The Shropshire Record Series

Volume 1

Sir Stephen Glynne’s Church Notes for Shropshire edited by D.C. Cox (1997).

ISBN 0-9513713-7-1

About this volume

From an early age, the great passion of Sir Stephen Richard Glynne (1807–74), 9^th baronet of Hawarden, Flintshire, was the study of medieval church architecture. By the time he died, he had compiled detailed descriptions of more than 5,000 churches in the British Isles in 106 notebooks. Glynne made at least forty visits to record the churches of Shropshire, although he avoided any that were entirely neo-classical or neo-gothic. This volume contains the text of all his notes that relate to Shropshire churches.

Volume 2

Diary of George Gitton of Bridgnorth for 1866 edited by M.D.G. Wanklyn (1998).

ISBN 0-9513713-8-X

About this volume

George Gitton, an impecunious printer and newspaper reporter in Victorian Bridgnorth, evokes in his private diary an intimate record of his own existence, a colourful picture of the town’s shopkeepers, publicans, and social leaders, and a kaleidoscope of local events, entertainments, accidents and crimes. Gitton’s diary, possibly unique of its kind, captures the essence of a small mid-Victorian town as no official record, newspaper or photograph could do.

Volume 3

The Lay Subsidy for Shropshire 1524–7 edited by M.A. Faraday (1999)

ISBN 0-9536020-0-1

About this volume

The ‘Great Subsidy’ was a tax granted to Henry VIII in 1523 to pay for war with France. Taxpayers’ names were listed under the names of their townships, with the value of each person’s taxable assets. For Shropshire the records were the most comprehensive since the fourteenth century; those that survive name more than 3,800 peoople and 640 places. With combined index of persons, places and subjects.

Volume 4

Shropshire Historical Documents: A Miscellany (2000).

ISBN 0-9536020-1-X

About this volume

This volume contains four separate documents, each with an introduction:

1. Shifnal Ironworks Accounts, 1583–90 edited by Sylvia Watts

This contains an edition of documents relating to Shifnal blast furnace and forges.They are of particular interest because the furnace was of a very early date — generally said to be the second earliest in the Midlands — and also because the survival of these types of document is very rare. With index of persons and places.

2. The Revd Henry Maurice’s Shropshire Diary 1672 edited by Janice V. Cox

This contains an edition of the diary of the Independent minister, Henry Maurice, recording his preaching and travels in Shropshire in 1672. With biographical index and index of places.

3. The Registers of a Provincial Man-Midwife, Thomas Higgins of Wem, 1781–1803 edited by Alannah Tomkins

This contains an edition of the registers of 1,213 births in north Shropshire kept by the man-midwife, Thomas Higgins. With index of personal names and index of places.

4. The Diary of Edward Lawrence, master of Wellington Workhouse, 1890–1 edited by D.C. Cox

This contains an edition of the frank private diary of Edward Lawrence, the frustrated master of Wellington workhouse. With index of persons.

Volume 5

The Glebe Terriers of Shropshire: Part 1 (Abdon to Llanfair Waterdine) edited by Sylvia Watts (2001)

ISBN 0-9536020-2-8

Volume 6

The Glebe Terriers of Shropshire: Part 2 (Llanyblodwel to Wroxeter) edited by Sylvia Watts (2002)

ISBN 0-9536020-3-6

About this volume

Glebe terriers were detailed descriptions of the economic assets of ecclesiastical livings from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. Every parish was required to compile one at intervals. They include particulars of the parsonage house (a valuable source for vernacular architecture), the incumbent's glebe lands (with early field-names and sometimes information on the parish’s pre-inclosure open fields and commons), his tithes and fees, and local schools and charities. These two volumes comprise a calendar of the Shropshire terriers, with material of unusual interest quoted in full.

Volume 7

Accounts of the Stewards of the Talbot Household at Blakemere 1392–1425 translated and edited by Barbara Ross (2003)

ISBN 0-9536020-4-4

About this volume

The Talbots of Blakemere, near Whitchurch, were among the leading families of the Welsh marches in the Middle Ages and became earls of Shrewsbury in 1442. Their household stewards kept financial accounts of everything purchased for the daily consumption of the family and their retainers at Blakemere, including food, drink, clothing, and hardware, and for their journeys on estate, family and political business. Eight accounts have survived and are dated between 1392 and 1425 and are published in this volume in translation.

