Dear Bicknells and close family.
I am Derek Bicknell (Del), currently resident on the Southcoast of the UK, but prone to wandering.
My connection to you all starts with an inquisitive message on a ‘Gateway PC’ user forum, way back in 1990.
To put that into context for our younger generation:- Email had only just come into the public domain, and the WWW didn’t go mainstream in the UK until 1991.
Just for fun, I searched for the name ‘Bicknell’ on the forum – Bingo!!! I got a few replies.
The one that grabbed me and got my attention, mentioned ‘Zachary Bicknell’ and told the story of his crossing to Weymouth, MA, USA in 1634.
Wow!!! How interesting!!! I needed to know more!!!
I was told he came from Barrington, Somerset, UK. Now, I’ve often found that life is down to timing and so, I had a pre-arranged trip planned to visit family in Cornwall. Surely a quick diversion to Barrington would be in order.
Armed with a name and a location, my wife, Karen & I called into the one and only village PUB, ‘The Boar’.
It was a quiet lunchtime and we were greeted by incredibly friendly staff. Soon chatting about our quest, the bar staff offered us a book, with references to the Bicknell family and the thatched cottage they once owned.
A visit to the Church, ‘St. Mary’s’ revealed a black stone set in the floor, engraved with ‘Nicholas Bicknell in 1611’
That was it… Hooked on the Bicknell family history, seemingly forevermore.
Over the next few years, collecting various details, I decided to create my first (Handcrafted in HTML using a text editor!) website and share the stories online. The joy of creating something new and exciting spurred me on to become a Certified Internet Developer in 1998
In 1996 I had the good fortune of meeting Marcus, a wonderfully colourful and charismatic Bicknell character, and keen family historian.
Bicknell.net took on a new look in 1997 in the form of Microsoft Frontpage.
My commitments then turned to raising my own family, house, and career changes meant I simply could not make time to further my Bicknell research, nor maintain the content on the internet.
Yet, I never lost the desire to return to the fascination of our Bicknell family and its tales.
So, here we are… Lockdown 2020/21! Who’d have thought that such an unprecedented event would provide the perfect platform for me to re-ignite my Bicknell journey. Re-connect with Marcus and re-generate the website with 21st-century technology.
Facebook (Bicknell – The Family) has presented us all with a perfect platform on which to share the rich stories of our Bicknell family, past and present. To be captured and shared here on our website, in the hope that many future generations can connect to their ancestors of many hundreds of years.
Read, enjoy, and rejoice in the stories of Bicknell’s endeavors, accolades, fame, and fortune.
Thank you for visiting and maybe it has sparked your own journey of discovery.
You can find me for a chat, here – https://www.facebook.com/del.bicknell/
