About

The Wethersfield Local History Group was formed 25 years ago by a group of residents of Wethersfield. This group gathered interviews, photos and documents to provide a clearer picture of the history of the village and its surrounding areas. They shared their own knowledge and any newly discovered information in a series of early meetings. Over time, the group has grown to provide an annual programme of talks. Held each month, these talks cover a variety of historical topics and are given by a selection of locals or professional speakers. Some of these are based on local areas, others are of wider interest. Recently we have opened an archive located in Wethersfield Village Hall to continue our collection of items of local historical importance. We welcome anyone who shares an interest in their local history to attend our talks or request a visit to our archive.

WHAT’S IN OUR ARCHIVE?

Our archive contains a wide variety of pieces that cover a large selection of subjects and locations in Wethersfield and the local area. Listed below you can find an overview of the items we have available.

All files are available to view in our Archive Room within Wethersfield Village Hall upon request. We are also always willing to take requests for information. Even if you're not exactly sure where to begin, any information you can provide always helps us to find the information you are looking for. Alternatively, some items can be viewed in our Online Archive - any cases where this is possible have links to the online copies below.



DOCUMENTS (BLUE FILES)

Our main files include newspaper cuttings, minutes, ledgers, deeds & scans of various documents.

Click here to view a more in depth list of the files available. Click on the points below to see related content in our Online Archive.

Areas covered within these files include:
  • (A) Airbase / USA Base links
  • (B&C) Bronte Connection / Breweries - (D) Charities & Parish Council
  • (E) Church
  • (F) Clubs / Crafts / Village Hall
  • (G & H) Families A - K
  • (H2) Families L - R
  • (G H & J) Families S - Z
  • (K) Farms
  • (L) Houses
  • (M1) Manor & (M2) Manor Wills - (M) Manor Estate Auctions
  • (N) Non-conformist Church
  • (P1 & P2) Memories
  • (Q & R) Maps / Mills / Playing Fields - (S & T) School & Propery Sales
  • (U) Trades
  • (W1 & W2) Wethersfield General
  • (X) Wethersfield Connecticut - (Y) World Wars

TALKS (YELLOW FILES)

The yellow files in our archive contain copies of the scripts, power-point print out and posters for our past talks. Please note not all talks have any of these or have just some. See ‘Tapes’ for links to audio copies of the talks.

Click here for a full list of talks



CENSUSES

Our archive contains copies of censuses from every decade between 1841 to 1901. We have access to the 1911 census, however it is not part of our online or physical archive. Due to the difficulty in reading the censuses we welcome requests for information from them and we will pass on our findings. Our censuses are only available to view on request in the Archive Room.

There are also documents containing analysis of the censuses as well. These can be viewed online or in our archive room.



TAPES

There are 3 selections of audio casette tapes that are available in our archive and online.

Tapes marked with a Yellow Dot are recordings of past talks.
Tapes marked with a Green Dot are interviews with local people.
Tapes marked with a Red Dot are our miscellaneous tapes.



PHOTOS

Our full selection of photographs is also available in our archive and online. These include: postcard size, oversized, albums, negatives, slides & ‘Then & Now’ photos. These cover a wide variety of subjects, much like our documents.



PUBLICATIONS

We have a selection of various types of publications available in our archive room. Full copies of past issues of both the Wethersfield Parish Magazine and Wethersfield News can be found in our archive and are available online.

Due to copyright we are unable to have all publications in our Online Archive, however it is possible to view them in our Archive Room on request. We do list the front covers of our publications online to show the selection available.



VIDEOS

The archive also includes a selection of VHS tapes & DVD’s. These cover a variety of topics related to Wethersfield and the surrounding area. These include films, documentaries and archive footage.

Like the copies of various publications in our archive, our videos are not available online. We do list the front covers of our videos online to show the selection available.



MAPS

A selection of maps are also available to view in our archive. These focus on Wethersfield, the parish & the local area and inlcude maps that date back to the 1800’s. These maps can be viewed in our Archive room on request. In some cases they are also available in our Online Archive.

Next talk


July 11th 2024

Colin West will give an illustrated talk on Wethersfield Maltings.

Talks

The Wethersfield Local History Groups holds meetings on the second Thursday of each month in Wethersfield Pavilion on the Playing Field at 8.00 pm. There is no membership or subscription, we only ask for £2.00 at the door per person and anyone is welcome to attend. After the talk we provide refreshments, please see individual talk pages for further details. Please note there are no talks in January or August when we take a break. In the summer instead of our usual meeting in the Pavilion we hold our annual outside meeting where we visit local historical places of interest.

View all talks

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        Sign-up to our email reminders to recieve reminders sent a week before talks are scheduled by signing up you agree to our terms & conditions which you can view here

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        Terms and conditions

        Wethersfield Local History Group Website Terms & Conditions

        By using this website, you agree to the following terms & conditions which also cover our email notifications:

        1. It is prohibited to make copies (physical or digital) of any images, photos, documents or recordings on the website or in emails. This includes uploading any imagery, copies or recordings made from archive material online.
        2. By signing up to our email notifications you understand that you will be notified by email of all talks until you unsubscribe. These will be sent out roughly one week before talks are held. The number of days before the talk that the emails are sent out may change without notice.
        3. Our email notifications are powered by a third party, Mail Chimp, and are subject to their terms and conditions for storing/sending emails.
        4. We will never pass on your email address or details to a third party. We hold no responsibility for the terms and conditions or actions of Mail Chimp.
        5. Users may unsubscribe from our emails at any time, there is an unsubscribe link at the bottom of each email.
        6. We may send email subscribers additional emails, not just talk reminders. Additional emails may include, but are not limited to, notifying of changes to upcoming talks or the schedule of talks etc. These will only be sent out when necessary.
        7. We reserve the right to remove anyone from the mailing list without needing to provide a reason.
        8. Maps and directions for individual talks are provided by Google Maps. We hold no responsibility for the content or the quality of directions provided by them as a third party.
        9. The archive is for public reference/education only. Any use of it for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited unless written permission is obtained.
        10. Wethersfield Local History Group and anyone associated with it hold no responsibility for people breaching the copyright of material not owned by Wethersfield Local History Group.
        11. The online archive holds complete copies of all archive material owned by Wethersfield Local History Group (or when relevant permission has been provided). All other material including but not limited to books, magazine, VHS/DVD videos only show their front cover as a reference. To see this material in full you must visit the archive.
        12. Digital copies of archive material are only available when owned by Wethersfield Local History Group (or when relevant permission has been provided).
        13. We reserve the right to amend these terms & conditions at any time without warning.
        14. If you have any queries regarding the website, archive, email notifications or these terms and conditions please contact us via our contact form or email us at [email protected].

        Copyright

        The website, website imagery and all archive photos, documents, and recordings are the property of Wethersfield Local History Group unless stated otherwise.