Romsley & Hunnington History Society -

New Book: Growing Up in Bluebird's Garden Village

The Society is delighted to publish a new book, Growing Up in Blue Bird's Garden Village, by Margaret Harding and Valerie Mills.

Margaret was born and raised in Hunnington and Valerie moved there as a young child. They share their memories of growing up in this most unusual community, as well as their own research into how the model village was conceived in 1927 by Bluebird's founder, Sir Harry Vincent, and its development since. The book contains many photographs of local places and people, many not seen before.

Copies of the book, priced £15, may be purchased by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Update on Court Rolls

On 4th December 2019 the Court Rolls group met again to continue with the work commenced a number of years ago. A book was printed in 2017, entitled "Court Rolls of Romsley 1279-1643", on our findings and a review appeared in The Local Historian (Volume 49 No. 2.). I add a short quote from that review:

"The abundance and wealth of detail contained in the Halesowen and Romsley records have already attracted the international attention of historians such as Zvi Razi, R.H. Hilton and R.K. Field and also the American sociologist G.C. Homans, which have made Halesowen and its hinterland 'one of the most famous of all medieval villages', rivalling Ladurie's Montaillou and Beresford's Wharram Percy. This splendid new edition is bound to extend that interest further locally, regionally, nationally and internationally."

Wonderful to think we live in a village with such excellent records of medieval times, when the most important things for your family were how to grow or raise food and keep your home warm on the long cold winter nights. The fields of that time in many cases are still around our village.

Such a wonderful review spurs our group, led by Julian Hunt and Michael Hall, to carry on to find out what more information we can discover. It was thought that we had covered most of the records involving Romsley, but when Julian started to look at the Halesowen documents they included not only Hunnington but more Romsley items.

Many thanks to Robert Deeley's legacy that the History Society received, we are able to continue with our research.

Anyone who wishes to join us is very welcome, you do not have to be a member of the History Society.

Jean Cockin

Programme 2019-20

Our meeting season for 2019-2020:

Autumn 2019

• 11 September - Bromsgrove Town Walk - Visit Report
  
  
• 24 September - Edmund Lay - Wartime Memories  Speaker: Family Of Edmund Lay Meeting Report
  
  
• 22 October - The Longbow and the Men That Used It  Speaker: Alan Harvey Meeting Report
  
  
• 26 November - An Amble Around Gloucestershire  Speaker: John Billingham  Meeting Report
  
  

Spring/Summer 2020

• 25 February - Tyntesfield Speaker: Derek Clarke  Meeting Report
  
  
• 24 March - The English Civil Wars In The Areas Around Dudley/Halesowen Speaker: Margaret Bradley
  
  
• 28 April - King John: The Worst Or Most Useful King? Speaker: Max Keen
  
  
• 26 May - The Blue Bird Toffee Factory Speaker: Julian Hunt, plus AGM
  
  
• 23 June - The Mayflower Speaker: Paul Harding & Helen Lee
  
  
• 28 July - Beer, Bets & Bull-Baiting Speaker: Mary Bodfish

Meetings start at 7.30pm at Romsley Church Hall. For more details please contact Paul Share (Chairman) on 01562 710197. See also additional events below.

Click the links to read reports from the 2018 AGM and other meetings during the 2018-19 season.

For other local history events see What's on in Worcestershire, compiled by the Worcestershire Local History Forum.

New Book: Worcester in 50 Buildings

Worcester in 50 Buildings by James Dinn

It's all too easy to walk past a building and not give it a second glance but this treasure trove of architectural gems invites the reader to stop and take a closer look.

James Dinn has selected 50 iconic buildings in the Faithful City that represent its evolution from the distant past to the present day. That continuous stream of history is clearly and concisely summarised in the Introduction, that part of a book which is often overlooked as being over-lengthy. Not in this case. Each of the 50 buildings has its own story and, collectively, weaves a narrative of Worcester's many attributes - commercial, administrative, industrial, judicial, agricultural, educational, domestic, ecclesiastical, medical and recreational.

The book is very well illustrated so the buildings, by and large, are easy to find. Despite the map, however, some of the outlying sites may be difficult to locate for those without a thorough knowledge of the layout of Worcester and its suburbs. Notable are Warndon, Lower Wick and Powick and extra directions or grid references would have been helpful; as would an index.

Following in James Dinn's footsteps, the owner of this handy-sized guide book can discover the magnificent city of Worcester over many weekends of delight and enlightenment. At £14.99, its 96 pages of interest will make an excellent Christmas present – and it's available now in local bookshops.

Armistice Anniversary Display

Photos and memorabilia of the First World War were on display as part of the Remembrance Day commemoration held on 11 November 2018 at the Scout HQ in Romsley.