Place:Childs-Wickham, Gloucestershire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Childs-Wickham is a village since 1931 in Worcestershire, England, situated within the flat open landscape of the Vale of Evesham, between the Bredon and Cotswold Hills, two miles from Broadway. It is an area predominantly of market gardening, arable and pasture land, with surrounding fields defined by hedgerows.

Being on the edge of the North Cotswolds it has a mixture of building styles, from Cotswold limestone to red brick, to the more traditional Worcestershire black and white half timber and thatch. The earliest buildings are timber framed with wattle and daub and Cotswold limestone.

The 15th century spire of the original Norman church, St Mary the Virgin, is a local landmark and can be seen for several miles.

Childs-Wickham was transferred from Gloucestershire to Worcestershire in 1931. While in Gloucestershire it was part of Pebworth Rural District. It was then absorbed into Evesham Rural District in Worcestershire.

Research Tips

• Gloucestershire Archives in Gloucester is where paper and microfilm copies of all records for parishes now in Gloucestershire are stored.
• Worcestershire County Council:Archives and Archaeology is where paper and microfilm copies of all records for parishes now in Worcestershire are stored.

Online sources which may also be helpful:

• GENUKI gives pointers to other archive sources as well as providing some details on each parish in the county. The emphasis here is on ecclesiastical parishes (useful before 1837)
• A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 and tables of the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. Do respect the copyright on this material.
• The FamilySearch Wiki for Gloucestershire and The FamilySearch Wiki for Worcestershire provides a similar but not identical series of webpages to that provided by GENUKI
• A Vision of Britain through Time has a group of pages of statistical facts for almost every parish in both counties
• Unfortunately, only two of the Pebworth Rural District parishes are covered by A History of the County of Gloucester in the Victoria County History series provided by the website British History Online. There does not appear to be a series for Worcestershire.
• Comparing a map of Gloucestershire parishes in 1900 with a map of Gloucestershire parishes made in the 1943 helps to illustrate how the county borders changed through this period. A very helpful diagrammatic map will be found on the Pebworth Rural District page.
• Ancestry.co.uk has recently added Gloucestershire Burials, 1813-1988; Confirmations, 1834-1913; Baptisms, 1813-1913; Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1813; and Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938. (entry dated 1 Aug 2015)