Bristol Record Office is the second oldest local authority record office in the country. Its collections cover most aspects of Bristol’s history. The superb archive of the Corporation of Bristol documents the administration of the city from the medieval period to the present day and the archives of the city’s individual ancient churches contain a wealth of very early property, administrative and liturgical records.

The St Thomas Vulgate Bible is one of only three surviving Bibles written in England during the late 14th century or the 15th century, the other two being at the British Library and Winchester College. It suffered considerable damage during the Second World War (Bristol was the fifth most heavily bombed British city) and was deposited in the record office for safekeeping in 1950 by the St Thomas the Martyr Church. In 1977, Mary Williams, the then City Archivist, successfully obtained a grant from the Pilgrim Trust and the Bible was partially restored and re-bound.

In 2010 The St Thomas Ecclesiastical Charity decided that it would like the Bible further restored to enable it to be displayed in public and it was agreed that an application be made to the NMCT in order to make this possible. The application was made by Bristol Record Office as the Bible’s custodians, and supported by the Churches Conservation Trust who now own the actual church building. St Thomas Ecclesiastical Charity provided the match-funding necessary.

The NMCT’s grant of £6,200 towards this £12,400 project made it possible for highly respected archive conservator, Christopher Clarkson, to stabilise and restore the pages of the Bible. It is intended that at the end of the project a permanent display on the Bible and its restoration will be erected in St. Thomas the Maryr Church, including digital access to its contents.

2011
St Thomas Vulgate Bible
St Thomas Vulgate Bible. Courtesy of Bristol Record Office.
St Thomas Vulgate Bible. Courtesy of Bristol Record Office.

St Thomas Vulgate Bible. Images courtesy of Bristol Record Office.