Handy for #OnePlaceStudies and #FamilyHistory. I only have a telly so visiting neighbours think I am a normal member of society. 📚📚📚📚📚📘📕📖📗

This clement #OnePlaceWednesday will be spent in the @bucksarchives.bsky.social search room where the factor 50 is not required. The archivists are happy to visit the chilly depths of the strong rooms to produce documents required.

Today the temperature hit a record-breaking 34C at Heathrow. Ironically the record it broke was in May 1944 - the month the farmers of Heathrow were told they had 12 weeks to leave their land to make way for the building of an airport. #thirdrunway #vanishingvillage #heathrow #heathrowexpansion

Found another Will for my Colnbrook #OnePlaceStudy for John Bullock one of the major land owners in Poyle. The Will has its own surprise. The testator appears to be sane. Why say that when one is already dead? Is he scared of being buried alive? This is the first for me after about 400 #wills.

In Colnbrook #OnePlaceStudy I have discovered another will about the ownership of another Inn in Colnbrook. Included was this gem about Felix's domestic life in 1661. In 1647 of Lord Fairfax stayed at Mr Wilson's House. Are the executors are going to have trouble with these Items in the will?

The Barn at Harmondsworth is under threat from Heathrow Airport expansion. See also Longford #OnePlaceStudy which also will be lost. There are other problems for Heathrow, the company does not have the funds & Iran war is affecting one of the owners. Same war causing rise in oil prices & flights.

In Aylesbury while getting caffeinated for an archive session, I’m pondering the new status of Market Square Clock Tower-with an English Heritage Grade 2 Listing. Despite Nicolaus Pevsner’s description “Insipid Gothic with a Spire”. www.aylesburytowncouncil.gov.uk/2026/03/cloc... #OnePlaceWednesday

People of Warrington, Lancashire. I feel sorry for anybody trying to find anybody in the 1700s. Apparently the image was not read by a human as the results bear little relation to the text. If the text is read and any occupation is given, it is used as a surname.

We will be attending the East Surrey Fabulous Family History Show on 24 January!

#OnePlaceStudy Samuel Smith, licensed Hawker stopped on the night of 2nd April 1871 in the family van with his wife Drusilla in Colnbrook. Samuel was born in Wandsworth, Drusilla was born in Harefield, Mdx. Married in Paignton, Devon. What more would you expect when two travelling families marry?

#OnePlaceWednesday Today is all about affidavits for burials in woollen. Noting who the affidavit was before by who. The latter almost always a woman. Indications of where she lived in a parish as they went to the closest person to make the declaration.

January 1st 2026 was 80 years since the first flight from the new Heathrow Airport. The airport was still under construction, and this is the story of its first year. www.wendytibbitts.info/80-years-sin... @hillingdonherald.bsky.social @bho.bsky.social @balhnews.bsky.social #heathrowairport

Happy New Year everybody. On this day in 1715 John Burcombe, Weaver of Colnbrook married Elizabeth Howard at All Hallows Barking by the Tower. They probably lived on the south side of the High Street as all their six children were baptised in St Michael's Horton. #OnePlaceStudies #Colnbrook-OPS

On this day, 24th December 1725 Colnbrook Town Houses Charity paid out to the Poor. 17 Horton people received £2 among them while 29 Langley people received £3 17s 6d. Average received 2s & the most was 5s 6d for Langley's Children. #OnePlaceStudies Merry Christmas to all & keep researching in 2026

In Aylesbury elections were expensive. In the 1802 Borough elections the candidates were spending over 3500 Guineas for the Voters. There were three candidates for two seats in Parliament. Many of the County landed gentry could not afford to have political ambitions.

#OnePlaceWednesday. Phase of the day curtesy of Datchet parish baptisms of 1732. “Impudent Strumpet”

Today I’m finishing the transcription of Henry Steven’s will (1852) which is long and tedious & contains three codicils. With provisions for replacing trustees who go “beyond the seas”. Also what to do if son goes bankrupt who was excluded from a bequest of property. #Colnbrook #OnePlaceStudy

With all this loose talk about a utopian AI text search in Ancestry, I am forced to remind the public that the old problems remain. Here the errors in the Ancestry catalogue cannot be fixed by some fancy dystopian AI tools. Remember the old computer adage: GARBAGE IN EQUALS GARBAGE OUT. #GenHour

For #OnePlaceWednesday l’m at the same place in Aylesbury starting a new parish -Datchet. (now in Berkshire.) On the lookout for #Colnbrook-OPS people who used adjacent parishes.

