The Crescent
Spring Gardens
The Hop Pole

Historical Briefing Documents

From time to time issues confront the people of Tewkesbury which earn the sobriquet "political". Perhaps because Tewkesbury is such a Historic Town, these issues have a very important historical context. If the history is better understood, then the resolution of a "political problem" might be more easily resolved.

The aim of this series is to provide the historical context by putting together information readily available to interested members of the public. There are standard books relating to the Town written by James Bennett, Anthea Jones and Kathleen Ross which can be either purchased or borrowed from the Library. At the Town Library also is the Society’s Woodard Database which is open to the public and which, will a minimum of computer skill can yield a mass of random information. It contains a wide variety of valuable information: notably census data from 1841-1901; the invaluable Land Tax Survey of 1909-13 and the on-going indexing of one of our historic local newspapers, the Tewkesbury Register. Slightly further afield is the County Record Office (GRO) in Gloucester  but increasingly an index to the records it holds can be accessed on the internet via http://www.a2a.org.uk .

It is the aim of the Society to assemble the available information in as digestible way as possible for the general public but, because of time constraints, it is only the first stage of historical writing. We have included footnotes only because they enable readers to follow up facts by looking at the original sources. There will be many questions left unanswered and we ask readers to contribute their knowledge either as a correction of new knowledge to me on john.history@freeuk.com or 5 Stokes Court, Oldbury Road, GL20 5JL. It has also been produced as cheaply as possible with a view of breaking even financially.

Within the limits of its aims, we hope that these documents will enable readers to understand better the historical context of "political" issues and, in so doing, add to our collective knowledge of the history of our beloved Town.

John Dixon,