Pill, Easton-in-Gordano, and Portbury

Families of interest: ROWLES, plus ADAMS, ATWELL, BESSANT, BULLOCK, BUCK, COMERFORD, COMMER, COOMBS, CRADDY, MANFIELD, PORTER, SIMONS.

With the help of Mary Mason and Jim Flack, I have traced my connections with Pill, Easton-in-Gordano, and Portbury back to John BESSANT, born about 1688. The BESSANT line has been well researched by Mary, Jim, and others, so please check out their web sites if you're interested.

Most of the families listed here had links with the water - as Bristol Channel pilots and watermen. For those interested in the Bristol Channel pilots and their cutters, I can recommend:

• "The Bristol Pilots", by John Rich
• "The Sailing Pilots of the Bristol Channel", by Peter J. Stuckey
  

Links

• Mary Mason's site about The Portbury Hundred.
• Jim Flack's site including a GEDCOM file of the BESSANT line.
  
• Josephine Jeremiah has some photographs of Pill, Easton-in-Gordano, and Portbury.
• Steve Jones' page about Pill and Easton-in-Gordano.
• John Rich has written a couple articles on the Easton-in-Gordano Parish Council website about the history of the parish and the pilots; click on the links for 'History' and 'Pill Pilots' respectively.