I’m at the Romany & Traveller event at Chesham Council Offices this afternoon. Do come along. #OnePlaceStudies

Apologies for being quiet about Colnbrook #OnePlaceStudy as I have been working on not my #OPS to talk at Ley Hill School. Only 3 houses but there are links to Metroland, Chesham Co-op, Lord Chesham, Chesham Urban District Council and a particular tea plantation in Sri Lanka. 🤔

Today, from #OnePlaceStudy of Colnbrook's department of Silver Linings, a new set of maps of Colnbrook. Courtesy of the council as they issue Parking Orders to introduce charges & permits. Reason for parking restrictions? Too many people affording holidays & not parking at Heathrow Airport.

In Colnbrook #OnePlaceStudy a mystery coaching inn has been found. There is only one source, the Horton parish register. For certain the Talbot Inn existed from 1601 to 1637 and the probable reason for its demise. In 1637 there were 7 deaths from the plague including Richard Reeve the Innkeeper.

#GenHour The other thing to report for those with a Buckinghamshire #One-PlaceStudy is the appearance on Ancestry of Bucks Electoral Registers.

#GenHour Now a project for Bucks FHS is done, I'm getting back to Colnbrook #One-PlaceStudy. Getting involved in the murky history of farming the poor. One person paid £450 per annum to supply work for Datchet workhouse in 1794. That is a lot of money.

When the case was called on one of the magistrates exclaimed “Colnbrook again!” and well he might say so for the “neighbours” of that town, some of them at least, have several times figured before the bench for their “neighbouring" feuds. Windsor & Eton Express 18 Jul 1840 #Colnbrook #One-PlaceStudy

#One-PlaceStudies Ancestry. Oh Dear, what were you thinking! Always look at the film. I had to go to London Archives Catalogue to get the proper reference (DRO/106/A/01/001) The front cover of the register is missing from the film, probably in a half hearted attempt to hide their mistake.

#GenHour Now Colnbrook-OPS website is open www.colnbrook-ops.co.uk, I need to get the William Hammond Bailey's sorted out in who did what. There were three of them, Father, Son & Grandson. Which one ran the inn, Who became a lodging house keeper. And who lost another beer licence? #One-PlaceStudy

#Colnbrook #One-PlaceStudies After a quiet time on social media, I'm here to report that the Colnbrook OPS website www.colnbrook-ops.co.uk website is now an Open Site, not requiring a login to view the contents. There is still a lot of content to be created.

#GenHour All keyboard work today adding property details to Colnbrook people. Also a bit of adding random information to random people. 😉 Just done Edward Seymour Teulon who died in Colnbrook & buried in Islington. Confirmed by the address in the register. That will do nicely! 👍

This little gem came off the shelves today to help Colnbrook #OnePlaceStudy by tracing a family. The Book was produced by WEA Slough & Eton in 1974 and reprinted in 1995. A great example of getting fine detail out of the records for just one year in 127 pages. Something to aspire to achieve.

This #OnePlaceWednesday I have finished the sampling the Land Tax Record for Colnbrook-OPS. Once every 10 years. Unfortunately they end in 1830, leaving a gap before the census. It also appears that the Victualler's Licensing records fall short only getting to 1828.

Hello #GenHour. Having made a breakthrough, finding Richard Blunt Guy owning a tenement in Colnbrook, the Land Tax Assessments put a spanner in the works by showing his property in Horton. While Poll books shows property in Langley, the other side of the street. Absentee Landlord he was in Islington

#OnePlaceStudies Colnbrook-OPS has at least 2 ppl who partook in the fatal meal at Castle Inn when 11 members of Colnbrook Turnpike Trust were accidentally poisoned by ill prepared Turtle Soup on 29 Mar 1773. Wm Burcombe was a Mercer & Draper & Henry Isherwood was brewer in Windsor who owned Inns.

