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Newsletter May 1998 |
| Chairman: Tony Mugridge. |
| Membership Sec.: David Lake, Avebury, Stocking Lane, Nordley, Bridgnorth,
Shropshire, WV16 4SY. 01746 762813. |
| Newsletter Editor: Nick Coppin, 01952 884398 |
| Meetings take place each month on the first Wednesday of the month at
7.30pm (unless announced otherwise). Indoor meetings will be held at the Broseley
Social Club in the High Street unless announced otherwise. Car parking around the back. |
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| Programme: Wednesday 3rd June: Outdoor visit to Broseley Wood
Light Railway.
This will be for a maximum number of 20 members.
For further details, please apply to Nick Coppin, 884398.
Saturday 11th July: Summer Outing to Bersham/Brymbo/Minera to look at Wilkinson sites.
(See notice below).
August: No meeting.
Saturday 5th September: Walk in Jackfield with Tony Mugridge; start 1pm at Tile Museum
car park wearing stout walking shoes.
Wednesday 7th October: More residents remembering Old Broseley. Bring along your
memories for an informal chat; followed by the AGM.
Wednesday 4th November: Janet Collins, ‘The Maw Company in 1904’
December: Dinner with after dinner talk. |
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| Visit to Wilkinson Sites in the Wrexham area - Saturday 11th July. |
| Following the notice in the last newsletter, there appears to be
sufficient interest to go ahead with arrangements for the trip, on the basis of sharing
cars. |
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| Itinerary |
| 9.30am Depart Broseley Square |
| 11.00am Visit the Open Furnace at Brymbo (built and operated by John |
| Wilkinson from the mid-1790’s |
| 12.30pm Arrive at Bersham Heritage Centre (venue for lunch) |
| 1.30 Visit Bersham Ironworks |
| The furnaces and foundries which produced cannon for the American War of
Independence and cylinders for James Watt’s steam engines are alive again in the
heart of the Clywedog Valley where the sights and sounds of John Wilkinson’s
internationally-renowned late 18th Century ironworks have been re-created. Archaeologists
have recently unearthed the remains of the ironworks and using their results, alongside
many of the finds, the story of this famous site unfolds. |
| 3.30pm Visit Minera Lead Mines. Lead mining has taken place at Minera
since at least Medieval times. Remains of later 18th (the Wilkinson period) and 19th
Century lead processing areas, a beam engine house, winding engine and boiler houses have
been excavated and restored. Working machinery has been installed and visitors can have
hands on experience panning for lead. The Interpretation Centre outlines the history of
the site and visitors can climb to the top of the Beam Engine House which has fine views
of the site and surrounding countryside. |
| 6.30pm (approx.) Arrive back in Broseley. |
| Please ring me on 504135 to book your place on the trip. The total cost
will be about 5.00 which includes entry to site and travel) |
Neil Clarke. |
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Social History at the Social |
| A gradual change seems to be taking place following the change of name
from "The Wilkinson Society" to "The Broseley Local History Society":
and the location of meetings from the Pipe Museum to the Social Club… |
| Whereas previously, perhaps in the true spirit of John Wilkinson, ladies
were seldom to be seen, at the April meeting they outnumbered the men by 3 to one, and
there were several mothers and daughters around… |
| The goal was suggested by Ken Jones’s beautifully illustrated talk in
March which stimulated us to hope that memories are so precious and so time important: the
Willey Furnace site can be around for centuries to come: Mrs Doris Archer (this is meant
to be a sample name) will not… |
| Jack Owen gave a presidential start to the hoped for series of memories:
this was a reading of the first part of his memories from his very early days, from
washing arrangements through to his early days at the Maws Tile Works. Several suggestions
as to how such events should be run in the future resulted from the helpful discussions
following this. |
| In the future it is planned that the "social" meetings should
have an early "key" speaker for 10 minutes or so, just to break the ice, and
then members should chat in small, informal groups. |
| What will be of tremendous help, however, is if those found to be able to
produce vivid memories will be willing to put these onto disk (please let me know if I can
help). This will usually best be done in your home: the recording made of Jack Owen at the
Social Club is almost unusable because of the noisy extractor fan in the room! |
| We look forward eagerly to future social meetings: of which there will,
I’m sure, be many! |
Frank Selkirk
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