Stealing of watercress recorded in the Stourport on Severn-Petty sessions at Ref 499.1 BA8470/28 p.73 Petty Sessions and Magistrates Court records are amongst some of the huge variety of public records held with Worcestershire Archives on behalf of Worcestershire County Council as part of The Public Records Act. The Public Records act requires certain public bodies to transfer records of historical value for permanent preservation to their archive services appointed as ‘places of deposit.’ As part of New Burdens funding, we are undertaking the review and cataloguing of both Petty Sessi ..read more

While enjoying Pershore Midsummer Brass Festival this month we thought we would look through the archives for material on brass bands. Pershore Midsummer Brass is held on the first Saturday of July each year, in various venues through Pershore, Worcestershire. It has been running now for over 20 years. We know that many people in Worcestershire like to play with, or watch, brass bands and other local music groups and we would like to better represent this in our archives. What material do we already have about Brass Bands? We have photographs in the Worcestershire Photographic Survey, and on o ..read more

This Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month, we look back at the lives, histories and culture of a community crucial to the development of our county. Established in June 2008, the month celebrates, educates and raises awareness of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community across wider society to tackle prejudice and challenge misconceptions. Nomadic peoples were first documented in history around 1000 AD. In approximately the 1400s, Romany (Romani) people travelled west from India through Europe, and Gypsies (Egyptians) have been recorded since the 1500s. Since the 1980s, Eastern European Roma ..read more

This is the fourth and final blog of this Redditch New Town series. In this blog we explore the work the Corporation did to spread the word of the town’s history and the work of one special charity that raised money to enhance and preserve historical sites and recreational areas for all to enjoy. Redditch Owes it’s Existence to Bordesley Abbey The Corporation was preparing to accommodate an influx of new residents in Redditch. The population was to increase from 29,000 already in situ in 1964 to 70,000 and increasing to 90,000 by the end of the century. Whilst existing Redditch inhabitants may ..read more

We are embarking on an exciting 2 year project to catalogue a range of public records as a result of New Burdens Funding. The Public Records Act requires certain public bodies to transfer records of historical value for permanent preservation to their archive services appointed as ‘places of deposit’. The point of transfer was by the time records reached 30 years old. Following a change in legislation since 1 January 2015 specified local public sector organisations (magistrates’ courts, prisons, coroners’ courts, NHS bodies and some arms-length bodies including the Environment Agency) must now ..read more

This is the fifth and last in a series of five posts exploring the story behind the human skeleton found buried within an embankment of the Worcester, Bromyard and Leominster railway line in 2021, close to Riverlands Farm in Leigh, to the west of Worcester. Over this mini-series we explore the discovery, and what we have learnt through the archaeological excavation, scientific analyses and documentary research. Built in the 1860s, the line eventually closed in the 1960s, and by 2021 all that remained was the earthwork of the former embankment that took a narrow lane up and over the railway.&nb ..read more

This is the fourth in a series of five posts exploring the story behind the human skeleton found buried within an embankment of the Worcester, Bromyard and Leominster railway line in 2021, close to Riverlands Farm in Leigh, to the west of Worcester.  Over this mini-series we explore the discovery, and what we have learnt through the archaeological excavation, scientific analyses and documentary research. Built in the 1860s, the line eventually closed in the 1960s, and by 2021 all that remained was the earthwork of the former embankment that took a narrow lane up and over the railway.  ..read more

This is the third in a series of five posts exploring the story behind the human skeleton found buried within an embankment of the Worcester, Bromyard and Leominster railway line in 2021, close to Riverlands Farm in Leigh, to the west of Worcester.  Over this mini-series we explore the discovery, and what we have learnt through the archaeological excavation, scientific analyses and documentary research. Built in the 1860s, the line eventually closed in the 1960s, and by 2021 all that remained was the earthwork of the former embankment that took a narrow lane up and over the railway.  ..read more

This is the second in a series of five posts exploring the story behind the human skeleton found buried within an embankment of the Worcester, Bromyard and Leominster railway line in 2021, close to Riverlands Farm in Leigh, to the west of Worcester.  Over this mini-series we explore the discovery, and what we have learnt through the archaeological excavation, scientific analyses and documentary research. Built in the 1860s, the line eventually closed in the 1960s, and by 2021 all that remained was the earthwork of the former embankment that took a narrow lane up and over the railway.  ..read more

This is the first in a series of five posts exploring the story behind the human skeleton found buried within an embankment of the Worcester, Bromyard and Leominster railway line in 2021.  Over this mini-series we explore the discovery, and what we have learnt through the archaeological excavation, scientific analyses and documentary research. In the summer of 2021, excavations for a housing development began close to Riverlands Farm in Leigh, to the west of Worcester.  The former Worcester to Bromyard railway line once curved across the site.  Built in the 1860s, the line event ..read more