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Meeting Report - Sept 15

You needed to be very brave to attend our meeting on 22nd September as there was the deadliest array of weapons on display as ever was seen in the Church Hall. The speaker was Paul Harding of 'Discover History', assisted by Helen Lee. The talk was on "The Battle of Evesham".

We knew from previous visits that Paul was always full of enthusiasm for his subject. Dressed as a 13th century soldier, he didn't disappoint as he gave us a blow by blow account, using authentic replica weapons, of the battle between the army of King Henry III and Simon de Montfort and his rebel forces, in 1265.

King Henry ruled in the same manner as King John, despite the Magna Carta and the barons began to plot to overthrow the King. Simon de Montford held a Parliament at Oxford in 1256 where the barons were able to air their grievances. The King was not very pleased about this. As a result, the two sides gathered in Evesham on August 4th, with a terrific thunderstorm overhead. Simon de Montford with his army of 5,000 lined up in the loop of the River Avon, while the King's army of 10,000 soldiers, led by his son Prince Edward, lined up on the higher ground at the neck of the loop where they had the advantage.

The foot soldiers with their crossbows began the battle, followed by the archers with their longbows, shooting 11 arrows a minute, and then the knights on horseback, in their heavy armour, who fought with lances and swords. It was a very bloodthirsty battle with a great loss of life. As might be expected, Simon de Montford's army was defeated and he was killed. However, after fighting for a cause he believed in, he is now known as the Father and Founder of the House of Commons.

As he was giving his talk, Paul had his audience gripped with horror, as he demonstrated how the various vicious weapons were used. The barbed arrows were particularly awesome! The Battle of Evesham came to life in our own Church Hall. We can't wait to see more of Paul's presentations of live history in the future!

Fifty-one people attended the meeting and Paul Share, the chairman, said that we had a very interesting programme of talks this year when we will be celebrating 50 years of the Romsley and Hunnington History Society in May 2016. There will be an exhibition in the Church Hall in July 2016 and Julian Hunt and Ruth Harper would like to know if anyone has any photographs of the village taken in the 1960s or 1970s.

The next meeting will take place on Tuesday, October 27, at 7.30 p.m. in the Church Hall, when Andrew Hamilton, who gave a talk on the First World War last year, will give a talk, 'Stolen Lives - Individual Tragedies of the Great War'. Everyone is welcome.

Pat Evans

Meeting Report - Kidderminster Carpet Museum

This year our Annual Outing took place on Thursday 2nd July. We visited the 'Museum of Carpet' in Kidderminster. We were greeted by Roger Mathews who used to work in the carpet industry. He began by asking us if we knew the connection between Romsley and Kidderminster and the answer was the River Stour, which flows through both places. The river played a vital role in the dyeing process of the wool used in the carpets. He then read a poem which he had written entitled "The Stour".

Carpet manufacturing began on a small scale with the weavers working on small hand looms, on the top floor of their cottages, where the light was good. As carpets became popular huge factories were built and at one time Kidderminster became the largest carpet town in the world.

We had demonstrations of weaving on a hand loom, a Wilton Loom, which could only use five colours and the breathtakingly complicated Axminster Loom which used many colours. This loom was like a huge monster, threaded up from spools of yard with all the colours of an artist's palette. With a flick of a lever the loom leapt into life with a rhythmic roar and amazingly all that energy produced an exquisite piece of carpet, patterned with roses on a black background.

The carpet workers and engineers had such wonderful skills and endured terrible noisy and dusty conditions in the factories, to produce carpets which were exported all over the world. Sadly, in recent years, the industry in Kidderminster has declined with the fashion for plain, tufted carpets and bare wooden floors! In its hey-day, after the war, there were 35 factories but now there are only 4 or 5 remaining.

The Museum of Carpet was opened about three years ago, run mainly by volunteers, to record the 300 years of carpet heritage in Kidderminster. We all had a thoroughly interesting and enlightening visit and walking on a carpet will never be the same again.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday 22nd September at 7.30 p.m. in the Church Hall, when Paul Harding and Helen Lea will give a talk on "The Battle of Evesham". Everybody is welcome.

Pat Evans

Annual General Meeting 2015

On Tuesday, 26th May 2015, the Romsley and Hunnington History Society held its 49th Annual General Meeting in the Church Hall. Paul Share, the Chairman, reported that the Society now had 51 members and continued to flourish. There have been various meetings and activities throughout the year and our President, Julian Hunt, has worked tirelessly in his quest to research the history of the area. The Wills and Court Rolls projects have progressed well and Julian has also made a valuable financial contribution to the Society from the many lectures he has given.

Paul thanked June Humphreys for all her hard work as Secretary to the group over the past 22 years. June is retiring but will continue as Website Co-ordinator. The Society owes both June and her late husband, Eric, a debt of gratitude for all their help. Koviljka Riley will now take on the role of Secretary and Robert Andrews will now be responsible for booking speakers. There is a very interesting programme of talks for the next season.

Our Treasurer, Ruth Harper, reported that the finances of the Society were healthy and there was no need to increase the subscriptions. Jean Cockin is continuing her work interviewing local residengts and recording their memories. The Society has had a very successful year and is looking forward to the 2015-2016 season when it will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the first meeting in 1966.

