The Broseley Local History Society

 

Incorporating the Wilkinson Society

 

Newsletter                                                                           February 2000

 

Chairman:                  Frank Selkirk

Treasurer:                Steve Dewhirst

Curator:                    David Lake

Membership Sec.:                  Janet Robinson, 26 Coalport Road,

                                Broseley, Shropshire, TF12 5AZ

                                01952 882495

Journal Editor                Neil Clarke

Newsletter Editor:                  Nick Coppin, 01952 884398

 

Meetings usually 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 at the back.

 

Web Site: www.dewhirst.ndirect.co.uk              E-mail: blhs@dewhirst.ndirect.co.uk             or  www.Broseley.org.uk     

 

Programme for 2000:

Wednesday 1st March:                        Jim Cooper, “Researching the Lilleshall Company                         Collection”

Wednesday 5th April:                        A Congenial Evening on Genealogy led by Paul Luter.                           For more information, see below.

Wednesday 3rd May:                        Tony Mugridge, “The History of the Brick and Tile                         Making Industries of Broseley.”

Wednesday 7th June:                         The Annual Wilkinson Lecture; “John Wilkinson and the                         Shropshire Canal” by Neil Clarke.

 

Local History Family Day, 21st February.

This is being held in Broseley Library between 2 and 5pm and 5.30 and 7.30pm when there will be Displays, a Quiz, Researching your Family Tree on the Internet and Making a Family Tree.  At 7.30pm there will be a talk on Local History by Mary McKenzie of Shropshire Records and Research.

 

Shropshire Local History Conference, 4th March 10am to 4.30pm.

This is being held at Shirehall in Shrewsbury and costs £5 including tea and coffee.   The programme includes a talk on our Society by Journal Editor, Neil Clarke and other talks on Anglo-Saxon Newport, Placenames and Landscape in Shropshire, Bishop’s Castle, Walcot and Clive, The Growth of Methodism in SE Shropshire, Baschurch School and finally an Overview of Local History in Shropshire by Barrie Trinder.  We will have a display there put on by members of the Committee.   Bookings by 21st February to Shropshire Records and Research Centre, Castle Gates, Shrewsbury, SY1 2AQ.

 

‘New Technologies and Community History’; a Wrekin Local Studies Forum Open Day at the Long Warehouse, Coalbrookdale from 10am till 4pm; admission free.

 

A Congenial Evening on Genealogy; BLHS meeting led by Paul Luter on Wednesday 5th April.   This is a guide for beginners and the more experienced to research their family histories in Broseley and the surrounding area.   It promises to be a very interesting and informative evening with some helpful materials being available for members attending.

 

The Victoria History of the Counties of England, Shropshire Volume 10: Wenlock, Upper Corvedale and the Stretton Hills.

This has just been published and contains the history from early times to the 1980’s of the 27 ancient parishes included in the borough of Wenlock and adjoining parts of the Munslow hundred. Included are the towns of Wenlock, Broseley and Church Stretton.

It costs £70 and is published by the OUP.   Broseley library is expected to have two copies; one for lending and one for reference only.

 

A Request.

I am currently researching the Severn Valley railway line which ran through the Severn Gorge until 1963.   The local stations were Ironbridge and Broseley Station which is now the Ironbridge car park and Jackfield Halt which was originally next to Maws tile works and was moved in 1954 nearer to the back of the Boat pub.   If any members have any recollections about the railway or any pictures or other information, I would be very interested to hear from them.   I wonder if anyone has a photo of the railway cottages beside the path to the Tuckies which were caught up in the ‘52 landslip?   I can be contacted on 884398 or at the monthly meetings.

Nick Coppin

 

More information about the Ironbridge.

I was recently lent an article from the Shropshire Star regarding a recently discovered sketch of the building of the Ironbridge.  It was found in Sweden in 1997 and is thought to have been painted in July 1779.   It shows some light scaffolding and three arches in place but no abutments.  It also shows a trow.   The article suggests that the Bridge might have been cast very close to the site of the bridge possibly on the present market square site or at Bedlam furnace, downstream a little.   There is also a theory locally held, that the level site a little way up Bridge Bank where two bungalows now stand, was where the bridge was cast.   It later became Benthall Furnace and then Maws tile works before they moved to Jackfield.   The speculation will no doubt continue.............

Nick Coppin