Volume 8

Church and Chapel in Early Victorian Shropshire: Returns from the 1851 Census of Religious Worship edited by Clive D. Field (2004)

ISBN 0-9536020-6-0

About this volume

A full census of religious worship in England and Wales was attempted in 1851. This edition publishes the 663 returns for individual Shropshire churches, chapels and meeting houses — Anglican, Roman Catholic, and protestant nonconformist. The returns give attendance totals at services on 30 March, average attendances for the previous year, information on buildings and endowments, and remarks on local conditions. The editor’s introduction is supported by statistical tables and a bibliography and there are indexes of denominations, places and signatories.

Volume 9

The People of God: Shrewsbury Dissenters 1660–1699: Part 1 (Introduction and Biographies A – L) by Janice V. Cox (2006)

ISBN 0-9536020-7-9

Volume 10

The People of God: Shrewsbury Dissenters 1660–1699: Part 2 (Biographies M – Y and Indexes) by Janice V. Cox (2007)

ISBN 0-9536020-8-7

About this volume

The core of these volumes comprises the biographies of 570 Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists and Quakers which have been constructed from contemporary sources including parish registers, tax lists, wills and inventories, and the records of Shrewsbury corporation and quarter sessions. A three-dimensional picture emerges of the dissenters’ family connections, economic status, and religious and political activities.

Volume 11

The Visitation Records of Archdeacon Joseph Plymley 1792–1838, Part I: Introduction and Text, volumes 1–3 (Burford, Clun and Ludlow Deaneries), edited by Sylvia Watts (2010)

ISBN 978-0-9566459-0-6

Volume 12

The Visitation Records of Archdeacon Joseph Plymley 1792–1838, Part II: Text, volumes 4–6 (Pontesbury, Stottesdon and Wenlock Deaneries), and Index, edited by Sylvia Watts (2011)

ISBN 978-0-9566459-1-3

About this volume

Carrying out a triennial visitation was part of the normal duty of an archdeacon, but Joseph Plymley’s record of his visitation of 1792–93 is unsurpassed in its remarkable detail and in the wide range of topics it addresses — his interests stretched far beyond the general conduct of the clergy, the fabric of the various churches and the adequacy of clerical incomes and residences. From the borders of Wales in the west to the Severn in the east; from the Teme in the south to the suburbs of Shrewsbury in the north, Plymley recorded not only the names of the landowners, the state of agriculture and the crops grown, but also details of the lives of the general population, their wages and living conditions. In doing so, he has left us with a unique source that is of enormous value to all who have an interest in social or agrarian history.

Volume 13

The Diary of John Rowland Jones, Headmaster of Diddlebury School, 1908  edited by Martin Speight (2014)

ISBN 978-0-9566459-2-0

About this volume

In 1892 John Rowland Jones came from Wales to take up the post of headmaster of the village school at Diddlebury in the Corvedale, where he remained until his retirement and subsequent death in 1909. For most of his adult life Jones kept a diary, and the present volume, reproduced here in full, is the only complete year to have survived. The diary records his domestic and social life, and gives a detailed insight into village life in Shropshire from the perspective of a lower-middle class family. Of particular value to social and economic historians is his detailed treatment of financial matters as the family struggled to keep up appearances on a small fixed income, while at the same time enjoying some luxuries such as a seaside holiday to which few of their neighbours would have aspired.

Price: Shropshire Record Series volumes are generally published annually. Volumes may be purchased by subscription or on an individual basis.

Subscribers: Subscribers receive each volume as it is published at a cost of £10 per volume including postage and packing. Although we aim to produce volumes on an annual basis, subscribers are only invoiced at the time that the volume is actually sent out and not annually.

Single Volumes: Volumes may also be purchased individually or in two-volume sets.

All these prices include postage and packing.

If you would like to subscribe to The Shropshire Record Series or to purchase individual volumes, please e-mail sales at srs.sales@keele.ac.uk, write to The Shropshire Record Series, Room CBA1.017, Chancellor's Building, Keele University, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG or telephone 01782 733010. We will need the following information from you:-

• Name and address details 
• For individual volume orders: Name and number, and quantity of the volume/(s) you wish to order 

We will then issue you with an invoice; despatch of the volume will be on receipt of payment.

If you have a general enquiry or would like to contribute a text to the series, please e-mail the editor at srs.editor@keele.ac.uk.

Editorial enquiries

If you have a general enquiry or would like to contribute a text to the series, please e-mail the editor at srs.editor@keele.ac.uk.

Sales enquiries

If you would like to subscribe to The Shropshire Record Series or to purchase individual volumes, please e-mail sales at srs.sales@keele.ac.uk, or write to The Shropshire Record Series, Room CBA1.017, Chancellor's Building, Keele University, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG or telephone 01782 733010.