Local History News Number 133 Autumn 2019

By Alan Crosby

The near-catastrophe at Whaley Bridge at the beginning of August, when the dam of Toddbrook Reservoir seemed to be about to collapse, revived folk memories of other such disasters which actually happened. Much the most serious and extensive was the so-called ‘Great Sheffield Flood’ of 11 March 1864. The newly-finished Dale Dyke dam at Bradfield, seven miles north-west of the city centre, collapsed while the reservoir was being filled for the first time. It had been shoddily-constructed, and on the night of the calamity a great crack was noticed in the face of the dam—although the later enquiry controversially exonerated the waterworks company and its engineers from blame. Recent research suggests that there were fundamental flaws in the clay covering of the earth dam.

The destruction was appalling. An estimated 700 million gallons of water poured as gigantic flood down the valley of the River Loxley and then that of the Don towards central Sheffield with its densely-packed slum housing close to the river, and then beyond into Attercliffe and Rotherham. There was no warning, and the flood happened at night when everyone was at home. Officially, 240 people drowned but the likelihood is that the death toll was significantly higher. Over 5000 houses were flooded, many being destroyed or badly-damaged, and numerous factories and industrial sites were devastated.

Intriguingly John Towlerton Leather, the consultant engineer in charge of the project, was the nephew of George Leather, also an engineer and the man responsible for the Bilberry Reservoir above Holmfirth, 22 miles from Sheffield. It was an inauspicious connection, since just after midnight on 5 February 1852, following torrential rain, that dam had collapsed. About 86 million gallons of water charged down the valley of the River Holme, killing 81 people and causing widespread devastation. Again, negligence in the construction and upkeep of the dam was held responsible for the disaster.

These were not the first such events. In the completely unregulated environment of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with no prior expertise or tried and tested construction techniques, reservoirs were being built to supply canals with water (as at Whaley Bridge) or for industrial or domestic use. The failure of some was more or less inevitable. In 1799, for example, the Tunnel End dam at Marsden in Yorkshire, which was intended to supply the Huddersfield Canal collapsed, while the canal was still under construction, killing one person, and eleven years later a second dam at nearby Diggle Moss Moor failed, resulting in six deaths. On both occasions the main contributory factor was the overtopping of the dam by floodwaters.

At Whinhill, near Greenock, a dam which supplied a cotton mill burst its banks, causing only minor damage but resulting in its abandonment. The mill was subsequently converted to grinding grain and corn, but although local people raised concerns the dam was patched up and enlarged. On 21 November 1835—at night and in a period of very heavy rain, circumstances common to many such events—the dam collapsed, sending water crashing through narrow streets, killing 37 people. An enquiry found that rats and moles had burrowed their way through the dam, weakening its structure, a problem exacerbated by neglect and lack of inspection and maintenance.

There are numerous other examples. Nobody has died in the United Kingdom as a result of dam failure since 1925, when the village of Dolgarrog near Conwy was overwhelmed when the Eigiau dam, which supplied the nearby aluminium works and was very badly-built, collapsed. The floodwaters overtopped the dam at Coedty Reservoir, just downstream. This also failed, and a tremendous wall of water, carrying with it huge boulders, smashed through Dolgarrog. No lives lost for almost a century ... but the events of early August at Whaley Bridge were a salutary reminder of the potential hazards associated with structures that are in some cases almost 250 years old.

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Michael McGarvie’s contribution to local history in east Somerset, particularly his home town of Frome, has been unparalleled. For the last 50 years he has recorded, preserved and promoted the history of the area, and is renowned for getting the community involved with its history. Michael’s tireless enthusiasm continues as he moves into his ninth decade.

The origins of his interest go far back, and he traces two main strands to account for this. One was his grandmother who introduced him to the fascination of the history around them. Secondly, Michael, aged about 11, went on a memorable visit to Cleeve Abbey organised by the local vicar. The importance of buildings is reflected in much of his later work.

Born at Hove in 1938, Michael had a peripatetic youth in the West Country with little settled education. Nevertheless he won a state scholarship and attended University College, London. He started his working life as a sub editor on The Field magazine and was later appointed Literary Editor. On marriage he became freelance, and moved to Frome. Researching the history of his ancient farmhouse drew him more deeply and permanently into the local historical scene. Much of his early output went into answering queries about family history which inspired him to write the history of his wife’s family, The Meyricks of Bush.

Michael has researched and written the definitive history Frome, now in its fifth edition, together with monographs on St John’s Church, and other churches in the area. His publications range much further afield too, including Castle Cary and Street, guides to Witham Friary, Nunney and many more. Newspaper articles, talks, guided walks, and answering queries have been amongst the other ways in which Michael has generously shared his knowledge over the years.

In the 1970s Michael was Secretary of the Frome Society for Local Study, of which he became President. He has served on the council of the Somerset Record Society, as Hon Secretary and Treasurer of Somerset & Dorset Notes & Queries, Hon Editor of the Somerset Archaeological & Natural History Society, and the Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society, and was voluntary archivist at Mells Manor, the Oxford and Asquith collection.

An important example of his influence was in saving Marston House from demolition. This is now a Grade II* listed building, but might have gone for ever without Michael’s research on the history of the building and the Boyle family. This involved two trips to Harvard University, and resulted in The Book of Marston Bigot. The Frome Society for Local History submission, written by Michael, to Mendip District Council was vital.

www.fsls.org.uk

Thanks to Michael McGarvie, Susan Moore, Adrian Webb, Alastair MacLeay and Alice McGarvie

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By Bill Dean-Myatt

Most readers, I imagine, will be familiar with the 78-rpm gramophone record, which was first recorded and sold in the United Kingdom in 1899 and finally ceased production in the early 1960s when it was succeeded by vinyl. The brand names HMV, Parlophone, Columbia, Decca, Philips, Pye and many more will probably revive memories.

However, what is often forgotten is that larger towns usually had a good record retailer and this retailer would often have a disc recording machine and a small recording studio with a piano on his premises. Amateur singers, small choirs and instrumental groups could go there and make a double sided 10” diameter 78-rpm disc for a pound or so. If more than one copy was required the shop could send the original to someone like Levy Bros Ltd. or British Homophone Co. Ltd., who would press the number of copies required.

Many of these ‘one-off’ records have hand written labels, sometimes only giving details of the repertoire but often the performer’s name is given and occasionally a date, presumably the day the recording was taken.

A solo performer’s recording was usually for their own or their family’s pleasure but some shops enlarged their studios sufficiently to be able to record local choirs and orchestras, who were sure to want multiple copies. On these occasions a proper printed label would be applied to the disc and these would be sold to the choir and then resold to its individual members.

Occasionally a local record shop would issue a record for sale to the general public that could be bought via a record retailer or by mail. This type of record was particularly associated with the jazz revival of the late 1940s and 1950s. The brand names Manor, Jazz Parade, Tempo, Jazz Collector spring to mind.

For most of the late 1920s and 1930s it had been possible to find a local recording studio or to go to London to the Gramophone Company’s Oxford Street shop or Levy Brothers establishment and have a recording taken by a skilled engineer - but this was expensive and was mostly use by the wealthy amateur performer, established artists who wanted to try out a new song or give a record to friends, or corporate bodies that need sound recording for some purpose or another.

However, what seems to be an unexplored area are recordings by singers, speakers, choirs, instrumentalists and orchestras and, of course, pop groups and singers, rock bands, jazz groups and so on. A few, very few, of these would go on to fame and fortune and one lives in hope that some incredibly rare and valuable locally made record will appear at a car boot sale or charity shop.

These neglected items are, I feel, a valuable part of local history and deserve to be saved and archived and the history of the companies should be researched. The heyday of the local recording studio was between 1946-1960, so it should still be possible to find the person who operated the
recording machine or the person who wanted to be recorded. A suitable area for an oral history project maybe?

