Unexpected adventure in the Archives
In our latest guest blog, Marian Carroll shares her experience of mapping archival collections onto Know Your Place – and the unexpected adventure this inspired.
Marian Carroll is a volunteer working at Gloucestershire Archives with her husband, David. Back in June 2016 they received training in preparing collections for mapping onto Know Your Place. They have been putting collections on the map since Know Your Place Gloucestershire launched in October 2016.
Volunteers Marian and David (left) give a thumbs up to collections mapping training.
An Unexpected Adventure
“We are scanning in prints of etchings from the Gloucestershire Collection of SRPrints held in the Archives. The scans have to be accurately located on the community layer of the Know Your Place website.
Having increased our knowledge of the maps of the area (tithes and modern day), we decided that we needed to visit and explore the area. We set out for Oldbury on Severn to visit the church of St Alrida, set on the site of the camp. The views from the church were superb.
David enjoying the view from St Alrida across to the Severn bridges.
We spent some time placing the views the artist had chosen taking photographs to compare with the 18th Century print, in order to scan the modern images onto the community layer at a later date.
Unexpected adventure visiting the Church of St Alrida at Oldbury on Severn.
The village has much to recommend it, with a Community Shop – excellent coffee and cake plus local produce to buy. The Anchor pub with its wharf on the Oldbury Naite Rhine was once navigable from the Severn, but is now cut off by the flood defences. The Severn Way is easily accessible from the village.
We had planned to go on to the church of St Mary the Virgin at Olveston and the church of St Helen at Alveston but these are for another day.”
Mapping the Archives
Marian and David’s archival record of the church has now been added onto Know Your Place.
Has this inspired you to get mapping your community heritage? Read our extra information about preparing your records to add onto Know Your Place.
To find out more or if you have any queries, get in touch.
This article was originally written for Gloucestershire Archives newsletter and is reproduced here by kind permission of Marian Carroll and Gloucestershire Archives.