Page 15 - The Long Crendon Connection

The Long Crendon Connection Redditch Heritage

The Migration

The needle makers of Long Crendon in Buckinghamshire decided that their trade could be improved
and made more profitable by moving it to the Needleland of the Redditch, Studley and Alcester
district, where new technology had made needle making a profitable undertaking In 1844, in the
midst of winter, several families put all their belongings into a caravan of covered wagons and
set out for Astwood Bank. Three days later they arrived, in reasonable shape, in spite of wintry
conditions. Getting the vehicles up the hills they met en route must have been a strenuous business
Prior to 1844, various individuals from Long Crendon had come into our area and it is probable
that Astwood Bank was a pre-arranged place between the travellers and those already established.

The migration contained a number of Shrimptons, who settled widely in the area and their
descendants may still be found in Alcester. Studley and the Ridgeway.

The Journey

During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the village of Long Crendon in Bucks was
well known for the cottage industry of needle making. With the introduction of machinery into
manufacturing, Long Crendon was left behind. Coal transported by canal to Oxford and then
wagon was expensive, and the only other source of power was a watermill in the fields at Notley
Abbey. Redditch, the other main area where needles were made was near coalfields and had
ample supplies of water from mills on the river Arrow. The old Long Crendon needle makers did
not think the machine made article would ever match hand-made needles, but some of the younger
men were impressed by Redditch efficiency.
In 1644 a. group of them made the journey north, arriving at the unheard of hour of 2 a.m.. About
a hundred years ago, the Redditch Indicator published a booklet "Notes on a decayed needleland"
by William Shrimpton with some details of that journey. I wanted to know the names, relationships
and more about the journey. After researches in newspapers the 'Bucks Herald', the 'Banbury
Guardian' and the 'Oxford City and County Herald', in the weather records at Oxford University
Observatory, and encyclopedias of the period, I have reconstructed the conditions they would
have met on their journey. I have traversed the route taken, even on an overgrown section
near Ambrosden, where it is just possible to use a car.
The Banbury 'Cockhorses' mentioned were freelance horsemen who were paid to assist the great
wagons getting up the hills out of the town. The York paving there had been recently laid, and
the town was lit by gas lamps. Stratford favoured oil street lamps. The horse-drawn trains took
goods on from the end of the Stratford canal to Moreton in the Marsh, with a branch to Shipston
on Stour.

The Leaving Of Long Crendon

It was about midnight on Sunday, 28 January 1844* when the covered wagons left Long Crendon
on their way to Astwood Bank near Redditch. The 'needlelands' were 66 miles and three days'
journey away. The weather was remarkably good for the time of year, despite drizzle earlier in
the day, and the moon, not yet full, shone between light clouds. Farewells had been said earlier
to relations and friends, the 'Old Britons Club' at the 'Churchill Arms', the 'Tradesmans' Club at
the 'Eight Bells' and the 'Hand in Hand' club at the 'Star'.
Eighteen adults and children made the journey, led by John Ephraim Shrimpton of Air Hill, who
had planned it, his wife Eleanor, their children Anne, Sarah, Eliza, Elizabeth, Amos and Emma.
Anne left behind her sweetheart, Amos Dodwell. John Ephraira took his apprentice, William Hawkes,

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