I am new to the list. I have discovered that some of my wifes family ancestors originated in various parts of SHROPSHIRE and I am specifically interested in the HALDING (variously ALDING, HALLDING, WALLDING) and LLOYD members. She had family members in the ASTLEY ABBOTS area of BRIDGENORTH and as far as I can determine, LLOYD members in the PONTESBURY area. The family were very committed to Non-Conformism as best I can tell and I have found quite a bit of information through the SHROPSHIRE FHS and the Archive Unit at SHREWSBURY. My greatest difficulty lies in reading the transcripts of ASTLEY ABBOTS BMD Registers and the almost illegible microfilm. I have also had some difficulty in tracing the family details of MARY HALDING (variously shown as ALDING and WALLDING) nee LLOYD who was born circa 1802 PONTESBURY and married WILLIAM HALDING (born around 1795 at ASTLEY ABBOTS) circa 1820 in BRIDGENORTH. Does anyone have any thoughts on the Non-Conformist route for further investigation. Kind regards Mike Say -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.408 / Virus Database: 268.13.2/471 - Release Date: 10/10/2006

Hi Mike Not sure this is going to be of any use to you, but there is a web-site which shows (mainly photos) of the Shropshire non-conformist chapels, but if you take down the details and check out these chapels with the help of maps, gazetteers, etc, possible you might find something close by to Astley Abbots. http://www.users.waitrose.com/~coxfamily/ There are an awful lot of them!!! Good luck Graham Melbourne Oz