A visit to Cottingham

Although the first mention of the name can be found in Gretton in the early seventeenth century, it had become clear from our researches that our branch of the Craxford family tree had diverged from the main trunk several generations back and that our immediate ancestors were born, lived and died in the neighbouring villages of Cottingham and Middleton. Brenda, Richard, Judith and I took our first journey back to our roots one weekend in August 2005. Two more have followed. This page carried a photographic record of those visits.

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.

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.

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, George, 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.

A return in 2009 …

Judith and I made a return visit to the Welland Valley in June 2009. It coincided with a spell of glorious weather and we were rewarded with a pleasant saunter around the village, making our acquaintance with many of the landmarks of historical significance to our family.

Our first port of call was the 13th century Parish Church of Cottingham and Middleton, dedicated to St Mary Magdalene, where so many of our ancestors have been baptised, married and laid to rest. Although the earliest parts of the churchyard nearest to the church are overgrown, the newer sections provide areas of quiet contemplation amongst the memorials.

Next door to the church on Water Lane is the cottage (still occupied by their descendents) where John and Sarah Craxford brought up their family in the late 1800s.

From there we found our way onto Corby Road where we saw the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel and behind it the original chapel building (its significance can is explained in the story of John and Ann Craxford: This line terminates at Uxbridge) which is now used as a school hall.

Next we came to Blind Lane. It was from that vantage point we could look back across the roof tops of Cottingham to the church of St Mary Magdalene. Little remains of the Victorian lane and its back close of tightly packed cottages, the site of the tragedy of Thomas Christopher Claypole. Only the red brick barn where John Claypole manned the village smithy stands sentinel to where the entrance to Barrack Yard used to be.

We rounded off the day enjoying a buffet supper at The Royal George in the company of Laurie and Irene Beadsworth and Jane Smith, editor of the Cottingham village history web site.

Alan D. Craxford - Site Administrator

Page added: September 15th 2005
Last updated: December 2nd 2011

… and again in 2011

Throughout the intervening two years, it had become increasingly clear that to understand our own genealogy, we would need to untangle the relationships with several other long term resident families in Cottingham. Repeatedly the records have shown entanglements with the Cranes, Tansleys, Claypoles and Beadsworths amongst others. With this in mind, our emphasis and title has broadened to the "Extended" Craxford family and our research has been progresively expanded into a genealogy of Cottingham Village. We have been greatly aided in this by Janice Binley.

We based our third visit in September 2011, staying three days at The Hunting Lodge Hotel, Cottingham. Our first afternoon was spent visiting St Mary Magdalene Church which had been opened for us to view the interior. We were also able to spend time looking around the churchyard at headstones and memorials of particular importance to us. Janice joined us at the hotel and brought with her, amongst other things, a notebook which her step-father had written and illustrated about the village in the 1980s. This has now been transcribed for these pages.

There were already several projects of local interest in outline and we had already made contact with several cousins to exchange views and share old photographs. Janice had arranged for us to use the facilities of the Chapel Hall on Corby Road as a meeting place. Jean Claypole brought family mementoes from the first World War, including a Princess Mary Christmas Gift Tin of 1914 and a George V Memorial Plaque which was presented to the next of kin of those who had died on active service. Margaret Jackson showed us her album of family Memorial notices gathered from the local newspapers over a period of 30 years. We set up a small studio to make permanent records and scan photographs, the resulting images now illuminate the new articles.

We rounded off our stay with a family supper at the Hunting Lodge.

Please contact us

If you have any questions or comments about the information on this site in general, or you have further information regarding this article, please Get in touch by leaving a message in our Guestbook. If you don't want the message to be added to the Guestbook, just say that in your text. We look forward to hearing from you.

Return to Top of Page