Albert and Hilda Beadsworth; August 2005

A VISIT TO COTTINGHAM

Royal George, Cottingham

Brenda, Richard, Judith and I took a journey back to our roots one weekend in August 2005. It had become clear from our researches that our branch of the Craxford family tree had diverged from the main trunk in Gretton, Northamptonshire several generations back and that our immediate ancestors born, lived and died in the neighbouring villages of Cottingham and Middleton.

L to R: Sheila Walsh (daughter of Connie Beadsworth); Donald Crane (son of Eva Beadsworth); Hilda Beadsworth

We had been in touch with Irene Beadsworth for several months who had provided several leads back to the 1880s and had also been in communication with Jane Smith who runs the Cottingham village database. We had a convenient stopping off point in a hamlet on the edge of Rutland Water just outside Oakham and so this weekend was to be the opportunity to make acquaintance with long lost cousins, revisit the old homestead in Leicester, research Oakham and Rutland and pay a call to the heart of Craxford country – Gretton itself.

FRONT: Mary Needham (Laurie's sister); REAR L to R: Laurie Beadsworth (son of Fred); Norman Needham (Mary's husband); Mike O'Grady (Margaret's husband)

Unfortunately the unpredictable English weather had other ideas and curtailed our plans, particularly for creating a photographic record of our travels. External work around Cottingham was very restricted and the visit to Gretton was called off. However we did make the trips into Leicester and Oakham and the fruits of our labours are being presented in other parts of this web site.

L to R Margaret o'Grady (daughter of Hilda Beadsworth); Albert Beadsworth; Margaret Crane (Donald's wife); Sheila Walsh

We also met with Irene and Laurie Beadsworth, first at their home in Corby Road and then we had lunch at the Royal George Hotel in the village where many other second and third cousins joined us. We were particularly please to meet Hilda Beadsworth who regaled us with memories of meetings with our father in Leicester Back in the early 1920s. Later, despite the weather, we went with Mary to their cottage in Water Lane beside the church in Cottingham. This has been the Craxford and Beadsworth residence in the village since about 1870.

This page carries our photographic record of the day.

Newfloridian - Site Administrator
(Alan D. Craxford) September 29th 2005.

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If you have any questions or comments about the information on this site, please contact us at AlanCrax@aol.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

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There are several other families resident in Gretton and Cottingham whose trees have historically intertwined with ours. More will be added here as they come to our attention.

For our first entrant, we note the marriage of Lucy Craxford and William Liquorish in Gretton January 1847. Pilotted by Philip Lickorish their ample branches are charted in "The Liquorish Family" website.

The Liquorish Family

If you would like to find out more about the villages of our ancestors, I can recommend having a look at the following:

A history of the village of Cottingham

Edited by Jane Smith, this is a wonderful resource of photographs, anecdotes and historical data of the village of Cottingham in Northamptonshire.

Gretton Internet Sites

The front page of this site leads to four other sections including a fully illustrated guide to the village of Gretton in Northamptonshire edited by Maurice Kellner and the Gretton Local History Society site supervised by Elisabeth Jordan. She has been very helpful on a number of occasions in pointing out directions of research and study into the family name. The illustration is "The Green, Gretton", from an original watercolour by Sheila Macadam © 1998.

FRONT:Norman Beadsworth (Cecil's son); REAR: Kath Crane (Tony's wife) Tony Crane (son of Eva Beadsworth)

This page will be devoted to articles about branches of the family that are associated directly with Northamptonshire; either from Gretton or from Cottingham. I hope that we will be able to find an associate editor from the area who will help to co-ordinate this material. I still have the intention to add "Aspects of ... " articles for both villages.

I have recently discovered Craxford families living in Kettering. I hope developments will occur in that direction too. In the meantime I have allowed the entries about Charles William Craxford to stay on this page. They relate back to the area but in due course they may require their own supplement.

Irene Beadsworth (Laurie's wife)

Added: September 15th 2005
Last updated: May 1st 2007