Picking up a few threads

[CHRIS PICKFORD]

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48 hours away, and back to 89 messages - mostly (90%) from this list! Just=
want to pick up a few threads

War-work
One job not mentioned is Bugbrooke, Northants. Taylors installed a new wood=
en frame in November 1940. The bells (5) had been rehung with new fittings =
in the old frame by G&J in 1931.
Claines trebles (to confirm CD's note) are dated 1940
Kempston, Beds (then 6) is another place where the bells were lowered for s=
afety during World War II

Birmingham and Warwickshire
The administrative history and actual boundaries are extremely complicated =
- and I now know far too much about them! There isn't an easy answer to thi=
s one - though postal addresses and administrative areas shouldn't be confu=
sed - but my plan is to cover the area in two books, roughly as follows:

BIRMINGHAM - The present City (secular and ecclesiastical locations) and th=
e outer urban areas (e.g. Solihull MBC), plus a) those parts of the Diocese=
of Birmingham in the old counties of Worcestershire and Staffordshire (als=
o), and b) the area of Warwickshire in Birmingham Diocese (churches only). =
This roughly means that the main survey area will be bounded by the motorw=
ays (M5, M6, M40 and M42) but with a big bulge on the NE side - pretty arbi=
trary, though fairly clear! - but spilling outside the motorway ring where =
the Diocese extends to cover a larger area (especially the rural bits in th=
e NE and SW). On the north and north-west it will include Harborne, Handswo=
rth, and Smethwick - but not the "Staffordshire" parts of the West Midlands=
or the whole of Dudley MBC.=20

WARWICKSHIRE - The whole of the rest of the historic county (at its greates=
t extent - i.e. including parts transferred from Gloucestershire and Worces=
tershire) including (secular and ecclesiastical) the rural part of Birmingh=
am Diocese also covered (churches only) in the Birmingham bit. The Warwick=
shire book will not include any of "Birmingham" proper (i.e. the present Ci=
ty)

Both books will, of course, include maps to show what is and isn't included

I have recently finished the first draft of the main entries for "Birmingha=
m" and I've been doing quite a bit of work on "Warwickshire" (for which the=
main research is completed) as I've been going along. Still a lot to do, a=
nd far too early to make any promises about publication dates. Unfortunatel=
y, my spell of time out to work full-time on the books has ended and I'm no=
w working again - dang!

Salford Priors
The bells were cast or tuned (I'm not entirely clear whether the dates in t=
he books are casting or tuning) between 19 Nov and 15 Dec 1945. I don't see=
m to know the dedication date - rather annoying, as I've been there quite r=
ecently and would have made a note of it had I realised I hadn't got it. It=
was early in the year (Cyril Wratten's RW index gives references to RW 194=
6 p.53 and p.66). Anyone know?


Chris Pickford


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