My main interest has been in documenting the 1000+ 78rpm labels that appeared on the open market and that could be purchased across the counter or by mail order. A long series of articles has appeared in the magazine For the Record the journal of the City of London Phonograph & Gramophone Society (the world’s oldest!) and it made some mention of these ‘local’ records but most have never been investigated. This maybe because there must be hundreds, if not thousands.

I would be more than happy to help and advise anyone who wanted to undertake research and I would welcome good scans (600 pixels) of local record labels (the label only – not the record)

Bill Dean-Myatt, MPhil, has been researching the history of these 1200+ brands of 78-rpm records for over fifty years. He has published many articles in specialist magazines as well as some seven books about specific record labels, plus a 600 page discography of Scottish music recorded between 1888-1960. Contact him by email at wdm@scottishdiscography.co.uk

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By David Griffths

In the late 1830s, the followers of pioneering Socialist Robert Owen opened a number of Halls of Science around the country, offering educational and social facilities for working men who supported his principles and campaigns. One such opened in Huddersfield in November 1839, in a handsome ‘Georgian’ building, and is now understood to be the only surviving example. Mainstays of its activities were lectures by local socialists, radicals and co-operators and entertainments, where the Social Harmonic Band might accompany the singing of Social Hymns – though the programme was of course resolutely secular.

The Hall of Science operated for little more than seven years. By 1846 Owen’s Universal Community Society of Rational Religionists was struggling against political and financial adversity, and despite use by Chartists and others, the Hall was put on the market in March 1847. Its subsequent career has been a chequered one: used successively as a Unitarian and then a Baptist chapel, an organ factory, for cloth recycling by a shoddy merchant, by a cabinet maker and, since the 1960s, by a family-owned painting and decorating business.

With the enthusiastic support of the current owner of the business, Nathan Clay, Huddersfield Local History Society marked Heritage Open Days in September with a lecture in situ by local historian Alan Brooke, whose history of the Hall of Science is available on his website. As Alan movingly said at the outset, this was almost certainly the first talk about socialism given in the building for over 170 years. Due to space constraints only 30 were able to attend, most of whom adjourned for pie ‘n peas at the nearby Sportsman pub (built in 1930 and recently listed for its Art Deco features).
Alan’s talk was complemented some days later by a guided walk along the Radical Heritage Trail, led by HLHS chair Cyril Pearce, who devised the trail, one of over 15 now published by the Discover Huddersfield partnership. Both events were among a record 68 listed in the Kirklees programme for Heritage Open Days, which has been championed by HLHS and other partners in recent years.

Further information
Hall of Science: https://undergroundhistories.wordpress.com
HLHS: www.huddersfieldhistory.org.uk
Discover Huddersfield: www.discoverhuddersfield.com

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By Bill Shannon

In summer 1848, Newcastle schoolmaster John Collingwood Bruce planned to visit Rome, but was prevented by the Year of Revolution: and so he settled for second best and set out to explore Rome in his own backyard. He was so impressed by what he saw that he gave a lecture that autumn, and then the following year led a ‘Pilgrimage’ to the Wall. In 1851, he wrote a book entitled ‘The Roman Wall’ – and went on to become the doyen of Wall studies throughout the 19th century.

In 1886, a second Pilgrimage was held (Bruce was now 80 years old), jointly sponsored by the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society (CWAAS) and the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne (SANT). And so a tradition was born. Almost every ten years since, there has been a Pilgrimage: this year’s was the Fourteenth. The original involved about twenty Pilgrims: this year we had 220, led by our Chief Pilgrim David Breeze, present-day doyen of Wall studies, who, incredibly, has been on six Pilgrimages, having attended his first in 1969.

We spent four nights each in Newcastle and Carlisle, and each day set out in one of four coaches to visit sites all the way from Wallsend to Maryport, including the newly excavated bathhouse at Wallsend – and of course the on-going excavations at Vindolanda, where there is always something new to see. Sometimes we walked to reach towers, milecastles, temporary camps or stretches of wall. We visited seven museums, had numerous receptions, and were featured on BBC Look North and Radio Cumbria. However, the whole purpose of the Pilgrimage is to review current thinking. In this, we were aided by the latest handbook, ‘Hadrian’s Wall 2009-2019, compiled by Rob Collins and Matthew Symonds. But the absolutely key part of the Pilgrimage were the impromptu commentaries and discussions led by our coach and site guides. We learned that Wall studies are anything but static. The big questions – such as “What was the wall FOR?” continue to generate as much debate as ever. We learned that the Wall was built simultaneously from each end, with the west being built in the normal Roman style as a turf wall – so why was stone used in the east? How high was it? Was there a crenellated parapet? (probably not) Was there a wall walk? (probably not – Tony Wilmott convincingly demonstrated that the Narrow Wall was barely big enough to contain him, let alone allow two armed soldiers with shields to pass). Why was ‘the Fort Decision’ taken, moving forts like Housesteads up onto the wall, which was clearly not part of the original plan? And perhaps above all, what was the purpose of the Vallum?

Special thanks to David Breeze and to all our guides – Tony Wilmott, Valerie Maxwell, Mike Bishop, Graeme Stobbs, Nick Hodgson, Erik Graafstal, Matt Symonds and Rob Collins, plus the car support team, Lindsay Allason-Jones and Rachel Newman.

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By Elaine Saunders

The extended and updated 19th century prisons database developed by Dr Rosalind Crone of the Open University at www.prisonhistory.org/19th-century-prisons now provides a searchable list of 847 prisons and their archives. Following this, Dr Crone is now working on ‘Your Local Lock-Up’, a free-to-access, public engagement project which aims to locate any structures used for temporary imprisonment or restraint. These lock-ups might have confined the accused until they appeared before a local magistrate, when being moved between penal institutions, or when undergoing trial. Some lock-ups, like stocks, could also have been used to punish those ‘behaving badly’ in the local community.

Lock-ups have been almost entirely overlooked by penal historians, but they are essential for understanding criminal justice at the local level, and the use and experience of imprisonment in British history. Your Local Lock-Up at www.prisonhistory.org/local-lock-up/ is building a national database of surviving or demolished lock-ups and other places of local confinement. This will allow us to explore various aspects of lock-ups’ use, character and design, and enable us to complete the next stage in the recovery of the penal landscape of historic Britain.

To do this, we now need the help of local historians! There are around 650 lock-ups in the database at www.prisonhistory.org/local-lock-up/, but this is far from exhaustive, and we anticipate that there are countless others we know nothing about. We are therefore calling upon local historians and members of the public to help us recover more lock-ups, and would be very grateful if readers could tell us about any in their area. The project is compiling data on any place or structure used for temporary confinement between the 16th and early 20th centuries; including purpose built lock-ups, police stations, cells in town halls, courthouses, workhouses, stocks and even rooms in pubs used to detain prisoners.

It is easy to contribute information on a new lock-up directly into the database through an online form at www.prisonhistory.org/locallock-up/submit-lock-up. Alternatively, every existing entry has an 'Anything to Add' button, allowing anyone to give extra information or photographs. We are also inviting anyone interested in lock-ups and penal history more generally to join our project team to help with research and the development of the database at www.prisonhistory.org/local-lock-up/become-a-contributor/

Your Local Lock-Up is interested in collecting many different types of evidence on lock-ups, and especially welcomes historic and present-day descriptions of structures or their uses, and pictures. It need not be written evidence, either. We are equally keen to hear anecdotes about incidents involving the lock-up, the prisoners held there and the location of any that are now lost.

We are also collecting ‘stories’ of lock-ups or prisons for our new features page, some of which can already be seen at www.prisonhistory.org/category/stories/. Could any reader please contribute a story on the history of a particular institution, prison or lock-up in the local area; the restoration or conversion of a lock-up; local events held there; or accounts of how data from the project is being used?

