Day 37 - Heads Up

Yesterday I had discovered that the Library in Carlisle does actually hold some of the Parish Records so I thought I should probably spend a few hours seeing what I could uncover.

I was looking into the Head family. Joseph Head was the father of Mary Ann Head - who was the mother of Jessie Theresa Thomas who was the mother of one Keith Morris.

I knew that Joseph Head was born in Brigham in 1836 so it was quite easy to find his baptism record which lists his father John Head as an Innkeeper.

John Head was born in Lorton which is near Cockermouth in 1802 and married Anne Allason - his father was Skelton Head who was born also in Lorton in 1761.

Skelton married Catherine Hewitt in 1786.



Skelton's father was one Richard Head who was born in 1713 and married Sarah Sumpton in 1741. It appears that Richard did quite well for himself as notes this extract from his will (found this on someone's tree on Ancestry)

Richard Head made his will in 1784, 5 years before his death.

He describes himself as a gentleman and owns several farms and two corn mills.

He divides his real estate between his three sons John, Joseph and Skelton and leaves monetary legacies to his other son Oswel and his daughter, Faith. John, the eldest and Skelton, the youngest sons appear to come off best.

His wife is left a house (at Miller Place) for her lifetime together with an annuity of £141 p.a

I tried to find some idea of what Inn John Head may have been Innkeeper of - but no luck with the trade directories of the region.

It goes back further on Ancestry with Richard's parents
John Head 1685 – 1723
and Isabell Skelton 1685 – 1765

John's parents
John Head 1665 – 1704
and Jane H – 1723

So there you go - will go and visit Lorton and Brigham when in Cockermouth. Took some pics of the pretty flowers for Mumsy.


Oh I also checked out the Carlisle Antiques Centre - fyi 1 - really cool inside though not a huge amount of stuff. Each little shop was set up like a house.

Day 36 - I Dug A Hole

Today I was going to catch up on a few things but went for a quick walk around the Cathedral, Castle and Museum. Really good Museum for a smallish town. Not much to report but enjoy the pics.

Day 35 - Carlisle

Today I got the train from Birmingham to Carlisle. The Birmingham station was full of blue and white Birmingham fans who were on the way to the final of the Carlisle Cup at Wembley v Arsenal. Looks like they won so I can only imagine the scenes on the way home this evening. They had special Football fans trains - I'm sure half of Birmingham had left to go down there by the queues waiting to get on the trains.

The trip was quite lovely, especially through the Lakes District which looked amazingly beautiful. Got off in Carlisle and headed to The Townhouse Bed and Breakfast which is very comfortable and has decent internet so all is good.

Day 34 - Leicester, Market Harborough and Tur Langton

I think I set myself a bit more than was truly manageable today in trying to cram in three cities in one day. Well one village, one town and a city. I headed out from Birmingham to Leicester then got a train to Market Harborough and then a bus to Tur Langton. The bus driver asked me where I'd like to get off there and I didn't really know but knew it was only one or two streets big.

It is a charming little village surrounded by lovely green fields - each house had a cottage name. It's part of the Langton's - Church Langton, East Langton, West Langton, Thorpe Langton and Shangton - colloquially known as the Langos. I looked for evidence of Evans' in the graveyard of the church but no luck. I did, however, find that Harry Potter was buried here! I thought I might have lunch in the pub but the owner seemed to be yelling down the phone to the chef who hadn't turned up so I figured maybe it wasn't a good idea so caught the same bus driver on his return route.


The bus went into downtown Market Harborough so I had a wander around and a quick look in the museum which had some interesting exhibitions that were quite interactive for the kiddies. The town itself wasn't all that exciting - lots of shops and quite busy and a few older buildings.

Back on the train the Leicester with a bunch of Leicester City fans heading in for today's game. A police presence at the station was mainly focused on some rather drunken fans. Without much of a plan I headed for the Tourist Centre and got a map - stopped for a coffee and checked out the Guildhall, Cathedral and various other churches - checking through the graveyards in case I found an Evans.

In retrospect I should have come on a day when the Records Office was open but I will contact them through email and get them to research the information.

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.

Day 32 - Small finds in the Library

This morning I was unceremoniously awoken by an idiot in my room's alarm - I don't think having an alarm is an issue but when you put it on sleep so it goes off every 5 minutes for the next hour - ISSUE.

So I was awake and though I might as well get on with it. As I walked through the Bullring I ran into a shooting for something obviously Bollywoodesque which was quite interesting to watch. But no time for distractions - there was searchin' to do!

I headed to the Central Library and walked up to the 6th floor and got my assigned film reader - the oldest one I'd seen so far and I had to stand up at times to read some of the information. Given that there were several different church centres in Birmingham I had quite a list to check out.

Thankfully though I did find some information - John Small's baptism Records and his parents John Small and Rebecca Ashford's marriage record.


The church where John was baptised was thankfully on my way back to the hostel so I dropped in to have a look and was given the royal tour. The spot is actually where Birmingham grew up around as it was first built by the French De Bermingham family in the 1200's. The church is called St Martin's - he being remembered for services to the poor. Today the church carries on this work helping local community with homelessness, drug and alcohol problems. When I was there I saw several homeless men catching a few moments of peace on the pews.

Rebecca and John were married at another St Peter's Church in Harborne which is a little distance out of the central city - I'll try and get to it but the next couple of days I'm doing some day trips to other cities so might not get the chance

Day 31 - Birmingham

Not having had Internet for a day today I mainly had to catch up on paperwork.

I did manage to have a bit of wander around Birmingham though - taking in the Museum and a quick walk along the canal.

Dropped in quickly to the Library to see if they had Parish Records on hand - and they do so will get in there tomorrow.

I went to see Holloway Head where John Small was originally from - a fairly non-descript road now.