Kinnerley Shropshire

[Bob Topley]

I reside in Canada and as a result I'm not that familiar with the town/village Kinnerley Shropshire. I have relatives who lived and died there and there are some names of places I need to know more about.
I have a card dated Aug. 8, 1915 stating that my great grandmother Mary Lloyd Parry (ms Pritchard) was buried in Kinnerley Churchyard.
I have another document dated Aug. 21, 1916 stating my great grandfather Robert Parry was living at Lady Ida Cottages, Kinnerley, Oswestry.
Thirdly, I have passenger documents dated May 15, 1924 stating that my grandmother and her childrens' address prior to leaving England was Yew Tree Cottages Kinnerley.
Is there anyone out there who is familiar with the Churchyard, Lady Ida Cottages and Yew Tree Cottages?
Thank you.
Bob

[MJHulme]

Hello Bob

The Shropshire FHS have a transcript of Kinnerley Churchyard gravestone inscriptions (MIs) which lists several people with the surname PARRY, including your gt. grandmother.

In addition to this, a lady who lives at Kinnerley has compiled a massive amount of information and photographs about the area over recent years and she has very kindly agreed to this being scanned so that Shropshire FHS can reproduce it on CD-ROM and make it available to researchers. The scanning is being done at the moment and then the images will need to be arranged for writing to CD so it is not likely to be available until sometime in 2008. You will need to watch the Shropshire FHS web site for an announcement and I will try to put a further reply on this message when it is available.

Mike

[Bob Topley]

Hello Mike
I'm very pleased to receive a response from someone like yourself who is familiar with the place and its people. It's also nice to hear that Kinnerley is blessed with such a fine lady who is donating her Kinnerley history and memorabilia to the society. What a legacy, I hope the town recognizes her contribution and perhaps they can make something to honour her with a monument, bench or plant a tree in her memory. The reason I'm looking into Kinnerley is some of the family seemed to gravitate from Llanfyllin Wales to Kinnerley around 1915-16. Robert & Mary Parry were in their 60s and their children were gone. Elizabeth Ann was living with her husband Frederick Topley and children in Llanfyllin Wales. Jane married John Cartmail in 1914 and Thomas Francis was a member of The King's Shropshire Light Infantry and killed in The Battle of Somme. What were the Ida Cottages and Yew Tree Cottages? My first impression was that they were either for seniors for the likes of Robert and Mary or some type of social housing for Elizabeth Ann and her 7 children before they immigrated to Canada to be with her husband.
Thank you for your input and response.
sincerely,
Bob

[MJHulme]

Hello Bob

I have now managed to speak to the lady at Kinnerley who has done the local history research and she tells me that Yew Tree Cottage is included in her research which is being scanned. It formerly had a 'saw pit' where trees were sawn into planks by two men, one in the pit and one above the tree. The date of the house is not known but it is old.

Lady Ida's Cottages are a group of four pairs of houses (total eight) which were built by the local council. One of her own family lives in one now and they were probably virtually new when your relatives lived there. They are named after Lady Ida's Well which another book tells me was a "disused Chalybeate Spring" which now lies hidden. Chalybeate, according to my dictionary, means (of water etc) 'impregnated with iron salts' so presumably the locals used to either drink it or bath in it hoping to improve their health.

If you do a search on the Internet for 'Lady Ida' you will find some information about a lady who may, or may not, be the person it was named after.

Mike

[Bob Topley]

I'll do a little surfing after supper on chalybeate springs and Lady Ida. We just never know where genealogy searching takes us do we? Please express my gratitude to the wonderful lady who is so generous with her information on Kinnerley.
Bob

[MJHulme]

Hello Bob

The Kinnerley CD-ROM is now available from the Shropshire FHS. See sfhs.org.uk (put www. in front) then Sales, SFHS Publications. At the bottom of page 31 you will find the postal contact details for ordering CDs. The Kinnerley disc is not in the list at the moment but you can get the price by sending an email to Sales at the Society web site address.

Please note that there were two Yew Tree Cottages, one at Dovaston (which had the saw pit) and one at Kinnerley (which was the Old Smithy). It is the Kinnerley one that your family lived in. Both houses are mentioned on the CD-ROM when you get it.

Mike

[Bob Topley]

Hello Mike
I'll contact the Shropshire FHS in the New Year. Thank you for sending me the information.
Happy New Year.
Bob

[Bob Topley]

Hello Bob

The Kinnerley CD-ROM is now available from the Shropshire FHS. See sfhs.org.uk (put www. in front) then Sales, SFHS Publications. At the bottom of page 31 you will find the postal contact details for ordering CDs. The Kinnerley disc is not in the list at the moment but you can get the price by sending an email to Sales at the Society web site address.

Please note that there were two Yew Tree Cottages, one at Dovaston (which had the saw pit) and one at Kinnerley (which was the Old Smithy). It is the Kinnerley one that your family lived in. Both houses are mentioned on the CD-ROM when you get it.

Mike

Hello Mike
We just got back from a holiday in the south USA and I'll be getting back to my family tree again during this month and April. Do you have any new information to add regarding cost of the C-D etc?
Thank
Bob

[MJHulme]

I don't have the details of the cost myself.

Mike