To increase Your Local Lock-Up’s usefulness to local history societies and communities, every lock-up entry in the database includes a ‘print’ button, which generates a ready-made pamphlet containing information and an image that can be displayed or distributed. We would welcome feedback on this, or any other aspect of the site, so we can develop the resource further.

Finally, we are asking local historians to connect with Prison History UK on social media. They can follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/prisonhistoryuk), ‘like’ our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Prison-History-UK-2390455521218014 ); and share material with us on Instagram (www.instagram.com/prisonhistoryuk). It is also possible to subscribe directly to our mailing list at www.prisonhistory.org to receive the latest project news and updates.

If you have any queries, or would like further information about Your Local Lock-Up, please email Dr Rosalind Crone at Rosalind.Crone@open.ac.uk or myself at earlypolicing@gmail.com. We very much look forward to receiving your comments and contributions to this exciting new project.

Dr Elaine Saunders is Researcher for Your Local Lock-Up project

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By Ally McConnell

On the second day of the Gloucester History Festival, the Heritage Hub was buzzing with activity with a garden party taking place in the newly created community garden and the opportunity to enjoy exhibitions, artwork, acting, talks and behind the scenes tours.

Work on the transformation of the building had only finished a couple of weeks before the highly anticipated event, with new contractors Beards working hard to complete the final stages of the Hub on schedule. The new training suite, the Dunrossil Centre, was opened the Tuesday before by Mavis, Lady Dunrossil. It was proudly used at the garden party for refreshments as well as exhibitions on the Gloucestershire Constabulary (celebrating 180 years) and the Gloucestershire Deaf Association (celebrating 100 years).

Inside the refurbished public searchroom and project rooms, visitors enjoyed further exhibitions on the Victoria County History, the community garden, the history of the site and the Taynton Metal Detecting Club. The latter showed the results of 40 years of collecting coins, artefacts, pottery and clay pipes in Gloucestershire.

The garden was home to Pitch Up, a camping-inspired performance which used the garden as the base for a family friendly, interactive show to drop in and out of showing the highs and lows of camping trips. Music and shouting from the Velcro Collective filled the event and a lot of fun was had! Accessible to all and audio described, it was a perfect event to be a backdrop to the day.

Also in the garden was a civil war surgeon who was on hand to heal musket wounds and pike injuries in case any were suffered during the day!

Throughout the day, tours were offered to anyone who wanted to see behind the scenes at the Heritage Hub, and two talks were offered as well – one about the Saxon Warrior of Operation Shallow Grave, a high status Saxon burial which was discovered in 2016 and excavated with the help of the MOD’s Operation Nightingale. Later in the day, a half-hour talk on “Treasures from the Archives” showed a few of the Heritage Hub staff’s favourite documents allowing visitors to get a sense of the archive holdings.

There were photograph opportunities galore, with our favourite being a picture of Heritage Hub staff, volunteers and stakeholders (in the yellow hats) saying “Hats Off!” to Beards (in the orange hats). Their efforts to complete the building to this high specification have been much appreciated by staff, volunteers and visitors. Finally, everyone was able to enjoy and appreciate all the Heritage Hub building and its partners had to offer.

The community garden at the Heritage Hub is a new venture attempting to welcome local people and visitors to the site by having a wildlife-friendly, accessible open space that is much needed in the heart of a busy, built-up city like Gloucester. Building works had almost doubled the size of the garden and we realised that we could make it into a proper community garden rather than just using it for staff and researchers. With the increase of community groups and council training groups using the new facilities, it made sense to provide the space for the benefit of them and also anyone who fancied just popping into the garden without coming into the archives. It is still work in progress but as I write this article a group of staff from a local housing association are building raised beds and fences, and planting borders as part of their community impact day, and their tenants will hopefully be some of the local people who enjoy the results.

We are so pleased that the Heritage Hub is complete and how it enables us to work with partners and communities to improve the lives of those who interact with it. The rest of the History Festival events held at the Heritage Hub have been equally focused on encouraging everyone to celebrate their heritage and that of where they live. The Hub is now firmly embedded in the Kingsholm area of Gloucester and we are excited to continue the work we’re doing. I’m sure that will include another cake and laughter-filled Open Day next September as well!

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By Mike Kipling

First, Romola Davenport asked why infant mortality in cities reduced so much in the 18th and 19th centuries. Smallpox was, surprisingly, an endemic childhood disease in the North and East of England but an epidemic disease of all ages in the South and East. There is evidence for a reduction in virulence to ensure greater chance in transmission, followed later by inoculation. Another factor was the provision of clean water which reduced lethal water-borne diseases like cholera. Beata Nowok then described the Digitising Scotland project, which is aiming to code BMDs from 1973 to 1855 working backwards. Early results on the seasonality of mortality were showing a range from 120% of the annual rate in January to 80% in August.

Chris Galley also spoke about infant mortality. He conjectured that better measurement from 1900 led to greater awareness of the issue and the beginning of an infant welfare movement. Nevertheless, 47% of infant deaths in the 1900s were in just 10 registration districts. Jeremy Boulton then reported his findings on exhumation practices in the 18th century. He covered exhumation for curiosity purposes (e.g. saints), punishment (e.g. Cromwell) and so a family member could lie next to others. He had found exhumations after periods ranging from 2 days to 68 years and to places as far away as America.

After lunch, Julia Rugg spoke on changes in English funerary practices, from churchyard to cemetery to cremation and, increasingly now, to natural burial. She mentioned the rapid ‘turnover’ in some churchyards and the promotion of undisturbed rest in the new Victorian cemeteries. Janet Ridler then related the story of Sheffield’s hidden necropolis (the General Cemetery), from its foundation in the 1830s by non-conformists, through its peak housing the remains of Sheffield’s great and good, including George Bassett of liquorice allsorts fame, to its decline and eventual conversion to a park and listed landscape.

Finally, Judith Pitchforth described the work of team on family reconstructions from the headstones in Sheffield’s Fulwood graveyard, driven by the desire of the church to build on part of it.

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By Diana Parrot

The Society, founded in 1973, and has had a History Centre since 1979. The Society took on the care of large parts of the Harpenden Collection - which had been started in the early 1900s - comprising artefacts, photos, paintings and 'ephemera'. The collection continues to grow. From 1979 to 2003 it was housed in rooms rented in Harpenden Hall. Small monthly exhibitions were mounted by a rota of members for six hours on Saturdays. Weekly open-evenings were held to index and study the collection which led to museum accreditation in 2001. This was relinquished in 2003 when, due to an increase in rent, the lease was given up. For a number of years the collections were dispersed in various storage facilities but since 2007 Harpenden Town Council has grant-funded the rent of a room in Park Hall where most of the collection has been reassembled. Indexing and study continues with enquiries being received, many through our website; the collection is open to visitors by arrangement. Quarterly exhibitions are put together for a two-hour session on Saturday afternoon in the adjoining hall. These are generally based on photos from the collection, mounted on double-sided screens, and supplemented with artefacts from our museum collection currently in store in St Albans. Meanwhile, the committee continued to lobby SADC on the need for a permanent home for the Harpenden collection, and this is coming to fruition with plans for a museum to be included in the Arts and Cultural Hub in Rothamsted Park due to open in 2021. A mix of permanent displays and changing exhibitions is planned alongside an Archive store and research area, where work will continue on indexing and sharing the collection with the community. The long term aim is to work for accreditation once more.

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By John Hinshelwood

The committee of the Hornsey Historical Society (HHS) in Haringey, north London, decided in January 2018 to establish a Local History Surgery to provide members of the public with face to face advice and assistance in their own personal research into local history. This was to be additional to the long standing Enquiry Service offered by the Society which undertakes research on particular questions sent in by members of the public and has, in recent years, helped individuals with their own research. The Committee agreed that the Surgery should start on the first Saturday of every month, starting in March, between 10.30 and 2.30, in The Old Schoolhouse, between Hornsey and Crouch End.
The range of interests and advice given has covered a wide range of local investigations such as the history of a New River Company well house, the formation of a medicinal garden in St Ann’s Hospital, identifying the Victorian photographs of Alfred Braddock and the search for evidence that the young Ho Chi Minh did actually spend time in the area. As well as giving general advice, an number of written guides to local and family history research have been produced which have been much appreciated.

