}
Spicer's Hall
Spicer's Hall on Welsh Back, by Bristol Bridge, was the home of a medieval merchant. Richard Spicer was MP for Bristol in 1355 and three times Mayor, and he bequeathed his home to the Mayor and Corporation of Bristol in 1377. A later occupant was Robert Sturmy, a merchant who in 1457 had tried to break Italian control over the Mediterranean trade. From 1459 it was used to store goods imported into the city by non-Bristolians, prior to their sale.
The door opened into a passage which led to an open hall and a range of private and service rooms. A chamber projected out above the porch, its floor supported by the carved side brackets.
In the medieval period freedom to trade was dependent on whether a man was a 'freeman' of the city. Merchants who were not freemen of Bristol were subject to many rules and regulations. They were not allowed to sell their goods on the open market, only wholesale to Bristol merchants. Their goods had to be stored and taxed centrally: after 1459, the goods were stored in Spicer's Hall. Such rules, of course, were often ignored, and Bristol merchants traded directly and privately with 'strangers'.
The door opened into a passage which led to an open hall and a range of private and service rooms. A chamber projected out above the porch, its floor supported by the carved side brackets.
In the medieval period freedom to trade was dependent on whether a man was a 'freeman' of the city. Merchants who were not freemen of Bristol were subject to many rules and regulations. They were not allowed to sell their goods on the open market, only wholesale to Bristol merchants. Their goods had to be stored and taxed centrally: after 1459, the goods were stored in Spicer's Hall. Such rules, of course, were often ignored, and Bristol merchants traded directly and privately with 'strangers'.