Fascinating evening in Ludlow

I was delighted to be the guest speaker at this year’s annual meeting of The Ludlow Historical Research Group where I spoke about my two books, Four Centuries at The Lion Hotel, Shrewsbury, and God’s Secret Listener published by Lion Monarch Publishing of Oxford.

Chairman Jonathan Wood, pictured below, gave me a warm welcome and I was impressed by this active group.

Founded in 1976, it has a vibrant membership and a very well respected programme of research and publishing.

They also lead weekend walks around this historic Shropshire market town.

I learnt that Ludlow was a planned Norman town and by the end of the 12th century a grid pattern of streets had been laid out which survive, virtually intact, to this day.

Members are encouraged to undertake research projects, either individually or as part of small groups.

Some of the topics currently being researched by our members include:

Records of Burgess Admissions: Four members have begun transcribing and analysing the records of the Burgesses (Freemen) of the Borough of Ludlow. When completed the transcription will be available and become an invaluable aid for work on Ludlow families and on the understanding of local politics.

Bastardy Bonds: The Bastardy Bonds have now been transcribed as far as 1745, and is approaching the stage of entering the details on to a database and analysing the results. A general pattern is already emerging. The unfortunate young women who made these applications to the parish for financial help were almost all illiterate hired servants. Putative fathers ranged from fellow servants and labourers to dragoons from the regiment of soldiers stationed at Leintwardine.

The Merchant House, Ludlow: The purpose of this study is to examine the construction, evolution and past occupancy of The Merchant House. This is a 15th century hall house that in more recent times gained international fame as Ludlow's first Michelin-stared restaurant and so played a key catalytic role in the creation of the town’s present gourmet status.

World War One Soldiers: An ongoing research project is looking into the backgrounds of the Ludlow men killed between 1914 and 1918 during the First World War.

I was also very impressed with the modern Ludlow Library and the excellent views over the town from the lecture room on the top floor.

My talk seemed to go down go well with a number of questions afterwards – and I also sold copies of both books making it an enjoyable and successful evening.

I also made a note to go on one of their town walks on a sunny weekend.