The Tewkesbury Historical Society
Welcome to our local History Society website
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Echoes of April 2021
November 2021 Meeting
Ridley Road
History of the Cenotaph
Non-Designated Heritage Assets in Tewkesbury
We have been approached by Nana Pierre, Heritage Engagement Officer, Tewkesbury Borough Council to help her draw up a list of Non-Designated Heritage Assets.
Non-designated heritage assets are locally-identified ‘buildings, monuments, sites, places, areas or landscapes identified by plan-making bodies as having a degree of heritage significance meriting consideration in planning decisions, but which do not meet the criteria for designated heritage assets’ (PPG). It is important to note that some non-designated heritage assets are equivalent to designated heritage assets in terms of significance.
They do not have the status of listed buildings but might contribute to planning debate about a possible development.
There might be some such asset you feel ought to be added to the list Nana is constructing.
For example: Mythe Tunnel and Remnants of the 1864 Railway Station are not included.
You can see A: here the list of listed buildings in our town compiled by Historic England and Tewkesbury Town Council to check if the asset which interests you has already been ‘listed’.
If you wish to submit an asset via THS then please check the B: Published Criteria
And if you think you can make the case, you have to C: Fulfil the Criteria which is quite demanding of your time and knowledge.
If you wish to go ahead, please submit a draft of your proposal [C] to mozartkelly@btinternet.comfor us to consider.
October 2021 Meeting
September 2021 Meeting
The Bryan Jerrard Award
The Bryan Jerrard Award is given annually for what is judged to be the best published article on an aspect of Gloucestershire’s history during the past year.
The Award finalists for 2020 are -
Courtenay, Adrian, ‘“The Greatest Crusade of all – the Crusade for World Peace”: Cheltenham and the League of Nations Union, 1920-21’, Cheltenham Local History Society Journal 36 (2020).
Deeks, Roger, ‘The Persistence of the Brass Band Tradition in the Forest of Dean’, The New Regard 34 (2020).
Freeman, Karl, ‘Great Balls of Fire. A Brief History of Tewkesbury Mustard’, Tewkesbury Historical Society Bulletin 29 (2020).
Hare, Michael, ‘The Church House at Deerhurst’, Glevensis 52 (2019).
Jones, Sue, ‘The Forgotten Half? How Cheltenham men supported the women’s campaign for the vote’, Cheltenham Local History Society Journal 36 (2020).
Maxwell, Carol, ‘Painswick 1851 to 1911 – an exploration of the census returns’, Painswick Chronicle 22 (2019).
Rhodes, John, ‘The Barn of Llanthony Secunda Priory’, Glevensis 52 (2019).
Waller, Jill, ‘The Quaker Burial Ground in Grove Street’, Cheltenham Local History Society Journal 36 (2020).
Walker, Keith, ‘Local Voluntary Hospitals’, The New Regard 34 (2020).
Woolacott, Amy, ‘Leckhampton’s Stone Legacy’, Leckhampton Local History Society Research Bulletin 5 (2020).
The winner and runner-up for the 2020 Award will be announced at the GLHA’s Forum on 6 December 2021, when there will be a display of the submitted journals.
Vaccination Research
We have been contacted by researchers at University of Bristol who are asking for research participants:
What does vaccination mean to people aged 55+?
We invite you to talk about your views on vaccination and getting vaccinated
Would you like to help understand why people choose to get vaccinated and why not?
If you are aged 55+ and living in Tewkesbury we would like to hear from you!
How to participate
You would join an online group discussion on a video call for up to 90 minutes. We will organise online focus groups with up to six other participants. The group discussion will be run by a member of the research team and recorded. You will be offered a £30 high street voucher as a thank you for your time. Focus groups are expected to take place in July-October 2021. See the project website for further information.
How to express your interest
Please complete this short questionnaire https://forms.office.com/r/Z8Jf09vn1x to tell us a little about yourself. We will then contact you based on the contact details you provide on the questionnaire.
If you have any questions about the project please see the project website or contact Research Support Assistant Taru Silvonen via taru.silvonen@bristol.ac.uk
D-Day
Annual General Meeting
Woodard Award 2021
The Duke of Edinburgh's Links With Tewkesbury
Alderton Saxons
Results of recent Tree-Ring Dating for Tewkesbury Buildings
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1832 Cholera Epidemic in Tewkesbury
One of our members, Dr Peter Raggatt, who is a retired NHS Clinical Biochemist at Addenbrookes Hospital and Lecturer in Cambridge University School, was moved to research and write an article about this epidemic with its comparisons with the present pandemic. [see attached PDF above]
It links in with previous research on Cholera in Tewkesbury.
