Can anyone tell me where the village of Bessford/Besford Wood in North Shropshire used to be?
My 3x gr grandparents Timothy WILSON and Martha SAVAGE were married in Shawbury in 1817.
They had 5 children all baptised at Lee Brockhurst. These were Mary 1818 Thomas 1820, John 1824 Timothy 1829 and Ann 1833 (my gr gr grandmother).
According to the parish records they lived at Bessford Wood.
Looking at modern maps I can find a wood called Besford Wood but no village of that name. I can't find anything on the old maps either.
From the Lee Brockhurst parish records an awful lot of people lived there so I'm presuming there was a village once.
It looks as though the parish boundary may have run through the village as my family list their birthplace as Lee Bridge and were baptised in Lee Brockhurst whereas a John Wilson, who I think is my Timothy's brother is listed as living Besford Wood parish of Shawbury.
We are coming to Shrewsbury this weekend and plan to have a look at the area and I wondered if anyone knew the exact location.
Incidentally does anyone know if there is a connection between Besford Wood and Besford House in Belle Vue?
Sylvia
Thank you so much, Mike.
I didn't realise that there were maps at the British History Online site. That's a great help.
I was brought up in Shrewsbury but both of my parents were from Wolverhampton and I've only recently discovered that one of my gr gr grandmothers was born in Shrewsbury and another just a few miles north. I'm looking forward to looking around the area.
Sylvia
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Hello Sylvia
I would doubt that there has ever been a 'Village of Besford Wood' but instead there may have been a few scattered houses.
If you travel north from Shawbury, through Moreton Corbet to Besford and then just a short distance further north the B5063 road to Wem does a sudden left turn at a cross roads. At this junction there is a track continuing north west and that leads to Besford Wood and Besfordwood beyond. Both these names appear on the 1956 Ordnance Survey 2 1/2 inch to 1 mile map, sheet SJ 52.
The above map shows about six properties in Besford Wood being the area nearest Besford. It also shows about eight properties running alongside the track which runs parallel with the A49 from Rock Hall cross roads towards Bridleway Gate [farm] which appear to be part of Besfordwood.
The British History Online web site has six inch to one mile mapping from about 1890 and this link should take you to the north west corner of sheet 022/SW
Unfortunately the area you want is on the junction of four maps, so you also need to look at 021/NE and 021/SE.
Mike