The General Strike of 1926
Local papers, such as the ‘Stratford Herald’, speak only of this strike right at its end and mostly in its editorials. Apart from this, one would not know that such an imp ortant event had taken place. How did it affect rural and semi rural communities such as ours? Any local readers with stories to tell, please write to us.

Archaeology is Destruction
And so it is: what one digs away can never be replaced. So it is important to record by minute notes and diagrams and photographs what is happening as one digs downwards. Unfortunately, much of today’s archaeology is in the nature of rescue excavation and the exact recording must take place in the frame-work of limited time. This is true of the ‘dig’ now (1985) taking place behind the High Street in Alcester, a site within the confines of the Roman walled town, it may still be in progress when you read this and if you are interested and possess a little energy and do not mind getting dirty, including weekends, then your help, under the guidance of experts, will be much appreciated. Just go along in old clothes and boots and offer your assistance. The dig is under the auspices of Warwick Museum and Stephen Cracknell is in charge.

New Year Resolutions
As well as being nice to one’s neighbours and giving up smoking (cigarettes, of course), what about helping in the local history field? There are lots of things but half a dozen come immediately to mind.

1.    It comes as a constant surprise how many people possess old documents relating to their property or old account books relating to local businesses. Sometimes they have become old friends, sometimes they lie forgotten in a drawer or attic. They would be far safer (fire, damp, moths,etc) properly deposited in the county record office where other people could also refer to them. On a long-term loan they would still belong to our area and could be withdrawn at any time. Our Society would be glad to advise you; and, in any case, we would like to make a summary of their contents for our files.

2.    The same is true of old photographs of the Arrow and Alne vall eys. Where people do not want to part with these, the Society asks permission to copy them, Photographs are a prinnry source of history just as much as documents.

3.    The serious resolution-maker may have retired and have some spare time (and a car). There are lots of things in the record offices at Warwick, Worcester and Stratford which need looking at and copying (some, perhaps,not looked at for hundreds of years). Those at work have holidays and Saturday mornings.

4.    Buy a copy of ‘Alcester - A History’, coming out this Spring. Better still, become a subscriber, which means paying for it just before publication.

5.    Join the Society: and if you live outside of Alcester itself, help us to build up the membership in the villages.

6.    Become an expert on one small facet of your local scene; a house, a shop, a trade, a family, local tracks, the manor, and so on.

Some References to Alcester in the Records of the Borough of Stratford-Upon-Avon

1579    Paid to a glasier of Auster

1585    Paid for dressing the corselett and the Amon Ryvyt after they were brought from Auceter (N.B. A rivet belonging to the hames or curved bars of a horse’s collar)

1608    Delyvered a quarte of sacke when Mr.Sturley of Alcester preached.

1607    Collection to be made toward the relief of Alcester being now infested with the plague.

1607    Laurence Palmer of Alcester, husbandman, gave unto this borough x pounds.

Alcester is only a small place...
and has always been so; but it has managed to spread its name far and wide. There are, of course, 'Alcester Roads’ in Birmingham, Stratford and Broms grove but that is not the end of the matter. Three instances may be of interest.

1. In Wallington, Surrey, is an ‘Alcester Road’. I am indebted to a pamphlet, ‘Wallington Church and Parish’ for telling me that Wallington manor came into the hands of William Bridges of the Tower of London in 1684: he was the King’s Surveyor- Gen eral of the Ordnance and the great grandson of a Bridges whose descendants came to Alcester; they left their mark here in several charities and during the Great Rebellion of the 1640s were the great local supp orters of the Parliamentary cause and friends of the Earls of Warwick. Their house was the one on the Heath (now empty) called Alcester Lodge Farm. The family obviously, even when in Surrey, had pleasant memories of their Warwickshire home.

2. In 1138 Alcester Abbey was founded by the Botellers of Oversley and was endowed with many lands and several churches. These included the chapels of St.James arid St.Peter, near Shaftesbury in Dorset, together with the manor of Blynfield, in the parish of St.James and often called the ‘Manor of Alcester and Bec’. Even today there is an area at Shaftesbury called the ‘Liberty of Alcester’ which used to be on Ordnance Survey maps but since they became so commercialised I am not sure,

3. In ‘Local Past’ of Winter,1980, we told readers of the town of Alcester, pronounced Al-ces-ter, with the ‘Al’ as in Albert, in South Dakota, U.S.A. This place was named by a British worker on the local rail road, most probably in honour of Baron Alcester of Alcester, who was one of the Seymours. He was a Lord of the Admiralty and on his visit to Alcester was given a civic welcome. The South Dakota town took its name sometime in the early 1880s.

  Some Common Surnames Derived From Occupations  

  Who Fought For Whom,1642*
Sir William Dugdale in August 1642 made a list of the Warwickshire gentry who responded to the call of both King and Parliament. The names for our area, or at least for the Alcester district, were:
For Parliament: Lord of the manor of Alcester (Robert Lord Brooke of Warwick Castle): Clement Throgmor-. ton of Haseley (related to the Coughton Throckmortons): Thomas Fullwood of Little Alne.
For the King: Sir Robert Throckmorton of Coughton, though residing at Weston, Bucks,’sent in his horse’: Fouke Knotsford of Studley: William Skynner of Kinnerton: William Burnell of Exhall: Edward Greene of Little Alne: Maurice Waringe of Oversley: Maurice Walsingham of Exhall.

*Warwick Record Office Z 237 Sm

  Recent Meeting
The Society’s October meeting was a super, illustrated talk by Mr. R.Richardson on the origin and history of Redditch and adjacent areas. in prehistoric and Roman times it was difficult to get into the Redditch area because of the thickness of the forest and the con fusion of the trails; there is still difficulty because of the thick ness of the traffic and the confusion of the road system. Mr. Richard son also re-inforced our own thesis that it was Studley which was the original needle centre and not Redditch

  At the end of this year there will be another Occasional Paper, not many pages, and costing only 25p. It is published to coincide with the advent of 1986, which is the 900th anniversary of one of the greatest books in history, viz. DOMESDAY BOCK. All the entries in D.B. from Mappleborough down to Salford Priors are given, together with the original Latin entry for Mappleborough. Explanations are given of the terms used in this Survey by1he Conqueror.

Society Meetings
January 8,1986, a speaker from the Edgehill Battle Museum Trust and February 12 Mr.Maurice Clarke of Headless Cross on 17th century tokens of Warwickshire. Alcester was particularly rich in these.

Winter 1985 Index

© Alcester & District Local History Society 1985