Family History Group Talks

Colin Backhouse

Flooding in Campden

Floods Old and New

January 2018

Judith Ellis and Jenny Bruce have been researching the story of the town’s efforts to contain the floods of many years ago, starting with the ‘Kings Flood’ of 1830, so-called because it happened on the night of the death of King George IV.  Afterwards, to contain rushing water, the Scuttlebrook was culverted along Leasebourne and a pump was installed in 1832.  Fast forward to 1982 and a flood throughout the town which resulted in a new storm pipe network, replacing the old culvert.  Using photos taken by the Camera Club in 1985, when the work was done, and plans of the town, the story unfolded of the pipes being installed from Calf Lane up to the top of Aston Road.

George Ballard – Antiquarian

February 2018

A most interesting talk was given by CCHS member Christopher Fance on the subject of George Ballard, 1706-1755, a Campden Antiquarian and Author.  From a family with some property and intellect, George, born in Campden, a sickly child with no formal education, was apprenticed between 1717-1724 to a Blockley mantua (dress or stay) maker, but his early interest was in history and collecting coins.  His career took him from collecting coins all over the country for Richard Graves of Mickleton Manor, to a clerk at Magdalen College Oxford, to work at the Bodleian Library transcribing, translating and cataloguing, to writing a history of St James’s Church, Chipping Campden with fine drawings, followed by a forward- looking Memoir about several important women in history, published in 1752.  In his last years, when he became ill, he returned to Campden.  In his will he left 73 boxes of his archives and work to the Bodleian Library!

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