There was an Axct of Parliament in 1844 which transferred a number of
detached portions of counties to the county whcih surrounded them (for
instance, in Berkshire, Shilton and Langford were transferred to
Oxfordshire, Inglesham to Wiltshire, and Great Barrington to
Gloucestershire. You should find details of administrative chamges in
Youngs, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, vol 2 :
Northern England, published by the Royal Historical Society.
With regard to Alveley, if you search on PROCAT using the terms Alveley AND
Staffordshire, that produces refrences to Ornance Survey Boundaries Branch,
dated 1880.
I hope this helps.
Lisa Spurrier
----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Sharman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2004 10:09 AM
Subject: County Boundaries
> Does anyone know if any county boundaries changed in the early 19th
century?
>
> I get the impression that county boundaries never changed. Parish
> boundaries did and you could end up with a parish split between two
counties.
>
> I cannot think of any mechanism for changing county boundaries other than
> by statute. (The use of the royal prerogative would, surely, have been
> unacceptable by the 19th century). I can think of enclosure Acts which
> changed parish boundaries but I have never heard of one changing county
> boundaries. And I can find no general legislation doing it. In any
event,
> I strongly suspect that in the early 19th century the county was not
> sufficiently important for anyone to worry about their boundaries. I
would
> guess that the first time anyone did anything was when county councils
were
> set up in 1888.
>
> Nevertheless Ivor Noel Hume tells me, in a current email correspondence,
> that the 1851 census refers to Alveley in Staffordshire, when everyone
> knows it is, and always has been, in Shropshire. Is it likely that the
> local inhabitants, and the census taker, were mistaken about what county
> they were in? Or did the boundaries in fact change?
>
> All advice and suggestions would be happily received. (The reason we want
> to know about this is that Noel is trying to get details of a large jug,
> made by a previously unknown maker in Bradley, near Bilston, and inscribed
> to another John Bacon, who appears to live in Alveley. Trying to track
> down this man when it is unclear where Alveley is, is proving tricky).
>
> With thanks and best wishes to all,
>
>
>
>
> Frank Sharman
> Wolverhampton
> 01902 763246
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