Tucker Archive – old buildings in Badsey

The Tucker archive comprises a bundle of 24 documents relating to buildings in Badsey which were demolished in the late 1940s when the burial ground of St James Church was extended (Sharps Row and the former blacksmith’s cottage and forge); they range in date from 1774-1909.

The documents were rescued from the skip by Peter Scott Tucker of Field Cottage, Mill Lane, Badsey, who was a solicitor for Messrs Smith & Roberts of Oat Street, Evesham. The 1980s was a period when, following the creation of the Land Registry, many firms of solicitors were disposing of old deeds which were no longer required. It was also a period when many firms of solicitors were undergoing mergers, as indeed happened to Smith & Roberts in 1988 when they merged with New & Saunders of 58 Bridge Street, Evesham, to become New Saunders Smith & Roberts (now known as Saunders Roberts), operating out of Bridge Street. This was a year after Peter had died and presumably a few years after he had retired, but it is likely that there began to be a clear-out in the early 1980s.

Some years after Peter’s death, his widow, Anna, was sorting out the contents of her house prior to moving to Evesham, and came across the documents. Anna Scott Tucker donated the papers to The Badsey Society in 2002.