Here at Gloucestershire Archives, we are lucky enough to deal with many rare and unique items. One such item that recently made its way to us from Canada is the Catherine Dickinson sketchbook which has been assigned the reference D6/F172/5.
What is the connection between Gloucestershire, India and Canada you may very well ask?
Continue readingThe subject of mental health is very much in the news these days, but the historic record shows that the topic is anything but new. In fact, Gloucestershire Archives holds the largest collection of mental health records of any repository in the country. These are on the whole related to the City’s three mental health institutions Barnwood House Private Mental Hospital and Trust, Horton Road County Lunatic Asylum and Coney Hill Hospital.
Continue readingOur tale this time takes us to Cheltenham. Or as it was known when I was a wee boy “Chelpenum”. Cheltenham is the second biggest town in Gloucestershire after Gloucester which is the county town. Cheltenham is famed as a spa town and the home of the Cheltenham races. Cheltenham stands on the small River Chelt, which rises nearby at Dowdeswell and runs through the town on its way to the Severn. It was first recorded in 803, as Celtan hom; the meaning has not been resolved with certainty, but latest scholarship concludes that the first element preserves a Celtic noun cilta, ‘steep hill’, here referring to the Cotswold scarp; the second element may mean ‘settlement’ or ‘water-meadow’.
Continue readingIt is that time of the year again when we look at the accessions of the first quarter of the year, January to March 2024. The accessions can be from any place, person or organisation in Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire.
Continue readingI’m retiring after a very fulfilling and happy 36 (gulp!) years working at Gloucestershire Archives and have been asked to a write a farewell blog. So, here it is. I have eschewed any attempt at a chronological narrative, and instead have decided to focus on three collections which have run like threads throughout my career. My acquaintance with all three began early, during my ‘Collections’ era, and I’ve been able to reconnect with them several times as my role has become more outward focussed.
Continue readingIt is utterly amazing what can be found in an archive. Proof of this was recently brought to my attention when I looked at one of our accessions. Accessions are groups of records/documents that come to an archives and we then carry out initial processing of them, which we as archivists call accessioning.
The accession was simply listed as Bourton OTW house-listed building Deeds, conveyances, research plans. The name Bourton immediately aroused my curiosity as it was where I spent the first 19 years of my life and where I still have family. So, I examined the accession more closely. It turned out to be for Three Wells House otherwise known as Eastfield. This sent even more alarm bells ringing as I knew the name Eastfield. Eastfield was owned by the Morris family who also owned the model village (a major tourist attraction in the village) and were publicans of the Old New Inn pub, hotel and restaurant. My grandmother had worked at the Old New Inn for many years as indeed did my sister and myself.
Continue readingAmongst the records placed onto the online catalogue in the last quarter was a long-distance traveller, all the way from Australia! A register of cases at the Cotswold Maternity Hospital for the years 1937-1945, it emigrated post-War with one of the former midwives. Recently her daughter contacted the Archives (through Gloucestershire Family History Society) offering to return the register. We are very grateful to her for this initiative, and for offering to pay a fair sum in postage.
There was a time in my life when I was distinctly unsure about the origin of gherkins.
Despite it sounding like a book written by the rubbish younger brother of Charles Darwin, The Origin of Gherkins was a topic that I once discussed in detail, with me firmly believing that a gherkin was some sort of special weird vegetable that when grown, developed a natural vinegar-tasting tang as it ripened. This was countered by the belief that a gherkin was a small cucumber that tasted of vinegar because it was pickled.
Now, the pickled bit I could get my head around at an unwilling stretch (I mean, who pickles cucumbers?) but the cucumber part was so far out there my head nearly imploded trying to comprehend that I might just be eating cucumbers in my burgers, but also – and this is the bit that hurts – really enjoying them.
Some vegetables can be thoroughly boring can’t they?
Peas for example. I find peas exceptionally boring. Without wishing to offend the world’s population of peas, they do exude as much personality and excitement as a chopping board.
But if some vegetables can be boring, can any be exciting?*
I’m not a vegetable aficionado I’m afraid, so I’ll just have to leave that question hanging like an oversized pumpkin (and look very silly amongst the botanist community because a pumpkin is actually classed as a fruit.)
The start of July signifies the end of another quarter which means it time to look back on the incoming accessions for the last 3 months. During this time, we have added around 300 new accessions on to our online catalogue. A majority of these are from our local studies collections.
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