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West Bridgford

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"Bridgeford West, so called from its situation by the bridge over the Trent. It is a pleasant and well built village and parish on the south side of the Trent, one and a half miles south by east of Nottingham. The lordship contains 258 inhabitants and 1,190 acres of land, all belonging to John C. Musters Esq. (a minor), except one estate of 57 acres which is the property of Mr Clifford C. Caunt. The church is dedicated to St Giles, and is a fine, ancient structure with tower and pinnacles, which appears to great advantage, peeping above the trees which surround it. The chancel was repaired at considerable expense in 1833. The tithes were commuted in 1840 for £262. The benefice is a rectory valued in the King's books at £16 4s 2d, now at £388. J. Musters Esq. is the patron, and the Rev. Wm. Musters of Colwick is the rector, for whom the Rev. John Peatfield officiates. The school here was built in 1802 by the Rev. Wm. Thompson, who endowed it with £902 stock for the education of ten poor children, seven from Bridgford and three from Gamston. The master received £15 a year. Bridgford also partakes of Dame Frances Pierrepont's charity." [WHITE's "Directory of Nottinghamshire," 1853]

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Archives & Libraries

The Library at Nottingham will prove useful in your research.

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Census

  • The parish was in the Carlton sub-district of the Basford Registration District.
     
  • The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
     
Census
Year
Piece No.
1841H.O. 107 / 863
1851H.O. 107 / 2128
1861R.G. 9 / 2445
1871R.G. 10 / 3496
1891R.G. 12 / 2679
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Church History

  • The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Giles.
     
  • The church was built in the 14th century.
     
  • The church was restored in 1872 and again in 1899 through 1919.
     
  • The church was rebuilt in 1951 and 1971.
     
  • Kate JEWELL has a photograph of St Giles Church on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2009.
     
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Church Records

  • The Anglican parish register dates from 1559 and is in fair condition.
     
  • The church was in the rural deanery of West Bingham.
     
  • A Wesleyan Methodist church was built here in 1888.
     
  • Kate JEWELL has a photograph of the Methodist Church on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2009.
     
  • Roger TEMPLEMAN has a photograph of the Baptist Church on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2013.
     
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Civil Registration

  • The parish was in the Carlton sub-district of the Basford Registration District.
     
  • Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
     
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Description & Travel

West Bridgford is a village, a township and a parish on the south bank of the River Trent at the juntion of the Grantham Canal, 2 miles south-east of Nottingham city. The parish covers 3,046 acres. In 1851, the parish covered 1,720 acres and contained the township of Gamston.

The village has become part of the conurbation that is Nottingham city. If you are planning a visit:

  • By automobile, the A52 trunk road south out of Nottingham city surrounds the parish.
     
  • As this is written, no railway service comes to West Bridgford, but light rail service from Nottingham is planned.
     
  • Nottingham City Transport and several other bus services run to West Bridgford.
     
You can see pictures of West Bridgford which are provided by:

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Directories

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Gazetteers

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History

  • Bridgford was a Roman settlement.
     
  • The Saxons built an extensive fortification here to obstruct the Danes in their efforts to cross the Trent River. The Danes at that time held Nottingham.
     
  • In October, 1875, a great flood inundated much of the village under several feet of water.
     
  • The floodwaters returned in March, 1947, as this family album snap shows.
     
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Maps

  • See our Maps page for additional resources.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK586375 (Lat/Lon: 52.931714, -1.129649), West Bridgford which are provided by:

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Military History

  • The War Memorial inside the church is a panelled alabaster and slate plaque presented in 1918.
     
  • Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of the outside War Memorial on Geo-graph, taken in November, 2011.
     
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Military Records

On the Helles Memorial, Gallipoli:

  1. ELLIOTT Ainslie, Sgt, Derbyshire Yeomanry, age 29, KiA 22/08/1915, service No 671. Son of the late Mr & Mrs Alfred Elliott, of Prospect House, Swanick, Alfreton, Derbyshire, husband of Elsie Elliott, of 36 Henry Rd, West Bridgford.

A portrait of Colonol Sir Lancelot ROLLESTON is to be found in County Hall, West Bridgford. After retiring from the Army he held many offices, including Deputy Lord Lieutenant and High Sheriff, and chairman of both Notts County Council and Notts Quarter Sessions.

