[Paul Davies]

Many thanks for letting me join your society. I live in Manchester but tracing my family tree I’ve found that a lot of my ancestors (Oxley’s, Smiths and Broadhurst’s) lived in and around Hexham. You’ll probably all get sick of me asking questions but my first is about a George Oxley. He was born in 1826 and worked for over 50 years at Messrs. Henry Bell and Sons as a tanner. I have details that he founded the Free Gardenry at Hexham and was the Father of the Sunflower Lodge. Apparently he was given the title of “The Old Recruiting Sergeant”. He died in 1907. I was wondering if anyone could shed any light on the Gardenry/ Sunflower Lodge.

Also, I have people that lived in Holy Island and Quality Corner – can anyone let me know where these places were?

Many thanks for anything anyone can give me,

Paul

[Mark Benjamin]

I’m afraid I know nothing about either the Free Gardenry or Sunflower Lodges but we’ll include your request in our forthcoming newsletter in the hope that someone may come up with something. Oxley is still very much a Hexham name; I remember Oxley’s tobacconist/sweetshop on Battle Hill well into the 1980s. In the period you mention, we have a listing for Henry Oxley, clog-maker, on Market Street in 1879 and another (?) Henry, blacksmith, on Eastgate between 1906 and 1935.

At the turn of the 19th/20th centuries, Hexham had several flourishing nursery gardens & orchards so it may well have had associated lodges

Holy Island is a group of houses at the bottom of Gilesgate, so named because it was bounded on three sides by burns, now culverted, and the largest house – dating from the 17th century, was known to have housed Catholic services. Quality Corner is more of a mystery!

[Jennifer Britton]

Quality Corner wasn’t in Hexham itself. It was on the north side of the River Tyne in the Parish of Warden.

It appears as ‘Quality Corner’ on all the censuses up to and including 1881, but by 1891 appears as ‘Quality Cottages’.

You can see it on this ‘side by side’ map https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=16.8&lat=54.99098&lon=-2.14612&layers=168&right=ESRIWorld

And as a bonus there are photos here! https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/94319 and https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1664788

Jennifer Britton

[Mark Benjamin]

As you may know, although it may have had its origins in gardening, by the time of your ancestor’s involvement, the Free Gardenry was simply another Friendly Society; the naming of lodges after flowers, merely a tradition. A perusal of the Hexham Courant for the relevant years might shed some light on its activities but, sadly, these have not been digitised and so would require a visit to Hexham Library! Further information about Free Gardenry can be found on the Internet at https://jvc.oup.com/2021/02/11/the-brotherhood-of-free-gardeners/

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