Green aims and achievements

Gloucestershire Archives' Green Pledge Project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, takes a holistic ‘green’ approach aiming to reduce our environmental footprint, catalogue environmental archives, train an archives apprentice, co-create green themed activities and exhibitions, provide volunteer opportunities and run a public pledge campaign.

We recently created a green action plan in just over an hour covering procurement, transport, building, community garden, collections, digital, training and waste. So far we’ve catalogued over 9000 plans relating to rivers and flooding (helping reduce our cataloguing backlog).  We’re planning a flooding workshop for researchers and those planning preventative measures, whilst digital copies of some orchard records have been sent to those working with endangered species in Kent. We’re hoping our weather records will be used by meteorologists working on climate change models.

 

We’re working with AMPS to continue driving down our gas and electricity usage across the site and installing solar panels for our roof.  We’re grateful to GCC’s Climate Emergency Advisory Group and the sustainability team and for expertise and inspiration.  Thanks to the sustainability team, Archives staff, Hub partners and volunteers took part in September’s ‘Love to Ride’ campaign encouraging cycling.  Surprisingly, we came first in Gloucestershire and 11^th in the UK for our category.  

By taking this action we’re playing our part in culture change and contributing to GCC’s commitment in 2019 to achieve net zero by 2030.  

Cataloguing our environmental heritage

As well as offering a range of interactive events, producing thought-provoking podcasts, and inviting the local community to make use of our fantastic Heritage Hub garden, the Green Pledge Project is also striving away behind the scenes to make more Gloucestershire Archives environmental records accessible to the public.

Since the project started our Green Pledge Project archivist, Jenny Rutland has been focusing on making the maps and plans deposited by the Environment Agency searchable for the first time. At the time of writing, D7768 looks like an unassuming little collection, but in reality there are over 9000 individual maps and plans, which were originally stored in inaccessible hanging cabinets in a largely random order.

We are delighted to now be entering the final stages of cataloguing this collection, thanks to our Green Pledge Project archivist and a team of helpful volunteers. Originally drawn by their predecessors, the maps and plans share detailed information about the rivers and brooks that fall under the Environment Agency’s jurisdiction.

Plans showing the location of watercourses, cross sections, and longitudinal sections feature heavily in the collection, helping researchers to understand the size and depth of the rivers.

Flooding is understandably a common theme, with maps giving the extent of flooding (including many documenting the March 1947 floods), hydrographs showing the volume of water passing through gauge points, and many plans showing measures taken to prevent and minimize the impact of flooding on local communities.

    

  

Some maps amalgamate erosion over time, showing where land has been lost to the river, and some are annotated with the names and addresses of landowners, offering an interesting opportunity for family history research. This plan of Hope Pill Rhyne in Arlingham shows existing hedges, trees, and plants to be protected, and even identifies badger setts to avoid.

                             

Over the following months all 9000 maps and plans will be regrouped and added to the catalogue, so watch this space as we will let you know as soon as they are ready to view in our searchroom.

Green Pledge Project update

The Green Pledge Project is now into its second year. We’ve started the new year with lots of exciting new events, exhibitions and podcasts in the pipeline. 

The Green Pledge exhibition is ready to tour venues across our area.  The eight pull up panels display a rich mosaic of stories about the environmental heritage in our area, including global warming, changing landscapes and lifestyles, species loss and campaigning.

 

On Saturday 11^th January the Green Pledge Open Archives event explored flooding. There were brilliant speakers as well as an exhibition in the foyer of the work of Ebb and Flow, a collection of artists who are campaigning about pollution in the River Wye. You can see the exhibition until the beginning of February.

Over the coming months we will be working with several artists including Natasha Housego, who is sculpting a piece of ash into a ‘Pledge Hog’.  This will be the receptacle for people to make their pledges for the environment. Natasha has been working in freezing temperatures in the garden at Nature in Art at Twigworth. She’ll also be at Stroud Museum in the Park and Folk of Gloucester, so if you wish to see her, pop along, have a look at hedgehog related documents and drop a pledge into the pot. Find out more here

The Green Pledge Learning and Outreach Team also attended a wassail at the Folk Museum, taking with them documents about the tradition, the fascinating orchard book and correspondence between apple growers from the 1800s.

Our podcast series with people who work for nature and the environment continues, with new episodes from George Peterken about the grasslands and his work as a specialist woodland ecologist, and Mollie Meager talking about her life as a environmental campaigner.

