Redland: Rubra Terra, Redland Court and Redland High School
Jennifer Allen-Williams
Softback £18
Redland: Rubra Terra, Redland Court and Redland High School is a book which will appeal to historians, sociologists, educators, pupils and ex-pupils of the Redland High School, parents and prospective parents and those who live in the district.
A glance at the colour of the soil gives an explanation of the name. A legacy of Roman occupation was revealed when Roman coins were dug up on Redland Green.
The Valor Ecclesiasticus refers to manor lands at Redland and ‘manor’ implies a ‘manor house’. The Manor of Thrylande was purchased in 1552 by John Foxton who sold the estate to Egion Wilson, who, with his son, built a residence in about 1556. The property continued to be family-owned until it was sold in 1604 to Sir Richard Hill who sld on to Dr Jeremy Martin. The Martin amily passed the estate including the mortgages to John Cossins, husband of Gregory Martin’s cousin, Martha Innys.
The Tudor house was demolished in 1730 and between 1732 and
1735 the elegant Georgian building known as Redland Court was built for John Cossins. The property changed hands several times after his death and in 1885 the Redland High School for Girls moved into Redland Court.
It is remarkable that very little of the house – a Grade II listed building — has been changed from the original design, although in its function and use as a school for girls various buildings have been added over the years. In 2012 the School celebrates its 130th anniversary. The school’s archives have been used extensively to tell its story.
Further Off the Wall 
Stephen Morris
softback £5
From Bristol, capital of street art, comes a snapshot of new work found on the city streets, including stuff by Voyder, Nick Walker, Boswell, Alias, Eelus, Filthy Luker, Sweet Toof, 3Dom, Sepr, Epok, Cheo, FLX, Dones, Kaione, Tarqs, 3rd Eye, Rowdy, Buff Monster and Banksy.
A sequel to the now-out-of-print Off The Wall, Further
off the Wall is a ride round the city’s streets and alleys in pursuit of
Bristol’s best new work and some old favourites.
The result is an eye-popping collection of inventive, burlesque, sardonic, funny and sometimes beautiful street art – captured on camera before it’s lost.
Please visit Stephen Morris’ website: www.stephen-morris.co.uk
Bristol Safari: In search of a city’s urban wildlife
Ian Wade
softback £10
Nationally acclaimed for his brilliant photographs of urban foxes, Ian Wade introduces us to the wonderful world of wildlife to be found in the open spaces, streets and back gardens of Bristol. Many of these animals and birds now live more naturally in the city than in their original countryside habitats.
Sir George Oatley: Architect of Bristol
Sarah Whittingham 
hardback £49.75
The name of Sir George Oatley (1863-1950) will always be synonymous with that of his Gothic masterpiece, the Wills Memorial Building for the University of Bristol. And yet the full career of Bristol’s most significant twentieth-century architect – and designer of the tower which challenges Brunel’s Clifton Suspension Bridge as a city icon – is largely unknown today.
Much of this can be attributed to Oatley’s modesty and strong dislike of publicity – he very reluctantly accepted a knighthood – but his never working for a London practice is a factor, and he was unlucky in his timing, with his career interrupted by two world wars. By some, Oatley was seen as having a limited outlook, but the ‘Gothic’ tag obscured an open-mindedness and sense of fitness for purpose which saw him working in a range of styles.
This first biography is the result of ten years’ research, including the study of thousands of previously unexamined letters and drawings. It includes a full catalogue of works that greatly increases our knowledge of the many and varied buildings Oatley designed during his long career. Buildings discussed, in addition to the Wills Memorial Building of 1925, include Bristol Homeoepathic Hospital, the H H Wills Physics Laboratory and St Monica Home of Rest as well as many less familiar.
Oatley’s work from the late nineteenth-century was carried out against the background of philanthropy by the great Bristol nonconformist families – the Frys, Robinsons and of course the Wills tobacco family, for whom he carried out many commissions. His arts-and-crafts houses bring to mind Charles Voysey, not least in the attention to detail; and he was actively involved in the social housing movement in Bristol, notably in the Shirehampton Garden Suburb.
In essence, Oatley was a Bristol architect who practised quietly, conscientiously and successfully in the place of his birth, serving his clients and his God. The buildings he designed – houses, hospitals, banks, factories, offices, churches and chapels – and in particular those for its university, transformed the face of the city.
Sarah Whittingham’s biography and wide-ranging and meticulously illustrated survey of Oatley’s work will enable a reassessment that will surely re-establish his reputation as one of the most important architects of his time.
SPECIAL OFFER FOR LIMITED PERIOD ONLY : £38
