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Ash next Ridley - Parish Information

A Downland Parish - Ash by Wrotham in Former Times by W. Frank Proudfoot

A manuscript history of Ash, written in the 1970's but never published (about W. Frank Proudfoot)

Chapter 10 - The Travellers  page 119

William and he served his time to his Father a Shoemaker’. In the years that followed, there were no further references to settlements and such simple entries as ‘Alice d of A Traveller’ were the rule rather than the exception.
   In April 1751 were buried ‘A Travellers. Child’ and, three days later, ‘The Mother of the Child, her name unknown’. In August 1762, three Irish travellers were buried within the space of a week, two of them on the same day. A happier occasion in September of the following year was the marriage of’Richard Hasel Traveller’ to ‘Nuty Freeman Traveller’. 'A Traveller boy kill’d by a fall from a horse’ was buried in July 1764. The first week of September, 1780 saw the burials of Jane Payne, an Irish woman, of ‘Thomas Coesar Traveller’ and of Mary, Thomas Coesar’s wife.
   The Revd Thomas Lambard usually managed to discover the names of travellers, but during his incumbency their numbers began to tail off. From 1782 to 1799, only two travellers’ children were christened, 

although eleven travellers were buried; these last included several who died of 'Fever'
   During the remaining years of the old registers, a traveller’s child was christened in 1800, another was buried in 1801 and a woman traveller died of ‘Ague & Fever’ in 1808. It could be that by this time some travellers were, whether willingly or not, away at the wars and that others had found semi-permanent employment on the land.
   Over the whole period, twenty-five or more travellers’ children were christened, one travelling couple were married and at least forty-six travellers were buried. The great majority of the recorded instances belong to the fifty years from 1745 to 1795. As not all travellers who arrived in Ash would have given birth, married or died within the parish, the register entries can only reflect the fact that in those days very many of the travelling fraternity must have come that way.

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