History Group
PLEASE NOTE the history group has now disbanded and their email address is no longer monitored. If you’re interested in resurrecting the good work of this group please contact [email protected]
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The Somerford Keynes History Group holds meetings from time to time in the village hall, usually on Mondays in winter.
Email [email protected] if you are interested in the group.
There is no membership fee, but a small charge is made per meeting to cover costs.
The group has issued a resources disk packed with local information, which is updated from time to time.
Lower Mill
These pictures are from a group visit to the working mill at Lower Mill in February 2011.
The people in the third picture have all worked in the mill (apart from the baby!):
Will Viccary, Fred Timbrell and John Hayward.
Through the Saxon Door, a history of Somerford Keynes to 1968 by Canon Gibbons,
is still available as a 1985 reprint in the church for £5. It has also been seen online
for around £25.
Know Your Place West
Know Your Place West is an interactive mapping resource covering Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire, with historic maps ranging from the 1840s through to the present day.
Users can explore how towns, villages and landscapes have changed over time, and can also add historical information to the map themselves. All submissions are moderated, and contributors must be able to demonstrate appropriate copyright permission for any material they upload. A helpful tutorial is available on the site’s home page.
You can, for example, view historic Ordnance Survey mapping for this area and explore what existed around your house before modern development.
As of December 2017, further historic maps were reported to be in the process of being added to the collection.
The WG Standard
The WG Standard has been digitised by the British Newspaper Archive, covering roughly the period from 1837 to 1910.
A subscription is required to access it online, but free access is available by booking a computer at Bingham Library.
A more complete set of microfilms is also held there and can be consulted in person.
Jim King’s Son
From Cardiff, he has presented us with an 1806 map of the parish. See the heading on the meetings page.
The young Mr King remembers living some 50 years ago on the corner of Mill Lane. His father later moved to Elm View and, in retirement, did gardening in the village.
Have a look at this page and see if you recognise the map.
Lloyd George “People’s Budget” 1909
Lloyd George introduced pensions for all. To pay for them, it was decided to tax increases in land value. The House of Lords created a constitutional crisis by rejecting the bill, and as a result they were stripped of the power to block finance bills. The Act was passed the
following year.
The Inland Revenue then set to work on a modern-day Domesday Book of land — all land.
The paperwork records an extraordinary level of detail. Much of this material has since been transcribed for Gloucestershire by volunteers and can be found here.
After many years of toil, the tax was abandoned — joining the Poll Tax, Blue Streak, TSR2 and Nimrod in the catalogue of worthy ideas that didn’t survive.
We’re on the (Folk) History Map
A Gloucestershire Folk Map has come to our attention, and Somerford Keynes is on it!
Why? John Ockwell (1871–1944), who graced the cover of Volume 2 of the History Disk, was a farmer and noted local singer, following his father in both professions.
Alfred Williams collected only one song from him, “The Bunch of Nuts”, but it appears that he was known both for singing at home and in the local pub. When his daughter [Marjorie?] died, a number of printed song sheets were found.
From Gloucestershire Folk Map, Yvette Staelens and CJ Bearman, Bournemouth University, 2010.
Has anyone more information?
PW, September 2016
The Rural Police
A correspondent says – the rate-payers of the parish of Somerford Keynes, Wiltshire wish to know what is become of the police of their neighbourhood, as the following depredations have been committed within about the last fortnight.
Namely: a fat lamb stolen on the night of 29th May last, belonging to Mr Edward Pickett, butcher of Somerford Keynes, from his field, and killed in a stall in the same field and carried away.
Likewise, a few nights before, five bushels of potatoes from Mr John Taylor’s; and about a week before, two slaughtered calves’ skins from an outhouse on the premises of the aforesaid J.T., but afterwards found by his servants hidden in a hollow tree.
From: The Wiltshire Independent
Thursday, 5 June 1845
Research by Ann Whitwell.
Bristol Mercury, 13 February 1892
Betty Bathe of Somerford Keynes v. Thomas Hayward of Ashton Keynes claimed £6 6s for six quarters’ rent of a cottage.
The amount was not disputed, but the defendant questioned the plaintiff’s right to the cottage. His Honour adjourned the case to allow the plaintiff to prove her title under her father’s will as evidence, remarking that, should the action go against him, the defendant would be required to pay the expenses of this process.
Research by Ann Whitwell
Get Involved
If you would like to get involved, please contact
[email protected].