Day 33 - Fanny Findings

Today I grabbed a train to Lichfieldwhich is, apparently, a hidden gem in heart of Britain's most creative county. Boasting such sons as Erasmus Darwin (Charlie's grandad) and Samuel Johnson and an 800 year old cathedral there were certainly some interesting touristic highlights. So why Lichfield - it is the birthplace of one Fanny Swetnam who is one of FB's grandmothers.
Another dummy gets it in the Guildhall.
I had a quick walk around the market, dropped into the Guildhall, visited the Heritage Centre and then walked up to the Cathedral - which I must say looked more exciting on the outside than in but has a great history with sieges during the English Civil War.

I was going to check out Erasmus's place but it seemed to be closed so I decided to have a cup of tea and take stock. On the way back I saw a sign for Records Centre and thought hey hey - sounds like a plan. Wandered down to the Staffordshire Records Office and luckily bagged myself one of the only 4 fichies.

Now I knew Fanny was born there but not exactly which church she would have been baptised at - there were four choices so it took me a little while to find her. First I found her two sisters Elanor and Elizabeth and finally I found Fanny. All three were baptised at St Chad's.

From these records I can tell you her father is Thomas and mother Charlotte. Thomas' profession is tailor. I thought maybe that he might be listed in the Trades directories for the town but unfortunately not so perhaps he was working for someone. I checked the 1841 census records and the family lived in Shaw Lane.

So I headed off again to visit Shaw Lane and St Chads. Shaw Lane is just off Beacon Street and is very close to the Cathedral Close. Didn't have an exact address of where exactly it was but it seemed to be a small street with at least one side recently developed.

From there I haded off to St Chads and the kindly Rev Robert Bull gave me a guided tour and history lesson about the origins of the church. St Chad is the dude for peace and reconciliation - and this was actually his church and pre-dates the Cathedral. St Chad was originally buried there but his remains moved to the Cathedral at a later date.

I did grab a picture of the font which had been moved since 1844 when our Fanny went for a dunking and checked out the graveyard in case I came across any more Swetnams. No luck I'm afraid.

Busy day but happy with the findings I made.