BLACKMORE HISTORY NEWS - February 2009

Welcome to this month’s round-up of local history and heritage in and around Blackmore, Essex.

End of an era for local pub?

The Cuckoo, formerly The Thatcher’s Arms, Radley Green, closed last month, perhaps forever. Greene King, who took over the Ridleys chain of public houses in 2005 – and closed the Hartford End Brewery - is selling the place which in all probability will become a private house. It’s a shame that another lovely proper country pub has closed but a reflection of changing times. As someone who has never probably stepped inside a pub once said, “the sustainability of the public house is diminishing”. For a history of licensees at The Cuckoo follow to this link …
http://londonpublichouse.com/essexpubs/Roxwell/thatcher.shtml
... and memories of darts matches held there and in the local area.
http://www.patrickchaplin.com/Ingatestone.htm

The Campaign for Real Ale is doing their bit to support the local. In the Epping Guardian it cited three pubs in need of support: The Forresters Arms, High Ongar; the Sixteen String Jack over at Theydon Bois; and The Moletrap, Tawney Common, Stapleford Tawney. The latter is a good, honest, old-fashioned pub in the country serving excellent home-made food. It is really worth searching out, but be warned the landlord takes cash only (no cheques or credit cards). Follow link for more information on the CAMRA article: http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/4070651.DISTRICT__Pubs_fighting_back_against_crisis/

Perhaps a future item for the blog will be to cover some favourite locals, a photograph and a pint – all in the name of research of course!!

1911 Census

Local and family historians have no doubt been subscribing to http://www.1911census.co.uk/ hosted by ‘Find My Past’. The Essex census is available to view, as indeed are all counties in England to the south of Yorkshire. The census was taken on Sunday 2 April 1911. I have found new information about my family. Have you?

There is also a blog for the site giving information on the rollout of material, bugs in the system, and other information about the project. Go to: http://blog.1911census.co.uk/.

The BBC News item on the census release can be found here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7826521.stm

Music by William Byrd

A recording of music by William Byrd, written when he lived at Stondon Massey. Follow link: http://www.musicalcriticism.com/recordings/cd-byrd-hodie-0109.shtml

Folklore Relaunch

Sylvia Kent is a local writer. Her book ‘Folklore in Essex’ has been reprinted. For more information go to: http://sylviakent.blogspot.com/2009/01/folklore-of-essex.html

Caught on Camera

Mountnessing Windmill: http://www.flickr.com/photos/garysmith70/3086922807/

Walks – with a bit of history mentioned

A circular walk from High Ongar via Willingale (“Matt’s walks”): http://www.matfrygbr.co.uk/willingale_walk.html

Overview of Essex

Hutchybee makes a rather self-deprecating comment at the end of an essay in which he extols ‘The Joys of Es-sex’. It provides an overview to the county which some will find interesting. Follow the link to this discussion board: http://www.morningstarr.co.uk/forum/general-discussion/18360-joys-es-sex.html

Afternoon Teas In The Summer

Blackmore, High Beech and Stanford Rivers churches all feature on entry encouraging cyclists to come and savour tea and cake in the summer. Follow link: http://stibasa.blogspot.com/2009/01/bike-ride-and-afternoon-tea.html

Victorian Farm

Don’t miss this series going out on BBC Two. Very interesting.

Links

For an extensive list of links to other sites go to: www.blackmorehistory.co.uk/externallinks.html or look at the news entry for 1 January 2009.

Links: Researching the First World War

If you wish to explore the subject of the ‘First World War’ further, the following links to websites are recommended.

Great War Archive, published by Oxford University
“The aim of this initiative was to collect together material related to the First World War held by members of the public to help keep the memory alive of the sacrifices made during World War One. The final collection will be made available free of charge via the Web on the 11th November 2008, the 90th anniversary of the Armistice.”
http://www.thegreatwararchive.org/

Have I missed anything? Please E mail so that I can update this page and share it with all our readers.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission was established to commemorate those who fell in the Great War. Their database is available online.
http://www.cwgc.org/

‘Hut six’ is an impressive ‘search engine’ for entries on the CWGC site.
http://www.hut-six.co.uk/cgi-bin/search14-21.php.

‘Soldiers who died in the Great War’:
In 1921 His Majesty's Stationery Office published, on behalf of and by authority of the War Office, two lists of those who died during the First World War. More than 703,000 names are included in this database.
http://www.military-genealogy.com/productHome?product=ww1

Researching a soldier in the British Army in the First World War? Go to 1914-1918
http://www.1914-1918.net/grandad/grandad.htm
This is a page from the site, ‘The Long Long Trail’: http://www.1914-1918.net/

Channel 4’s 2006 landmark TV series ‘Not Forgotten’ launched a website called ‘Lost Generation’: http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/L/lostgeneration/

In terms of more general sites, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.co.uk/) contains many records of servicemen. During November 2008 it is allowing free access to all World War One records – but be warned, many records no longer exist.

