Transportation from the Stroud Area 1788-1842
It may not have meant a black cap, At those Quarter Sessions, Epiphany, Easter, Trinity and Michael-mas, But it meant a lifetime’s separation – And Gloucestershire was high on the list Of counties for transportation, Whilst the Stroud-water area itself, ‘Sent...
Pirates and Stonehouse
ONE of the most notorious pirates in the history of seafaring came from Stonehouse, according to new research. The father of Edward Thache, better known as Blackbeard, was born in Stonehouse and had family in the area, claims Baylus Brooks, an American maritime...
Captain Swing and Wiltshire
Some Wiltshire Convicts on the Eleanor From my old stomping grounds, Where I have walked, cycled and camped, Spent time in various pubs With three generations, Visited friends and relations, Where I have dressed graves and gravestones In churchyards with my mother:...
The Captain Swing Riots and Transportation on the Eleanor
‘Butchers, bakers, tailors, shoemakers, bricklayers, carpenters, thatchers, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, labourers, ploughmen, ploughwrights, reapers, mowers, dairy hands, shearers, shepherds, paper makers, hurdle makers, sawyers, ostlers, grooms, craters, wood...
When I came to Stroud-water
When I came to sweet Stroudwater, It happened to be in the fall, I never gave way to exhaustion Till I landed on the canal. To look at such arduous labour, It filled my heart with surprise, To see such great undertakings The like I never saw with my eyes. So farewell...
Walking through Swindon’s Red Brick Terraces
When I walk through Swindon’s red brick streets (Richard Jefferies’ ‘Chicago of the West’), Which wander up the hillside from the railway village, I use the old factory tunnel, the railway park, The canal cut, the alleyways, the ginnels,...