Footprints Season 2
Ever wondered who looks after the countryside around Bath, what they get up to and the stories they tell? Then have a listen to our podcast, Footprints. From forgotten history to the greatest places to walk we’re bringing it all to you in our new series.
Episode 1 Visions of Bath has been inspired by Bathscape’s Views and Vistas project where volunteers are researching and monitoring historically important viewpoints and where appropriate, restoring or enhancing them. We see the city from three different hill tops and our presenter, Pommy, is joined by people who have worked or walked the land for decades. Starting on Twerton Round Hill, Di Sheppard, Landscape Architect with Bath and North East Somerset Council gives an insight into why Bath is a UNESCO World Heritage site and introduces us to her favourite word palimpsest! On Kelston Round Hill we meet Andy Dinham whose family has farmed in the South West since the seventeenth century, and Dick Bateman who has walked the hill 1400 times. Billie Brocklehurst joins us from Brocks Outdoor Adventures for a cuppa! We tramp up Little Solsbury Hill with Barry Cox, Cotswold Warden and we get ambushed by the boss of Bathscape himself Dan Merrett. Also making an appearance on the top is Nicole Daw, Cotswolds National Landscape, Rob Kendall, Cotswold Warden & Little Solsbury Commoner and John Bartram, Cotswold Warden & Chair of the Cotswold Way Association.
Episode 2 Death in Paradise looks back at how we remember our ancestors and loved ones in Bath. We start at the Bath workhouse burial ground where 3000+ people were buried in unmarked graves in a field on the Wellsway near St Martin’s Hospital. We hear from Richard White from Bath Spa University who created the Walking the Names project and on that day, Bathscape had organised an event to plant more than 40 trees as one way to memorialise the people buried there. John Payne tells us about the workhouse and how his great grandparents are buried up there. His leaflet From Workhouse to Hospital is available from Oldfield Park Bookshop and the Museum of Bath at Work. Proceeds go to the Burial Ground Appeal. Finally in our Expert Eye section, Dr Molly Conisbee, University of Bristol talks about the various ways we have marked death and remembered our loved ones over the centuries.
You can listen to this episode and the previous series here: https://footprints.captivate.fm/ or search for “Bathscape Footprints” on your usual podcast provider.
