Around Britain
Jonathan Scott visits the county famous worldwide as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution
A complete guide to Shropshire resources
When the Mayflower set sail for America in 1620, it carried the four young children of Katherine More of Larden Hall in Shipton, Shropshire. The baptisms of Elenor, Jasper, Richard and Mary are recorded in the Shipton parish register, which today survives in Shropshire Archives. And the sad story of their banishment by Katherine’s husband Samuel, who suspected he was not their biological father, is being remembered at various events across the county this year as part of the Mayflower 400 Project ( shropshiremayflower.com). Two of the four children died during the voyage; a third passed away after arrival in America. Richard survived, going on to have a long career as a sailor, ship owner and merchant. He also seems to have been a bigamist, since records indicate that he had a wife on both sides of the Atlantic.
When we last visited the county in 2016, findmypast.co.uk had just launched the Shropshire Collection, a partnership with Shropshire Archives that has seen parish registers up to 1900 digitised and made available online. Plans for a new archive website and revamped catalogue were also in the pipeline, and the new platform ( shropshirearchives. org.uk) launched in 2018. The upshot for remote researchers is that alongside a host of improved digital finding aids and research guides, visitors can book space and order documents in advance.
Archivist Sarah Davis says: “We encourage advance booking, as we do get very busy. We also have a wealth of material online, including our photographic collection at shropshirearchives.
engineers ‘Inventors, industrialists and have left their mark on the landscape’
org.uk/collections/photographsprints-watercolours.”
Rich deposits of coal, lead, copper and iron ore enabled the innovation that has made Shropshire synonymous with the birth of the Industrial Revolution. In Coalbrookdale in the early 18th century, Abraham Darby used coking coal to produce purer
iron. And many more inventors, industrialists and engineers left their mark on the landscape. The Scottish civil engineer Thomas Telford, for example, constructed the stone Montford Bridge over the River Severn; worked on the Ellesmere Canal, now known as the Llangollen Canal; and built Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
The county archives has records of the Coalbrookdale Company, which, alongside deeds, cash books and accounts, include wages books detailing work completed and wages per day (1774–1781). There are also books for the Horsehay furnaces, listing work done by individual men each day (1796–1798).
Business Records
One of the largest collections of business records held here relates to GKN Sankey, which manufactures steel wheels. Joseph Sankey founded the business in 1854, and records in the publicity section recall the wide range of products produced at the company’s Hadley Castle Works in Telford – from the first Sankey wheel and charabanc coachwork, to commercial vehicle cabs and earthmover wheels.
Sarah says: “On a less positive note the collection includes correspondence, press cuttings and releases relating to lay-offs, short-time working, strikes and other disputes – a reminder of the national industrial unrest of the mid-to-late 1970s.”
Staff and volunteers have recently been busy cataloguing the records of the Owen family, known around the world through their company Rubery Owen which is based in Darlaston.
Sarah says: “Rubery Owen is famous for its involvement in many groundbreaking projects such as the British Racing Motors team, which won the Formula 1 World Championship in 1962, and the development of Donald Campbell’s boat Bluebird.”
Shropshire Archives also has parish material relating to pre1834 poor relief such as removal orders and bastardy bonds, which can be searched by name via the online catalogue. But while parish registers are held here, it is not a diocesan record office. Indeed Shropshire itself is covered by three dioceses, so for sources such as pre-1858 wills, marriage licences or Bishops’ Transcripts researchers also have to investigate the diocesan collections of Lichfield (Staffordshire Record Office),
Hereford (Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre) and St Asaph (the National Library of Wales). There is a good selection of material relating to Thomas Telford at Shropshire Archives, because he was the county surveyor from 1787. “We’re grateful for our regular volunteers who help with this, by adding descriptions and also inputting older printed and manuscript lists.”
Until the early 20th century, Shropshire was dominated by a few large landowners, and the archive holds collections relating to the Powis, Attingham, Lilleshall and Apley Park estates. Potentially useful records include servants’ wages books, accounts, timesheets and rental surveys. One 19th-century report of cottages on the Lilleshall Estate, for example, lists tenants in alphabetical order.
“Also, thanks to our volunteers, we’ve digitised and described a wonderful collection of glass negatives taken by Ted Picken of Bucknell showing the changes to the village and its inhabitants in the early to mid20th century.” Find out more at shropshirearchives.org.uk/blog/ picken-photographs.
Finally, staff are cataloguing quarter sessions records for Shrewsbury Borough and the county. The early Shrewsbury Borough Quarter Sessions list 1564–1680 is available online at bit.ly/shrews-quarter.