A RETIRED clergyman has spent the last 15 years piecing together the story of a family whose links with Malvern span the centuries.
And the fruits of Michael Shiner's research are contained in a book, A History of the Clerkenwell Estate and The Boundary Markers in Malvern , Worcestershire, out now.
Mr Shiner’s interest was sparked when, shortly after moving to Malvern, he discovered a cast-iron marker post in a field near his home.
Intrigued, he did some research and found out that it was one of a number put up in the 19th century to mark out land in Malvern owned by the Clerkenwell estate.
He co-wrote, with fellow Malvern Civic Society member Katharine Barber, a leaflet about these Clerkenwell markers, published in 2006. The next year, he produced an updated edition, and the present book is the latest, much-expanded, version.
It tells how in 1656, merchant banker Sir George Strode bought a parcel of land in Malvern which was then vested in the trustees of St James’s Church in Clerkenwell for the benefit of the poor people of the parish.
Mr Shiner traces the links between Malvern and Clerkenwell, which are reflected on many road names in the area and in the cast-iron markers, of which 13 remain out of an original 31.
His research even stretched across the Atlantic: at the time of the English Civil War, one of the Strode brothers went to the New World to make his fortune, and escape the fighting.
That family branch has been researched by Peggy Strode of Texas, who Mr Shiner recently met at a lecture at Barrington Court, Somerset – an old Strode seat.
The book is available from Aspect Design, Newtown Road, and the Tourist Information Centre, Church Street, priced £4.99.