In March, 2001, I posted the following message to a Black Country list: > I'm researching two families in Cradley
> (not Cradley Heath). Cradley was a fairly
> small place, and so not surprisingly,
> I keep seeing the same names again and again.
> I'm thinking of making a Cradley message board
> and web page. Any takers?
Well, at the time that "Cradley message board and web page" seemed a simple and unambitious concept - something that could be put together on a rainy Saturday afternoon, with possibly an extra hour on Sunday for a quick last-minute check. If only I'd known then what I know now ...
Nigel Brown, a genuine son of Cradley, innocently responded: > Hi Mike,
>
> Firstly, which two families? I was born and brought
> up in Cradley and most of my research is thereabouts.
> Secondly, me too! In fact, I have registered the domain
> name "cradley-worcs" with just in mind. But the first
> pages have not been uploaded yet.
> Where to from here?
> Nigel Brown
... and so the saga of Cradley Links began.
My own "Cradley Links"
The sons and daughters of Cradley who left their homes and hearths for a new life in "faraway places, with strange-sounding names" can today be found in each of the four corners of the world; it is, perhaps, the Cradley diaspora.
Some went to as far on the earth from Cradley as it is possible to go. They left their homes and friends, and as generations passed, the memories of Cradley faded.
But the homing instinct is a powerful driving force. Some of us - like me (and perhaps you, gentle reader) - are far, far away from Cradley, but there is still a part of us which began long ago and far away in that tiny Midlands town where life was so often hard and grim.
Here's my Cradley story:
Once upon a time in Cradley, "Old Dick" (Richard) Stevens married Emily Roper, and had many children.
Dick Stevens was a humble man; variously a carter, miner and publican.
And so I was both astonished and delighted when Jill Guest told me that a minor pathway in Cradley, once known as "Dick's Hill" (alas now long gone) was named for him.
I was even more amazed to learn that Cradley has a Stevens Road named after Dick's family. Clifford Willetts has recorded that he was "... able to persuade the Council to name it 'Stevens' road, thus perpetuating the memory of the family who farmed [the area] for a hundred years."Richard Stevens was my great-great-grandfather. One of his sons, John Stevens (born at Fatherless Barn - the original building, not the suburb!) was my great-grandfather, and John's daughter Ruth was my grandmother. Mike Hamilton
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