Beauvale Priory, near Eastwood, achieved fame when its one-time Prior, John Houghton, became the first English Catholic Martyr. Born in Essex in 1487, he was educated at Cambridge, where he took a degree in law and, as his parents then wanted him to marry (against his...
The photograph arrived in the same package as Bessy Ling. All we were told is that it recorded a marriage on Little Hallam Hill near the Bull’s Head. The gentleman’s frock coat and topper were used on formal occasions from the end of the 19th century into the 1920s,...
Good-bye, Bessy Ling, Good-bye (Click red link to download audio file) By Peter Cave This is a surprise: sheet music written and published in Ilkeston. The melody and arrangement was by Amos Buxton, who was, at least before the Great War, a fitter at the Oakwood...
This item was discovered during a house clearance by the late Colin Greaves, who very kindly allowed us to reproduce it here. It originally belonged to Beatrice Elizabeth Brooks, one of ten children of William and Kezia Brooks. William and his sons were joiners and...
If you don’t have access to Facebook you won’t be aware of the large number of posts on various topics which appeared during the Covid lockdowns. Grant Shaw made one a day for over four months, with some new material but also extracts...
