St. Leonards, Bilston - Walk by!

[Jamys]

Hello All

I've been told that there is a cast iron "slab" in the floor outside St. Leonards in Bilston and "J? Winsper" is stamped into it.

If anyone happens to be passing this way, could they possibly look down and confirm this info for me please?  Winspers are in my family tree and I've hit "THE BRICK WALL"

Thanks in anticipation
Jamys

[Willow 4873]

Hiya Jamys

Yes it is there (not actually in Bilston at the mo but seen it lots of times) have you looked on FreeREG theres a lot of Bilston Winspers listed

Willow x

[Jamys]

Thankyou Willow

Do you know if J Winsper is the makers name or is a commemorative plaque?

FreeREG tells me that my George Winsper is the son of Joseph Winsper and Rhoda Cartwright which is what I'd been told by a distant cousin who sent me a tree that illustrates that.  However, George's marriage cert says his father was Thomas Winsper.   This is my brick wall, as I can't find a George son of Thomas for the dates I'm working with.

Thanks for your time.

Regards
Jamys

[Tony55]

Hi Jamys,
   managed to get to St Leonard's this afternoon and take a picture for you. Doesn't say a great ammount unfortunately, just "J Winsper  1851" the second picture shows the location near to the Lichfield Street entrance into the churchyard. There are approx 20/30 large cast plates set into the ground, all only have the name and date of death on them .(a couple are virtualy worn smooth so illegible!
   sorry cant be more help. 





feel free to ask if you wan't any more help

best wishes, Tony 

[Willow 4873]

Thanx for saving me trip after work Tony

On FreeBMD the only death I can see for a J Winsper is a John in 1852 (maybe he died late December and was registered late)

Jamys I wonder if the registrar was having a bit of a brainstorm and put down Thomas by mistake?

Willow x

[Tony55]

  No problem Willow, my pleasure 

Jamys, i assume you know this site......

http://www.wolverhamptonhistory.org.uk/resources/familyhistory

if you look down at Bilston Baptisms 1813-1837 you'll see 4 children all by Joseph and Rhoda with a George born 13/4/1823, is this your George?
also if you can find out the age at death of Joseph and his approx birth year it may be possible to see if this is the one on the cast plate or the John that Willow found?
hope some of this is usefull 

best wishes, Tony

[Jamys]

Tony & Willow, thank you both so much for your time - Tony the photo's are great and yes I have scoured the Wolverhamptonhistory site, I'm surprised it's still legible!

I believe my George was born in 1823 son of Joseph & Rhoda.  Joseph was the son of John Winsper who appears on the 1851 cenus age 77, so it may be he popped off later in the year (grasping at straws!), but as a coal miner, would his heirs be able to afford a cast iron plaque of that size?

Willow, a deaf registrar would explain this.  George's marriage cert gives his father as Thomas Winsper and both George and Thomas are Wheelwrights.  George's address is given as Price Street in Birmingham which, according to directories, was the the place to be if you were a wheelwright.  I think George just didn't want to give too  much away.

I'm positive that this George Winsper and his wife Sarah Adams are my g.g.grandparents - there can't be that many George Winsper and Sarah Adams marriages.

All census returns I can find them on give George's occupation as confectioner or traveller or both, quite often living in a van - this is a family foible even today.  Sarah was forever cagey about her birthplace, never admitting to Birmingham where she was bapitised, but then she may never have known that.

Thanks to you both.

Cheers
Jamys

[judijee]

Hi Jamys

The cast iron slabs in the pavement outside St Leonard's porch are family vault entrance covers, and the details on them are when each vault was purchased and by whom, not when that individual died.  Each plate covers a flight of steps going down one side of the vault - my mother could remember standing at the top of the steps as a small child when her grandfather John Fowler was interred in the Fowler vault there in 1922.

They are no longer used now, of course, having been filled in around the 1950s, but there's an interesting write-up about them in a very good little book, 'St Leonard, Bilston: a guided history', published in 2003, which I got last time I visited Bilston.

- judijee

[Willow 4873]

Hiya Judijee

Thanx for that info I will keep my eyes open for that book - did you buy it at St Leonards?

Willow x