David Olusoga’s ‘House Through Time’ inspires lockdown escape to the past
There’s a new passion, in the Covid era, for researching past residents of your own home. It’s been generated by the popular TV history programme ‘A House Through Time’. Peter Cullimore and his wife Sue are among fans of the BBC2 series, presented by David Olusoga, who’ve been inspired to become amateur house historians themselves.
The couple have now written a lavishly illustrated book on the experience. It offers the story of an alternative “house through time” in Bristol, combined with their own practical research tips for others. It’s the first such book compiled not by an expert, but by people living in the house now.
The Cullimores’ 18th century home reached the BBC’s final shortlist for the series in Bristol. This aired in May, after two previous series in Liverpool and Newcastle. David Olusoga very nearly ended up standing in front of 60 Fairfield Road, in the Montpelier district of the city, instead of the more central 10 Guinea Street.
But the latter property, built by a slave-trading sea captain in the early 1700s, was the one eventually chosen. It proved irresistible, with stories of a black servant’s escape, a baby abandoned on its doorstep and a ship captured by pirates, just for starters.
However, Peter and Sue, both retired after careers in journalism and academia respectively, knew their house a couple of miles away also had some intriguing past occupants. Their house deeds for 60 Fairfield Road refer to owners and tenants with colourful names like Shurmer Bath, Jacob Crook and a family called the Bearpackers.
The Cullimores then did some extensive research themselves, as ‘A House Through Time’ has always urged of its viewers. They examined in detail their crumbling deeds, then trawled through archive documents, some family history websites and many other source materials. As a result, they uncovered their own rich array of fascinating, but forgotten, historical characters who preceded them at 60 Fairfield Road.
These include: a Quaker businessman and philanthropist, who twice married into slave-owning families; a shady French aristocrat pretending to be English, whose parents were guillotined in the Revolution; two sisters who ran early charity schools in their own home for girls from poor families; a 13-year-old maidservant who later emigrated to Canada to escape a life of poverty in Bristol.
They are among well over 100 people passing through the house over the centuries. The Cullimores themselves have lived there longer than most, for 34 years.
Peter and Sue have called their non-profit book ‘Saints, Crooks & Slavers’. It’s published by Bristol Books, but the Cullimores paid all the publication costs for what they call “a labour of love”.
This has coincided with the pandemic and, so far, two lockdowns. The couple were undeterred, and decided to sell a few copies from home to the local community. They started taking orders online, then delivering them on foot to the customer’s home as their daily lockdown exercise. Since April they have sold 600 copies, and are on a second print run, despite the continuing pandemic and long periods of bookshops having to shut.
Research like this is a new genre in popular history, following on from the interest in family trees reflected by another hit TV show, ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ The book has clearly struck a chord among the large number of people in and around Bristol who also live in an old house with a tale to tell.
It offers them a displacement activity during lockdown, an escape to the past when the present is so awful. The history of your own home has become a natural focus when you’re stuck in it, sheltering from Covid-19.
Of course, another factor has been the worldwide attention on Bristol, and its slave trade heritage, in recent months. ‘Saints, Crooks & Slavers’ was published just before the toppling of Edward Colston’s statue into the harbour, and subsequent re-naming of city landmarks like the Colston Hall concert venue.
Peter said: “It’s been a steep learning curve, but a very enjoyable one. Just because you own or rent a house doesn’t suddenly make you an expert on its past. House history detective work is time-consuming, quite addictive and can drive your family mad. But it’s the most fun I’ve ever had on a laptop.”
‘Saints, Crooks & Slavers’, by Peter and Sue Cullimore, is published by Bristol Books (ISBN: 9781909446243). It’s now available, for £12, from independent bookshops and other retail outlets in Bristol and elsewhere. You can also order a copy directly from the authors, by emailing petercullimore@blueyonder.co.uk, or online from Bristol Books.
