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Preen News Summer 2019 IMPORTANT: If you wish to receive personal copies of these Newsletters,

please complete the GDPR form on the back page

1. Preen Reunion 2019

The 2019 reunion was held in Church Preen Village Hall on Saturday 22 June. It was a bright sunny day, a pleasant change for the recent weather. 24 members were present and the meeting started at 10.30. Normally it would have started with a talk on the family to be featured at this meeting. However on this occasion the topic was the history of Preen Manor (since we believe the family took its name from this Domesday Manor) and that was described in the programme given to everyone who attended. So we proceeded to the AGM, since there were important decisions to be taken.

Group Photo of those attending

AGM for the Preen Family History Study Group

held on 22 June 2019 in Church Preen

Present: (shown in the group photo)

Philip Davies (F32) - Chairman and Publicity Officer

Sue Laflin (F03) - Editor and Archivist

Andy Stevens (F27) - Webmaster

Also present: Michael Preen (F05), Patricia Preen (F05), Angela De'ath (F05), Philip Preen (F04), Patricia Preen (F04), Barry Kirtlan (F34), Maureen Foxall (F34), Douglas Round (F34), Vera Round (F34), Eric Beard (F32), Colin Preen (F07), Ann Preen (F07), Marion Bytheway (F03), Phillip Bytheway (F03), Philip Barker (F03), Pauline Davies (F32), Jan Edwards (F32), Kenneth Pugh (F04), Edith Pugh (F04), Malcolm Preen (F09) and Rita Preen (F09).

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Minutes of 2019 AGM continued.

1) The minutes of the 2018 meeting were accepted as a correct record.

2) Elections. The three officers were willing to continue and this was approved unanimously. 3) Officers' Reports.

Chairman's Report: Philip referred to the contributions made by the officers and by Phillip and Marion Bytheway, who organised the meeting this year.

Editor's Report: Sue said the only new publication was the programme for this year, which contained an account of the history of Preen Manor and would, in due course, appear as "2019 The Preens of Preen Manor". She has started preparatory work on a second edition of the four-volume "History of the Preen Family", which will need data from the 1921 census, due to become available on 1 January 2022.

Webmaster's Report: Andy reported that the web site has been viewed all over the world and is a very important method of publicising this group. He has been working on an extended site, which he will discuss and demonstrate later.

Publicity Officer's Report: Philip has been publicising the meeting and he gave examples of the places in which this publicity has been placed.

Archivist's Report: Sue apologised for the backlog in getting the original document deposited in Shropshire Archives. Those already deposited may be seen on their online catalogue.

Organiser's Report: Phillip Bytheway described the organisation of the meeting. Catering for lunch (which proved to be excellent) was by Jane Wilde and the gardens of Preen Manor would be open this afternoon to those who wished to visit for a payment of £6 per person (given to charity).

4) Venues for Future Years

Sue had prepared a summary of the position (given later in this newsletter). The concept of holding a meeting somewhere relevant to a particular family was approved and we discussed the various possibilities for those families who have not yet been featured in a reunion. Mike Preen and others agreed to hold a 2020 reunion in or near Bridgnorth and featuring family F05. It will probably be on Saturday 27 June 2020.

Others may be willing to organise meetings in future years, but were not willing to commit themselves so far in advance.

5) Any Other Business

a) The Future of the Group.

Sue presented her thoughts (included later in this newsletter). Without a Treasurer, she felt that we had to change how the group was run and we needed to close the Bank Account. This was discussed and in deciding what to do with the money, possible debts were considered. It was noted that in 2012, when Volume Two of the history was published, Sue had contributed £700 to help pay the printers and we have never sold enough copies to refund this. It was agreed that this should be repaid. Phillip Bytheway, this year's organiser, admitted there was a small amount owing but said he was happy to make this his contribution to the group. He was thanked for this. Patricia Preen (F05) from Bridgnorth volunteered to take on the job of Treasurer. Her offer was welcomed and unanimously accepted. So for now, the group can continue to function as before. Members will be those who have completed a GDPR application form and membership will remain free of charge and will include the "Preen News".

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b) Revised website.

