In using documents to research landscape history and ecology, there are two related golden rules to observe:
In any conflict of evidence between what the landscape itself has to say and ...
Princethorpe College, which is located in a former Benedictine priory, owes its existence to the French Revolution. However, its story really begins in the 17th century.
On 13th May 1630 Marie Granger ...
Restoration
In September 2015, Kenilworth’s Pound was officially opened following restoration driven by Councillors Gordon and Pat Cain and the Kenilworth Civic Society. A campaign involving local residents raised interest and ...
In the archives of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust there is a database listing the names of children in the town who were apprenticed to trades in order to keep them ...
At Christmas time families often have their own traditions and stories for the holiday period, unique to their own personal histories and communities. In many cases, these stories are represented ...
There is a great deal more music relating to English parish churches than has previously been surmised. It is only in the last 15-20 years that it is recognised that ...
There was schooling in Warwickshire’s Chilvers Coton in the 17th Century without the aid of a school building, because of the educational concerns of the Newdigate family of Arbury Hall. ...
Gibbet Hill Farm House faces the Gibbet Hill road and forms part of a rectangular enclosure comprised of farm buildings with a substantial stone wall to the front . The ...
In the 17th Century the Puritans swept away flowery instruments like organs. This was ‘enforced’ by the Long Parliament in an act of 16441 called ‘Further Ordinance for the demolition of ...
This fascinating picture gives us an important record of the industrial revolution in Warwickshire. The textile mill was built for Sir Roger Newdigate of Arbury Hall (1719-1806) on his land to ...
Young boys were employed in Warwickshire coalfields in the 18th and 19th centuries.
6d a day in 1729
A coal account book in the Newdigate archives refers to the use of boys ...
In times gone by, the way to learn a craft and earn a living was to be apprenticed to a master. You would be legally bound to the master for ...
The length of time involved in an apprenticeship – often seven or even ten years – inevitably meant that there were problems, some more serious than others. The records cared ...
Many of the apprentice records held by Warwickshire County Record Office relate to paupers. The parish had to care for children when their parents died or became unable to support ...
My ancestor, Spencer Mason from Warwickshire, went to London and worked as a baker in Islington. One of his sons, Daniel Spencer Mason, was described as a ‘gentleman’ in his ...
Migration
I should have known things would not be any different, even back in the 1700s, given that my grandparents up and relocated to Canada from Leicestershire, England in 1913. People ...
The historical background and development of gardens has always interested me. When I first started my research work, I regret to say that I had never even been into my ...
(continued from the Master Bakers of Coventry)
The ‘property’ of the Bakers’ Company was handed over to the Corporation of Coventry by Mr Thomas Windridge, c.1908.
It consists of:
Three books of minutes ...
On browsing through the minutes of the Coventry & District Master Bakers Association, which are kept in the City Archives, I found many interesting items relating to the bakery trade ...
Near Hatton is a flight of 21 locks where the Grand Union Canal ascends 146 feet over a couple of miles. The original locks on the Warwick and Birmingham canal were ...
The Warwick House of Correction or Bridewell stood on the corner between Saltisford Rock (now Theatre Street) and Bridewell Lane (formerly Wallditch and now Barrack Street); the site is roughly where ...
Before 1798, there is often ambiguity about whether the owners or occupiers are listed as proprietors. The names can be out of date, as changes were not always updated straight ...
Land Tax was one of the innovative schemes of the British government to increase revenue. Introduced in 1692, in the reign of William III and Mary, and finally abolished in ...
The first racing in Warwick was held in 1694, hoping to raise money for the town after the great fire of that year. The first race at what is now ...