For #OnePlaceWednesday I’m back at in the Archives looking at Land Tax for Colnbrook. They provide a link between landowners & tenants some with a description. Although the tenants also sub-let parts of a of tenement to others. Inns are different, the real landlord of “the landlord” can be found.

#OnePlaceStudies I have just watched on YouTube a Gresham College lecture on the Pevsner Guides to English Buildings county by county. He describes the buildings with a touch of criticism where deserving. Example Aylesbury's Market Sq: "CLOCK TOWER, 1876 by Brandon, insipid Gothic with a spire."

#OnePlaceStudies Checking the images from an expedition to the archives. All appear to be in focus, so that’s a bonus 😀 These show the attempt to raise the status of Colnbrook by restarting the cattle market in 1833 and using the tolls over the years for paving the High Street and Gas lighting.

#GenHour Today in #Colnbrook #OnePlaceStudy there has been a bit of organising as the records collected at Bucks Archives are checked. The Horton Land Tax is interesting a the Excise Officer's Spelling of names was very poor. I hope they could do sums better! The Image is just a partial list. 😃

Hello #AncestryHour I'm still working my way through licensing records for #Colnbrook with the land tax records. I have discovered 5 of them were owned by Messrs Thurbin & Co in 1798. They were brewers from Harmondsworth, Middx. #OnePlaceStudies

#Colnbrook #OnePlaceStudy has a famous son William Bernhardt Tegetmeier who was born at Colnbrook End and baptised in Stanwell church 8 Dec 1816 He has a Wikipedia page His father was a Surgeon in Colnbrook for a few years. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William...

#GenHour At the moment I'm trying to match the 1791 Land Tax with the properties in #Colnbrook High Street and the 1791 Licensing for the parishes of Langley & Horton. Also wondering if the wonderfully named Half Moon and Seven Stars is in my #OnePlaceStudy

#GenHour Just a quick Advert to say I'll be representing Bucks FHS at the East Surrey History Fair while looking for any excuse to talk about #OnePlaceStudies especially #Colnbrook.

#OnePlaceWednesday I'm looking for Nicholas Brokenshire who turned up in Colnbrook in 1790 to marry the recently widowed Elizabeth Stransom & become Licensee of the King's Arms. Then just as promptly disappear! All the baptisms appear to be from Cornwall or Devon. Has anybody lost a Brokenshire?

#GenHour It was quarter past and I'm late! On the other screen are some Quarter Sessions Licensing records I need to transcribe for #Colnbrook. In 1768 three of the five Inns in Horton are in Colnbrook. In Langley there are four pubs in Colnbrook, but there are two the name George. & Crown in Iver!

#OnePlaceWednesday It can be said that a #OnePlaceStudy is really a #HouseHistory that has slipped the leash & gone feral. In its defence I blame Manorial documents describing property “… adjoining to West Greyhound Inn, South the King’s Highway, East Mr Kimber’s occupied by Widow” I rest my case.😀

Reading Mercury Monday 30 September 1793 #OnePlaceStudies #Colnbrook

#OnePlaceStudies The existence of The Angel Inn, Colnbrook is only known due to nine burial entries between 1573 & 1741. Including: John CHRISTOPHER after plague out of the house of the late Gipe in the mark of the Angel, buried out of the house of God." Dangerous job, being Cleric! #Colnbrook

#FamilyHistory #Geneology Hambelden Bucks. Burial entry for 19 February 1681 : Widow CHIPES was the wife of six husbands, Deae, Strong, Tiler, Cooke, Leaver, & Chipes, buried at Turvell. Guess who is checking parish register indexes! 😀

#OnePlaceWednesday The Constable for Colnbrook sworn an affidavit in Midsummer 1785 saying he was charged 6d per Vagrant by local Magistrate for certificates. He has received £40 on account and the Magistrate has been “asked” to attend next Quarter Sessions to explain illegal fees #InTrouble

#Colnbrook-OPS #OTD in 1852 Thomas Ibotson Gent died and buried at Poyle United Reform Church. Shout out to @westmiddlesexfh.bsky.social for having the foresight to record the monumental inscriptions in 1986. The chapel was replaced with a block of flats. #OnePlaceStudies