Barnstaple and Beyond
The Di Yerbury residency has provided the opportunity to make a journey of discovery within and beyond Barnstaple. Much of the travel has involved deepening my knowledge of family links to the UK and extending my connections.
Huntingdonshire
A significant part of my family came from Alconbury and Little Stukeley which are in Huntingdonshire.
Most relevant for the research for my story is that my great aunt Sarah Thompson emigrated from Little Stukeley with her parents and six siblings in 1855 when she was eleven years old. My great grandmother was two years old.
A key aim in my residency was to visit the area and uncover as much information as possible to back up and extend the family history I had already collected as well as to soak up the atmosphere of the area.
What a wonderful few days I had, hunting around churches and churchyards for clues and spending time buried in the Archives. And what gems were waiting for me.
My most exciting were the graves of my great, great, great grandparents and the baptismal font where my great grandmother was christened in Alconbury at the St Peter and St Paul Church.
St Peter and St Paul Alcobury. Gravestone at front on right
Great, great, great grandparents gravestone Transcript:
In memory of Sarah the wife of Thomas Garner
died April 1 1856 aged 67 years.
Also of the above-named Thomas Garner who died July 26th 1860 aged 71 years
St Peter and St Paul’s Alconbury baptismal font
St Martins church in Little Stukeley was where my great, great grandparents were married and most of their children (including great aunt Sarah) were baptised.
St Martins Little Stukeley
The wonderful people at Huntingdon archives helped me find the transcripts and, in many cases, original entries for baptisms, marriages and burials of my family. Through these documents, I was able to trace a connection with Little Stukeley back to the early 1600s.
This led me to undertake more research into how parishes in England operated at that time. The parish with its parish church(es) is the basic territorial unit of the Church of England. In the absence of any other authority, the vestry, the ecclesiastical parish administrative centre, was the recognised unit of local government. As such, it was concerned for the spiritual and the temporal as well as physical welfare of parishioners and its parish amenities, collecting local rates or taxes and taking responsibility for the care of the poor, roads, law enforcement, etc.
Unfortunately, I was unable to find out which house my ancestors lived in, so am using my imagination that it was like this one.
One of my fun finds was the local legend that the famous highwayman Dick Turpin (1705-1739) stayed at the Swan and Salmon Inn at Little Stukeley. He was born in Blue Bell Inn, Hempstead, Essex, which is 41 miles from Little Stukeley. His exploits have been mythologised, sung and written about for several centuries.
Swan and Salmon Inn, 2024
London
Several visits to London provided the opportunity to undertake more research into seafaring, including my grandfather Alfred Shelton and to extend my connections in the arts and literary community.
Alfred Shelton (1873-1933) was from Stepney and his father was listed as a ships chandler. We have been unable to find many records as the church in his parish had a fire and the relevant records were burnt. Nevertheless, I was able to get some idea of his life before moving to Australia by wandering around Stepney, visiting Docklands and the wonderful museum there as well as The Maritime Museum.
His relevance to my historical novel is that, when he married my grandmother, she was residing at the SeaBreeze Hotel with Sarah and Cocky Bennett. They continued to live there while their first two children (one of whom was my mother) were born. Alfred worked for the P&O line as a steward and was away for several months at a time.
Connections
Thanks to Emily Maguire, I received an invitation to a stunning Stella event at Australia House in London.
While there, I met many people, including Kathy Lette, who told me she enjoyed my memoir, Gough and Me. Kathy has been named as the UK Ambassador for the Stella Prize.
As a follow-up to the Stella event, I was invited to attend the launch of Australia House Creatives at the High Commissioner’s residence. Once again, I met many people in the arts and literary community. It was a highlight to chat with our Governor General, Sam Mostyn, who was highly complimentary of Di Yerbury and the writers’ residency.
Until next time …
Christine Sykes