In June 2018 the Surgery was opened to the widest possible public as part of the Haringey Adult Learning Service’s (HALS) Festival of Learning, for which HALS offered a payment for those attending, that earned the HHS £259. The Surgery was further developed, in September 2018, to provide an ongoing support for members of the Crouch End & District U3A course on Local History. A special session was provided for U3A members and this became recognised as a separate U3A Local History Research Group. The U3A and the HHS have now agreed to enter into a Shared Learning Project on local history due to start in October 2019.

The Local History Surgery is advertised in the HHS website under events: https://hornseyhistorical.org.uk/events/

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By David Haunton

Our workshops are scheduled every six or seven weeks (dates published in our quarterly Bulletin), in the back room of a local museum. The room is booked for three hours, but sessions rarely last much beyond two.

Usually 5-12 people attend, with at least three from among our most active researchers. The most important person present is the one deputed to make notes for a future summary in the Bulletin. She or he is appointed by the Chair for the day, who takes office because they took (and wrote up) the notes of the previous meeting.

Any member may turn up; we hope they have a contribution or question prepared, but this is not mandatory. Indeed, one lady sometimes brings items to discuss, but more often has ‘nothing to declare’, and once told us she had ‘nothing better to do’ that afternoon (laughter, not reported). However, as she invariably adds a personal memory for at least one of the subjects discussed, which would otherwise go un-recorded, she is always welcome. You will gather from this that our meetings are informal and cheerful.

We sit around a large table, and speak in turn (usually without electronic aid). A member may talk about where they have got to in their current research, ask for help if stuck or foreseeing difficulties, report on a query submitted to the Society from an outsider, mention a snippet of information of local content, show an interesting photo or artwork, criticise a poem, or rehearse briefly a talk they are going to deliver elsewhere. Anyone present may ask a question, or make a suggestion or an observation. Some contributions are so interesting and sufficiently lengthy that the Bulletin editor (ie. me) asks for them to be written up as full-scale articles for future publication: they are then only briefly summarised in the workshop report.

Subjects are eclectic: recent ones have included the conflicting statements in interim reports of the find-spots of Roman items; whether Morden church was Puritan in the 17th-century; whether its refacing in brick has been mis-dated by 30 years; the location shown in a 1937 Derby Day photo of buses; how to trace the boundaries of an 18th-century farm; acquaintances of a 19th-century lady who may be among the first female photographers; and identifying the exact field in which A W L Schermuly ran trials of his Pistol Rocket Life-saving Apparatus. We have learnt of poems by Carol Rumens and U A Fanthorpe that mention our river Wandle, and seen the original covers, by an unknown artist, of a 1941 humorous magazine produced by the local Auxiliary Fire Service.

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By Nigel Burn

The Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology is an old society, we celebrate our 175th anniversary this year. We have approximately 600 members, and four main sections: Archaeology, Local History, Building Recording and Industrial Archaeology. In addition we have an active publications arm, and have recently taken over primary responsibility for the heritage building which we occupy at Jews Court as well as the site of the mediaeval Bardney Abbey.

Nevertheless we became concerned that a new member joining the society might not be fully aware of the breadth of opportunities available. I think that we are all familiar with the scenario, as a new member to any society we attend our first meeting hesitantly and not knowing anybody. If we are lucky somebody greets us, but does this really introduce us to the society itself?

We therefore decided to hold, once a year, an event on a Sunday afternoon when we would invite all recent members to attend, the purpose being to introduce them to their society. Each of the main sections gives a very brief (maximum 10 minutes) presentation outlining their activities.

However the main focus of the afternoon comes after the presentations. Then the new members can meet and chat over a cup of coffee with representatives of the respective sections, and usually the chairman and other officers, hopefully providing an occasion which enables the individual to maximise the benefits of membership, and indeed for us to get to know him or her.

The New Members Day thus gives the senior members of the Society the time and opportunity to focus solely on the new member. We all know how difficult this can be at a busy meeting. Hopefully it also assists the new member in getting the most from their membership, so that today’s new member will still be with us in the years to come.

Nigel Burn
Chairman
S.L.H.A.

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By Louise Ryland-Epton

The Bremhill Parish History Group is a community project set up in conjunction with the Victoria County History to research, explore, record and communicate the rich and varied heritage of Bremhill, a large and diverse civil parish in north Wiltshire. It brings together those with little or no research experience to develop new skills and interests, provide a supportive framework for enjoyable research, and create a new village history book and website. This will be produced alongside the VCH chapter on Bremhill, to be included in the volume in progress on the Chippenham area. Currently, following a VCH-led workshop at Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre, volunteers are transcribing 17th- to 19th-century probate documents to uncover how villagers of the past lived and supported themselves. Many of the stories they have uncovered are finding their way into the community history book, which is already underway. Another workshop, on historical maps, will take place soon. But the Bremhill group is not just about hard work. Also imminent is an evening of talks, music and refreshment on the local Moravian church.

The culmination of activities, apart from a glossy local history book and website, and the input to the VCH, will be the inaugural Bremhill History Festival featuring local talks, walks, reconstructions, and other social events, planned for September 2020. The group recognises that not everyone will want, or may be able, to participate in activities. So to make the material accessible, they will design local walk and cycle ride apps; leaflets; exhibitions and resources for schools and other groups. The Heritage Lottery Fund has generously funded the project, and with help and support from the Wiltshire Victoria County History Trust, the Bremhill Parish History Group are confident that the project will have a lasting legacy.

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By Gill Draper

Deptford Working Histories [DWH] carries out local history projects with the frequently-changing and very diverse resident population of Deptford, and presents those projects to the public and in schools. Many Deptford residents are migrants themselves or from families who have recently been immigrants, including Vietnamese people and members of the ‘Windrush generation’. DWH’s very recent project has been a series of talks and short walks through 500 years of Lewisham’s Black History entitled ‘Steps to Windrush’. The talks covered the stories of black families in 18th century Lewisham and participants were invited to walk in the footsteps of black sailors, writers and revolutionaries.

David Killingray (BALH Chair) and I met Mari Taylor of DWH at the Centre for Kent History and Heritage at Canterbury Christ Church University in a session hosted by Professor Jackie Eales, Co-Director of the Centre for Kent History & Heritage; Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, Principal Research Fellow at the Centre was also able to attend. Together we were able to brainstorm some of the questions posed to the Centre by Deptford Working Histories bringing our particular areas of expertise to them: black people in England since the 16th century, immigration, Deptford as a port, online resources and the most useful catalogues to search - and how best to search them. Current areas of interest to DHW include land ownerships and uses prior to Deptford becoming part of Greater London, since many of the records lie in Kent.

We all went from the meeting able to think over, and act on, further ways the Centre and The British Association for Local History could offer pointers to DWH, and also learn from how they carry out their projects in a place which does not fit the traditional local history mould. In particular there are various challenges which make special demands on local historians: the rapid changes among those who make up the local population in Deptford: a partly-migrant population without English as a first language, fractured local library and archival sources, the destruction of the 19th century port infrastructure for housing development, and Deptford’s situation in one of the most impoverished London boroughs. This all makes what DWH achieves especially admirable.

DWH’s current project is focusing on the river and the links in cargo between Deptford and Kent and they hope soon to look at old market gardens locally.
Email deptfordworkinghistories@gmail.com

Gill Draper
Events and Development Officer BALH,
Visiting Research Fellow the Centre for Kent History and Heritage at Canterbury Christ Church University

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By Valerie Brenton

I am writing this having just completed a three year adventure into the world of on-line learning. In 2016 as a competent family historian I was looking for a course to develop my research skills, broaden my knowledge base and open new career opportunities. I had initially looked at the Strathclyde course and decided it was too challenging, but then I completed their 6 week FutureLearn course – Genealogy: Researching your family tree. This prompted me to look again at the course and, possibly feeling more confident after interacting with the tutors, I signed up for the first year of the course.