There are lots of opportunities to volunteer with the project and you can catch up with us at Stroud Museum in the Park in half term. 

To find out more please sign up for updates on our webpage

GLHA news

In September 2024, Ray Wilson stepped down from his role as GLHA website manager after creating the site and maintaining it for 23 years. Member groups were very appreciative of his work and thanked him warmly for his outstanding contribution to local history in Gloucestershire and beyond. Dr Wilson is continuing to develop his other websites including Glosdocs which aims to make local history documents and photographs more easily accessible online.

Members of the GLHA committee have taken over the management of the website with Vicki Walker responsible for site updates, Mary Sullivan for the Speakers List and David Jones for the Local Societies Events List. We hope that local historians will continue to visit the site to find out what member groups are doing, and to get ideas for speakers for their own groups. Please visit the website at https://gloshistory.org.uk/

The committee have arranged Forum meetings for representatives of member groups for the whole of 2025, details of which can be found on the website. There will also be a Summer Afternoon meeting to be held at Stonehouse on Sunday June 29th. Details and how to book tickets will be published in April.

Photo shows: St Cyr’s Church and the Stroudwater canal at Stonehouse

Enfranchisement of Cheltenham properties, 1854-1935

Enfranchising, when the term was applied to the premises in Cheltenham, meant replacing the customary or copyhold classification, where one is holden to the Lord of the Manor, with that of freehold status, such as most properties enjoy today.

This process is recorded by the Manor Court of Cheltenham, between the 1850s and 1930s, in three large, leather-bound volumes now being stored at Gloucestershire Archives. Listing these enfranchisements, written on 1,300 double pages, for the purpose of producing a volume in the Gloucestershire Record Series, becomes, over time, very repetitive.

The layout of the volumes is strictly adhered to, and is for the most part, in clear, if occasionally faded, handwriting. The left-hand page records the date of the enfranchisement, the owner’s or occupier’s name/s, the amount paid to the Lord of the Manor to obtain freehold status, the consideration, and the date that the then copyhold property passed through the Manor Court - the property was surrendered into the hands of the Lord, by the then customary owner, before being recorded as to the use of the new customary owner.

The right-hand page gives a description of the property. That is its status as capital mansion, dwelling house, tenement or cottage. Also mentioned are the other buildings or erections present on the site. Also recorded, in the majority of cases, are the dimensions of the site and the bordering properties and their owners. For example:

90 ft. on the N side, 139 ft. at the S side, 80 ft. in depth, N-S, facing Queen Street … , 23 ft. W side, partly next Sun Street and partly 73 ft. next land late of Robert Williams …

and N by the highway, Swindon Lane, E by Queen Street, S, partly by land late of Mr Champion and partly by other land late of Robert Williams and W partly by Sun Street and partly by other land late of Robert Williams.

 

However, occasionally one finds more intriguing details of privies, dust holes and dung heaps. The best so far is the record of an owner who is determined that the privy or is it a two-seater, will remain in his tenure as a freehold property.

‘ … and two privies or one privy divided into two parts, the one is now used with the messuage and premises and the other with the back cottage, and which privies extend from the messuage and garden first described …’.

The potential of the many rear court yards is fully exploited. Not only for stables and privies, but also for dust holes or dung pits. These turn up next to more salubrious premises such as breweries and malt houses  … the stables and dung pit, near the malt house …  and the brewery …, with another malt house … along the E side of the stables. . One wonders what the beer tasted like!

Recording the first volume nears completion with over three-quarters of the pages calendared, but there are two more volumes to go, so no one should hold their breathe for the final result.

A mystery (partly) unravelled

All of us in GFHS love a mystery.  So we were delighted when one of the other partners in the Heritage Hub showed our Centre volunteers this half-finished patchwork quilt.

   

As you’ll appreciate this isn’t the sort of thing which happens often - we usually start with a person rather than a piece of stitching - but we always enjoy a challenge.  After all, the quilt represents many hours of hard work by its maker so we wanted to see if we could discover a bit more about her.  It is always so satisfying to uncover the stories of those people who have slipped through the cracks of history and been forgotten.

So, where do you start with a puzzle like this?  We were very lucky because this quilt came with a handwritten note which suggested that it belonged to Elizabeth Tilton who married John Cripps in St Mary de Lode church, Gloucester in 1852.  Now we were on much more familiar territory so were able to check the marriage register which is available on the Ancestry website - this website is free-to-view in our Family History Centre.  The register gave us the name and occupation of the bride’s father: John Tilton, builder - a big step forward.

