway to digitise many of the tens of thousands of images held by the Museums and Archives Service. One example was a painting of the post-election procession of Henry Bright MP in 1820. It was common at this time for victorious candidates to be carried through the city centre on a chair and be cheered by the crowds.
Stephen said, "I greatly enjoyed my visit as I have had a long-standing interest in Bristol's history, and indeed have been researching the biographies of all my predecessors as MP for Bristol West and the old Bristol parliamentary seat. Hopefully, the digitisation of these records will open the city's history to all Bristolians."
During his visit, Stephen also met with Tim Corum, who is developing the content and displays for the new Museum of Bristol, which is to be called 'M Shed'."
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