Although I started the course with the intention of completing all three years, after many years away from higher education the structure of the course was a major factor in committing not only my time, but a considerable sum of money (course fees, subscriptions to websites, course reading list). The course is split into three sections: The Post Graduate Certificate, the Post Graduate Diploma and the MSc. I also had an escape plan: if the going got tough I could cash in at the end of any section and still have a qualification to show for my effort. Alternatively I could swap to the modular version of the course, although this would take longer and cost a bit more. I never considered the 18 month full-time version.

As with any university course I had to submit a personal statement, evidence of previous education and references. My referee told me afterwards that the main focus of the reference was whether, in their opinion, I was sufficiently organised to manage my time and the additional workload effectively. Once I started the course I realised the significance of that request. 20 hours a week is a lot of time to find. I was lucky in that I was able to reduce my work hours to give myself a day and a half a week of uninterrupted study time to supplement the odd hours in the evening and at weekends.

The enormity of the commitment I had made became very real during the induction week when I saw the timetable – 2 assignments (pass or fail) and 1 assessment (graded against a published mark scheme) for each of the 6 modules, but at least I now had all the dates for the release of materials, the submission of work and when feedback could be expected. The induction week involved a number of small tasks to make contact with our tutor and to ensure familiarisation with the Virtual Learning Environment – our on-line classroom and message board. The lectures where released on set dates in both audio and written format for us to listen to and/or read at our convenience. The written version also had a long list of resources and suggested reading. Most of the reading could be undertaken on-line, especially as we had full access to the university’s online library, including many subscription databases such as Jstore.

And so the year progressed. I enjoyed the variety, the pace of the learning and the support of my tutor who was always positive in her feedback, especially with the rigidity of the referencing requirements. I ended the year with an invitation to return and complete the Diploma – an invitation I accepted without hesitation. The Diploma year allowed a lot more freedom as it formed a bridge between the fast paced Certificate year and the self-directed 600 hours to produce a dissertation in the MSc year.

The Diploma was delivered as three modules running concurrently throughout the year. The first was just a continuation of the Certificate, adding to our knowledge base. The second involved five projects – two focussing on palaeography and the other three allowed us to explore a set topic – migration was probably the one that had the greatest variety in submissions. The third section was a project report on a topic of our choosing. This was where I had to resubmit several times – a Design Brief was required before the project title would be approved and my tutor made several suggestions to ensure that I had a manageable project that would allow me to access the entire mark scheme. Modules 2 and 3 were very much about genealogy and embedding it in the historical context.

During the Certificate and Diploma one assessment was a group work project. All of the planning, discussions and submissions took place on a forum that was only visible to the group and the supervising tutor. Collaborating just using the written word was an interesting and productive experience thanks to the professionalism of the other group members.

Both the Certificate and Diploma years could be very successfully completed without ever leaving a computer – they are deliberately designed that way to accommodate international students. This changed in the final year. The dissertation had to offer some new and original analysis. The need to have regular access to primary sources was essential. The team of tutors at Strathclyde encouraged all of us to start working on our dissertation Design Brief and gathering the primary data before the official start of the course. They were the voice of experience and knew we would need support in stopping the exciting research and undertaking the analysis and formal write up. The other key difference for the MSc year was that you had regular webcam meetings with your tutor to check progress against your time plan, discuss problems and any possible changes in direction as a result of the new information uncovered or just to ask for advice.

My dissertation focussed on analysing a wages ledger, 1796-1829. The ledger appears to have been maintained by the head gardener who was responsible for paying the day labourers, male and female, who worked in the gardens and parkland surrounding Kingston Lacy House, East Dorset. The head gardener was also responsible for running the house while the Bankes family were absent as board wages and women in the laundry and scouring in the kitchen are recorded. For many my dissertation would read as a local history study as local employment patterns were revealed showing that the estate workers employment did not reflect all of the trends that research on that of farm workers has revealed. This was especially noticeable for women’s work which increased after the Napoleonic Wars. The genealogical aspect was in trying to identify trends in employment and occupations across families.

The key downside of the course was that I did miss interaction with other students, the chance to bounce ideas and ask questions in a less public forum than the message boards. There were a small number of voluntary audio chats or tutorials that helped me feel less isolated during the Certificate and Diploma. These were recorded and made available for those unable to attend or if you wanted to listen again. I had been unable to make the voluntary 2 days of visits to archives in Edinburgh and Glasgow, organised by the University, during my Certificate year. For the Diploma year I ensured I could make the trip north and benefited from being able to meet fellow students and the tutors, as well as being welcomed into so many different archives. This was such a rewarding experience that I repeated it in my final year. I was lucky that during my time on the course fellow students organised additional visits – one to the National Archives, Kew, and one to Birmingham. That chance to just chat and share was invaluable.

Would this course suit a local historian? If your focus is the individuals that formed the communities and ensuring that you consider those individuals within the national and local context then yes. Will this course suit you or better support your research than another course? Unfortunately, only you can answer that question.

Do I regret my decision to commit so much time and money to what was, after all, only a hobby? In a word no. It was the right decision for me. I now have a new career as a professional genealogist where I can practice my enhanced research skills and apply the wide ranging knowledge I have acquired. I have also acquired a new and enthusiastic network of friends and colleagues who understand my obsession with history and dead people.

Full details of the current options for the course can be found at https://www.strath.ac.uk/courses/postgraduatetaught/genealogicalpalaeographicheraldicstudies/.

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From Great Bowden Historical Society

One year ago on the 3rd September 2018 the Society commenced their 2018/19 programme. As usual for the first talk there was a large turnout of 67 members with 3 visitors. The title of the lecture was ‘Victorian Ghost Stories’. For the first time ever in our history, since 1997, the speaker failed to arrive. One can imagine my feelings of consternation and panic and then having to stand up and address the audience explaining the situation. However, just before I was about to go to the front of the hall one of our members said she would be happy to fill the gap. She had recently been researching for a book Market Harborough and the Bowdens in the 1st WW, and the book was now on sale. Speaking for 20 minutes with no notes she saved the day!

I think we had been guilty of complacency. Not surprisingly, at our next Committee meeting the first item we discussed was a back- up plan for no-show speakers. One of our Committee members does a lot of talks but is also very busy so cannot always be relied upon to be present at the monthly meetings.The best idea seemed to be to purchase some appropriate DVD's. We found a company which seems to fit the bill perfectly and they are not expensive. www.BRITAINONFILM.co.ukWe have purchased four. Each runs for 50minutes, which is perfect. The titles we have chosen are:
‘The Way We Were in the 1950s’ enjoyable and could lead to a lot of discussion.
‘2000 years in LEICESTERSHIRE’ the favourite with our secretary.
‘LEICESTER the story of a city and its suburbs’
‘The Way We Were at work’
The web site covers the whole of England with its titles so should meet the requirements of most societies. We have just had our first meeting of the 2019/20 programme. I emailed our speaker 10 days before, having booked him in November. He arrived on time, gave an excellent, well received talk to a large audience and was delighted because he sold five of his books. But I took the DVD'S to the meeting! Paul Bennett, Chairman http://www.greatbowdenhistoricalsociety.btck.co.uk/
Oxford Local History Association will be holding their Autumn Study Day on Saturday 16 November at New College, Oxford. The subject is ‘how to use manorial documents for local and family history research’. The day will include the launch of the Oxfordshire Manorial Documents Register. http://www.olha.org.uk/
Blue plaques continue to feature in newsletters as more and more notable persons and organisations are recognised in this way (and local groups raise or otherwise obtain funding to make this possible). Here are some examples to show how varied these can be. Commemoration of the 200th anniversary of James Watt’s death continues (www.jameswatt2019.org). A red plaque was unveiled at the Angle Ring Company, Bloomfield Road in Tipton earlier in the year by Tipton Civic Society. It states ‘Near this spot in 1776 the first commercial steam engine to the design of James Watt 1736-1819 was erected by Boulton & Watt to pump water from Bloomfield Colliery’. The Blackcountryman. www.blackcountrysociety.com.

