Recently I have been cleaning up the churchyard at Welsh Bicknor, many more graves are now visible than have been for a while! You can see the graves and much more about the church at my website www.oldnall.co.uk
Hope this of use to someone - Nick

Nick

The pictures of Welsh Bicknor Church and Courtfied Manor House are very impressive and were of special interest to me as my Cole, Woor and Hoar ancestors lived in the area and attended the Churches.

As I have never had the opportunity to visit Courtfield, would you be able to tell if the photo of the Chapel amongst the the Manor photos is that of the Roman Catholic Chapel?

Lovely to see someone caring for this church in one of the most beautiful spots. The Ambreys mentioned in the registers are related to me. We visited some years ago but could only see a few stones. I don't suppose you found any with Ambreys recorded, as they lived in the parish for quite a while, at the Green particularly.
Rhianon

Re photo of the Chapel amongst the the Manor photos is that of the Roman Catholic Chapel? Yes this is the chapel at the Manor - hopefully one it may be possible to visit ad look inside..
Cheers

Nick

Apologies for the use of the FDFH records on my site I have now removed them.....

Nick

Sorry I cnnot see any Ambreys on the headstones at the moment but hopefully in the Spring I will have more time to try and decipher the images or find a copy of the records which indictes who was burried where..

Nick

Very good website, here are Catholic Mission records for Courtfield Welsh Bicknor if they are of any use. Feel free to download these records for your site.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~monfamilies/wbcmr.html

Mike

Many thanks Mike..
Are these Ok to copy and acknowledge from a copyright point of view?
Thanks

nick

I'd seen something like this before. But now I've looked at all the names there are probably my ancestors on every page of this!!!! Pritchard, Prosser, Rook, Rooke, Steed, Adams, possibly Rosser too. I have also found a link between the Adams' and the Marshalls which follows up from a posting last week about who the Marshalls were. I have also been wondering who the Kings were and there's at least one on this list too. I'm also now going to look at Hook and Hooke in case it's Rook mistranscribed! My family has always maintained it was a family of recusants and has some oral history to support it. I have read somewhere that outside Lancashire the Forest of Dean had the highest number of RCs in proportion to the population, however they all seem to have been very closely related to each other (obviously RCs married RCs.)

Thanks for pointing this out as I can now see where my ancestors would have attended church though they also had Mass in each other's houses too as my family handed down stories of having to mark their way on a Sunday with a cross to show that they had reached a certain point on the journey to the place where mass was to be said safely. This was because it was dangerous for them to go to Mass and they could be attacked at any time. In my family there are stories that they walked considerable distances on Sundays and that the priest, Fr Abbot, (signing his name as Mr. Abbott rather than Father Abbott) would write in advance to say whose house to go to.

Thanks for these lovely pictures I have enjoyed looking at them, particularly the ones related to Courtfield and to the Vaughans but all the others too. Keep photographing the gravestones too. Much appreciated.

Yes Nick, Mike

Many thanks..

Nick

Many thanks - pages added
Cheers
Nick