A Day to Drive

Since it was a Bank Holiday weekend, the roads didn't appear to busy, and I had some time off work, I decided to take a trip around some of the towns, cities and villages identified in my family history research.

Setting off from Chorley at 5.30am, my route took me down the M61, M60, and M62 east-bound through Leeds, after which I picked up the A1(M) southbound, skirting Doncaster. This road had light traffic and took me all the way to Grantham, my first stop.

Grantham is famous for its connections to Sir Isaac Newton and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. It has also retained a semblance of its historic identity, despite the attempts of chain retailers to give it mass-produced shop facades like the rest of featureless British towns these days. Its market still straggles down the centre of a road in the town centre 2 days a week, and its ancient buildings and monuments are carefully preserved.

I was interested in Grantham, since that was where my 4th great grandfather Joseph Walker (1782-1853) died. He ended up in the workhouse there, presumably when he became too infirm to make a satisfactory living in his trade as a journeyman shoemaker. The workhouse was in the parish of Spittlegate, though the churches in this parish didn't appear to have burial grounds. No records in the library cast any further light on my ancestor, though there is a reasonable file of material about Grantham's various workhouses and poor Law administration.

From here, I took the A52 to Bottesford, where Joseph had lived and worked after coming to Lincolnshire from Chesterfield, Derbyshire. His son Joseph (1825-1852) was also a journeyman shoemaker, living on Queen Street. St Marys was the church where all the usual family ceremonies took place, but after Joseph's death, the family made their way back to Derbyshire via Nottingham.

I followed in their steps, driving through Nottingham and on to Mansfield, and thence to Chesterfield, Buxton via Chatsworth House, Stockport, Manchester, and home - a 320 mile round trip.

On my next trips, I intend to see Somercotes and Riddings, and Toxteth Park (where my mums family came from before moving to Barrow in Furness).