BBC. New site commemorating the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War
http://www.bbc.co.uk/remembrance/
Website which commemorated the 80th anniversary of the end of WW1
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/10/98/world_war_i/197437.stm

Great War
http://www.greatwar.co.uk/

Wikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I

… and finally a Wiki question
How did the Great War affect Essex? Discuss!http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_did_the_great_war_affect_essex

BLACKMORE HISTORY NEWS - August 2008

Welcome to this month’s round-up of local history and heritage in and around Blackmore.

Who Do You Think You Are?

The BBC magazine of the same name (Issue 12) tells me that ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ series 5 begins on Wednesday 13 August, 9pm, BBC One. Celebrities featured are Patsy Kensit (13 August), Boris Johnson (20 August), Jerry Springer (27 August), Esther Rantzen (3 September), David Suchet (10 September), Ainsley Harriott (17 September), Jodie Kidd (24 September) and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen (1 October).

There are always a number of interesting articles in the magazine. This time there is a look at old post boxes. Coming soon to this blog – after our commemoration of the First World War – I will be on the look-out for Victorian pillar boxes (and lamp boxes) in the Blackmore Local Area. Incidentally, in 1512, Henry VIII appointed Sir Brian Tuke as Master of the Posts. Tuke has a local link in that he acquired land around the Blackmore (Essex) district around the time of the Dissolution.


Family History – Blackmore

Blackmore Area Local History is here to encourage folks to look further into local, family and social history so I was interested to learn from the Daily Mail how Roy Blackmore has traced his family back to medieval England and the time of William The Conqueror. He began researching his family tree in 1975, long before the days of Internet. Like some of my relatives, genealogy then was poring over old records and footslogging around churchyards.

“Once Roy had assembled what family historians call the 'bones' of the tree - names and dates of births, deaths and marriages - he set about giving them flesh. He tracked the Blackmore surname to a village in Essex of the same name.

'In the tenth century, monks spoke of the Blackmores as being yeoman farmers. They were Saxons, fair-skinned people from northern Germany, who came over in the fifth century after the Romans had left. The original spelling was Blachmer.'”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1040009/Meet-family-How-eccentric-spent-30-years-tracing-family-tree--hes-related-William-Conqueror.html


Ingatestone United Reformed Church bi-centenary

The history of an Independent Chapel in Ingatestone, which later became part of the Congregational Union and more recently Ingatestone United Reformed Church, is being researched by an amateur local historian. Chris Harvey, a former resident in the village, aims to publish a book two hundred years after the Church’s founding in 2012. Chris writes on Great Baddow online (link below): “I am particularly interested in people with memories and/or photographs of the 1970s or earlier, for example uniformed organisations such as Boys Brigade or Girls Brigade. I am already in touch with local church members and have access to church records, and also those in the Essex Records Office dating back to the 19th century, but any other information from anyone with knowledge of that church in the last century would be appreciated.”
http://www.greatbaddowonline.co.uk/300706newsletters/020708july2008newsletter/view?searchterm=ingatestone


Folklore In Essex

I have just finished reading a book entitled ‘Folklore in Essex’ by Sylvia Kent. It is a broad sweep of life and tradition in Essex and has much coverage of the local area, including the Wheat Whoppers Ball at Blackmore, our village’s link with Henry VIII and William Byrd of Stondon Massey to name but three. There is also a chapter on Essex’s musical tradition: Ralph Vaughan Williams’ visits to Ingrave, Brentwood and other places in Essex in the pursuit of folk song collecting. You can read more about RVW this month on this blog. Coincidentally the day I finished reading this interesting book, Sylvia Kent announced on her blog a reprint of the work. Sylvia Kent is a local photographer and freelance writer.
http://sylviakent.blogspot.com/2008/07/folklore-of-essex-from-history-press.html


Ingatestone Hall is Wicked

A history of Ingatestone Hall, home of the Petre family for over 500 years, has appeared on Wikipedia. Follow this link: http://www.powerset.com/explore/semhtml/Ingatestone_Hall


Brentwood and District Historical Society visit Blackmore & Stondon churches

On 12 June 2008, as part of their summer programme, a local history group visited two of our local churches. Follow this link to see The Society’s web entry: http://www.essexinfo.net/brentwoodhistorical/photos/album?album_id=996810


Blackmore Area Local History

Blackmore Area Local History will be launching a website very shortly – http://www.blackmorehistory.co.uk/. Pages on the site will include an index of Blackmore people, a transcript of the 1910 Electoral Register for Blackmore (Essex) and a copy of the booklet I wrote in 2005 entitled ‘Hatched, Matched and Despatched’, which is a brief survey of Blackmore’s Baptism, Marriage and Burial registers. This blog will not be closed and will continue alongside the main website. As mentioned, over the next three months the blog will be dedicated to local events surrounding the First World War (the Great War as it was then known), it being 90 years since the end of hostilities in 1918.

