A Survey of Historic Parks and Gardens in Worcestershire
Written by Richard Lockett and edited, compiled and designed by Jane Patton
Hereford and Worcester Gardens Trust, 2019
This second edition of a Survey first published in 1997, contains over two hundred illustrations in addition to 250 maps and plans. It highlights 226 of the County’s historic Parks and Gardens in the context of planning development, from medieval Deer Parks to major sites conserved in recent years such as Croome Court, Hagley Hall, Hanbury Hall and Hartlebury Castle, along with traditional amenity spaces such as bowling greens.
Available from the Trust at £25.00, post and packing £4
Cheques payable to: Hereford and Worcester Gardens Trust
Email: maggiharriss@gmail.com
Historic Worcester Streets
Award-winning Barbourne author Terry Wardle undertook his own six-year journey to uncover the secrets of Worcester’s roads from the earliest records up to 1940. The result is "Historic Worcester Streets", an A4 paperback giving details of 608 street names, copiously illustrated. Full of fascinating tales of days gone by, it is available from local booksellers and Amazon, £18.99. [photo: Worcester Observer 2014]
The History of Place Names in England and Worcestershire by Dr Mike Jenkins
A ground-breaking exploration of the origins, meaning and history of place names in southern Britain, The History of Place Names in England and Worcestershire throws new light on the people who coined the names and those who later modified them in waves of successive migration.
Dr Mike Jenkins’s extensive research is based on an integrated multidisciplinary approach; he collates evidence from the study of place names, written history, archaeology, anthropology, the evolution of language, genetic population studies, geology and evidence of the environment and natural history of the past. Scenes and settlements are described as if the reader were looking out at them over the centuries from a well known landmark and this brings the research sharply to life.
Available on Amazon, Kindle and from booksellers, £11.99 paperback.
A Review of The Resort of All Amorous Couples – Thomas Telford’s Toll-house at Alison’s Bank, Gretna
By V.E.Weighill Published 2021 ISBN 978-I-80049-000-0
The tollhouse at Alison’s Bank, Gretna, long preceded the Old Blacksmith’s Forge in solumnising matrimony for those fleeing from England, where ‘clandestine’ marriages had been outlawed in 1753. Built in 1820 to Telford’s design, the tollhouse was the first house north of the border, the River Sark, on his Glasgow - Carlisle road. The marriage trade became a very lucrative business for the tollkeepers and their families, rivalling the area’s past illicit smuggling activities.
Working from original sources, the author traces in meticulously-researched detail the occupants, the owners and some of the thousands of the mostly working-class grooms with their intended brides. The fascinating story of the tollhouse also reflects the social and economic upheavals of Britain over more than 200 years.
The volume of 192 pages is copiously illustrated with maps, estate plans and photographs past and present. It is available from the author price £12.50 (£11.50 to Milestone Society members) + £2 p&p; email valerieweighill@yahoo.co.uk. Or pick up a copy from the tollhouse café!
Reviewed by Jan Scrine