Andy told us what he had prepared for an extended website, some parts free and some (containing additional details) for a small annual fee. (He suggested £30 per annum, or €36 euros or $40) After discussion, his ideas were approved and he was thanked for all his hard work. He said that after lunch, he would give a demonstration of the work so far to those who were interested.

The AGM closed at 11.30am.

After the AGM, we all went outside for the group photograph and then enjoyed our lunch.

In the afternoon, some people went round the Preen Manor Gardens, others visited the church, where Rev. Phillip Bytheway (shown in the picture) told them about it, and others remained in the Hall to use the Archive or view the new website.

Tea was a little early at 3pm, but everyone had returned and the tea and cakes were ready, so we decided not to wait. Some people had come a very long distance and wanted to start the journey home.

2. Future of the Preen Family History Study Group

by Sue Laflin

When Frances Preen gave me a sum of money from her sister's estate to help with research into the Preen family, I wanted to use this to set up a formal Family History Society with committee, bank account and constitution. Others were unwilling to do this and so we finished with an informal "Preen Family History Study Group". We had officers (Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Editor, Membership Secretary, Publicity Officer and Archivist) although with only a small group of active members there was inevitably some duplication of positions. Some members were strongly opposed to the idea of collection of membership subscriptions, feeling that we should not charge people to belong to the group. This meant we were never quite sure who was a member and were always short of money. Later Andy joined us as "Webmaster" but we never found anyone willing to take on the job of "Sales manager".

Now the number of officers running the group has shrunk to Philip Davies (Chairman and Publicity Officer), Andy Stevens (Webmaster) and myself Sue Laflin (Editor and Archivist). At present we are able and willing to continue doing these jobs on behalf of the group. However with no-one to be Treasurer, Secretary, Sales Manager or Membership secretary, we cannot continue even with our previous informal structure as the "Preen Family History Study Group". Nor do we have volunteers to run the annual reunions. Crucially we cannot continue in the same way without a Treasurer. If no-one is willing to take on this job, we shall have to change the way in which the group functions. We shall need to close the Group bank account and function as follows:-

1. We shall hold reunions from time to time, whenever we have anyone willing to organise such a meeting.

2. Andy will continue to run, develop and maintain the website. Some parts of the website will be free to anyone, others will be available on payment of a small fee. Andy will be responsible for the money raised and will use it to research the history of the family and extend the website.

3. Philip will continue to hold the title of "Chairman" and anyone wishing to arrange a reunion should approach him. He will also arrange publicity where appropriate and will help Sue to produce and distribute the newsletter "Preen News".

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4. Sue will continue as Editor and this includes writing or editing the various books and arranging for their publication using LULU (an online publishing company which also distributes the books worldwide and collects the payments for them). This generates a small amount of income, which in future will be paid to Sue and used for research and writing more books. She will be responsible for this money.

This will allow the Study Group to continue, at least as long as we are able to carry out these duties. Once again, let me stress that we would love to be able do more - regular annual reunions are something we wish we could continue. But this requires active members of the group to help with the work involved. We all have other commitments and can only devote a certain amount of time and effort to the Preen Group. These proposals seem to make the best possible use of the time and effort that we are able to supply.

These proposals were discussed at the AGM, but Patricia Preen volunteered to take on the job of Treasurer and so this drastic action described here was not necessary. Any profits raised from either sale of books or the website will be paid into the Preen FHSG bank account and those carrying out the research will be eligible to claim some of their expenses.

3. Possible venues for future meetings

by Sue Laflin

As the amount of data I collected about the Preen family continued to grow, I started storing it in separate folders, referred to as F01, F02 etc. I organised them into recognisable groups, (F01 records from Hope Bowdler and Cardington), (F30 records from Bridgnorth), (F20 records from Gloucestershire) and so on.

Then in 2004, a DNA study showed that most of the Preens were divided into three groups, the "Cardington Group" (with Philip Preen of Hope Bowdler as the common ancestor), the "Kings Stanley Group" (with John Preen as a common ancestor) and the "Bridgnorth Group" (with Francis Preen as a common ancestor). This involved a major re-organisation of the data and ended with the following structure. We also developed the idea of reunions held in places associated with a particular family and featuring their history.

