As many of you will be aware I have been researching the history of the houses and their occupiers in order to produce historical maps of Cheslyn Hay which will be displayed at our annual exhibition.  One area I have been pursuing to gather information has been to examine any old paper deeds which the residents of Cheslyn Hay may have for the older properties, as for example, 14 Dundalk Lane, otherwise known as Pickwick Cottage, where I have been able to view the deeds which date back to 1793 thanks to Lynn Jones, the owner. Lynn, or Rosa Lynn to use her professional name, is an acclaimed psychic having appeared on TV and radio, has some fascinating perceptions on the previous owners of the property, which has added another and different aspect to my research.
At first the deeds seemed no different from others I have recently seen, but when I started to construct the cottage’s linear history it revealed some quite remarkable coincidences.  The cottage is connected to 12 Dundalk Lane, which was originally two cottages but converted into one in the late 20th Century and was the residence of Frederick and Clarice Biddle.  This couple are the lynch pins for these cottages as between them and their ancestors they have lived and owned some or all of the cottages stretching back to Samuel Whitehouse who purchased them in 1803 when they were a row of four.
Clarice was born on the 18th September 1903 to Frederick and Hannah Horton at one of these cottages, most likely number 12 (number 6 in 1901) where Frederick Horton and his family had lived from the early 1880s with his father and mother George and Harriet Horton living in one of the adjoining cottages which they had done since the late 1850s.
But there’s an interesting twist to the story.  The father of Frederick William Biddle, Clarice Horton’s husband, was William Henry Biddle who was born in Pelsall in about 1872, and his parents were William and Emma Biddle who married at Penkridge in 1862 before settling in Cheslyn Hay sometime between 1876 and 1878 – probably in Mount Pleasant as they were there in 1881.  Emma was the daughter of James and Elizabeth Brindley and she was born in Great Wyrley in 1839, but by 1851 they were renting one of the Dundalk Lane cottages from Elizabeth’s father Samuel Whitehouse, the aforementioned owner of the property from 1803.  When Samuel died on the 29th February 1860 at his Littlewood home the cottages were passed on to Elizabeth who continued to live in one of them and rent out the other two.  One of the other tenants was George and Harriet Horton who went on to purchase the cottages from James and Elizabeth Brindley’s son Charles Albert in 1883.  And so the 177 year ancestral occupation of both Frederick and Clarice Biddle’s families is completed showing how both their family histories and the history of these wonderful cottages are eternally woven together.

Maybe your deeds can reveal more fascinating history on your property.  If you are interested please contact me.
Darren Butler
sappa@talktalk.net          01922 413076

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