 | | About Peter Barnsley |  | | | | | | We are indebted to Peter Barnsley for his generous permission to reproduce this selection, taken from the many articles about Cradley penned by him over the last fifty years ... read on | |
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| | An Old Soldier | | | | | | | Chainmaker Isaac ("Ike") Hingley began his First World War service in 1914 as "25530 Private Hingley, No. 3 Veterinary Hospital, Royal Army Veterinary Corps".
He served in the "killing fields" of the Somme, Cambrai and Passchendaele, and was wounded at Lens (France) in 1918. ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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| | The Aphrodisiac on the Cradley Line | | | | | | | Peter Barnsley reports on the 1862 trial of Richard Evans and Charles Thomas, who were accused of administering "Lytta vesicatoria" to a young lady's breakfast ... read on | | |  | | |
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| | Sam Bate - Elegy for a Craftsman | | | | | | | In this essay, Peter Barnsley movingly records the memories of Cradley chainmaker Sam Bate at the end of his life. ... read on | | |  | | |
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| | Joe Beasley - A Black Country Farmer | | | | | | | In this essay from the 1970's, Peter Barnsley shares with us the story of Joe Beasley, a Black Country farmer born in Cradley in 1898. ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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| | Steve Bloomer - King of Goal Scorers | | | | | | | More than sixty years after the death of Steve Bloomer in 1938, the anthem of Derby County Football Club is Steve Bloomer's Watching. His memory is still honoured by both his club and by his birthplace of Cradley, where he was born in 1874. ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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| | The Blue Ball Inn | | | | | | | In this essay, first published in the Cradley Parish Church Magazine of May 1959, a very young Peter Barnsley describes the Blue Ball Inn, and how some of the church officials and congregation of a local chapel found its proximity convenient after listening to a long sermon! ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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| | How Cradley Chose Its First Little Parliament | | | | | | | Peter Barnsley recalls for us a dramatic local election at the close of the 19th century, in which passions ran high. ... read on | | |  | | |
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| | Cradley's Forgotten Connections | | | | | | | In this essay, Peter Barnsley unearths some surprising connections between Cradley and the worlds of science, literature, and Victorian feminism. ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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| | The Funeral of Sgt. Tyler | | | | | | | Cradley turned out in force when Sgt. Joe Tyler was buried with full military honours in August, 1916 ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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| | Mr. Jeston Homfray and The Old Worse and Worse | | | | | | | Cradley solicitor Jeston Homfray had his day in Court when the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway Co. insisted on a surcharge of 3/9d for a hamper of pot-plants ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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| | Old Cradley | | | | | | | "Times and places have to change" writes Peter Barnsley in this 1977 article, but "one thing you cannot do in a block of flats is sit on the doorstep of an evening and gossip with the neighbours." ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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| | Two Old Cradley Mills | | | | | | | The fate and fortune of Cradley's population was inextricably linked with Cradley's mills.
In this essay, Peter Barnsley traces the historical record of two Cradley mills back to the twelfth century. ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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| | Order and Disorder: Cradley and the Diamond Jubilee | | | | | | | In 1897 Cradley Parish Council called a meeting to discuss a proposed public building commemorating sixty years of Queen Victoria's reign. Peter Barnsley reports on the uproar that resulted. ... read on | |
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| | The 'Rockson' Motor-Cycle | | | | | | | An account by Peter Barnsley of the firm of J. S. Rock and Sons, whose works were in Beecher Road, Cradley, and the brief but glorious story of their "Rockson" motor-cycle ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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| | Village Statesmen | | | | | | | Peter Barnsley looks into Cradley's Liberal tradition, and old-time election meetings. ... read on | | |  | | |
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| | The Wandering Vicar of Cradley | | | | | | | Between 1856 and 1889, those who failed to sing loudly enough at St Peter's, or had dirty hands at school, could only hope that "Tommy Twosticks" - the Reverend James Hesselgrave Thompson - was on one of his many extended absences from the parish. ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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