The note also suggested that the couple lived in the Cotswold villages of Elkstone and Winson.  This led us on to the census returns, again available on line, which provided details of Elizabeth’s year and place of birth:  around 1820 in Little Somerford, just over the county boundary in Wiltshire.

Now we were flying!  Many Wiltshire records are available online so we were able to check the parish registers of Little Somerford without leaving the Heritage Hub.  And we found a family which matched our information.  John Tilton, carpenter, and his wife Hannah, of Little Somerford had three children:  Elizabeth, baptised in 1820, Harriet, baptised in 1824, and William, baptised in 1826.

We continued the search to see if we could find any evidence of a connection with the future Mrs Elizabeth Cripps.  What we found came as a bit of a surprise.  Tragedy struck the family -  Hannah Tilton was buried in September 1826 while John Tilton was buried a few months later in March 1827.  John made a will leaving everything to his brother William in trust for his young children.  Although this will doesn’t include the names of all his children, John did leave his 'watch and working tools’ to his son, also called William,  .

Our next step was to discover what happened to the orphaned Elizabeth.  This is proving to be a bit of a challenge.  So far we’ve found that her brother William was living with his grandparents in Little Somerford in 1841 and eventually moved to Salford.  Her sister Harriet married in Stroud in 1847 and then emigrated to the USA.  However Elizabeth herself is still a mystery at the moment although we haven’t given up hope of tracking her down..

Visit our Family History Centre to see what mysteries we can help you unravel!

War Detectives - identifying our fallen service personnel

The Friends of Gloucestershire Archives (FOGA)  and Gloucestershire Family History Society are volunteer-run independent charities based within the Heritage Hub.  Since we’re both equally passionate about history in all its many aspects, it makes good sense to ‘pool our resources’ sometimes so we’ve started to run joint events in the Dunrossil Centre which are free and open to everyone. 

 In the last Newsletter we highlighted one of these: Ross Campbell’s conversation with Caroline Meller about his extensive research into the history of the old Regal Cinema in Kings Square, Gloucester.  The Regal was such an important part of life for anyone growing up in Gloucester from the late 1950s to the 1980s so our event offered the perfect chance to share some happy memories over a cup of tea and a piece of Christmas cake.  It was such fun, so ‘thank you’ to everyone who contributed.

 In complete contrast to this, we were delighted to welcome Tracey Bowers to our recent event earlier this month.  Tracey is a member of the MOD’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre Commemorations Team based at the Imjin Barracks in Innsworth, just outside Gloucester.  Her team is usually called ‘The War Detectives’ which neatly sums up its job and has caught the public imagination.

In a fascinating talk Tracey explained how her team works alongside other professionals such as forensic archaeologists, DNA experts, and military historians to identify the remains of British service personnel unearthed on former battlefields from the Western Front to Korea.  Eventually these remains are buried in the nearest Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery and she liaises with the appropriate regiment as well as relatives to provide a dignified service which reflects the sacrifice each individual made however long ago.  As Tracey took us through some of her cases step-by-step, from the first photos of the skeletons in situ to the video of the burial service, none of us could fail to be moved on so many levels.  It was a privilege to share this experience - it wouldn’t have been the same online - to talk to Tracey herself and to see some of the artefacts which helped in the identification process.

 

Working with GFHS, FOGA have organised another four afternoon events this year:

 Thursday 20 March - Tony Conder talking about the Gloucester Mariner’s project

 Thursday 19 June - Richard Auckland talking about his research into the residents of the Gloucester Cathedral Close

 Thursday 23 October - Simon Randall talking about the English Civil War in the Cotswolds

 Thursday 11 December - Christmas Social & Quiz

 

Please join us from 2pm for tea, coffee, biscuits and (occasionally) cake; the talk itself will start at 2.30pm.  These events are open to all and free of charge.

 

Heritage Hub events

Chartered Territory - a focus on maps

Saturday 1st February, 1-3pm

1.30pm – ‘Maps: the key to uncovering history’ by Dr John Chandler

 An opportunity to see some of the most treasured maps held at Gloucestershire Archives

Refreshments throughout the day, donations welcome

Discover more about your past heritage at the Gloucestershire Family History Centre, open from 10am-4pm.