Jesse Francis Montague HIND, Lieut., 9th Bn Sherwood Foresters, was wounded at Sulva Bay, Gallipoli, in 1914. At the V.A.D. Hospital here, the medico-electrical ward was established in 1917 and was known as the “Monty Hind” ward, founded by Mr. J. W. HIND (father of Lt. HIND).

These are the names on the West Bridgeford War Memorial (both wars):

  1. Frank Alcoe
  2. John Anderson
  3. William Thomas Atkin
  4. George Ernest Aylett
  5. Ernest Tyzac Barnes
  6. Robert Stephen Bates
  7. Arthur Edward Beach
  8. Harry Beach
  9. Edward Gerald Beal
  10. Wilfred Arthur Beal
  11. William Frederick Beauchamp
  12. William Harold Berry
  13. Thomas Henry Bewlay
  14. Cyril Evers Blurton
  15. Cecil Ernest Boaler
  16. Thomas Alleyne Bosworth
  17. Norman Bowden
  18. Sydney Bowden
  19. John Brash
  20. Edward Bretland
  21. Douglas Brewster
  22. Charles Clark Briddon
  23. Charles Edwin Brodbeck
  24. Leonard William Brown
  25. Norman Leese Buckley
  26. Charles Samuel Bucknall
  27. Arthur Bunney
  28. Charles Lambley Burton
  29. Cecil William Gordon Bush
  30. Archibald Butler
  31. Frank Buttress
  32. Douglas Arthur Buxton
  33. William Harold Carter
  34. James Chapman
  35. Horace Chesham
  36. Charles Frank Clarke
  37. George Auguste Collier
  38. James Cooper
  39. John Cooper
  40. Percy Newbery Cooper
  41. Ernest Cowlishaw
  42. Herbert Cumberland
  43. Charles Richard Dench
  44. George Henry Dixon
  45. James Charles Dixon
  46. Robert Frederick Drennan
  47. William Barnard Duckett
  48. George Harry Gordon Dye
  49. Samuel Eaton
  50. Frank Edwards
  51. John Victor Elderkin
  52. Ernest Elwick
  53. Edward Lake Flewitt
  54. Percy Huskinson Forrest
  55. Christopher Leonard Freeman
  56. Percy William Bailey Freer
  57. Albert Claude Gibson
  58. Clarence Gervase Gibson
  59. Christoper Joseph Gilliatt
  60. Harold Frederick Gilliatt
  61. Maurice Given
  62. Harold Mason Gleave
  63. Albert Edward Glover
  64. Stanley Goulder
  65. Harry Raymond Gray
  66. George Sydney Hall
  67. Edward Harrison
  68. John Henry (Harry) Hayes
  69. Leslie Ewart Herrod
  70. George Harold Highfield
  71. John Mclennan Hine
  72. Stanley Hobson
  73. James Percival Hodgkinson
  74. David Hopkinson
  75. John Thomas Horne
  76. William Frank Howett
  77. Charles Henry Trevor Howitt
  78. Arthur Edward Hunt
  79. John Hunt
  80. Joseph Woodward Hurt
  81. William Hurt
  82. Cecil Dunbar Hutchinson
  83. Roland Frederick Huyton
  84. Henry Lawrence Jackson
  85. Reginald William Jones
  86. Harold Keatley
  87. Robert Frederick Keetley
  88. Harold Arthur Keeton
  89. James Norman Victor Kelly
  90. Albert Charles Lacey
  91. Bernard Courtney Laws
  92. Cecil Willie Laws
  93. Leonard Lee
  94. James Leeming
  95. Herbert Moulsdale Lees
  96. Louis Albert Lendis
  97. Arthur Herbert Levy
  98. Louis Alexander Limon
  99. Edwin Tom Lister
  100. Alan Bert Littlewood
  101. John Richard Long
  102. John William Lyon
  103. Stephen Watson Marwick
  104. Harry James Merry
  105. Thomas Henry Moore
  106. John Glynne Morris
  107. A. Moss (could be Archie Moss)
  108. John Stanley Muddeman
  109. Albert Oakland
  110. John Leslie O'Hara
  111. Dinsdale John Arthur Oubridge
  112. Frank Parks
  113. Alexander Patrick
  114. James Anderton Patrick
  115. Fredric Percy Loverseed Piggin
  116. Ernest Samuel George Pile
  117. Reginald Michael Plunkett
  118. Horace Edwin Porter
  119. William Arthur Powell
  120. Stanley Hastings Price
  121. Clifford Gregory Prosser
  122. Leslie Philip Prowse
  123. Harold William Raley
  124. Charles Bradley Raynor
  125. Harry Rayson
  126. William Rayson
  127. Harry Worton Redfern
  128. Cyril John Rickett
  129. Clarence George Sankey
  130. Herbert Douglas Scanlon
  131. Ernest Scoffield
  132. John Henry Scoffield
  133. Douglas Albert Scott
  134. Thomas Charles Whitehall Shaw
  135. Hubert Allison Shaw
  136. Oswald Edgar Shepherd
  137. Oliver Sheppard
  138. Sydney Leverton Simpson
  139. Claude Freeman Slawson
  140. Harold William Slim
  141. Bertram Smith
  142. Archibald Edwin Spencer
  143. Herbert Spencer
  144. J. W. Squires
  145. Edgar Charles Stevenson
  146. William Henry Stevenson
  147. Richard Ewart Pepper Stimpson
  148. Joseph Stirland
  149. Algernon Harrison Strawson
  150. Wallace Randolph Summers
  151. George Alfred Tarry
  152. H. Taylor
  153. M. Thompson
  154. Frederic Cuthbert Tonkin
  155. William Towers
  156. George Frederick Townsend
  157. Alan Joseph Chamberlain Turner
  158. Reginald Stanley Turner
  159. James Knowles Turpin
  160. Wilfred Henry Wade
  161. William Allan Wagstaff
  162. Lawrence Waldron Walker
  163. Rollo Waldron Walker
  164. Harold Victor Walters
  165. L. Walton
  166. John Alexander Ward
  167. Cyril Ernest Wardle
  168. Ronald Webster
  169. Maurice Sydney Weston
  170. Kingsley Vale Weston
  171. Percy Briggs Wheatcroft
  172. Edward Widdowson
  173. Gervase Widdowson
  174. William Benjamin Widdowson
  175. William Arthur Wildblood
  176. Alfred Richard Williams
  177. William Willoughby
  178. Alfred Burton Wood
  179. Leslie Douglas Woodhouse
  180. Arthur Lawrence Worman
  181. Edward Leslie Wright
  182. Edward Leslie Wright
  183. Percy Victor Yaxley
  184. Sidney Yealand
  185. Arthur Webster Young
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Names, Geographical

