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England Gloucester (city)

Guide to Gloucester (city) history, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.



HISTORY
Gloucester was founded in AD 97 by the Romans under Emperor Nerva as Colonia Glevum Nervensis as a fort on the western borders of England.

Due to its proximity to Wales, as well as its closeness to the River Severn, it has been an important frontier town defending England from Welsh incursions since before the Norman conquest. The origins of its name can be traced to Caerloyw in the modern Welsh.

Gloucester was captured by the Saxons in 577. Its situation on a navigable river, and the foundation in 681 of the abbey of St Peter by Æthelred, favoured the growth of the town; and before the Norman Conquest of England, Gloucester was a borough governed by a portreeve, with a castle which was frequently a royal residence.

Gloucester was granted its first charter in 1155 by King Henry II. The privileges of the borough were greatly extended by the charter of King John (1200), which gave freedom from toll throughout the kingdom and from pleading outside the borough.

In the Middle Ages the main export was wool which came from the local hilly area called the Cotswolds and was processed in Gloucester; other exports included leather and iron (tools and weapons).

In 1580 Gloucester was awarded the status of a port by Queen Elizabeth I. It has always had links to the sea through its access to the River Severn that flows into the Irish sea. The fact that the River Severn is navigable all the way north past Worcester, a distance of 140 miles.

Located almost exactly halfway between the bustling seaport of Bristol and the powerhouse of Midlands industry in Birmingham, Gloucester fulfilled a central role as Britain’s most inland port. The large sea going vessels would bring their cargoes up to Gloucester where many would then be off loaded onto smaller crafts, such as the longboats, which would take the goods on up into the Midlands.



In 2009, Gloucester Day was revived as an annual day of celebration of Gloucester's history and culture. The day originally dates from the lifting of the Siege of Gloucester in 1643, during which the city held out against Royalist forces during the First English Civil War.

LOCATION
Cambridge is located about 50 miles north east of London, very similar to the distance to Oxford to the north west.

The city is located in an area of level and relatively low-lying terrain just south of the Fens, which varies between 6 and 24 meters (20 and 79 ft) above sea level. The town was thus historically surrounded by low lying wetlands. The fens are an area of marsh interspersed with channels that drain into the Wash.

Thus the area around Cambridge is rich in deposited alluvial soil and is an ideal location for market gardens to support the needs of the capital, just to the south.

RELIGION
Religion was the basis of the foundation of the Cambridge University Colleges. Due to problems associated with their desire for religious freedom, a group of Oxford students moved to Cambridge and founded the first college there, Peterhouse, in 1284 AD. All subsequent colleges were founded on religious principles and remained that way until Henry VIII removed control from the religious houses.

Later students such as William Harvey (the circulation of blood), Charles Newton (the role of gravity), and Charles Darwin (the origin of species) moved the University and the town away from its religious base to a culture more based on science and atheism. Today, while close to 60% of the British population claim some religious faith, less than 40% of the population of Cambridge do. This is in line with the other major University city of Oxford.

INDUSTRY
The town's river link to the surrounding agricultural land, and good road connections to London in the south meant Cambridge has historically served as an important regional trading post.

However there was never a link to major emerging industrial centers like the Midlands or the Northeast, as Oxford had, and consequently no major industrial activities were centered there.

In the 21st. century, Cambridge is largely known for seed companies started as spin offs of research at the University, plus a number of companies involved in research &amp; development, software consultancy, high value engineering, creative industries, pharmaceuticals and tourism.

CIVIL REGISTRATION
Birth, marriages and deaths records have been kept by government since July 1837 to the present day. Prior to that, local parishes of the Church of England, and local branches of other faiths were the only repositories of this information. The following link provides access for Cambridge records:


 * Cambridgeshire records


 * Cambridgeshire county records


 * Cora records

CENSUS RECORDS
Census records for Cambridge can be found using the following links:


 * Census archives, Cambridgeshire


 * Cambridge city census

PROBATE RECORDS
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by several locations for Cambridge. Please follow the links below:


 * Cambridgeshire on the wiki


 * Find my past


 * Kings College Probate lists

CEMETERIES AND GRAVES
There are presently eight cemeteries, including outlying cemeteries within the Cambridge area. This includes an American graveyard from WWII. The links follow:


 * Cambridge City cemetery


 * Cambridge American cemetery


 * Cambridge Ascension Parish cemetery


 * Histon Road cemetery


 * Mill road cemetery


 * Ely cemetery

GENEALOGY SOCIETIES AND GENEALOGY

 * Cambridgeshire Family History Society


 * Genuki Cambrigeshire


 * Genealogy links UK Cambridge


 * genealogy of the UK Cambridgeshire