 

'Remember when...' - an afternoon of reminiscence

Saturday 1st March, 1-4pm

1.15pm: Lives of the past – ‘One lady’s journey through the census’ by Jemma Fowkes, Community Heritage Officer at Gloucestershire Archives

 2.30pm: Voices of the past – A talk by Katie Scaife, of the 'Sounds of the South-West' project, based at Bristol Archives on her work with audio-visual archives

 Employers, activities and occupations of the past - a display of records from major local employers such as Fielding and Platt, the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company and the Dowty Group of Cheltenham plus material from family and local collections held at Gloucestershire Archives

Thoughts about the past - Gloucestershire Libraries’ Reminiscence exhibition

 Refreshments throughout the day, donations welcome

Find your past heritage at the Gloucestershire Family History Centre, open 10am-4pm

Green Pledge Project event - 'The Price of Food', a focus on food and farming

Saturday 5th April, 1-4pm

More details to come.

To book and for further information about all our events, including our online 'Secrets Revealed' talk held on the fourth Wednesday of each month, 1-2pm, please see here

Llanthony History Huddle: Meeting Monthly to Share Llanthony's Place in History

We launched the History Huddle in 2024 to connect our community with the rich and diverse history that surrounds us. Our goal is to engage people with the rich history of Llanthony Secunda Priory not just through informative talks, but also by offering interactive sessions with our wonderful staff, dedicated volunteers, and inspiring guest speakers. 

We’re excited to announce that our History Huddle will be continuing throughout 2025, with new speakers and fascinating workshops planned. 

We meet on the second Thursday of each month from March to October, from 6-7.30pm.  Admission is free, although donations are welcome. We’d love for you to join us and become part of our history. You can find out more at here

Get warm in Winter and ready for Spring...

Gloucester History Festival Winter Warmer

24 January - 6 March 2025

Enjoy 50 events broadcast over 25 days all from the comfort of home this winter. The mouth-watering programme includes Jeremy Bowen, Mary Beard, David Olusoga, William Dalrymple, Greg Jenner, Marc Morris, Michael Wood, Natalie Haynes, Philippa Langley and many more.

The digital festival features highlights from the 2024 spring and autumn festivals, some shown for the first time, plus special events from the archives all curated by Festival President Janina Ramirez. Watch out for our special Gloucestershire History Day on Friday 7 February.

The Winter Warmer Pass offers all 50 events for £30. Individual events cost £6. Tickets on sale now, see here

Also:

Gloucester History Festival Spring Weekend 

25-27 April 2025

Forty of Britain’s leading historians join us for an intriguing three day programme of compelling talks and controversial debates in the magical setting of Blackfriars Priory. Speakers include Tracy Borman, Hallie Rubenhold, Tony Robinson, Bettany Hughes and Ian Mortimer with talks ranging from Edward II and the Tudor Queens to James I, Edwardian crime and the wonders of the Ancient World.

Tickets go on sale on 7 March. To book and for further information see here

Lectures at Yate Heritage Centre

Tracing a family with police connections

After the excesses of the Christmas period, the police volunteers have returned and are settling into their new tasks and routines and with the weather preventing us from getting out and about as much as usual, we have also turned our attention to planning future events.  

We have 7 talks and events already booked for 2025, spread throughout the county including Bishops Cleeve, Swindon Village, Birdlip, Tetbury, Mitcheldean and Kemble.

Over the last three months we have had 52 enquiries. Our favourite was the query from someone wanting to return a World War l 'death penny' to the family of a long dead police officer. The penny had originally belonged to the brother of Inspector Percy Barnard Thompson.  It is now held by another family and with them we embarked upon a voyage of discovery trying to reunite the penny with descendants of the Thompson family.

Between us we discovered some interesting facts.

Originally it was thought that Inspector Thompson had one son who had died in WWll.  However, we found there were, in fact, two sons.

The second son, Alfred James Barnard Thompson became a prisoner of war after his plane crashed in France and he was held in Stalag Luft lll during the time of the infamous Great Escape. 

He know that he left the air force after the war .  However, it was a chance discovery on a French website that told us that his grandchildren had visited the site of the crash in the last year or so. However, no further leads have so far been found so our enquiry remains open. Although this is not strictly police related, it was interesting to explore some alternative research paths and eventually we hope to add to the rich tapestry of the police family.

It is worth noting that if you have any police related photographs, we are always happy to receive Jpegs via gloucestershirepolicearchives@gmail.com and queries can also be sent to the same email address. We are also able to scan photographs in our office at the Heritage Hub. We are usually open Monday to Wednesday until 2.30pm but it is always worth checking that we are available before you make a visit to avoid disappointment.