XIX. Remarks on the Military History of Bristol in the Seventeenth Century, with a Sketch of the Outworks, by Edmund Turnor, Esq. F. R. S. and F. S. A.

Abstract

The great importance of Bristol, as the second city in the kingdom,—its situation commanding at once the rich county of Somerset, and the chief entrance into Wales, rendered the conquest of it of the utmost consequence to both king and parliament, whose spirits, during their unhappy contests, were alternately elated or depressed as either party succeeded in the siege, or failed in the defence of the town. But the great extension of commerce, and the consequent increase of population, have so much enlarged the circuit of Bristol, that what was only an inconsiderable suburb in the time of Charles the first, is now become a new town, extending over, and in a great measure defacing, the lines of fortification which formed the outworks of the city. An attempt, however, to preserve some idea of the remaining military vestiges, as exhibited by letters patent under the great seal of England, and sign manual of Charles the First, conferring the office of treasurer of the garrison on an ancestor of the author of this communication, may not be foreign to the views of the Society.