Ironbridge "people's history" preserved for future generations
Fascinating tales of people and places in the Ironbridge Gorge compiled by an unsung local historian have been preserved for future generations with a presentation of his life's work to Shropshire Archives.
Len Beeston had a keen ear for anecdotes and little human stories in his home town of Ironbridge and was a friend of the famous coracle maker Eustace Rogers.
His work gives a window on a long-lost Ironbridge and the local community in the days before it became the hub of an award-winning museum.
He wrote histories covering various aspects of the Gorge, including stories of poachers, life by the river, the Rogers family and their occasional battles with the authorities, the local Wolves and England legend Billy Wright, and an account of how Ironbridge had a visit from the Luftwaffe during the war.
His volumes of work, almost all carefully typed up and neatly put into booklets, have now been presented to Shropshire Archives in Shrewsbury by Mr Albert Edwards, 91, and his 88-year-old wife Joan, of Madeley.
"There's none of his family left," said Mr Edwards.
"When he died it went to his sister Gertie, who was the wife of my brother Stanley, and when Gertie died I came across it when clearing the estate. I didn't know what to do with it and it's too good to destroy.
"Len was a typical lad, who liked a drink and liked his fags, and a bit of a bet. He did not marry and none of the family had children."
Len was only 56 when he died at his then home in School Road, Madeley, in November 1984. He worked at Ironbridge Power Station - his material contains scrapbooks of goings-on there - and had served with the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry and was a member of the Royal British Legion.
He was secretary of the Ironbridge Darts League and of the Tontine Dominoes Club, and his written legacy also includes records of darts, dominoes and bowls in the Gorge.
One of his volumes is an account of Ironbridge and the townsfolk in 1941 in which he goes round all the streets and talks about the places and the people who live or work within.
"We have a history of Myddle in the 17th century which was so valuable, and this is the same sort of thing, with local information and information about all the families which might not be recorded anywhere else," said Sal Mager, senior archivist who accepted Len's work on behalf of Shropshire Archives.
"It looks like there's going to be quite a bit of original material here which people have not seen before which will be preserved for the future."
The Shropshire Star's Toby Neal said: "Mr Edwards has let me dip in to Len's material for articles in the paper and virtually every time somebody would get in touch afterwards and ask where they could see Len's histories. Now they have been given to Shropshire Archives they will be available to researchers and historians.
"A lot has been written about the history of Ironbridge and its role in the Industrial Revolution but Len's work is a real people's history, about the characters in a close-knit community. So for instance we meet the likes of Fred Reynolds, a teller of tall tales, and George Beddoes who, banned indefinitely from watching local football matches for bad behaviour, was caught watching one from up a tree.
"There is also a lot of material about the Rogers family of coracle makers and various anecdotes, and with Len being a friend of Eustace Rogers I suspect a lot of it is what Eusty told him.
"For anyone with a family connection with Ironbridge this is a valuable and fascinating piece of work, giving us a feel for the fabric and tapestry of life in the days before the town became the visitor attraction it is today.
