*COMPLETED with thanks* OLDFIELDS bellfounders Long Row Nottingham

[anniecat]

Johnxyz
Sorry about the delayed reply (I was hoping that my enquiries elsewhere would mean I could share other information with anyone interested - but nothing yet). 

I am sure you are correct in your belief that George Oldfield was chosen by/known to your relative through his occupation as a bellfounder.  Your posting has given me more names of bellfounders in Nottingham - all good stuff!

anniecat

[famhistbuff]

Hi,

The Biographical Index of the Thoroton Society Records Series Vol. XVIII (Poll Books of Nottingham & Nottinghamshire 1710) has the following entry:

"Oldfield, George of Nottm.  Burgess 26 Sept., 1699, laceman.  Possibly identical with the bellfounder, who d. 11 Sept., 1741, aged 72; bur. St. Mary's (Stretton MSS., p.137)."

cheers
Lisa

[anniecat]

Thank you Lisa for that information - it's marvellous. 

I am not familiar with Poll books.  Definitions of 'burgess' in my dictionary are 1) a representative of a borough in the British parliament and 2) (rare) an inhabitant of an English borough.  Do you know in what sense it is used in the Poll Book?  What does the date of 26 September 1699 signify?  Was it the date of an election?

Two George Oldfields were baptised in Nottinghamshire  - one in 1671 and one in 1675 - so it is likely that the older one (who was also baptised at St Mary's) was the one buried at St Mary's in 1741.  However, I am led to believe that the older one was the bell founder and I would have thought it unlikely that he would have been described as a laceman?

I have been put in touch with someone who has done a tremendous amount of research on the Nottinghamshire bellfounders, so I hope to be able to tie up several loose ends as well as learn lots more!

anniecat

[famhistbuff]

Hi Annie,

Sorry, I can not give you a definition of what a burgess was in that period.  I'm sure there are others around the place (on rootschat) that would know exactly what the date and title signifies.

The Poll Book is basically a register of all the people who voted in the election in Nottinghamshire in 1710.  It even tells you who they voted for. 

The biographical index at the end is added information from the Thoroton Society - basically what information they had in 1958 on the people contained in the poll book.

Cheers
Lisa

[anniecat]

Thanks again, Lisa, for letting me know what the biographical index signifies.  It appears that the Society in 1958 thought that the laceman was the bellfounder then.

If anyone else could clarify the Poll Book terms, I should be grateful.
Are the entiries in the Poll Book generally considered to be accurate?  Could the entry for George Oldfield have been mistranscribed?

Cheers
Judith

[Jane Eden]

Hi Judith

I have joined this very late so I need to know what you need to find out. I was a bellringer in Nottingham and have contacts with many ringers.

I have always thought of Taylors Bellfoundry at Loughborough, Leicestershire as the Oracle of local  bells but I may be wrong. Let me know exactly what you want to know and I will contact my networks of ringers. I will need to know the details and the dates, probably the parish as well.

Jane

[anniecat]

Thank you, Jane, for your offer of assitance.   

My main interest is the family Oldfield as I have now established that they are indeed part of my early family tree.  I have made contact with someone who has undertaken considerable research into this family, and I hope to learn much when we are due to  meet next month.

I started off trying to find out more of the Oldfield dynasty by gleaning what I could from the web pages of the many churches which still have Oldfield bells (mostly in Nottinghamshire) and it gave me a good 'feel' as to the standing of their Nottingham bell foundry in the late, sixteenth, seventeenth, and early eighteenth centuries.  I also discovered the approximate dates of successive generations of the family.  [I can send you my current list of Oldfield bells if you wish.  It has no pretensions of being comprehensive, but perhaps a useful start.  It reveals a couple of instances where bells seem to have been credited to the "wrong" Oldfield, too.]

I think therefore that I need not, at the moment, take up your kind offer but thank you again for making it. 

Judith

[anniecat]

I have now had a chance to meet the researcher in Nottinghamshire and have been delighted to come away with a few gems of information.  I now know more about bell making and ringing too!  I can confidently take this family line back to the mid sixteenth century, which I think is amazing. 

I have obtained copies of the Oldfield entries on the index cards at the Local Studies Library, some of which suggest that a little more digging might be rewarded.  Nottinghamshire archives also hold a couple of really early poll registers and poll books which I need to explore (in addition to 1710 and 1754).

Thank you everyone who has taken an interest in my search and queries. 

[Melbell]

Dear Anniecat

Please try www.cccbr.org.uk  which is the website of The Central Council of Church Bellringers.  You will find loads of info and lots more leads there.

Melbell.