Welcome to the Society!
- New Life for the Victoria County History
Linda Fletcher, the Society’s Archivist, went to a meeting of the newly revived Victorian County History group at Shropshire Archives on 27th February. Historians will be researching and writing up Wem’s history in the next couple of years, in order to publish a VCH “short” (a single place study) of Wem, and after that it will probably be the turn of “Newport and the Weald Moors”.
The first new VCH Shropshire book “Shrewsbury – General History and Topography”
V C H was founded in 1899 and originally dedicated to Queen Victoria. The VCH is an encyclopaedic record of England’s places and people from earliest times to the present day. This is without doubt the greatest publishing project in English local history, and we are very fortunate that Newport is going to be on the short list for research and publication in the near future. It will make a huge difference to our knowledge of the history of the town.
The Newport and Weald Moors publication will probably follow the V C H’s usual pattern with main sections on: Settlement & Population; Economic, Social and Religious History.
Here is a link to the Shropshire site http://www.victoriacountyhistory.ac.uk/counties/shropshire/news/funding-success-vch-shropshire
“Newport in the Great War” – New Book
On the morning of Saturday 12th March,from 10 – 1 , Julie Phillips will sign her new book, “Newport in the Great War”, at the Coffee Shop.(3a High St. by the Guildhall)
- SNAP Slideshows in the 3A Coffee Shop
Now we have a digital monitor, installed in the back wall of the Coffee Shop in the Heritage Centre, In addition to Slideshows from the Archaeology Group, we have added several slideshows with themes about Newport, which come from the SNAP photo archive project.
For those who can’t get to the Coffee Shop, here are some of the slideshows:
Newport and Serck Audco
Newport Men in the Great War
The Great Fire in 1665
Newport Nocturne
Newport Notables
Newport Carnival 1900-2013
- Funding boost for archives
A Newport group is looking forward to helping more people discover the history of the area after receiving a £432 donation.
. The money was given to Newport History Society by Councillor Peter Scott, independent borough councillor for Newport North & West, as part of the Councillors’ Pride Fund, which sees each member of Telford & Wrekin Council awarded a grant to spend on local projects. Newport History Society has used its share of the money to buy new shelving for its archives.
Linda Fletcher, from the group, said “Newport History Society have moved recently to new archive premises on the first floor at 3 High Street, the Guildhall Tearoom and Heritage Centre, thanks to the generosity of Tim Pryce. However, they were very short of shelving. The grant has enabled the society to buy a full set of shelving which will house boxes of documents and historic objects from Newport and surrounding villages.” The archives are available for members of the public to visit by appointment through the archivist – usually on a Wednesday morning – and the field activities members are always available to answer questions on a Saturday between 10am and 2pm. Email info@newporthistorysociety.org or see the website www.newporthistorysociety.org
Courtesy of the Newport Advertiser
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The Society and Facebook
We now have a Facebook presence. It is probably now the most popular medium that permits our society members to interact with the general public.
Terry Hayward, leading member of the Field group , has recently created a Facebook page for us at: https://www.facebook.com/newporthistorysociety/ . This will be another useful means to reach the public and we hope that this will bring more attention to the Society’s activities and increase membership.
Field Work
Follow his Facebook page here and see the recent exciting finds from the Field group!
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Mystery Photos
CAN you help shed some light on the identity of these people – or the whereabouts of the missing base of a stone cross? Newport History Society is looking for information about the people in these pictures and also appealing for help tracing the stone base. The pictures are from the Society’s archives but few details are known. It is hoped Advertiser readers may be able to fill in some of the blanks.
One of the pictures shows a soldier from the First World War, possibly Anzac, who is standing next to a young lady who may be his wife or fiancee.
There is also a picture of a smartly dressed man wearing a buttonhole, who looks like he was dressed to attend a wedding or other formal event.
The third picture is a large group of children thought to be attending a church event.
Finally, the fourth picture is possibly a family — or a shopkeeper and his staff — on the steps of a property.
Meanwhile, the missing base of a stone cross is thought to be somewhere in the Wilbrighton/Gnosall/ Moreton area. It is hoped someone may recognise the item from this picture.
Linda Fletcher, from the Society, said: “The image is from the 1970s and is the base of a medieval wayside cross. The History Society would love to know where it is today, to photograph it and measure it. Perhaps it is a garden feature. We think that the people in the pictures are all local to Newport or surrounding villages.” If you can help, contact Linda on 01952 812174, or email info@newporthistorysociety.org