In August the Lord Mayor of Newcastle unveiled a plaque to Thomas Bowman Stephenson (1839-1912) at Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle upon Tyne. Stephenson was the founder of the National Children’s Home (now known as Action for Children). He is also remembered as the founder of the Wesley Deaconess order. He was born in Newcastle and baptised in Brunswick Chapel. The Bulletin of the North East Methodist History Society published an article about his formative years. www.northeastmethodisthistory.weebly.com
There has been a local studies display in Bedford Central Library this Autumn of blue plaques in the area, and the ‘great lives’ they recognise. Bedford Architectural, Archaeological and Local history Society has taken a leading role in promoting and part-funding some of these as part of its aim of raising the profile of local history. www.baalhs.org.uk
The book The Blue Plaques of Barnet published by Hendon and District Archaeological Society in 1973 included a plaque that was on the wall of ‘The Castle’ public house at the junction of Hermitage Lane and Finchley Road in Childs Hill. Then the building was closed and demolished to make way for a block of flats. Concern was raised about the whereabouts of the plaque and HADAS was advised that it was being stored by Barnet Council. The flats are now complete and it is nice to see that the plaque is on the new building close to the front door. ‘It’s always nice when something you think has gone returns’. www.hadas.org.uk

The Victorian Society has published the list of 10 most endangered buildings for 2019.These are (from their website, in no particular order) Chatterley Whitfield Colliery, Staffordshire; Shadwell Court, Norfolk; Queensbury Tunnel, Yorkshire, Everton Library, Liverpool; Hulme Hippodrome, Manchester; Cowbridge School, Vale of Glamorgan; Pelican Works, Birmingham; former church of St Luke Warrington, Cheshire; former Leslie Arms public house, Croydon; Corn Exchange, Swindon. Griff Rhys Jones, President of the Society, said ‘All of these historic sites are glorious and imaginative places ready for a new and productive life’. https://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/news/victorian-society-top-10-most-endangered-buildings-2019 (shortened URL) https://www.balh.org.uk/GWC111
The Churches Conservation Trust’s debate on ‘Who should be responsible for the care of historic churches’ which took place at the V & A on 3 September can now be watched on YouTube
https://youtube/9oV1Y6Ay9_U
The panel was Sir Simon Jenkins, Rev Sally Hitchiner, journalist and broadcaster Peter Stanford, and architect Nick Berry. From the Ecclesiological Society e-newsletter. www.ecclsoc.org
In response to members’ suggestions Warwickshire Local History Society has arranged its first day-time talk. This will be on Saturday 18 January at St Michael’s Church Centre, Warwick, and the title is 'Warwick Pageant & the 20th Century Pageant Movement' by Ellie Reid. Their programme of evening talks continues as usual. A highlight of their summer activities was a visit to Birmingham to the Coffin Works and Jewellery Quarter Museums. www.warwickshirehistory.org.uk
Town trails with your phone are increasingly popular (see below under Archives also). Members of Stroud Local History Society have developed one, written for both locals and visitors. It is free to download. They have thoughtfully produced a printed version too, which is proving very popular. This can be printed from the website or purchased locally. Or you can do the virtual town trail at home! www.stroudlocalhistorysociety.org.uk
Most local history societies plan well ahead. Some seem better than others at publicising their activities in very good time. This is helpful to me as LHN is compiled and distributed quarterly. All too often I discover something to share only to see it will have passed before LHN goes out. Has everyone noticed that the May Bank Holiday next year has been moved to coincide with the 75th Anniversary of V E Day? Keyworth & District Local History Society, with the Conservation Area Advisory Group and Keyworth Parish Council, are making plans to mark the occasion, on Friday 8 May 2020. www.keyworthhistory.org.uk
A recent issue Broseley Local History Society’s Newsletter published a letter from a member who had dug up a fragment of glass bottle in his garden. It is temporarily painted white for the photograph, and clearly shows a depiction of the Iron Bridge (which links Broseley with its better known neighbours across the Severn). Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust has not been able to help identify it. Does anyone have any suggestions? www.broseley.org.uk
Ever since I have been connected with LHN, the name of Cecil Amor has been synonymous with Bridport History Society, of which he is now the Hon President. The September 2019 issue of their Journal reports the celebration of his 90th birthday. True to form he has contributed an article – this time a brief but very useful chronology of Bridport and its environs. Just the sort of piece that needs to be kept for handy reference! Editor’s email william633@btinternet.com
Coincidentally, further east along the Channel coast Christchurch History Society Autumn 2019 Journal also contains a chronology of old and new Christchurch – again a valuable source of reference. With the internet these days it is simple to look up (for example) when the railway was extended form Christchurch to Bournemouth, but probably much quicker to scan the pages here.
www.historychristchurch.org

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Six museums have been awarded funding in round three of the AIM Biffa Award ‘History Makers – People Who Shaped Our World’ programme. The museums will use their grants to create new exhibitions on the lives and achievements of extraordinary historical figures. The museums and historical subjects are: Chatsworth House Trust, Derbyshire (Joseph and Sarah Paxton); Commonwealth War Graves Commission at the Runnymede Air Forces Memorial (Nook Inayat Khan); Cromwell Museum, Huntingdon (Oliver Cromwell); People’s History Museum, Manchester (Annie Besant and Jayaben Desai); Port Sunlight Village Trust, Merseyside (William Lever); and the National Coal Mining Museum for England, West Yorkshire (Sir Humphrey Davy and others). Association of Independent Museums www.aim-museums.co.uk
Mansfield Museum received record numbers of visitors this summer, more than in any other year except 2007. That year saw the Museum mount a blockbuster exhibition called Golden Sands, when twenty tons of sand were used to convert an entire gallery into an indoor beach – a one-off that became commonplace in town squares up and down the county. Apart from that unique occasion, 2019 stands as the Museum’s best-ever summer attendance figure! Over 7000 people, so hundreds of families, came to see what was on offer. Many were attracted by the regular ArtBeat! hands-on craft sessions; some by Lego or board games days; others by Sublime Science workshops where they got to make their very own pot of slime. Man on the Moon, Mansfield and Sutton Astronomical Society’s exhibition celebrating the half-centenary of the Moon landing, was also a big draw. The next new exhibition celebrating the careers of local sidecar champs the Birchall Brothers. And the two-week Autumn Half-Term Holiday will see a whole raft of sport and nature-themed art activities. And if that isn’t enough, come and help find the ever-elusive Wally as we take part in Where’s Wally? The Big Museum Hunt (see below) https://www.mansfield.gov.uk/museum/
Kids in Museums is working with Walker Books to celebrate the release of the new Where’s Wally book ‘Double Trouble at the Museum’. During October half –term (sorry if this is too late for some areas) 50 museums will host a Where’s Wally? Search. There’s a map and further information on the Kids in Museums website. https://www.balh.org.uk/WUG107 (Short URL) https://kidsinmuseums.org.uk/what-we-do/wheres-wally-the-big-museum-hunt/
Fifteen museums have been nominated for the 2019 Family Friendly Museum Award, the winner will be announced in October.
325 years, 325 objects is an exhibition at the Bank of England Museum, celebrating its 325th anniversary. Running from July 2019 to the end of May 2020 the objects range from Roman relics to a nuclear fall-out calculator and explore how money and the way the pay for things has been transformed since the Bank was established in 1694. The website also has timelines and illustrations on many aspects of the Bank’s history - such as women as clients and staff, diversity, changing methods of making payments, and much more. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/museum/whats-on/2019/325-years-exhibition
(short URL) https://www.balh.org.uk/BTW106

