Reviews of Black Country Websites - www.cradleylinks.com

This is what Nigel and Mike have to say about their site:

The site was launched in October 2001, and is devoted to local and family history in Cradley. It is the work of Mike Hamilton in Melbourne, Australia and Cradley-born Nigel Brown. We are members of the Cradley Then and Now group (Mike is the Australian section), and there are informal but strong links between the group and web site. The content is wide ranging and growing almost daily. The most visited and used parts of the site are those with direct family history relevance, such as the transcriptions of baptism and marriage registers, the 1841 census, war memorials and no less than 17 trade directories over the period 1820 to 1940. These are fully searchable databases. There are hundreds of photographs, old and contemporary, of Cradley people and places and a good collection of old maps too.

We have received and published articles from several people who have been inspired to write for Cradley Links, including biographies of ancestors, a study of old Cradley pubs, and three excellent and original articles by Terry Evans about the men that went to war in 1914-1918 from Cradley. We are especially pleased to have had permission from Peter Barnsley to re-print all his Cradley history essays that have appeared in past issues of "The Blackcountryman".

Cradley Links has opened its pages to Colley Lane School in this its centenary year, and we have covered the various celebration activities. One member of the Cradley Then and Now group video recorded a Central TV News item about one of the open days, and Carlton TV agreed to let us reproduce the film clip on the web site.

Visitors to Cradley Links can celebrate the Cradley-born footballer Steve Bloomer who played for Derby County and England, by listening to a particularly rousing version of "Steve Bloomer's Watching", the Derby County team anthem, not to mention a bostin' version of the Australian football song "Up There Cazaley", which is to exactly the same tune.

The site has a register of surname interests for family historians to contact each other, and a mailing list via which subscribers can exchange e-mail messages with every other subscriber about any Cradley topics.

Nigel Brown & Mike Hamilton

My thoughts on the site:

This is a well-established site and from the frontpage it is clear a lot of effort has gone into its presentation. The site and content are colourful, but not garish, there is plenty of content with census data, book material, schools, information about the people of Cradley, Cradley at war and work, essays by Peter Barnsley (regular Blackcountryman contributor), and much more besides.

One of the important features is the ease of navigation around the site, with a frame that expands to give access to sub-headings. This means that with the minimum of mouse clicks you can find exactly what you want.

The site is heavy on content, and lacking in flash animation, just how I believe a site of this type should be designed. The design itself is also important, and should not detract from the content, after all, if you are visiting this site, chances are you are looking for information, not flash animation. Once again the site scores highly on the design front.

A quick glance at the "whats new" page shows how regular updates are. Three major updates in September 2002, 7 updates in August 2002, it is clear that you will need to keep on returning to the site to read the new material. Photographs abound through-out, and include larger versions accessed by clicking on the web page version, another nice touch.

I have mentioned content, and it is probably the strong-point of the site, Nigel and Mike have researched their subject thoroughly and present articles from many sources. I have mentioned Peter Barnsley, also present are features from the Cradley Parish Church magazine in the 1950s, as well as local directorys and a medieval map dating back to 1307.

This review contains many links to the sections I have described. Once you get into the site I am sure you will agree it is well worth an hour (or more) of anyone's time delving around.

Mick Pearson

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