CARDINGTON GROUP F02 Descendants of Philip Preen, Lived in Hope Bowdler, Cardington, Eaton-under- Heywood

and Ross-on-Wye. Discussed in the early meetings and also featured in the 2013 meeting in Coalport, published as "2013 The Preens of Preens Eddy".

F03 Descendants of Thomas Preen 1797-1874 and Jane Powell. Lived in various places in Apedale as well as Shrewsbury, Wrexham, and Manchester. 2018 meeting held in Shrewsbury. Published as "2018 The Preens of Apedale".

F04 Descendants of William Preen 1798-1877 and Elizabeth Pugh. Lived mainly in Cardington. Meetings in 2008 and 2011. Published as "2008: The Preens of Cardington part 1" and "2011 The Preens of Cardington part 2".

F05 Descendants of John Preen 1803-1882 and Sarah Wallater Lived in Gretton, Middlehope, Shawbury and Bridgnorth. 2020 meeting planned for this family.

F06 Descendants of Richard Preen 1807-1887 and Sarah King. Lived in Leebotwood and Bishops Castle. Meeting in 2012 published as "2012 The Preens of Leebotwood"

F07 Descendants of John Preen 1730-c1800 and Mary Crosse. Moved to the Amersham area and later some moved to Carshalton. Meeting in 2015 in Carshalton, published as "2015 The Preens of Carshalton".

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F08 Descendants of Thomas Preen 1756-c1830 and his two wives Lived in Cardington, Church Stretton and Leebotwood. Meeting in 2016 in Leebotwood. published as "2016 The Preens of Cardington part 3".

F09 Descendants of George Preen 1818-1891 and Elizabeth James. Lived at Leigh near Gloucester and Staverton. May be a possible venue for a future meeting. KINGS STANLEY GROUP F20 Descendants of John Preene c1590-1649 and Margery Davy. Lived at Stone in

Gloucestershire and Kings Stanley. Meeting in 2009 published as "2009 The Preens of Kings Stanley"

F21 Descendants of Stephen Preene 1660-1737 and Joan Parker. Lived in Tetbury. No known living descendants.

F22 Descendants of Thomas Preen 1740-1827 and Mary. Lived in and around Maisemore and in Gloucester. Meeting in Hartpury in 2017 published as "2017 The Preens of Maisemore"

F23 Descendants of Thomas Preen 1758-1821 and Elizabeth Beard. Lived in Kings Stanley. Meeting in 2009 published as "2009 The Preens of Kings Stanley"

F25 Descendants of Stephen Preen 1754-1786 and Mary Dane. Some lived in Kings Stanley. Others moved north to Cheltenham and Birmingham.

F26 Descendants of William Preen 1813-1882 and Hester Mills. William Preen lived in Horsley. His descendants moved to Abercarn and New Zealand. New Zealand is too far, but Horsley or Abercarn are possibilities.

F27 Descendants of Henry Preen 1818-1884 and Ann Pegler. This family is found in or near Bristol, which would be a suitable place for a meeting. BRIDGNORTH GROUP F30 Descendants of Francis Preene c1609-1680 and Frances Garbett. Lived in the Low Town of Bridgnorth. Meeting in 2010 published as "2010 The Preens of Mill St, Bridgnorth".

F31 Descendants of Thomas Preen c1766-1848 and Susannah Fluck. This family lived in Hartpury, Quedgley, Hardwick, Gloucester and Eardisley Common near Hereford.

F32 Descendants of Thomas Preen 1754-1825 and Mary Wall. Part of this family lived in and around Stourport-on-Severn. The others moved to Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Sheffield.

F33 Descendants of Joseph Preene 1759-1837 and Ann Moore. These lived in Dunley and later moved to Malvern, Kent and Birmingham. Meeting at Astley in 2014 published as "2014 The Preens of Dunley".

F34 Descendants of William Preen 1761-1839 and Sylvia Wigley. Most of this family live in or near Kingswinford and Stourbridge.

F35 Descendants of Samuel Preen 1766-1828 and Elizabeth Cleobury. This family moved to Newcastle-on-Tyne.