Many readers will remember what came to be called The Great Train Robbery of 8 August 1963. A temporary exhibition at the Postal Museum running until April 2020 explores the crime and subsequent investigation, alongside other stories of crime and the post, including the work of the Post Office’s own investigation department. The website has the full story and pictures of the crime scene and evidence.
https://www.postalmuseum.org/discover/collections/great-train-robbery/

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All archive services have a plan to enable recovery of the archives should a disaster occur. Thankfully, users are normally unaware of this, so it is interesting to read in Bedfordshire Archives & Records Service Summer 2019 Newsletter how they took the opportunity of their Closed Week in May to carry our training and a review of the Salvage Plan. They discussed catastrophes such as fire and flood, and the horrors of mould, and carried out experiments comparing the water-resistance of different types of boxes. Handling large volumes of wet paper, parchment, leather and books is difficult, and each requires different methods of drying. ‘Conservation Corner’ in the same Newsletter illustrates the challenges of parchment, which when wet ‘becomes slippery, slimy and smelly, and the ink may rub off’. www.bedford.gov.uk/archive

Staffordshire Archives and Heritage, in partnership with the Wellcome Tust, have started a two-year research project to shed light on the history of three County Asylums, at Stafford, Burntwood and Cheddleton.. The project will catalogue case records form 1818-1960, focusing on the patient experience. As well as developing a database of information, the project will create an online index to hep family historians. There are plans for a touring exhibition and a series of talks at venues across the county. The project blog is now live: https://staffordshireasylumrecords.wordpress.com/
Suffolk Record Office has been working with community partners and local company Chronicle to develop new app-based historical walks around Suffolk towns. The first is in Eye – ‘a small town with a very large history’. The Eye Airfield trail followed, then Ipswich and more are planned. www.suffolkarchives.co.uk www.slhc.org.uk
Berkshire Record Office has an exhibition running until 20 December Celebrating 100 years of the Berkshire Federation of Women’s Institutes. Two of their many interesting events take place in November: on 11th, 10-30-11.30 you can go ‘Behind the Scenes at the BRO’, and the following week on 18th, 10.15 – 14.45, there is a workshop ‘How to Read Old Handwriting’. Booking essential: email arch@reading.gov.uk https://www.berkshirerecordoffice.org.uk/
At heritage Open Day in September, Cheshire Archives had a series of 17th century petitions out on display (as well as behind the scenes tours to the strong rooms and conservation studio). People who came along for the day were amazed at the things ordinary folk petitioned the local justices about back in the 1600s. Everything from anti-social behaviour and neighbours behaving very badly, poor people asking to build a cottage on waste ground, to the treatment of maimed soldiers after the civil war. Researchers from ‘The Power of Petitioning’ project have been examining and transcribing petitions from Cheshire Quarter Sessions records between 1573 and 1698. As a result of this project the rich social history content of these records is much more accessible and a selection is now available on British History Online. https://petitioning.history.ac.uk/
www.cheshirearchives.org.uk

The Salvation Army International Heritage Centre has begun to make available online the 10 volumes of the East London Evangelist / Christian Mission Magazine. These are the monthly periodicals of the predecessor of The Salvation Army, the East London Christian Mission. The site also includes the 1867 annual report of the Mission. https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/history-christian-mission

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The 30th Earl Lecture at Keele University, arranged in association with the Jack Leighton Trust, will be held on Monday 18 November at 8 pm (precede by a soft drinks reception at 7.30). Dr Philip Morgan’s title is ‘Dig where you stand: Keele’s Experiment in Local History’. The venue is the Westminster Theatre, Chancellor’s Building, Keele University. No tickets required. Enquiries to a.sargent1@keele.ac.uk

The Centre for West Midlands History at the University of Birmingham will be holding ‘Birmingham History Day’ on Saturday 30 November in the large Lecture theatre, Arts Building, of the University. The programme is as varied as ever, beginning with James Watt as it is the bicentenary of his death. New books, and community history and heritage projects, including an innovative programme engaging children, will be presented and there will be news from Birmingham Libraries and Museums. Email m.m.dick@bham.ac.uk (shortened URL) https://www.balh.org.uk/MHN103
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/historycultures/departments/history/events/2019/birmingham-history-day-2019.aspx

The CWMH seminar programme continues, all 18.30 – 20.00 in the Arts Building. On 14 November Justine Pick will speak on ‘Rivers, Wells and Waterworks: setting the sanitary scene in Birmingham1842-1872’. On 16 January Dr Roger White’s title is ‘Researching Wroxeter: A Roman city and its hinterland through time’. ‘Rethinking Berkswell: the 12th century church of St John the Baptist, Berkswell’ is the topic of Dr John Hunt on 13 February 2020.
(shortened URL) https://www.balh.org.uk/VBG104 https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/cwmh/events/index.aspx

‘Fully fashioned: archival remnants of the textile trade’ is an exhibition at the Weston Gallery, Nottingham Lakeside Arts, University Park NG7 2RD until 1 December 2019. Photographs, marketing materials and business records from the University of Nottingham’s lace and hosiery archive collections, provide surviving evidence of the textiles trade which was once such a major feature of the East Midlands. https://www.balh.org.uk/BRF110 (shortened URL)
https://www.lakesidearts.org.uk/exhibitions/event/4143/fully-fashioned-archival-remnants-of-the-textile-trade.html www.keyworthhistory.org.uk

Each year the Historical Association, in collaboration with the Spirit of Normandy Trust, offers a series of awards to primary and secondary school children for outstanding history scholarship. The 2019 Young Historian Awards for Local History went to Lauren Rae, Dollar Academy, Scotland (Key Stage3) and Aaron Gillet, Wilson’s School, Wallington, Surrey at GCSE level.
(shortened URL) https://www.balh.org.uk/HFG105
https://www.history.org.uk/ha-news/categories/455/news/3754/young-historian-awards-2019-winners

There is a vast amount of fascinating information and comment that does not reach more formal methods of communication – but appears in Blog Posts. Many readers will have met these, because they receive emails from Museums, Libraries, Galleries, Record Offices and other institutions. Do you read them? Try it! Just one excellent example comes from the Centre for Kent History & Heritage at Canterbury Christ Church University (and yes, Gill suggested this one). Contributions do not just apply to Kent. For example Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh writes a comprehensive report on ‘The Fifteenth Century’ conference held in Exeter earlier in the year, at which BALH President Professor Caroline Barron was one of the plenary speakers. Papers discussed very diverse topics from around the country, using varied sources.
https://blogs.canterbury.ac.uk/kenthistory/

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Colin Miller
2019 Poppyland Publishing £10.95

ISBN 978 1 909796 58 4

The Marina at Great Yarmouth was opened in the summer of 1937. Its history takes in local politics and the local economy, developing ideas and debates about leisure and entertainment, with its early years set against the background of the national and international situation in the late 1930s. The author has used council records and local newspapers to recreate the enjoyment of holiday time, as well as issues such as low pay and changing tastes.

Great Yarmouth was an established holiday destination when the Town Council decided to build a new circular auditorium for musical entertainment, to seat 3,000 people (half under cover) with a covered bandstand. It provided work for unemployed labourers and was an important project for local businesses. We should not be surprised that this was a new open-air venue, it was in line with the swimming pool, skating rink, bowling greens and of course the beach – fresh air was expected as part of a British holiday at the time.

A weekly programme of events was quickly established that proved attractive to holidaymakers and day visitors alike. A mixture of variety shows, brass band and orchestral concerts, comedy, and lots of audience participation – contests, talent completions, quizzes and games. Minstrel shows, which would today be considered unacceptable, were very popular.

