‘Local History’ Archives
The Black Death and the Great Plague strike
When researching last month’s article on Welsh Newton, a recurrent theme from previous researches, is the shortage of recorded buildings in the periods approx. 1300 to 1500 and 1600 to the late 1700s. This could of course be a lack of surviving records but even without this written evidence, we might well expect to see buildings of these ages [...]
Welsh Newton – a village of change
Some villages in our area have changed relatively little over the centuries yet others have changed dramatically. One such village that has changed is Welsh Newton. The parish of Welsh Newton sits high above the River Wye and covers a large area from Buckholt Wood (north of Monmouth) in the South, Welsh Newton Common in the East to Pembridge [...]
Llangarron – A lost treasure, literally!
In last month’s article I wrote about Herefordshire Council’s Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) as the major source of historical information on buildings and artefacts in our area. This month I will begin an exploration of this important record. Before I forget, since I last wrote, the Council has had an upgrade of its website and the [...]
Searching our history – National Monuments Record (NMR)
It is a year since I first wrote an article on local history for the Village News. From the feedback I have received they are proving popular so a big thank you to all you readers. I have plenty of more ideas for articles so I hope to carry on writing for some time to come as long as you and the editor still want. The major problem is finding [...]
A pocket guide worth buying
In last month’s article on The (Ye) (Olde) Hostelrie Hotel in Goodrich, I made reference to Sir Nikolaus Pevsner and the Herefordshire edition of his guides “The Buildings of England”. For those readers who have not heard of these books, they are a comprehensive regional architectural series which were written between 1951 and 1974; each [...]
The Wye trow – The workhorse of the River Wye
As I have mentioned in previous articles, river transport was vital for the industry in the Wye Valley. Our communities would not have developed as they have without a ready means of moving the heavy raw materials such as coal, limestone, iron ore, building materials and wood and for the finished products made from them. Because of their weight [...]
Sustainability and recycling are not new
We often hear of the words “sustainability” and “recycling” as being new ideas that will save the planet. What we sometimes forget is that these activities have been going on since mankind began. It is only over the latter half of the 20th century that we began to develop more of a “throwaway” culture as our standards of living [...]
The Golden Age – 45 years of great building
When I was reading the headlines in the last edition of Village News about the Whitchurch Clock Tower petition and appeal, it came to my mind that this was yet another major local building constructed in the forty five year period between circa 1830 and 1875. This was in the middle of Queen Victoria’s reign when Great Britain and arguably the [...]
The Tramroad Cometh
Imagine it is the year 1800, the Wye Valley is teeming with activity. There is no longer the hustle and bustle of the ironworks – these are now in sharp decline but there are the emerging metal industries of copper wire and tinplate manufacture, the felling of mature trees for shipbuilding, the quarrying of stone and limestone for the [...]
The Ironworks of the Wye Valley
In last month’s edition of Village News, I wrote about the importance of the Wye Valley in the early days of iron making. I now want to describe in more detail what this industry looked like and what has been left behind as a reminder. Industry was flourishing in the Valley at the end of the 18th century. Gilpin, writing in 1792, [...]