Did we foul up saying this was Cockshutt?
A debate is running on the location of an archive photograph recently published by the Shropshire Star.
The postcard showing an image of people outside 'Cockshutt Implements' in our Pictures From The Archive slot was captioned as being at Cockshutt, near Ellesmere.
But local historian Wendy Jones has another theory that places the photograph in a different town entirely.
She said: "I don't think it is the Ellesmere Cockshutt. I did a history of Cockshutt and Petton Remembered and certainly didn't come across that.
"My theory is that it is the Cockshutt in Telford. I just saw the picture and thought 'no, that's not our Cockshutt'. I live in Cockshutt. So it must be the other one."
There is indeed a Cockshutt in the general Oakengates area of Telford. To that we can throw into the mix that there was a Canadian firm called Cockshutt Implements, but it doesn't seem to have been going before the 1930s and the photo we published seems at least 10 years or more before then, and in any event the signboard does not have the feel of a significant international business. Instead it looks a much smaller concern.
It's a long shot, but if somebody could identify the people on the picture, or the building in the background, it would help solve the mystery.
The picture is a postcard in the collection of collector Ray Farlow of Bridgnorth.
Wendy's book charted the changes that had taken place in Cockshutt since the Ice Age. She started working on it in 1994 although the project was then put on hold after the death of Dee Taylor, who had also been gathering information.
Later on residents Helen Willmoth and Dean Bywater joined Wendy, chairwoman of Cockshutt Parish History Group, to complete the title, which was launched in 2007.
