When researching a person the occupation begins to tell something of that person’s story although it is always more interesting when an unusual occupation is encountered. As you might expect, there is not much in the way of written information about occupations in medieval times but records of court cases provide some information. After the… Continue reading Occupations
Category: Miscellaneous
And the next prize is …
In the early 1800s, the Staffordshire Agricultural Society, with Sir George Pigot as President and the Lord Talbot as Vice-President, held an annual meeting at which various awards were handed out. The 8th August 1803 edition of Aris’s Birmingham Gazette, at the not inconsiderable price of 6d per copy, reported on the awards. There were… Continue reading And the next prize is …
Field names
What is known as the Tithe Commutation Act map (tithe map) of 1841 and its accompanying book showing tenants, owners etc. for the parish of Armitage-with-Handsacre gives us most of the information we have on old field names although estate maps also provide some information. The different documents do not all agree, and some information… Continue reading Field names
The first issue of the Parish Magazine
The very first edition of Armitage parish magazine came out in January 1892,priced one penny. The rendition of the church on the front cover, shown below, is stated as being a woodcut owned by Miss Birch, of Armitage Lodge, and is from a photograph taken by Mr. H. Cecil Gardner, of The Towers. The parish… Continue reading The first issue of the Parish Magazine
Pit ponies
Jack Smith was born on 1st November 1899 in Wednesbury to John and Eliza Ann nee Love who had got married the previous Christmas Eve. John gave his occupation as a plate leveller on his marriage certificate and as a straightener on the baptism record for young Jack so he presumably worked in the metal… Continue reading Pit ponies
The oldest item in the village
In the Anglo-Saxon, Norman and Medieval eras the main way of portraying Christian beliefs and stories was through imagery; most people couldn’t read and church services were held in Latin anyway. Ideas and beliefs were conveyed in wall paintings, stained glass, statues of wood and stone, carvings on the furniture, and on the walls and… Continue reading The oldest item in the village
School attendance
Until 1870 the Government had not seen the need to do anything about educating any children – if the parents could afford to do so on their own account then that was fine by them. So the only schooling available to the mass of children was set up by religious groups and the Church of… Continue reading School attendance
School lessons
In 1811 the Church of England founded the “National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church in England and Wales” often just referred to as the National Society. The aim of this new organisation was that “the National religion should be made the foundation of National education… Continue reading School lessons
Armitage School Logbook 1917
The transcript below is taken from Armitage Senior School for 1917 – the building at the top of Church Lane. It was written by G.H. Neville, Headmaster. It shows that the school year started in April and that the summer holidays were taken for the hay harvest and for the corn harvest – the School… Continue reading Armitage School Logbook 1917
Signing the pledge
The Pledge Book above is from Handsacre Primitive Methodists and I would first like to thank Gifford Foote for allowing me access to their historical records and for his encouragement in my research on the village. The temperance movement in the UK was a social movement that campaigned against the recreational use and sale of… Continue reading Signing the pledge