All about the The Four Parishes Heritage Group

An introduction to the Four Parishes Heritage Group; who we are, how to contact us and what we do.

Who are we?

Studying tithe maps [+]
The tithe maps give a very detailed picture of the countryside in the 1840s. They are a valuable tool that allow us to reconstruct how our parishes once looked.

The Four Parishes Heritage Group are interested in the history of Highley, Stottesdon, Billingsley and Kinlet (although we are also happy to cover adjacent parishes such as Chelmarsh and Glazeley).

We were formed in 2005. The group holds regular meetings usually in the Severn Centre, Highley or Chorley Village Hall in Stottesdon. Recent speakers have included Mary McKenzie, who gave an introduction to Shropshire Archives and Peter Reavell, Finds Liason Officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme, who conducted a finds workshop. We also hold occasional guided walks.

In 2006 we were awarded a grant of £23,500 by the Local Heritage Initiative. (LHI). The LHI is a national grant scheme that helps local groups to investigate, explain and care for their local landscape, landmarks, traditions and culture. The Heritage Lottery Fund provides the grant but the scheme is a partnership, administered by the Countryside Agency with additional funding from the Nationwide Building Society. We will be using this money to study the history of our area in more detail, particularly the local iron industry. This began in medieval times and we are investigating the remains of two early furnace sites. We are also trying to find out what the countryside was like in medieval times. We are doing this in several ways. We are investigating hedges; some of these are very old and by recording the species and other features we can estimate their dates. With the permission of landowners, we are carrying out fieldwalking, to look for scatters of old pottery; this can identify the sites of vanished houses. We are looking through old documents, at Shropshire Archives, at other record offices and at the National Archives in London. From these we are starting to build up a picture of the countryside from medieval times onwards. We are also using aerial photographs to look at the landscape. Not only do these show features that are difficult to see from the ground, those taken in the 1940s and 1950s show features that have been lost to development or modern agriculture.

We have also been doing research into more recent history. Members of the group have copied records which you can now read on this site and have also copied many photographs. On the related webpages menu linked to this page you will find some short articles about our recent projects. The relate webpages menu on our homepage will guide you to more detailed articles about the history of our parishes and this general area of Shropshire

The Four Parishes and the surrounding area

The area of the Four Parishes [+]
This map shows the location of Highley, Kinlet, Billingsley and Stottesdon

How to join or contact us

How to join;

Contact David Poyner, 136, Hoo Road, Kidderminster, DY10 1LP,

email David@D-Poyner@freeserve.co.uk,
tel 01562 68638