  • Some in the region refer to this parish as "Bread and Lard Island," an allusion to the fact that you have to cross water to get to West Bridgford from Nottingham, and that Nottingham folk regarded West Bridgford people as pretentious. Living in big houses, wearing smart clothes, yet having to live on Bread and Lard. (Thank you, Brian Binns, 2013).
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Politics & Government

  • This place was an ancient parish in Nottingham county and became a modern Civil Parish in December, 1866.
     
  • The township of Gamston became its own Civil Parish when West Bridgford was formed as a Civil Parish.
     
  • The parish was in the southern division of the ancient Bingham Hundred (Wapentake) in the southern division of the county.
     
  • In March, 1889, this parish was reduced in size to enlarge Edwalton Civil Parish.
     
  • In April, 1935, this parish was enlarged by 831 acres when Edwalton Civil Parish was abolished.
     
  • In April, 1935, this parish was enlarged by 1,548 acres when South Wilford Civil Parish was abolished.
     
  • North Wilford was amalgamated into the City of Nottingham.
     
  • The village is now part of the Rushcliffe Borough Council. Several Wards were created to compensate for the large population (Lady Bay, Edwalton, Abbey, Compton Acres.)
     
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Poor Houses, Poor Law

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Population

 YearWest BridgfordGamston
180123597
1841235 
1851258124
1861280110
188129399
19017,01896
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Schools

  • The parish had a Free School, latter called a Church of England School. This school was rebuilt in 1865.