November 7, 1952

Putting Redditch on the map is a phrase beloved of those determined that the town shall achieve the notice they feel is due to it.

But there was a time when Redditch literally was not on the map at all.

Just such a map was discovered in a bookshop at Eastbourne earlier this year by Mr George Watton, of Bromsgrove Road, Redditch.

After listening to the proprietress bemoaning the fact that she could not sell an old map of Worcestershire in Sussex, he offered her 'something to take it off her hands' and became the owner of what he believes to be a genuine specimen of a map drawn in 1610.

It shows clearly enough the domination of the whole area by Feckenham Forest, even the last remnants of which are now fast disappearing.