Lieutenant-Colonel John Rede: West Country Leveller and Baptist pioneer

This study of the life of Leveller ally John Rede, Governor of Poole, seeks to illuminate the crucial relationship between a group of West Country Presbyterians, Independents, political and religious radicals, and Leveller allies during the critical years of the English Revolution, 1647–1651. In the course of this discussion it aims to shed some light on one of the longest-standing debates about the Levellers: the degree to which they formed an effective and coherent political movement. It concludes with an assessment of the balance of forces between the Levellers and radical Independents and their opponents. It then goes on to trace one line of religious and political descent from those events through John Rede’s work in establishing the particular Baptist church of Porton in Wiltshire.     

The Studland Bay wreck, Dorset, UK: hull analysis

Upon the discovery and protection of a presumed 16th-century wreck off Poole Harbour, one of the largest underwater excavations in England was carried out between 1984 and 1992. In 1997–8 the author examined the archive and recovered objects with the aim of publishing the present report on the hull remains. The paper demonstrates how much can be learned about construction and design from in-situ recording. The similarities and differences between this vessel and other vessels of the so-called Iberian-Atlantic building tradition are analysed, and rigging modifications suggested. The vessel has never been scientifically dated, but a typological date bracket is based on onboard artefacts.