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4. Examples of new web site design

by Andy Stevens

The name index enables you to browse by first name in the case of the Preen family or spouse surname if you toggle the switch to the right of the letter index.

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The family record displays the parents, children and timeline events for the highlighted individual in this case Henry Preen. Clicking on his wife Ann would highlight Ann and change the timeline to her details. Clicking on the children or parents will display their family record.

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5. History of Preen Manor This will appear in the next booklet “2019 The Preens of Preen Manor”, but a brief summary is included here. The manor first appears in the Domesday book where it is included in the lands

Entrance to Church Preen churchyard, with the yew tree behind the gate and the manor and church on the right.

held by Early Roger de Montgomery. Part of the manor (Pruna Parva) was held by Godbold the priest and this later became the township of Holt Preen in Cardington. The main part of the manor (Pruna Magna) became the parish of Church Preen. Later there was a dispute over the lands between the monks of Combermere Abbey (near Whitchurch) and those from Wenlock Priory in Much Wenlock. In 1163 this was decided in favour of Wenlock Priory and thereafter the Prior of Wenlock gave one of his monks the title “Prior of Preen” and sent him to act as lord of the manor in Preen Magna.

The last Prior of Preen was Don John Castell, who was appointed as “Prior of Preen” in 1521 and for the next twelve years, nothing memorable happened. However in 1534, things became interesting. The Prior of Wenlock decided to sell Preen Manor because Wenlock Priory was short of money, so he started the legal process to transfer ownership to one Giles Covert. John Castell was not told about this and only discovered it early the next year when the transfer was almost complete. He travelled to London to protest and although he could not halt the transfer, he was offered an annual pension of 4 marks from Giles Covert in exchange for his rights (undefined) over Preen Manor. He accepted the pension and then went to live in Dudley Priory rather than Wenlock Priory.

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Preen Manor in 2015

View from the front lawn.

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Members of the Preen family visiting the gardens in 2015

At the Dissolution of the Monasteries, when both Priories were closed, John Castell became curate in Monkhopton (which may have received the name “Monk Hopton” because he, a monk, was curate there). John Castell died in 1544.

In 1590 there was an enquiry about the legality of the sale to Giles Covert. By now the manor has been inherited from Giles Covert by his brother Richard Covert who then sold it to Humphrey Dickens. In 1590, Humphrey’s son William Dickins claimed ownership, but had to make some payments to the Crown to establish his ownership. After this, Preen Manor remained in the Dickens family until 1749, when it was sold to Miss Elizabeth Price. Eventually in 1848, the Manor was bought by William Hanbury Sparrow and it was his son, Arthur Sparrow, who wrote the “History of Church Preen” and also rebuilt the manor house. By now, the old manor house was in very bad condition and it was decided to rebuild on the same site, the work being entrusted to Norman Shaw RA. After Arthur Sparrow’s death, this house was demolished to make way for a house “of more modest dimensions” but the façade was sold to an engineer from Sheffield, one Albert Davidson, who included it in a large house in Linden Avenue in Woodseats in Sheffield. It is still there, but is now two semi-detached houses, numbers 18 and 20 called “Wenlock” and “Preen”.

Preen Manor was sold in 1977 and when the Preen Reunion was held in 1994, the manor belonged to Mr and Mrs Trevor-Jones. When we again visited the gardens in 2015, Mrs Trevor-Jones was very ill and unable to meet us. After her death, it was bought by Mr and Mrs James Tanner, who were away on holiday at the time of the 2019 reunion, but arranged for the Preens to visit the garden.

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PREEN FAMILY HISTORY STUDY GROUP The group exists to study the history of the PREEN family. It produces a Newsletter ("Preen News"), organises reunions and publishes books. In the past, we have held a mailing list of members' names emails and addresses so that we can send you information about these activities. This is the only use we have made of this list - we do not send your details to anyone else. With new GDPR legislation, we now need your explicit permission to continue to maintain this list. If you wish to receive information from us, please complete the form below, sign and date it, and then send it by post to:

PFFSG Archivist, 757 Pershore Road,

Selly Park, Birmingham B29 7NY

ENGLAND