BLACKMORE HISTORY NEWS - May 2008

Welcome to the monthly round-up of all things history and heritage in the Blackmore area.

I have tried to encapsulate what this ‘blog’ is about by adding to the title the words: “A record of life and tradition: of buildings, people and the landscape in this corner of Essex. Local history. Family history. Social history. If it's about our heritage, then you'll find it here on 'Blackmore Area Local History'”. In business parlance, I suppose that is the “mission statement”!

Byrd at Stondon

Stondon Massey (Essex) has been on television and radio in connection with the BBC / Open University series, ‘Sacred Music’. Having featured the life and work of William Byrd on this ‘blog’, later in the year I will be turning my attention to another composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams. Why? Find out in August.

Through Changing Scenes

We had a marvellous time at Stondon Massey on 19 April when Tuneful Accord with members of the local congregation under direction of Christine Gwynn participated in two presentations of a history of Stondon Massey in words and music. This unique event was greatly appreciated by the large audience. Books, released to coincide with the event, are available. Click on “book” in the ‘labels’ section to find the latest selection.

Chelmsford Museum partially closed

An eighteen month building project is under way at Chelmsford and Essex Museum, Oaklands Park. This means that from 14 April 2008 the Essex Regimental Museum section was closed. It will reopen in November 2009 after work is complete. For more information go to:
http://www.eadt.co.uk/content/eadt/news/story.aspx?brand=EADOnline&category=News&tBrand=EADOnline&tCategory=News&itemid=IPED03%20Apr%202008%2019%3A28%3A53%3A120

Nathaniel Lancaster of Stanford Rivers (Essex)

I had an enquiry from someone who wrote: “I'm researching a family tree which includes a rector of Stanford Rivers named Nathaniel Lancaster (1700-1775). I'm trying to find out who has taken an interest in the local history of Stanford Rivers, and I thought you might have some handy contacts you could send me? If so I'd love to hear from you”.

I replied: “I am a member of the 'High Country History Group' which covers the parishes of Greensted, Stanford Rivers, Stapleford Tawney and Theydon Mount. Whilst researching material on Blackmore and Stondon Massey at Guildhall Manuscripts a couple of years ago, I noted the following information and had it published in the Group's Journal.

On a separate schedule to the Churchwardens Presentment in 1753 is a list of clergy and churchwardens for all parishes [Guildhall Manuscripts: 9583/23]. The serving clergy were:

Greensted: John Harris. Rector
Stanford Rivers. Nathaniel Lancaster DD. Rector
Stapleford Tawney. John Lloyd. Rector
Theydon Mount. Stewart Sparkes. Rector

The Bishops Act Book 1775 to 1792 [Guildhall Manuscripts:9549 f2] records:

[1775 Stanford Rivers]. September 2. Richard Beadon Clerk BD was admitted and instituted by the said Bishop to the Rectory of Stanford Rivers in the County of Essex and Diocese of London, void by the Death of Nathaniel Lancaster DD the last Incumbent upon the presentation of his most sacred Majesty King George the Third, Patron thereof by Full Right, by Virtue of his Dutchy of Lancaster, as is attested.

I will publish my ‘High Country’ writing on this blog in due course. If, though, you have a query I would be pleased to hear from you. I might be able to help. Or one of the readers might.

Unwelcome woodpeckers at Navestock Church.

Local newspapers have been running a story about woodpeckers causing damage to the timber bell tower at Navestock. Here at Blackmore we suffer from the same fate. Apparently their drilling habits are to attract a mate.

Horse Racing at Great Leighs & Galleywood

Temple of Thebes, an historical name in its own right, made history on 20 April 2008 as the first racehorse to win at the new Great Leighs course. The site, which covers the one-time Essex Showground, opens to the general public in May. It is the first racecourse to open since Taunton in 1927. However, horse racing was once held at Galleywood on the Common. Follow this BBC Essex link for more details.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/essex/content/articles/2008/04/24/galleywood_race_course_feature.shtml

Waltham Abbey Historical Information

Ten information boards have been unveiled at Waltham Abbey explaining the history of the place.
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/topstories/display.var.2230733.0.waltham_abbey_historical_plaques_unveiled.php
http://www.leavalleywalk.org.uk/2008/04/29/waltham-abbey-history-explained/