Such was the impact of these two epidemics on the town that a monument was commissioned which now resides in the Cemetery, adjacent to the ‘Cholera Pit’ where many victims received a mass night burial [see attached].
Although John Snow, clean water for the Mythe Waterworks and improved housing conditions have ensured that 1849 was the last appearance of cholera, the brutality which occurred in World War II Japanese POW camps caused the death of several Tewkesbury soldiers of cholera in 1943-44. Here is a biography of one of them, Frederick Key.
Smallpox was another medical curse of the18-19th centuries but by the late 19thC vaccinations were made compulsory and a significant number of people in Tewkesbury became anti-vaccination. For more on this familiar tale, see Martin Holt's award winning article.
History is always so topical!
UK Census
Stone Stiles Project
Tewkesbury Medical Volunteers at Mitton in WWI
Cemetery and Burials database for Tewkesbury
Over the years we have collated information from the various burial grounds in the town and now is the time to release a one-stop location for all of them on this site. The new Burials Database in our Research section tries to do this. There is also an accompanying history and guide to finding the resting place of persons buried in the town. There are currently an impressive 18,564 records. For the decades 1841 to 1881 we can also link to the Census Database (not guaranteed they are same people)An Upsetting Discovery in our Cemetery
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Bletchley Girls
'The Making of Miss Brown'
Message from David Elder, author of joint THS Publication, Literary Tewkesbury
One of the projects I've been doing during these strange times is to write and produce a film version of a play about the life of Elizabeth Brown (1830-99) who was an accomplished amateur astronomer who lived in Cirencester.
The 30-minute film is called ‘The Making of Miss Brown’. It is viewable online for £3 from the Stroud Theatre Festival 2020 web site. To access it:1. Please set up a simple account at http://stfonline.co.uk.
2. Then go to Watch Now! (https://stfonline.co.uk/watch-now/). Please note it will be available for a 24 hour period after registration.
Further information about the play
Winner of 2020 Woodard Award
VE & VJ Days 75: a Virtual Commemoration
Even though the government moved the May Day Bank Holiday away from the usual Monday so we could commemorate VE75 on 8 May, all public commemorations are now impossible.
- Biographies of all those who lost their lives fighting the Germans from the Tewkesbury area [including neighbouring villages]
- The context of this war.
Ray Base
Janet Benson (nee Martin)
We regret to announce that our secretary, Janet Benson, passed away on December 28th. This news is something of a shock to us all, even though Janet had been bravely fighting a long illness. She had been our secretary for many years and will be sadly missed by all her friends here in the Society.
Two large scale maps of Tewkesbury from 1811 and 1880
We are proud to present two maps on our site using new zoom and pan technology.We have the 1811 Enclosure Map of Tewkesbury and the huge 1:500 scale map of Tewkesbury created in the 1880s, both full of amazing detail. Use your mouse wheel to zoom and left mouse to drag.
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Bryan Jerrard Award
Derek has revealed that nothing is as simple in history as we would like it to be and he explains thoroughly all the issues surrounding it. Suffice it to say that Baron Tewkesbury was the winner and reigned - reasonably happily ever after - as King George I!
THS Bulletin 27 is available from Alison’s Bookshop in the High Street.
Even more Census Data
We are pleased to announce that the Tewkesbury Census Data for 1841 to 1891 has doubled in size. We now have 37,608 people spread over 9,575 property records. Take a look here.
Remarkable Incidents Relative to Tewkesbury
1775. Before harvest wheat sold at 8s. 6d. and 9s. per bushel; but, before Christmas, the same sort was sold for 5s. the bushel, owing in a great measure, to the vast quantities imported from foreign parts.
The Winter of 1962-63
Healings Mill
The Victorian Society has announced the top ten buildings worthy of saving. Healings Mill is on the list - full details here.
1921 Census
The 1921 census will be published on FindMyPast on 6 January 2022.
30th Anniversary Bulletin
Next Season's Talks
Our programme of talks for 2021-2022 has been established and is on our Meetings Page.
A Trip on the Mill Avon in the 1960s
Home movie courtesy of Kevin Nickson [poor quality video].
Black Sal
Account of 1931 Pageant
Tewkesbury Historical Pageant of 1931.
'True Blue Farm'
William Thomas Clarke