Warwickshire is a land locked county in the centre of England that historically included Coventry and Birmingham before they were moved to the West Midlands in the 1974 boundary changes. Therefore at the time of their birth our family was born in Warwickshire although it is technically West Midlands now.
Warwickshire is bordered by Worcestershire and the West Midlands to the west, Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east and Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire to the south.
It is not known what brought our maternal ancestors the BLAKESLEY family down to London from their home in Sutton Coldfield, now part of Birmingham so close to its industrial centre and hence a source of work.
Gillard / Wood Family History 