After the formal part of the proceedings David Eades gave a talk on "The Photographs and Postcards of Brian Green 1942-2003". Brian, with his camera, recorded the buildings, roads and canals of the area around Halesowen as they were in his lifetime. Do you realise that Halesowen once had three cinemas, two hospitals, and several chapels, all housed in beautiful buiildings and now sadly demolished? If there was any demolition or renovation Brian recorded the changes for prosperity. His photographs gave a very interesting view of Halesowen in the not too distant past.

We look forward to the presentation by Ruth Harper "Soggy Cabbage and Ink Stained Fingers" on Tuesday, 23rd June, in the school, which will be open at about 6.45 p.m., to allow people to look around. This is to celebrate the centenary of Romsley School. There will be an outing to the Carpet Museum, Kidderminster on Thursday, 2nd July and the Annual Dinner will be on Friday, 10th July, at Blakedown Golf Club. The first talk of the new season will be on Tuesday, 22nd September 2015. It will be a return visit by Paul Harding and Helen Lee, who will be giving a talk on "The Battle of Evesham". Everyone is welcome.

Pat Evans

Programme 2015-16

Our meeting season for 2015-16:

Autumn 2015
• 22 September - The Battle of Evesham. Paul Harding & Helen Lee. Read the Meeting Report
• 27 October - Stolen Lives - Individual Tragedies of the Great War. Andrew Hamilton. Read the Meeting Report
• 24 November - The English Civil War in Bewdley, Kidderminster and Worcester. Max Keen. Meeting Report

2016
• 23 February - The Restoration of the Cupola and Renewing of the Roof Coverings at Hanbury Hall, Derek Clarke. Meeting Report
• 22 March - Black Country Churches. Tim Bridges, Conservation Adviser for Birmingham & the West Midlands and the Church Buildings Support Officer for the Diocese of Hereford. Meeting Report
• 26 April - You Can't Abdicate and Eat It: Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson, Mary Bodfish. Meeting Report
• 24 May - The Society's AGM followed by Celebrating 50 Years of Romsley & Hunnington History Society. Julian Hunt and Ruth Harper. Meeting Report and Additional Information
• 28 June - Dayhouse Bank. Julian Hunt Meeting Report
• 3 Jul - Musical Performance of the 'Ballad of St Kenelm'. Concert Report and Background Information

Click the links to read reports from the 2015 AGM and other meetings during the 2014-15 season, including the special meeting in June 2015 for the school centenary, and the summer outing to Kidderminster Carpet Museum.

Chairman's Annual Report 2014-2015

I am pleased to report that the membership of the Society continues to flourish.

Our Annual Dinner was held on the 13th June at Churchill and Blakedown Golf Club and my thanks go to our member Dr. Michael Hall for being our speaker for the evening.

The Annual Summer trip, bathed in sunshine, was a very informative guided tour of Wightwick Manor followed by a walk around the grounds.

Our Secretary, June, has once again given us a very good selection of speakers for the year. Robert Andrews has now taken over the role of booking speakers and has now booked a varied selection of speakers for 2015/2016.

Our President, Julian Hunt, continues to work tirelessly in his quest to research the history of the villages of Romsley and Hunnington, and provides information for the continuation of the Wills and Court Rolls team meetings. The Wills project continues with indexing all the information and my thanks go to the team for their continued support with this project.

I would also like to thank Julian for his financial contributions to the society from the many lectures he has given to other groups.

My thanks to June Humphreys for her hard work over the many years she has been Secretary, and although she is retiring from this position I am so pleased she will continue to be the Website Co-ordinator.

Our thanks to Jean Cockin for her continuing work interviewing residents of the villages and recording their memories.

My personal thanks to all committee members and helpers who contribute to the continuing success of the society, and, of course, to the members who attend on a monthly basis.

Paul Share, Chairman, 26th May 2015

Meeting Report - April 2015

About 40 members attended the meeting of the Romsley and Hunnington History Society on Tuesday 28th April when Dr. Michael Hall gave a talk on What the Court Rolls Tell Us.

Romsley is fortunate in having a set of Court Rolls from about 1279-1643. They record property transactions and the everyday misdemeanours of the villagers. These have become a rich source of local history. For some time a small group of members have been indexing them. So far they have filled in 3,250 cards recording people, places, property transactions and fines. Dr. Hall has been sorting through all this information and gave a fascinating talk, illustrated with wonderful graphics, on life in Romsley in the 15th century.

The Courts met on a regular basis and imposed fines ranging from 2d to 20 shillings (or £1.00). The villagers were fined for not clearing out their ditches (2d), damaging the highway, stealing wood to make a sledge (2d), and over burdening the common land with their animals. Woe betide you if, like John Rede in 1400, you allowed your ducks to trample the grass in the Churchyard and dirty the water in the Holy Well, when the fine was 6/8d. A huge sum, when the rate for a days work was just 2d!

The fine for assault was 6d and if you drew blood 18d, except of course unless you were the chaplain, then assault and drawing blood would only cost 6d. It paid to know people in high places, as all the fines went to the Abbey anyway! One family, the Eggeoks, managed to avoid paying their fine of 2d for not clearing their ditches, from 1406 to 1470 when the fine was eventually paid. Perhaps they had other things on their minds. As Mike Hall pointed out, these everyday events in the little backwater of Romsley were nothing compared to the turmoil that the rest of England was experiencing with the Wars of the Roses and the rise and fall of many kings, in the same period.

Speculation forms the basis of a lot of history and there is still a lot of work to do on the Court Rolls. There is the intriguing task of matching people to places and connecting families, possibly with families who are living in Romsley today. Our thanks go to Dr. Hall for showing us that the Court Rolls have made our local history very real.