Have you ever wondered Birds Crossing came from?
The crossing part is fairly straight forward – it is a crossing of the river and railway line. When the railway opened in 1867 presumably access was required to Southfield House. The occupants for at least the previous 30 years had been the Bird Family. Oliver Bird was born in Pickering, Yorkshire in 1792, the son of Thomas and Mary Bird. He married Catherine Lister in 1825, in Whitby, Yorkshire.
The first reference we have of him in Woodchester is in the Baptist Church records when he and his wife Catherine were received into the church on 16 March 1834 from ‘Pinkerton’ (Pickering). They must only recently have moved as their son William was baptised at Pickering on 19 December 1833. Subsequent children were baptised at Forest Green Chapel.
The tithe map of 1838 shows Oliver Bird occupying several properties owned by Roger and Alfred Smith. The 1841, 1851 and 1861 censuses all show Oliver, a woollen cloth manufacturer, with his wife Catherine and their numerous children living at Southfields.
Oliver Bird died in 1869 aged 76 and the family largely disappeared from Woodchester. Edward and Ellen Bubb living at Southfield House in 1871 were Oliver’s son in law and daughter. Catherine moved to Weston super Mare where she lived in ‘Southfield Villa’. She died in 1884 aged 90. Their youngest son, Henry James Bird, emigrated to Canada. His home ‘Woodchester Villa’ in Ontario is now a museum.
The crossing part is fairly straight forward – it is a crossing of the river and railway line. When the railway opened in 1867 presumably access was required to Southfield House. The occupants for at least the previous 30 years had been the Bird Family. Oliver Bird was born in Pickering, Yorkshire in 1792, the son of Thomas and Mary Bird. He married Catherine Lister in 1825, in Whitby, Yorkshire.
The first reference we have of him in Woodchester is in the Baptist Church records when he and his wife Catherine were received into the church on 16 March 1834 from ‘Pinkerton’ (Pickering). They must only recently have moved as their son William was baptised at Pickering on 19 December 1833. Subsequent children were baptised at Forest Green Chapel.
The tithe map of 1838 shows Oliver Bird occupying several properties owned by Roger and Alfred Smith. The 1841, 1851 and 1861 censuses all show Oliver, a woollen cloth manufacturer, with his wife Catherine and their numerous children living at Southfields.
Oliver Bird died in 1869 aged 76 and the family largely disappeared from Woodchester. Edward and Ellen Bubb living at Southfield House in 1871 were Oliver’s son in law and daughter. Catherine moved to Weston super Mare where she lived in ‘Southfield Villa’. She died in 1884 aged 90. Their youngest son, Henry James Bird, emigrated to Canada. His home ‘Woodchester Villa’ in Ontario is now a museum.