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Here are a few links to websites about Georgian England, and of course, the Slave Trade in Bristol and elsewhere, that I used whilst writing Slaves for the Isabella:
A luxury loo, designed by none other than Josiah Wedgwood. If there's anything you long to know about Georgian loos, Mike Rendell is your man! I must have gone back to this post ten times whilst writing the obligatory toilet section in Slaves for the Isabella.
Starting with Georgian England, I came across a great blog called the Georgian Gentleman. Its writer, Mike Rendell, kindly fact-checked Slaves for the Isabella for me, and picked up all sorts of little details.
In Slaves for the Isabella, Joe visits the Georgian House Museum, the house that once belonged to sugar merchant and slave owner, John Pinney. The staff there were very patient with my endless questions! Joe also visits the M Shed, which is a great museum!
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For me, the single most useful website in visualising Bristol is the amazing Know Your Place website. I can't begin to tell you how much information is on here, starting with lots of different maps you can compare in a really clever and useful way. If you can find your way in well enough to find the Braikenridge collection of drawings, you'll see the ships in the dock, and even find exactly the buildings Joe sees when he first arrives, right down to the writing on the printing house sign!
Moving on to the Slave Trade, although I read a lot about the Trade in general, to make sure I knew what happened in Africa, what the journey to the West Indies was like, and what awaited the enslaved people who survived that journey, I knew that Slaves for the Isabella needed to focus on Bristol. There's a good collection of information, pictures and artefacts on the Discovering Bristol website. The BBC also has a Bristol slavery website, and there's the Bristol Slavery Trail. Further north, there's the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool, which looks fascinating, and has loads of information on its website.
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For homework on the Slave Trade, there is a series of video clips in the BBC History Files. You'll also find help on the School Run website, and on the BBC Bitesize pages, though these are aimed at Key Stage 3, so primary school children will need a bit of help. If you're a teacher looking for inspiration, I wrote a lesson plan for Teach Primary and also a blog post on Books for Topics with tips about how to teach children about the Slave Trade. There's also a really detailed teaching resources pack from the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool.