I have recently been tidying up my archive files, and have come across the drafts of five articles that were included in the magazine of St Michael’s, Lichfield church in (I think) 2021 or 2022. These are basically historical sketches that used material from other blogs on this site, although perhaps the material is presented here in a more succinct way. I include links to them below. A compilation of all five articles can be downloaded using the button below the links.
Whilst sorting out my electronic archives, I came across a chace of blog posts / essays from an old (dead) website. Many of these are now outdated, as is the case with such posts, but a number may still be of some interest. Links to them are given in the table below, in date order. It can be seem that they are indeed a miscellany and relate to environmental issues, transport, cricket and football and a few other things. A compilation of all of these can be downloaded using the button beneath the table.
In a recent blog post, I investigated the registers and monumental inscriptions surveys of the churchyard of St Michael’s in Lichfield, to see if they contained traces of the effects of the 1918 flu pandemic. This was made possible by work carried out over the last decade where I collated both sets of records into a searchable spreadsheet. It turned out that there was significant excess mortality recorded at the time of the 1918 pandemic and that the age profile of this excess mortality matched that associated with the pandemic i.e. excess mortality in the age ranges from 20 to 50 (approximately).
The obvious follow up to such work was to further investigate the St Michael’s database to attempt to identify other periods of significant excess mortality in the Lichfield area, and this is addressed in this blog post. In the next section an outline of the methodology that was used is set out. This leads to the identification of a number of periods of high mortality, that were then investigated further with regard to the excess mortality age profile. The results were then interpreted using limited historical data from other records.
Methodology
The methodology that was adopted is as follows.
The period from January 1840 to December 1940 was chosen for the analysis. For this period, earlier work has shown that the number of burials per year in St. Michael’s churchyard remained roughly constant, and was around 15% of the total number of deaths in the larger Lichfield Civil Registration area.
The number of burials each month was extracted from the data and tabulated by year and month.
For each month, the average of the monthly deaths for that month in the preceding five years and the five years that follow was obtained.
The ratio of the actual monthly data to the average monthly data was then obtained for each month (R). A value of less than 1.0 thus indicated that the monthly data was below the average for 10 years around that period, and a value above 1.0 indicated that the data was above that average.
As an example of this process, consider the period from 1860 to 1865. Firstly Figure 1a shows the number of burials by month over that period. It can be seen that, unsurprisingly, there is much month by month variability, but that there seem to be an unusual number of deaths in the first half of 1863. Figure 1b shows the 10 year averages, based on the same month 5 years before and 5 years after. The graphs for each year can be seen to be generally similar with a slight variation across the months. Figure 1c shows the ratio of the actual and mean values (R). Again the 1863 values stand out quite clearly.
a) Monthly burials from 1860 to 1865
b) Average monthly burials five years before and five years after the month in question
c) The ratio R of the data in figures a and b
Figure 1 Example of monthly data analysis
Identification of high mortality events
The criteria that were adopted for determining events for more detailed study were that firstly the ratio of actual burials to average burials (R) should exceed 1.7 for at least two consecutive months, and that secondly at least one month should have a value of R of greater than 2.0. Only those events with more than 30 deaths overall were chosen. This process resulted in seven events being identified and these are given below. The list shows the R value for each month; the total number of deaths in the period; the expected deaths in each period (the average values for 5 years before and 5 years after); and the excess deaths over the period (the difference between the last two values).
1846 August (R=2.8); September (R=2.6); Actual deaths 33, Expected deaths 12; Excess deaths 21
1863 March (R=2.1); April (R=2.0); May (R=1.8); June (R=2.0); July (R=2.5); Actual deaths 80, Expected deaths 39; Excess deaths 41
1883 September (R=1.7);October (R=2.7); Actual deaths 31, Expected deaths 14; Excess deaths 17
1895 February (R=1.7); March (R=2.3); Actual deaths 38, Expected deaths 22; Excess deaths 16
1899 March (R=1.8); April (R=2.0); Actual deaths 41, Expected deaths 22; Excess deaths 19
1918 October (R=4.6); November (R=2.8); Actual deaths 45, Expected deaths 13; Excess deaths 32
1940 January (R=2.3); February (R=3.0); Actual deaths 42, Expected deaths 16; Excess deaths 26
As might be expected the 1863 data of figure 1 features in the list.
Analysis of events by age at death
The next step was to breakdown the number of deaths in each event by age, in intervals of ten years. As an example, the 1863 results are shown in Figure 2a. Similarly the deaths in the periods of 5 years before and 5 years after each event were broken down by age. These were then factored by the ratio of the number of deaths in the event and the overall number of deaths in the 10 year period, to calculate what might be called the expected number of deaths during the event. Figure 2b shows such values for the period 1858 to 1862 and 1864 to 1858. It can be seen that, in this case, the number of burials in the 0 to 9 age group greatly exceeds the expected value, a point that will be taken up in what follows. The differences between the values in the two graphs will be referred to as the excess deaths in what follows.
a) Age at death breakdown for 1863 event
b) Expected age at death breakdown from 1858 to 1862 and 1864 to 1868
Figure 2. Breakdown of burials by age for 1863 event
The above procedure was then carried out for all seven identified events and the breakdown of excess deaths by age is shown in Figures 3a to 3g. The first three events (1846, 1863 and1883) are all of the same form, and show that the excess deaths are concentrated in the 0 to 9 age group, which was a period of high child mortality in any case. But the concentration or excess deaths in this age band are striking. The 1895 and 1899 events are different in form, with excess mortality in the older age groups, particularly for those over 60. The 1918 event by contrast shows excess mortality spread across the mid age range. The final 1940 event shows a large peak of excess mortality in the 60+ age range.
a) 1846 event
b) 1863 event
c) 1883 event
d) 1895 event
e) 1899 event
f) 1918 event
g) 1940 event
Figure 3.Excess deaths for each of the identified high mortality events
Interpretation
The question then arises as to whether any more can be said about the causes of the events from the historical record. For the last two events that proves to be the case. The 1918 event shows the effects of the Spanish Flu pandemic in Lichfield, and this was widely reported in the local press and that I considered in the earlier post. An analysis of the burial register for the 1940 event indicates that 18 of the 42 deaths in that period were elderly patients in the former Workhouse Infirmary, which would suggest that there was some sort of localised outbreak there. This was however, not reported in the press. The first five events listed above do not seem to have been recorded in any historical sources, and their cause must remain unknown. Conversely the major flu epidemic of 1889 / 1890 (the Russian Flu) has left no trace in the St. Michael’s burial records.
There is some indication of the effects of climate for the 1895 and 1940 events. February 1895 was the coldest February in the entire period from 1840 to 1940, with an average central England temperature of -1.8 degrees , and one of only two years below zero. The average over the period was 4.1 degrees. January1940 was also the coldest January in the entire period at -1.4 degrees against and average of 3.7 degrees. It was one of only three years below zero. Old people seem to have been particularly affected in these two events.
But the numbers and the age profiles of the events surely hide many stories; the concentrated grief of many parents losing their children in a short space of time in 1846, 1863c and 1883; the loss of elderly and much loved parents in 1895 and 1899; the incomprehension of the loss of the young and healthy in the Spanish flu of 1918; and the despair of the community in the dark days of 1940 that the place of safety and rest in the infirmary should become a place of death. The names of all those who died are recorded and for some the inscriptions on the memorial stones were recorded, even if the memorials can no longer be found. Perhaps one of the most poignant is that to the Hitchins children of Butchers Row who died during or close to the 1846 event.
Sacred to the memory of SARAH ANN HITCHINS who died July 25th 1846 aged 7 years. Also of HENRY WRIGHT HITCHINS who died August 5th 1846 aged 9 years. And of ADELAIDE HITCHINS who died November 15th 1846 aged 3 years.
There is perhaps one other individual who does come into sharper focus. Nearly all the burials in the 1846 and 1863 events were conducted by the Perpetual Curate (vicar) Thomas Gnossall Parr. More is told about him here. But the emotional trauma that he would have experienced as he buried the children of many of his parishioners must not be underestimated. He would no doubt have had a degree of professional detachment, but nonetheless he would have been faced with the raw grief and despair of many of his parishioners for whom he had the cure of souls. The strain of parish ministry in such circumstances is so often forgotten.
Over the last decade or so, I have collated a great deal of information concerning the interments in the large churchyard of St. Michael’s church in Lichfield, bringing together burial register entries and monumental inscription surveys into one searchable spreadsheet. This has proved to be useful for family history researchers in particular. The data has also allowed me to carry out a fairly detailed analysis of how patterns of death and burial have changed over the two hundred year period since burial registers were introduced in 1812, The results of this work can be found elsewhere on this website in the paper “The changing face of death“.
Now of necessity this analysis, dealing with 200 years of data, has used fairly broad data averaging periods to examine long term trends, and most of the analysis used data averaged over 10 year periods. Thus the effects of any events that occur over a shorter time period will not be visible in the results. Now recently I have been reading a number of papers and reports about aspects of death, burial and cremation and have come across repeated references to the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 / 1919. This has led me to wonder if there is any trace of the deaths caused by this epidemic in the St. Michael’s churchyard data. As esch wave of this epidemic occurred over a period of a few months, an analysis over much shorter time scales than I previously used was required. This blog post presents the results of this analysis, and is supplemented by newspaper material from the period that illustrates how the pandemic was viewed in the wider Lichfield area.
Burial numbers 1918/1919
The analysis of burial numbers looked at two sets of data. The first was the information from the burial registers. This was analysed over annual, quarterly and monthly periods from 1910 to 1920. The second set of data was from the Civil Death Registration database for the Lichfield Registration area. This is much larger than the parishes of St. Michael and St. Mary that use the churchyard, and also much larger than the city of Lichfield itself. It extends to the surrounding towns and villages, including Brownhills, Burntwood and Rugeley. Data was analysed over annual and quarterly periods. The results of the analysis are shown in Figure 1 below. Figure 1a show the annual data for the two sets of records. The St. Michael’s data has been multiplied by a factor of 10 for clarity. In general the results imply that the number of burials recorded in the St. Michael’s records are around 10 to 15% of those for the entire registration district, which seems reasonable. The civil registrations show a significant peak in the data for 1918, but such a peak is not apparent in the St. Michael’s data. Figure 1b show quarterly burial numbers and registrations for 1918 and 1919. Here both datasets show a significant peak in the last quarter of 1918, which ties in with historical records that the epidemic was at its peak over this period. Figure 1c shows the monthly data for the St. Michael’s burials for 1918 and 1919 only. The dotted lines show the spread of the monthly data for the years 1910 to 1917.The 1918 data shows a low number of burials in January and February, below the 1910 to 1917 spread of data, and a major peak in October and November as the epidemic hit Lichfield. The low values in January and February of that year explain why the epidemic peak could not be seen in the annual averages, as they would tend to lower the averages despite the peak later in the year. The 1919 data lies within the spread of the 1910 to 1917 data. Tus to answer the question posed above, it is possible to see some traces of the epidemic in the St. Michael’s data, concentrated in the months of November and December 1918.
a) Annual averages 1910 to 1920
b) Quarterly averages 1918 and 1919
c) Monthly averages 1918 to 1919
Figure 1. Analysis of burials by year, quarter and month
Residence
In total in October and November 1918 there were 45 deaths recorded in the St. Michael’s burial register and it is possible to look at where these lived within the parish and their age at the time of death. Details of all 45 individuals are given in Table 1 below (a downloadable pdf). Of these 13 were residents of the Workhouse on Trent Valley Rd. The addresses do not reveal any particular cluster of cases, and deaths from across and beyond the parish were recorded.
Table 1. Details of the burials in October and November 1918
Age distributions
The data in table 1 also enables the age distribution of the deaths to be investigated. First however, the question arises as to what might be the expected age distribution of deaths. For the October / November period in the years 1910 to 1917 there were an average of 14 deaths. If one applies the average death age distribution for the decades 1910 to 1930 to the expected 14 deaths, the expected death age distribution for October / November 1918 is shown in figure 2a. It can be seen it shows a peak for ages between 0 and 10, followed by a rapid fall off, then a gradual rise withe age, peaking in the 71 to 80 age range. It thus shows high child mortality, but the majority of other deaths in the older age group. Note that these are average expected values and there were large variations around this distribution from year to year. Figure 2b shows the actual number of deaths by age in October / November 1918. The difference between Figures 2a and 2b is best appreciated from Figure 2c which shows this data from Figure 2b minus the expected death rates from Figure 2a i.e. what would now be called the excess deaths. It is clear that most of the excess deaths were in the 11 to 50 age range, which is very much in line with what has been reported by many other sources – that the Spanish flu virus was particularly dangerous for the young and healthy.
a) Expected deaths
b) Actual deaths
c) Excess deaths
Figure 2 Death rates by age group
From the press
Naturally the arrival of the epidemic in Lichfield caused much consternation and was reported at length in the press -particularly the Lichfield Mercury. In this section we present a few extracts from that publication between October and December 1918.
From 11/10/1918, we have this description of the effects of the virus and the symptoms.
An epidemic of influenza raging in Lichfield and all the schools. with the exception of the High School, have been closed. The epidemic is the most widespread that has occurred for very many years, and it has developed with great rapidity. There are quite a large number of instances where four or five members of a household are down with the disease and one case reported where eight persons in one house are under treatment Happily, the cases are for most part of mild type, though a proportion are of a more serious character. One noteworthy feature is that number of cases the influenza is accompanied by nose bleeding and vomiting, while in others the sufferers are delirious. The outbreak has increased the strain on the local doctors, who. for a long time have been working at high pressure consequent on the absence on military service of members of the who formerly practiced in the district.
A week later (18/10/1918) there was no respite.
The influenza epidemic in Lichfield at present shows no signs of waning. Every day brings an addition the list of cases, and several deaths have occurred. The Grammar School and High School and all the elementary schools in the City are closed. Many people who so far have escaped are taking all the recognized precautions, and the local chemists have had large demands made upon them far quinine, essence of cinnamon, eucalyptus oil, and other preventatives.
On 25/10/1918 we read of the actions taken by the City Council with the (limited) provision of nursing support. Official advice on how to behave is also given.
The present influenza epidemic is the most virulent and widespread has been experienced in the district for very many years, certainly for the last quarter of a century. The Lichfield City Council, as the local health authority, has, through the Sanitary Committee, had the matter under consideration, and two special nurses have been called in to assist combating the disease. They are acting under the direction Mr. G. Homan. the City Medical Officer of Health, and the other local doctors, and although at the time of writing fresh cases continue to be notified, it hoped that before long the disease will have run its course. Of course the position in Lichfield is not by any means singular in regard to the extent of the epidemic; it has made its appearance in all parts of the country, and amongst all classes of the community. Those who have, so far escaped attack will wise to take all the available precautions. Sir Arthur Newsholme, Medical Officer of the Local Government Board, has issued a pamphlet asking for the cooperation of everyone in obtaining control over disease, and suggesting preventive measures. Infection is chiefly spread in the earlier stages, and every patient who has severe cold or fever should go bed and stay there for three or four days. If every person suffering from fever were to do this the spread of disease in factories and workshops, offices, shops, and schools would be greatly reduced. Among the precautions suggested are;— Avoid scattering infection in sneezing and coughing. Boil handkerchiefs. Spit in receptacles containing disinfectant. Indiscriminate spitting is especially dangerous during the prevalence of influenza. Keep windows open, especially in bedrooms. Thoroughly wash all utensils from influenza sick room. Overcrowding in dwellings, unventilated assembly rooms, and places of entertainment should avoided. Gargle the throat with solution of one in 5,000 permanganate of potassium in water containing a pinch of common salt. This should also be snuffed up through the nostrils and expelled through the mouth. Stay in bed until all fever is gone. Relapses follow chills or over exertion while convalescent. Alcoholism favours infection. Old persons and young children should not be allowed near an influenza patient. No vaccine is available for the treatment of influenza, and although in cases of primary pneumonia and bronchitis, treatment with a vaccine has sometimes been found useful, no such treatment can be recommended for the pulmonary complications of influenza.
By 1/11/18 the epidemic in the city was abating, although its seems to be still spreading in the outlying villages. The writer of the article below speculates on how such an epidemic might be better managed in the future,
LESSONS FROM THE LICHFIELD OUTBREAK -THE POLICY OF THE FUTURE The influenza epidemic is still causing acute anxiety in Lichfield. Fresh cases continue to occur in the City, though they are not as numerous as they were fortnight or three weeks ago. Unfortunately the disease seems now to be spreading to the outlying districts and the schools are closed at Armitage, Gentleshaw, Fradley, Alrewas Shenstone. Wall, Chasetown, Kings Bromley, Whittington, Weeford, BrownhilIs and Norton Canes. It cannot, therefore, be said that there is any real abatement. The impression has gaining ground that disease which has made its appearance with such virulence and over practically the whole world is not influenza. This impression arose the fact that the symptoms seemed in general to be a of quite different type from those experienced in previous epidemics. In the many people there was a suspicion that the outbreak was a form plague. The latter suspicion, is, according Sir Walter Director of the Medical Research Committee, and Lieutenant-Col. Harvey, the Royal Army Medical College, entirely without foundation. Research work has been proceeding for some time and no such organism as the plague bacilus has been found. Further it is pointed out by another expert that influenza manifests itself in various ways, and bacteriologists may find that what we call influenza is really a group of distinct diseases. The widespread nature of the outbreak is responsible for the great public attention that the disease is attracting at the present time. The State is now directing its energies io ascertain what preventive measures may be taken, and a special conference of representatives of ail departments has been promised by Mr. Haves Fisher. But, Professor W. J. H. Simpson, of King’s College, London, points out. to wait until epidemic has acquired a full grip on the community before taking measures against it is not prevention. There should be some central health organization in the country which have readily its command all available information concerning all communicable diseases occurring in every part of the world and in every part of its own country. THE NURSING ARRANGEMENTS. From the outbreak as it has manifested itself in Lichfield, a number of useful lessons may be drawn .It is of course, essential that the Medical Officer of Health should at once call into consultation with him the local doctors, and as part of the possible co-ordinate their service. Then, too, the local authority should take such steps they are able to secure adequate nursing. At Lichfield both these things have been done, though in regard to the nursing of cases the arrangements made have been totally inadequate. But for the latter fact it must be remembered that neither the Medical Officer of Health nor the City Council is in any degree to blame. Two nurses were specially engaged to in the nursing of cases and these, with the nurses from the Nursing Homo, have worked zealously and untiringly. But so heavy was the demand their services that they were not remain at one case for any length of time, and in cases of influenza and pneumonia not only careful but continual nursing is essential. The simple truth that the supply of nurses not equal to the demand. The question arises, in the case of epidemic of the present magnitude, what can be done to remedy the paucity of trained nurses. An answer may be found if we turn our thoughts back to the beginning the war. The call went forth for nurses to assist in looking alter the wounded, and immediately there was noble and patriotic response on the part of a large number women, partly trained in nursing as members of the V.A.D. The call in the interests of the nation was answered then; and there is every reason to be believe that it would be similarly answered when an epidemic which threatened to have d effect on the mortality of the nation made its appearance. Some organizarion might established whose duty it would be to maintain a list of women who were prepared in an emergency offer their services. Such a scheme would, of course, call for some form of subsidy on the part of the local authority. It would be necessary to have available a number of women who could be called upon to sit up with patients during the night. The ordinary individual cannot afford to bear the whole of the expense a fully qualified nurse even if such were available. But if the City Council had a list of women, possessed of shrewd common sense and some knowledge of nursing, whom they could call upon in case of a serious epidemic and to whose payment they would make a grant, it would be an incalculable service to the community.
Only a small number of obituaries of the deceased were published. The first (from 25/10/1918) describes the death of a soldier from influenza after having recovered from being wounded in action. Second Lieutenant Ward was not buried in the graveyard but was presumably buried around Le Havre. However the grief of his mother was firmly located in the city.
The death took place in. hospital on Saturday, from influenza and pneumonia, Second Lieutenant E. Ward. R.F.A., son of Mrs. Ward. 24, Trent Valley Road, Lichfield. Second Lieutenant Ward enlisted the R.F.A. in 1906. and at outbreak of the war was serving in India as a sergeant. His battery then served in Mesopotamia until last April, when they were moved to France. Last February deceased was granted commission as Second Lieutenant. and September 13th he was wounded. Recovering from his wounds was sent to Havre, and was passed as fit for duty. Subsequently he was admitted to hospital suffering from influenza and died as already stated. This is the second son Mrs Ward has lost and another son is still serving on Salonika.
And from 8/11/18
The funeral of the late Mrs. Agnes Pilsbury, wife of Councillor A. Pilsbury, 29, St. John Street, took place Saturday. The deceased, who was 43 years of age, died on the 28th ult. from pneumonia, following influenza, leaving a family of six little children, with whom, and the husband, sincerest sympathy is felt. The first part of the service was in St. Mary’s Church, the Rev. H. S. Cresswell officiating The interment place in St. Michael’s churchyard. The mourners were Councillor A. Pilsbury (husband), Misses Sylvia and Winifred Pilsbury (daughters). Mr. Jno. Topliss (brother), Miss Topliss (sister), Mr. and Mrs. Fred Topliss (brother and sister-in-law), Mr. and Mrs. W. Lester (Burton). Miss Leedbam, and Mrs Dix.
Finally on a lighter note, clearly some saw the pandemic as a commercial opportunity. From the 1/11/18 edition and weekly till the end of December we find this advert for an overcoat.
TO PREVENT INFLUENZA! Order a good Overcoat, all wool. from £4 10s. YOU KNOW THE TAILOR G. C. DEAN. Lierapnon Serge, regd. (guaranteed all wool). 20 ozs.), Indigo, just arrived. Suit to Order, £6 6s. Note Addresses:— 26, Queen Square, WOLVERHAMPTON. Corner Corporation St., BIRMINGHAM, (Opposite Stephenson Place). 94. BULL. RING. (Opposite Seed Shop). Tel. Mid 860.
On the 13/12/18 we see the difficulties caused by the war and the epidemic to the makers of Bovril.
Amongst the many difficulties that have hampered Food Manufacturers during the War none have been more troublesome. or have entailed more serious sequences, than the shortage of containers all kinds, and especially of glass bottles and jars. During the current influenza epidemic, tor example, the special strengthening and stimulating powers of Bovril made large supplies of this well-known food, so urgently needed. the proprietors found themselves totally unable to meet the public requirement through lack of bottles although they had ample supplies of raw materials in stock.
An exhibition of photographs and other material entitled From Agenoria to Beeching – The first and last days of steam in Dudley was organised by the Dudley Archives and Local History Service and the Black Country Society between October and December 2025, as a contribution to the national Railways 200 celebrations, which marked the 200th anniversary of Railways in Britain. The exhibition, held in the foyer of the Archives, was in two parts. The first part illustrated the first days of steam railways in the Dudley area between 1830 and 1860, mainly using material from the Dudley Archive collections. The second part of the exhibition illustrated the final days of steam in the area, from the late 1950s and early 1960s, through photographs from the Terry Hyde Collection held by the Black Country Society.
The Exhibition organisers were the Black Country Society (Chris Baker, Keith Hodgkins and Quintin Watt) and Dudley Archives and Local History Service (Hannah Clynes and Paul Ford). In this post I present those aspects of the exhibition which I contributed – primarily the material on the early days of steam in the Dudley area and the introductory slide loop and poster. Some photos from the opening of the exhibition are also included. More information and a fuller description of the exhibition can be found on the Black Country Society website.
Introductory slide loop
From Agenoria ……
Route of the Kingswinford RailwayReport on the opening of the railway (1)Report on the opening of the railway (2)Commemorative plaque Foster Rastrick factoryCommemorative plaque from the Foster Rastrick factoryDetails of the Agenoria from the Engineer MagazinePhotograph of Agenoria from David Marlowe c 1860Photographs of the Agenoria1857 train timetables for the Dudley linesAccidents on the Kingswinford RailwayStambermill ViaductDudley Railway Station in the late 1850s.
This post gives access to a number of sources of information for the history of All Saints church in Oakham – church guides from 1932 and 1972 and a compilation of article from issues of the Rutland County Magazine and Historical Record from 1903 to 1906, Clearly this is not material I have written. My role has been to put the hard copies of the guides into pdf format, and to extract the relevant pages from the Rutland Magazine and put these into pdf format. They are presented here as an aid to further research.
Note that a more up to date church guide was written in 2000 by Nigel Aston and can be accessed from the Oakham Team Ministry website.
A guide from 1932 of the Castle, Church and School written by the then vicar, Rev. A Edward Fraser. It contains a number of adverts for Oakham business that are also of historical interest which have been presented in Oakham Adverts 1932.
The traditional Catholic / Anglo-Catholic liturgy for Holy Week and Easter is both powerful and deeply moving. It is built around four services – the liturgy of Palm Sunday, the washing of the feet and institution of holy Communion on Maundy Thursday, the liturgy of the Crucifixion on good Friday and the Service of Light and Holy Communion on Easter Day. It has a well established form that has been shaped by 2000 years of history and, some might say, should not be changed or modified to any degree.
Whilst I personally always find the sequence of service uplifting and thought provoking, I have to admit that there are aspects that I find distracting and unsatisfactory. The entire passion gospel is read twice – on Palm Sunday and Good Friday, and this seems to me to have two downsides. Firstly the unfolding series of events in Holy Week is somewhat obscured using this approach, and secondly this limits the time for serious preaching on the passion narrative at these two services. The on Easter Day, the traditional order places the reading of the resurrection gospel a long way into the service, which has always struck me as off, as to my mind, this belongs right at the start.
Now in 2026, I was, for the first time in my ministerial career, able to craft the Holy Week services to reflect my own views. This is a task normally undertaken by any incumbent, but as we don’t currently have one I was able to take advantage. This post contains the liturgical material that was put together for that week, that I offer here perhaps as a model that others might use. It is not terribly radical – the main innovation being that it is based around the reading of the Passion narrative from the gospel for the year (Matthew in this case) throughout Holy Week, and its use of both online and face-to-face services to enable as many as possible to take some part in the celebration.
The setting
There were two settings for the Holy Week liturgy presented here – one physical and one virtual. The physical one is of course All Saints itself. this is a large, high church, with nave, nave aisles, transepts, chancel and chancel chapels, The nave and transepts are, in the main, filled with pews, which limits the amount of liturgical movement, but the aisles offer room for processions, and some pews have been removed at the front of the nave, which allows for a nave altar to be used on most Sundays. The chancel, normally used for the choir, offers a different and more intimate worship space for small congregations. The Eucharist is celebrated at the high altar at the east end on festivals. Even when a nave altar is used, communion is usually received at the communion rails at the high altar. The chapel to the north side of the chancel (dedicated to the Holy Trinity) is used for small worship services and, as we will see below, is used as the Chapel of the Watch in Holy Week.
The virtual context is the streaming of services via Facebook, which has been used since the Covid lockdown. The audience for streamed Sunday services can be significant, but there is also a regular audience for streamed morning prayer services on three days a week.
Nave viewed from west endChancel viewed from steps to nave
Principles
My objectives in developing the Easter and Holy Week services for 2026 were as follows.
To broadly follow the traditional form, but to improve its consistency in the context of the congregations and facilities at All Saints Oakham.
To read through the Passion account for the set gospel of the year (Matthew), allowing space for sermons to be preached on most aspect of the story.
To allow members of the congregation to follow the liturgy to as great an extent as they could individually manage, through the provision of a pattern for readings, and streaming and face to face services.
A booklet of readings was available for collection in church from Passion Sunday onwards and was also posted on line. The gospel readings basically followed the account in Matthew 21 and 26 to 28 from Palm Sunday onwards, although a precise chronological framework is not of course possible. Appropriate Old Testament readings were also provided.
Palm Sunday
The service began with the reading of the gospel and the palm procession from the south door to the west door. The story of Jesus in the temple was then read, a sermon preached and the eucharist followed in the normal way. The service featured full ceremonial – formal processions with incense and anthems.
From Monday to Wednesday, Morning Prayer was streamed on Facebook using the normal online form from Common Worship Daily Prayer. The Old Testament readings were taken from Lamentations in a traditional pattern. Compline was said in the chancel of church every evening, with a short address and suitable recorded music. At both Morning Prayer and Compline each day the same New Testament reading from Matthew was used was used.
Maundy Thursday
Morning Prayer was again streamed over Facebook, with a reading from Lamentations and a short reading from Matthew. The main Maundy Thursday service in the evening was held in the body of church. The first part of the service was focussed on the events of the Last Supper as recorded by John (the only non-Matthean reading of the week), leading into a sermon and the foot / hand washing. The service then moved on to the institution of Holy Communion and the celebration of the Eucharist itself. The icon shown below was brought to the altar with the bread and the wine. After the Eucharist, the altar was stripped and the consecrated bread and wine taken to the Holy Trinity chapel. The gospel account of Gethsemane was read before the congregation departed, with some moving to the Trinity chapel for a short Watch.
Morning Prayer was said in the Chapel of St John and St Anne, with the reading of the accounts of the trials of Jesus. A sermon was delivered. the formal Good Friday liturgy followed at noon. This began with the account of the crucifixion, followed by a sermon and the proclamation of the cross with the usual devotions. The icon below as placed in front of the cross. The formal Good Friday intercessions were then used, and then the account of the death of Jesus was read, with last year’s Easter candle being established. Communion was administered using the consecrated bread and wine from the evening before. In the evening, Compline was streamed on Facebook, and focussed on the burial of Jesus.
The readings for the Vigil were provided in a separate booklet and posted online, and their reading was streamed on Facebook on Holy Saturday evening, on the basis that some of the congregation would like to mark the vigil, but could not attend the Easter Dawn liturgy.
The dawn service (at 5.30am) began in near darkness at the back of church with the Vigil readings. The congregation then gathered around a brazier outside the south door where the Paschal candle was lit, from which all lit their own candles. The candle was then taken into church with the congregation following to the chancel, where all the altar lights were lit whilst the Exsultet was sung. The icon below was placed in front of the altar. The Easter gospel was then read, and the Easter greeting proclaimed and hymns were sung. The renewal of baptismal vows, with sprinkling of blessed water and the Eucharist then followed.
A straightforward traditional language Eucharist was celebrated at 8.00, supplemented on this occasion by hymns. The main Easter Eucharist was celebrated at 10.30 on Easter morning – a choral service with full ceremonial. The liturgy was straightforward beginning with the reading of the Easter Gospel from Matthew and included the renewal of baptismal vows as at the early service, and also, for those who wished, the anointing with oil at the communion rail for healing for themselves or those on their hearts. The icon above was again used as a focus for those receiving communion.
This post contains the text of a tribute to Julian Hunt that I delivered (through a recording) to the Wind Engineering community gathered at London Ontario for the Conference Dinner of the Computational Wind Engineering Conference in June 2026. I cannot claim to have known Julian well – he would have regarded me as a simple acquaintance – and much of the material below is derived from other public sources. However it does contain some personal memories, that are of particular relevance to those in the wind engineering discipline and I hope it will be of some interest to readers in that community. Note that the tribute as delivered was somewhat shorter than that contained below because of the restrictions of time.
Other obituaries
Other obituaries can be found via the following links.
Julian Charles Ronald Hunt was born in Madras in British India in 1941, where his father was a civil servant and diplomat, but spent most of his childhood in England with relatives. He attended Westminster School and Trinity College Cambridge, where he read Mechanical Sciences and graduated with a 1st Class BA in 1963, before carrying out postgraduate research in the field of magnetohydrodynamics, for which he was awarded a PhD in 1967. He had been elected a Fellow of Trinity College in 1966 and in 1967 he undertook post-doctoral research as a Fulbright Scholar at Cornell. From 1968 to 1970, he was a research officer with the Central Electricity Generating Board where, amongst other things, he studied the collapse of the Ferrybridge Cooling Towers. On his return to Cambridge in 1970 he was made a university lecturer in applied mathematics and engineering, and was later appointed Reader and Professor of Fluid Dynamics in 1990. He held numerous visiting professorships, and was also a visiting scholar at the United States EPA in 1977 and the National Center for Atmospheric Research in 1983. He was a founding director of Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants in 1985, which developed his academic work into practical applications, and remained as Chairman of the company until 2022.In 1989 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society and in 1992, became Director General of the Meteorological Office. In 1997 he became Professor of Climate Modelling at University College London, from where he retired in 2008.
Julian Hunt married Marylla Shephard in 1965 and they had three children: novelist Jemima; medical doctor Matilda; and historian and former Member of Parliament, Tristram. He was politically active and joined the British Labour Party in the 1960s, and was served as a Councillor on Cambridge City Council from 1971 to 1974, being leader of the Labour Group in 1972. He was created a life peer as Baron Hunt of Chesterton (a suburb to the north of Cambridge) in 2000. He died on April 20th 2026.
I first came across Julian as a final year undergraduate at Cambridge in the early 1970s when he lectured to me – a short course on vorticity and a longer course on pollutant dispersal based on Gaussian plume modelling, which emphasised the importance of the Richardson number, named after the noted mathematician and meteorologist Lweis Fry Richardson. It was some years later that I realised that he was Julian’s great uncle. Julian’s lectures were always entertaining, but more than a little chaotic and taking any sort of coherent notes was far from easy. Nonetheless mucgh of the narerial he covered was to inform my research and scholarship for many years afterwards. I undertook my Bachelor’s project in the Hydraulic Laboratory of the Department of Engineering, where there was a prominently displayed photograph of Julian Hunt as a research student from a few years previously, with a suitably 1960s flowing hair style, collecting signatures for an anti-Vietnam war petition.
I saw rather more of him as a PhD student, where his work on flow topology helped me in the interpretation of oil flow visualization of horseshoe vortices. He gave a seminar on this topic in the Department of Applied Mathematics on this work, and it was there that I observed one of the few occasions when he appeared unsure of himself, wondering what the audience of very able mathematicians would make of his essentially observational topological work.
On another memorable occasion, as I was walking through Cambridge to do some shopping, he cycled towards me, braked heavily on seeing me, took out a notebook and paper and, whilst still astride his bicycle, sketched out how my smoke flow visualization of horseshoe vortices could be used to check his theory of flow between two buildings. This brief encounter was to result in a short paper in one of the early editions of the Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics.
Throughout the following decades, Julian was an ever present in the Fluid Mechanics and Wind Engineering Community, at conferences and seminars, and was very supportive in the early days of the UK Wind Engineering Society. His talks were always stimulating even if the style remained a little chaotic and always delivered with confidence. On one occasion I remember him walking into a meeting of the Hazards forum a little late and finding his name down to give a presentation, that he had clearly forgotten about. For the next 20 minutes he sat at the back of the room and wrote one out (it was the days of OHP acetates, not PowerPoint) and then proceeded to give a coherent presentation that gave no clue as to its recent genesis.
Whilst perhaps best known to the wider world for his work on meteorology, climatology and hazard prediction Julian Hunt’s contribution to the development of wind engineering has of course been significant, laying the basis for the study of wind effects on pedestrians, wind flow over hills, wind forces on and flows around buildings and the dispersion of pollutants, all based on his fundamental work on the nature of atmospheric turbulence. Much of his work on pollutant dispersion has been incorporated in the ADMS modelling suite which is used worldwide as a powerful design tool.
But, as well as these very real achievements, I would suggest Julian’s greatest gift was his ability to analyse a problem, identify the most significant parameters, and develop simple theoretical approaches that could be both practically useful and offer considerable and generisable insights. With our current abilities to generate very large experimental and computational datasets that can so easily cloud our basic understanding of the phenomena we study, cultivating such an approach is perhaps more important than ever, to underpin the huge advances in technology that we are experiencing.
Ladies and Gentlemen, as I am recording this well before you all sat down to eat this evening, I have no idea what will be the state of the meal you are enjoying, but if you still have something left in the glass before you, I would ask you to raise it in a toast, to the memory of Professor Lord Julian Hunt FRS, Baron Hunt of Chesterton.
Two large inscribed boards at the west end of All Saints church list the vicars of the church from 1227 to the present day (figure 1). This list matches those found in church guides written over the last 100 years and date back to the primary research found in a 1903 article in the Rutland County Magazine and Historical Record of 1905. Whist this list is quite comprehensive, a more detailed resource is now available – the The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540-1835 (CCEd) which contains information from a wider variety of sources than were available in 1905. In this post we look at the information that can be obtained from this database about the life and times of Vicars of Oakham for the period 1540-1835 – roughly corresponding to the top half of the second board in figure 1.
Figure 1. The Vicar boards at All Saints Church
The database listing
A listing of the Vicars of Oakham from the database is given in Table 1 below. The table gives the names and the year and type of the event recorded. The hyperlinks on the names link to the information held in the database of the career that particular person, both at Oakham and elsewhere, and the hyperlinks in the “View” column link to details of the particular event recorded. The types of event are as follows.
Appt (Admission) – Definition not clear
Appt (Collation) – Candidate appointed by the Bishop as Patron, combining presentation and institution
Appt (Institution) – Appointment of the candidate to the living by the Bishop
Appt (Licensing) – Appointed with a Bishop’s license
Appt (Presentation) – Patron presents the candidate to the Bishop
Disp (Dispensation) – Some variation of normal practice
LibC – Liber Cleri – Name found in Visitation records
Not only does the database list the Vicars of Oakham, but also those who were curates or licensed preachers, and these are shown in Table 2. The intermittent nature of this listing suggests that this list is far from complete. Indeed the database also lists curates in the associated parishes of Egleton, Barleythorpe, Langham and other chapels, who were probably under the oversight of the vicar of Oakham.
In what follows we delve deeper into the database to learn more about the clergy named in the above tables.
Reformation, counter Reformation and the Elizabethan settlement (1540 -1596)
Henry VIII died in 1547, and was succeeded by his son Edward VI (1547-1553). In his reign the Protestant Reformation took hold, with the publication of the 1549 Prayer book in English. The situation rapidly changed when his sister Mary (1553 to 1558) came to the throne, with the Catholic Counter Reformation. This period was a time of turmoil for the church, with loyalties tested amid persecution and martyrdom. The situation stabilised when Elizabeth I came to the throne, with a return to Protestantism, but acceptance, if not approval of catholic worship as long as it was carried out discretely.
George Daddley, who appears on the board for 1528, does not appear in the database, presumably because all the information about him precedes 1540, the start date for the database. The first vicar recorded in the database after that date is William (Willimus) Archebolde who resigned in 1561. He was Vicar of Blakeskey from 1551 and presumably resigned at some time after that to take up the position at Oakham. He was also Vicar of Bugbrooke from 1560 to1561 and Vicar of Kislingbury 1559-1568. How he fared in the reigns of Edward and Mary is unknown – but he at least survived to the reign of Elizabeth. He was succeeded at Oakham by Thomas Tarte in 1561. Tarte presumably resigned after two or three years and was succeeded by John (Johannes) Bartlett (again not on the board) who himself resigned in 1565. This rapid turnover of clergy then came to an end with the appointment of Thomas Thyckpennye, who had been a curate at North Luffenham from 1562, who remained in post until 1596.
The Stuarts, the Civil War and the Restoration (1596-1691)
Over the course of the seventeenth century, the stability achieved under Elizabeth was to be lost under the Stuart Monarchs and during the Civil War and the Commonwealth. Again, this would result in far reaching disruption to he life of the church, with conflict between the episcopal Church of England and the Presbyterian parliament. However for the first 40 years of the century there was a sense of stability, with only one, long serving vicar, William Peachie. His career is well documented in the database.
Father Thomas and born in Essex,
Matriculated as a Pensioner at St John’s, Cambridge , Michaelmas 1582
B.A. 1586-7; M.A. 1590; B.D. 1597. Fellow, 1590
Ordained Deacon and Priest on the same day in 1591
Vicar of Exton, Rutland, 1592-6.
Vicar of Oakham, 1596-1643
Father Thomas buried at Oakham in 1602
Rector of Burrough-on-the-Hill, Leics., 1628-43.
Died Oct. 6, 1643, aged 78. M.I. at Oakham.
Father of Josias (1617), John (1620) and Samuel (1614).
Early in his incumbency, a report of a Visitation suggest the church was in poor repair.
The seats on the south aisle are all broken in the bottom and neither paved nor boarded. Pavement in the east and north aisles broken. The chancel and the chapel on the north side neither plastered nor whited…Two bell wheels broken but being mended. The communion table unfit. The linen cloths very old. The north door in decay
Subtus jacet Venerab. Vir Guil. Peachie S.T.B. quondam Coll. D. Joh. Cant. Soc. nuper bujus EcclesiaVic. Morum innocentia satis laudatus, in arte concionandi Versatiss. Quator Trium, Insignum Theologor, Pater Soror Qui OJob. 6. Non tam morbo confectus, quam vivendi tedio lassatus, placide expiravit. Dom. 1643. Etat. 78. Residentia, 47. Noli vexare Quiescit.
The gravestone no longer exists. The English Translation is as follows.
Beneath lies the Venerable. Rev William Peachie S.T.B. formerly of the College of St John, Cambridge. Recently the Vicar of the Church. His innocence of morals is highly praised, he is skilled in the art of preaching. Four Three, Insignia Theologian, Father Sister Job 6 Not so much worn out by illness, as worn out by the tedium of life, he expired peacefully. Died 1643 Age 78 Residence 47 Don’t bother him. He’s resting.
Peachie thus survived through the reigns of James I and Charles I, but by the time of his death, the Civil War was underway and the relative peace of the first half of the century shattered. In this context one can perhaps appreciate the world weariness expressed in the inscription. It may also be that Peachie would have been required to sign the Solemn League and Covenant – a Presbyterian document of 1643 to which all those appointed to livings were required to subscribe. There are other indications in the record that his tenure was not wholly without incident. The records indicate that in 1609 John (Johannes) Green was presented to be Vicar of Oakham by the Patron, King James. No further details are known, and this may simply be a mistake in the original record or the transcription to the database. But it might indicate some sort of conflict over the living. Then in 1612, Nathaniel Gooch was licensed as a Preacher in the parish, having been ordained deacon and priest in 1607. What this role was in relation to Peachie is unknown, and Gooch is next found in the record as being appointed Vicar of Twyford in Leicestershire in 1630. Neither Green or Gooch are on the Vicar’s board. Further to these appointments, in 1639 James Chamberlin was appointed curate of the Parish and Preacher throughout the Diocese of Peterborough. He had been a curate and preacher at Kirkby Mallory, Earl Shilton Chapel from 1633. Again what his role was in relation to Peachie’s is not clear. The record shows him again at Kirkby Mallory, Earl Shilton chapel in 1662 after the Restoration. Again, as a curate he does not appear on the Vicar’s board.
We have little information on the next vicar other than his name – Richard Tydd, who was appointed in 1644, by when the conflict between Bishops and Presbyterians for control of the church was underway. His incumbency only lasted a year and it might be that he too was required to sign the covenant, but refused to do so. The next incumbent was one of the most consequential of the period under study – Abraham Wright. Details of his career can be found on a Wkipedea page, an obviously AI written Grokipedea page, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and Rutland Record 8, 1988. The latter is most succinct and is reproduced below.
WRIGHT, Rev. Abraham (1611-90) Oakham’s notable Vicar, Abraham Wright, was born in 1611. He became a Fellow at St John’s College, Oxford, in 1632 and, in 1636, when Archbishop Laud, a former President, came with King Charles 11 and the Queen to open the new Library, it was Abraham Wright who read his own poem of welcome, later contained in “Parnassus Biceps”. During the same visit, he acted before the Royal Visitors in “Love’s Hospital”. Earlier, he had written a comic interlude, which he called “The Reformation”. Later, he published his own Sermons, including one which he preached at his own Ordination, and another given before the King. Other writings include an essay in praise of Strafford. In 1645, Wright was offered the living of Oakham by William Juxon, his President when he went up to Oxford, and by now Bishop of London but, because he could not accept the interregnum requirement to take the covenant, he was not instituted until 1660. Instead, he was active in Peckham and St Olave’s, Hart Street. When 1660 came, he was offered the Chaplaincy to the Queen of Bohemia, the new King’s sister. However, he refused this and other offers of high preferment and chose to come and remain in Oakham until his death in 1690. He married twice. His first wife bore him James, the writer of The History and Antiquities of the County of Rutland, towards which Abraham Wright provided the cost of two plates, including one of the windows of a former hall of the Hospital of St John and St Anne. As a disciple of Juxon, and as seen in some of his writings, Abraham Wright was a Laudian and, as such, insisted on ceremonial, belief in the Sacraments and the dignity of the Priesthood.
Again there seems to have been problems with the church fabric in the latter part of Wright’s incumbency, perhaps partly due to neglect during the Civil War. From the Victoria County History 1935.
In 1681 an order was made on Mr. Abraham Wright, vicar, and Mr. Burton, tenant of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, to pave the chancel and repair the ceiling, seats and windows; and on the churchwardens to remove the rubbish out of the churchyard, repave the church alleys throughout, repair the seats and the roof and glaze the windows, rebind the Bible, provide a new Common Prayer Book, plaster and whitewash the vestry, provide a covering to one of the pewter flagons, a carpet for the Communion table of fine green or purple broad cloth, to repair the beam in the middle aisle over the minister’s pew and to take away the seats in the middle aisle.
Figure 2. The Abraham Wright Memorial
The memorial to Wright still exists on the west wall of the north transept (Figure 2). It is the only monument in the church written in Latin.
P. M. S. Prope jacet corpus venerabilis Abraham Wright M.A. quondam hujus Ecclesia Vicarij nata Londinensis, eruditione Oxoniensis, olim Collegij d. Johan Baptista in celebeuima ista Academia Socij. qui nons die Maij Salutis Christianæ 1690 ætatis sua 79, Vicariatus 30, pie et tranquille expiravit Beati mortui qui in domino moriuntur, amodo jam dicit spiritus ut requiescant a laboribus suis.
The English Translation is as follows.
P. M. S. Near lies the body of the venerable Abraham Wright M.A., formerly Vicar of this Church born in London, educated in Oxford formerly of the College of John the Baptist in that celebrated Academic Society who died on the 1st of May, 1690 aged 79 Vicar for 30 years, in piety and tranquillity. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on the Spirit says that they may rest from their labours.
The other “vicar” that deserves further mention is the one who replaced Wright during the Civil War and Commonwealth – Benjamin King (1545-1660). His name, unsurprisingly, does not feature on the Vicar’s Board. After the Restoration he was ejected from the living at Oakham, one of six in Rutland to suffer that fate. But he seems to have remained in the area. From the Victoria County History.
In 1672 a licence was granted to Benjamin King, who had been intruding minister at Oakham during the time of the Commonwealth, for Presbyterians to meet at the house of Matthias Barry at Oakham. King had two daughters, one of whom married Vincent Alsop, usher of Oakham School and later an eminent minister in Westminster; the other married Robert Ekins, the first minister in the Northgate Barn.
The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (1691-1835)
The eighteenth century again saw two long incumbencies – John Warburton from 1691 to 1736, and John Williams from 1736 to 1782. Curates become more common (or they are recorded more diligently) with six in total recorded during these incumbencies.
After the death of John Williams, his place was taken by his son Richard. He had been ordained deacon in 1771 and priest in 1772, a was curate of Stapleford in Leicestershire and vicar of Skillington in Lincolnshire from 1772. He was vicar of Oakham from 1782 to 1806 – a relatively short incumbency of only 24 years! He in his turn was succeeded by his son, another Richard, whose was ordained deacon and priest in 1801 and 1802. He was a curate in his father’s parish from 1801 until he succeeded him in 1806. In addition he was Usher at Oakham School from 1802-10. curate of Langham from 1801,vicar. of Enderby with Whetstone in Leicestershire from1803-15 and domestic chaplain to George Finch,9th Earl of Winchilsea and Nottingham of Burley House from 1806 to 1815 (the patron of the church, and thus the one who presented him to the living). Only two curates are recorded during the incumbencies of the two Richards.
A monument to all three Williams is still in place in the north transept of the church and is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3. The Williams memorial
The final vicar in the period of the Clergy of the Church of England dataset is Heneage Finch, grandson of Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Aylesford (History of the Finch Family, Brayan I’Anson, 1933) and a distant relative of George Finch,9th Earl of Winchilsea and Nottingham mentioned above, the patron of the living. He was ordained deacon and priest in 1812, and was curate of Harpsden before moving to Oakham in1815. He was also Rector of Great Weldon from 1812 to 1819 and Domestic chaplain to William Legge, 4th earl of Dartmouth and Viscount Lewisham from 1815. He was another long serving vicar and died in post in 1865. It was during his incumbency that the church was restored by Gilbert Scott in 1858. Before that, as can be judged by Scott’s report, the church was again in a very poor state of repair. Indeed a lecture of 1860 that describes the pre-Restoration state of the church mentions
….that old ladies sat in church with their umbrellas up, and the pulpit to the last was in mourning for George III…
Woodside Iron Works, was founded in 1840 by Alexander Brodie Cochrane and his son Charles Cochrane. It became very well known and respected and produced components for many significant structures, including girders for the Runcorn Bridge over the River Mersey and the Farringdon Street Viaduct in London; ironwork for the Rochester Road Bridge, the Swing Bridge over the River Medway and the Clifton Suspension Bridge; and a wrought iron bridge for New Street Railway Station in Birmingham
Now I recently paid for a license from Dudley Archives for the use of the engraving of the works shown in Figure 1 below, for use in a blog post and in a forthcoming article in the Blackcountryman based on that blog post. It is catalogued as Woodside Iron Works c 1860. In the blog post and article, I used it to illustrate accounts of the works found in my great grandfather’s diaries and did not discuss it to any extent. It really does however deserve somewhat greater consideration, and so in this post, I will consider it in somewhat greater detail.
Figure 1. Woodside Iron Works c1860
Major Features
So what does the engraving actually show? Figure 2 shows a comparison between the engraving and a map of Dudley from 1857. Note that north on the map is around 20 degrees clockwise from the map vertical axis. On both the engraving and the map, the main line of the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway can be seen , with the engraving also showing a siding into the works. The Dudley Canal can be seen on both engraving and map (heading for Dudley Tunnel in the distance) with Lord Ward’s Pensnett Canal also visible, heading to a junction with the Dudley Canal just south of Dudley Tunnel. Two railway bridges, over the Pensnett Canal and a road are shown at A and B on both. In the distance can be seen the Netherton ridge and Netherton church. The likely vantage point from which the initial sketch for engraving was made is shown by the red circle on the map.
Figure 2. Comparison between the engraving anda map of 1857
Figure 3a shows a smaller scale version of the map of figure 2 so that the relationship can be seen between the Iron Works (and the vantage point from which it was sketched) and Netherton in the far distance on the engraving. Figure 3b shows an elevation profile along a line through the vantage point and Netherton church. It can be seen that there is an initials steep drop from the vantage point across the railway to the Iron Works, and the ground then remains fairly level until the steep slope up to the Netherton ridge is reached. Thus the view of the iron works shown on the engraving, with a perspective indicating that it was painted from an elevated position, is a real one.
(a)
(b) Figure 3. The Iron Works in the wider landscape.
The date of the engraving
The Archive catalogue gives the date of the engraving as c1860, but can a more precise date be determined? The Iron Works themselves had opened in the 1840s, but the main line of the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway wasn’t opened intill November 1852, so that gives the earliest possible date for the engraving. The Brierley Hill Iron Works (D on the map of figure 2) was also operational from the 1840s, but oddly does not appear on the engraving. Or rather only the angular building that marks the northern edge of the works is shown. I am inclined to think that this was because whoever commissioned the engraving didn’t wish to show the works of a competitor and I suspect request that it be removed. Indeed the area D on the engraving is suspiciously level and without any features, which suggest that this might have been the results of a major edit.
Now, from Grace’s Guide we have a description of a report of an “Open Day” at the Iron Works where the proprietors Alexander Brodie Cochrane, and his son Charles Cochrane invited the local gentry and other local iron masters to look around the works (Worcestershire Chronicle, 2 April 1856) and indeed the guest list was very impressive. Was the engraving produced for this event, and perhaps given to those who attended? It would seem very appropriate for this to have been the case. It would also explain why the owners were keen for Brierley Hill Iron Works not to be shown.
The detail
Figure 4. The details of the Iron Works
Later Ordnance Survey Maps of the Iron Works (from the 1880s) enable some functions to be identified – the travelling cranes in the foreground of the engravings, the coke ovens and furnaces, and the engine house and chimney. The report of the 1856 event found in the Worcester Chronicle that has already been mentioned contains some information that helps to understand what the engraving shows. The relevant paragraphs are as follows.
The Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton railway running for a considerable distance along the side these works, drops down into their midst the green sand for the moulds, the Staffordshire ironstone, the unctuous red haematite from Cumberland, the limestone for the flux, and the Derbyshire cokes. The coal is raised from pits upon the premises, and in very few hours the raw material thus handed on the one side may be smelted, converted into pigs, cast into pipes, proved by the hydraulic press, smoothed, cut, and drilled, by machines of singular ingenuity and power, and shipped at the other side of the works upon the canal, to be borne from canal to river, from river to sea, and so to the Antipodes, to minister to the wants of rich and populous Australian cities, which in the memory of the present generation, had no name, or to complete the civilisation of communities planted few years since in spots where forests grew, and New Zealand cannibals roamed. What an illustration of human progress!
Several of Messrs. Cochrane’s relations and friends were distinguished by a white ribbon in their buttonhole, and escorted the various visitors through the works, showing them every process of iron manufacture and founding. The grinding of the sand for moulds, the curious processes of making, baking, and smoothing those moulds, the powerful steam engine for supplying cold blast to the two melting furnaces, the hydraulic lift raising the ” burden ” or supply of food to these huge retorts, whose fires never cease to devour day or night; the other engines for working the beautiful machinery of the fitting-room, where iron is planed, and drilled, and cut, with the same nicety, and almost the same facility, as if it had been deal, were all inspected in turn.
From this information we can conclude that raw materials, other than coal, were brought into the works from the line of the OWWR that ran along its boundary, presumably around point A on figure 4. Coal was mined somewhere on the site itself – perhaps we can see the pit head mechanisms at B in the figure? (By the late 19th century these mines had clearly become exhausted and further mines opened to the west of the Dudley to Stourbridge Road, with the coal brought into the works by a cable operated incline). Iron was then produced in the two furnaces, and then used in a variety of manufacturing processes in the various buildings marked C, before being loaded onto barges on the canal (and also presumably onto railway trucks on the OWRR siding). The process of manufacture thus moved from left to right across the engraving (north to south in reality) as shown by the arrow. In the above report we read that the products of the works were
borne from canal to river, from river to sea
which suggests that they were moved west along the Dudley and Stourbridge Canals, to the Staffs and Worcs. canal at Stourton and thus to the Severn at Stourport, and onward to Bristol and the sea. Such a movement would have avoided the notoriously congested Dudley tunnel. It also gives a degree of confirmation of the date as being around 1856, as in 1858 the Netherton tunnel opened, which would have made travel to the east to Birmngham and London much easier and would have presented an attractive route for the products of the Iron Works.
Engineering, history and ecclesiology 