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We started at Marple which is about 10 miles from southern Manchester.
Visited the Cheadle Church, Booth Cote, then went on to Hayfield and Mellor,
churches that the Clayton's worshiped while living at Bugsworth and New
Mills. The Mellor church was rebuilt in 1818 but inside is believed to
be the oldest pulpit in England possibly in the World. It dates back to
the 1300's and was carved from a oak tree trunk. The font is ancient and
dates back to saxon times. There has been a church on the
site back to that time, and also an iron age village was found there.
At Bugsworth visted the home we think is Hollins, then I had a guided tour of the town by the town historian. We also visited some towns south east of the Clayton area.
At New Mills visited an area known as Upper Smithy where Edward Clayton
died in 1818, and visited his brother's grave - Dr. Samuel Clayton. This
is the only Clayton grave we have found. Still no baptism records prior
to Ralph's in 1791. The church at New Mills burned in the early 1800's
and with it the church records. So we may never know any of the early
family information.
My home base while in Derbyshire was at Buxton. While there Geoffrey
& Sheila (my hosts) made arrangements for me to meet our cousins, what
few are left in England. They are descendats of Adam, Wright's brother
and
Geoffrey met them last year when they came to one of his talks at the
Derbyshire Family History Society. We had a nice visit and I met
two brother's our generation (4th) one on their sons and a grandchild.
The grandchild is in his teens and is the last male Clayton left in England.
Unfortunately the Clayton family in England have no information on the
early Clayton family. They thought the family line went back generations
in Poynton, where Adam lived and were surprised to find out Adam was
from Bugsworth, Derbyshire.