Sources

Maps

The Tithe Map of 1846.

This is the first map showing whole of the parish, outlining individual plots and houses.

A1 size copies are available from Geoff Gwatkin Maps. The original can be viewed on Know Your Place (https://www.kypwest.org.uk) an invaluable asset, covering not just North Nibley, but the whole of the South West, which layers various historical maps over the present-day map of the parish.

Accompanying this, the schedule can be searched on Gloucestershire Tithe Search, on the Gloucestershire Archives website, although, oddly, the Commons and Waste have been omitted.

The Berkeley Estate Map of 1763.

This splendid map shows land use in meticulous detail. Arable shows individual ridges and direction of ploughing, Pasture and meadow are surrounded by tree-filled hedgerows, two small and one large tree. Isolated trees within fields and orchards have shadows, thrown towards the east. By comparison with the 1846 Tithe Map houses can be retrieved which later show only thew plot shape with adjoining orchard and garden. The map only shows Berkeley property which, by this stage, is restricted to Forthay, Millend, Smarts Green, and Waterley Bottom with some scattered houses along the Nibley-Wotton road and a few off fields near the two Greens.

Until recently, this was held at Gloucestershire Archives and it was thought that the accompanying schedule, giving the names of the tenants, was lost, but it has been located. Both are held in the archives of Berkeley Castle and are available as a digitised file, for a fee. Be aware that the map alone comes as 36 files. Because there is a copyright charge for reproducing the map, I have not used them on the website. A section of the map appears in A Study of Settlement and Land Use in a South Gloucestershire Parish, by Joyce M Popplewell, which is referenced elsewhere on this site.

The 1798 Catalogue of the Nibley Estate Sale

Much useful information is conveyed in this advertisement and its accompanying map apart from essential facts of names and size of farms, fields and their usage, tenants’ names and their style of tenure. The estate map forms the spatial complement to the Berkeley Estate Map. It is held at Gloucestershire Archives under the reference D733/2/18.

The Enclosure Awards of 1864

The map may be viewed on Know Your Place (see above) but not the schedule. However, this can be viewed, alongside the map, at Gloucestershire Archives .

Ordnance Survey Maps

The National Library of Scotland have a large collection of out-of-copyright OS maps available for purchase. Gloucestershire LVI, dated 1924, covers North Nibley, and parts of the adjoining parishes.

Websites

Genuki, covers the whole of the UK, parish-by-parish. The North Nibley includes some records from the Tabernacle, and a listing of the monument inscriptions in the churchyard.

http://www.northnibley.org.uk/ is a constantly-evolving site covering the parish, including useful information about the older houses in the village, births, deaths and marriages, and other material.

The website of the National Library of Wales (library.wales) has digitised Welsh newspapers, and tithe records.

The British Newspaper Archive (Home | Search the archive | British Newspaper Archive) is subscription-based, and has a large and ever-growing collection of digitised newspapers.

Books

A Study of Settlement and Land Use in a South Gloucestershire Parish, by Joyce M Popplewell, published by her son, Richard Popplewell in 2006. This was written by Mrs Popplewell in 1982, who lived in the parish for 21 years, and is a fascinating study of the early development of the village. It was privately printed, so copies are scarce. With Richard’s permission, I am incorporating the material into this website.

Research Centres

Gloucestershire Heritage Hub is the umbrella term for Gloucestershire Archives, Gloucestershire Family History Society, Gloucestershire Local History Association, The Diocese of Gloucester, the Archives for South Gloucestershire, and Gloucestershire Police Archives.

Wotton under Edge Heritage Centre is staffed by enthusiastic and helpful volunteers, and holds material about North Nibley.

Material on Local Families

Organ – Andrew J Plaster has written the exhaustive study of the family, titled ‘Organ Family History of Berkeley and North Nibley and its Worldwide Branches’. It is out of print, but may be available in archives or on Abebooks. There is also an active Facebook page of the same name.

Ponting – this site contains useful information about various branches of the family.