Sterry at Awre: can we trace back to the 1500s? (General)

by peteressex , Monday, January 04, 2010, 07:55 (5512 days ago)

I am a great-great-great-great-grandson of Richard Sterry who married Ann Toomey (or similar surname) at Minsterworth in 1794 and died at Awre in 1831. "My" Sterrys (also latterly spelt "Sterrey") eventually ended up mainly inhabiting Lydney and thereabouts. This Richard is the earliest identified of my line, but a shared ambition among Sterrys is to link this Richard to the earliest known Sterrys, who are recorded at Longhope and Ruardean in the 1500s.

Research by a local contact at Awre during the weekend just gone has indicated that the only Sterry still recorded in the books now retained at Awre Church is a Sterry I believe to be unrelated, namely Alfred Sterry, buried there following his death on 31/7/1876. (This is not without interest in itself, as in 1864 Alfred married a daughter of Henry Crawshay - the "Iron King of the Forest of Dean" - and they went on to have a son, Henry Crawshay Sterry, who ended up owning some islands at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and died in Queensland in 1943. Unsurprisingly, Alfred's grave is rather splendid, surrounded by railings.) However, there are several earlier Sterrys noted by the parish record transcribers as registered at Awre between 1800 and 1831, including the above Richard and two other Richards, both related.

Can anybody tell me where the records leading to those earlier Awre transcriptions now are? Also, I have heard it said that records were made of inscriptions on Awre gravestones that were becoming eroded by the adjacent salty air - can anybody verify that and/or tell me where those records might be found?