Wartime closed Great Yarmouth as a resort; it was taken over by the military and heavily fortified; half the population was evacuated. Six years later the Entertainments Committee was making plans for a limited summer season in 1945, and the Marina was back in business. The mix of entertainment established before the war was re-introduced, and attracted visitors for far and wide. Holidaymakers could see a different show every day of the week.

Separate chapters in this book examine Great Yarmouth’s Battle of Britain celebrations over the years, and the tradition of ‘Miss Yarmouth’ and similar competitions which originated many years before the Marina was built. The penultimate chapter is headed ‘A White Elephant on the Parade’ as times changed and visitors expected different provision – or increasingly went abroad for guaranteed sunshine. The council was concerned to provide facilities for the permanent population; they considered alternative uses for the venue, and the feasibility of building a roof, but eventually the Marina was demolished and replaced in 1979 by a new leisure centre.

Many aspects of the Marina’s history are not unique; the same questions and answers were faced by many resorts over the middle decades of the 20th century when councils faced challenging demands from residents and visitors alike. We have here a comprehensive study of one such example, together with much valuable detail on the history of the bands and other acts who appeared (and who can be identified in the meticulous index).

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Thriplow Society 2019

Price £5 for Thriplow residents, £8 otherwise, from Mrs P Easthope, 6 Lower Street, Thriplow, Cambs.

Thriplow is a small village of just over 1,000 population in south Cambridgeshire near the borders with Essex and Hertfordshire. For fifty years the village has welcomed visitors from far and wide to their well-known ‘Daffodil Weekend’. This book relates the development of that event – or more accurately ‘events’ – alongside the history of the village and its community.

It all began, as so many local traditions do, with the need to raise money for repairs to the church. £1,000 in the 1960s was a large sum to be found. Spring flowers and historic houses were already part of Thriplow, so that first weekend, at the end of April 1969, saw the Church, the Smithy, four houses, eight gardens and the Green Man pub open to the public, teas were sold, and £204.56 was made for the church restoration fund.

From that simple beginning the occasion has grown to the elaborate, complex and highly organised ‘country fair’ weekend it is today. Responsibility spread from the church into the wider community. Rules and regulations made their presence felt. A powerful additional attraction has been the craft barn, and other stalls. Younger people are becoming involved. It is still run by volunteers, but increasingly they have relevant professional skills to contribute. In 2011 the Thriplow Daffodil Weekend committee received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.

Over the years beneficiaries from the fund raising have included not just the church but also the school, the cricket club, the village shop, the recreation ground, dramatic society, and many other local and national charities. There is an impressive chapter on the financial side of the Daffodil Weekend, illustrating fluctuations in income and costs, listing the recipients of the more than half a million pounds raised, with a graph plotting income against weather, and a map showing where all the coach-loads of visitors come from.

Despite the increased variety of activities available during the weekend daffodils remain at its heart. Chapter 2 in this book is called ‘Why daffodils?’ and takes a more horticultural and botanical approach. At first the visitors admired the daffodils in residents’ gardens, then they were encouraged to grow more to improve the show. The first ‘big planting’ took place in the autumn of 1976 when a donated 3 tons of bulbs were distributed to be planted around properties, on verges and the village’s public spaces – a massive task. New bulbs were put in over following years, but they have a finite flowering life, so another major planting took place in 2008, and then in 2012 planning started for the 50th anniversary display. Technical information on the varieties is supplied. Of special interest is the arrival of ‘Thriplow Gold’, a new variety bread in Cornwall, and planted in celebration (see back cover).

Village history has always been part of the daffodil weekend. The Thriplow Society has created displays to illustrate anniversaries such as the First World War in the village, and of course in 2018 they covered the weekend itself. Sadly the weather did not co-operate that year – remember the Beast from the East? – but new ‘Thriplow Gold’ produced two brave blooms. The ‘golden principles’ for the weekend are made explicit: 1. make sure the visitors have a good time, 2. build the sense of community and 3. make money for good causes. Thriplow is determined this will continue for many more decades.

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The Biographical Dictionary of Greater Manchester Architects, 1800-1940 is now live on-line, at www.manchestervictorianarchitects.org.uk providing details of over 1,000 architects, 400 partnerships and 10,000 buildings.

The title ‘Biographical Dictionary’ is important as it is essentially a text-based resource dealing with architects known to have been born, trained, lived or worked in Greater Manchester between 1800 and 1940. The resource is searchable by name or location of architect, practice, or building. Architects based in the Greater Manchester area have their known works catalogued as fully as possible. Details of architects based elsewhere in the United Kingdom are included insofar as their commissions relate to the Greater Manchester area. Likewise, the works of architects who were born or trained in Manchester but practised elsewhere in the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, and the USA are less comprehensively catalogued. The database currently provides details of over 1,000 architects, 400 partnerships and 10,000 buildings.

Information is mainly based on contemporary newspaper reports and, from 1843, The Builder. Much detail has then been cross-referenced to civil records of Births, Marriages, Deaths and Census Returns. These methods have long been standard for academics and family historians and have been recently publicised by Professor David Olusoga’s TV programmes ‘A House Through Time’.

This project was carried out under the auspices of the Manchester Group of the Victorian Society.
The Victorian Society is the national charity campaigning for the Victorian and Edwardian historic environment. www.victoriansociety.org.uk

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A thousand year story

Available from 30 November 2019
Order from the Club’s website at https://www.radleyhistoryclub.org.uk
Price: £15 plus postage and packing

This illuminating book takes us through a thousand years of manorial history as told through the story of Radley, a village on the Thames between Abingdon and Oxford.

It was researched and written by a group of Radley History Club (RHC) members in collaboration with Radley College’s archivist. The book takes a fresh look at first hand and contemporary sources from the Radley College and RHC archives, as well as source material from the Berkshire Record Office and the National Archives.

The book tells the history of Radley’s manor and its relationship with the village from around the time of the Norman Conquest to the present day. It explores the changing role of the manor, the people who held it, how they lived and the power they exercised, as well as how the lives of ordinary villagers were affected by the manor.

Each chapter, divided mainly by time period, starts by describing relevant national events, enabling the reader to understand the local story as part of the bigger picture. The book also traces the themes which arise over the full thousand years, such as the impact of land ownership.

Around the time of the Domesday Book about a quarter of national land and wealth was owned by monasteries. Radley manor, initially part of Barton Manor, was held by Abingdon Abbey which let most of the land to unfree tenants. After the Abbey was dissolved in 1538 Radley became a separate manor. It was sold to the Stonhouses, an aspiring gentry family, who remained lords of the manor for over 200 years.

In the 1720s they commissioned William Townsend and Bartholomew Peisley to build Radley Hall.
The family had an extensive deer park and woodland for their own use and owned most of the village farmland – which by 1768 was all in enclosed fields let to large-scale tenant farmers on modern leaseholds. In 1795 the manor passed to the Bowyer family, who were more enterprising than financially prudent. Following eventual bankruptcy in 1889, most of their land was sold to Mrs Josephine Dockar-Drysdale and then to Radley College.

The changing fortunes of Radley’s landowners and tenants are described in depth – with some colourful characters adding drama to the story! The 44 illustrations and maps, 17 in colour, help to guide the reader through the story. A glossary, footnotes, tables and family trees help ensure that terms and relationships are explained and that the story is rooted firmly in evidence.

Radley Manor and Village: A thousand year story should be of interest both to local people and those researching wider manorial history.

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Mark Forrest

Publication date November 2019

£8 members / £10 non members (order through our website at www.balh.org.uk/publications)

The ability to read and make accurate transcriptions of historical documents are essential skills for anyone exploring the past.

This greatly expanded third edition of a practical guide, originally published in 1988, describes not only the letter forms and abbreviations used by Tudor and Stuart writers, the period when researchers are most likely to encounter difficulties. It explains too how numbers, currency, measurements and dates were expressed, and offers advice on transcribing. It also includes more than twenty examples of various classes of documents often encountered by local and family historians, reproduced in facsimile and transcribed.

This is an invaluable and indispensable companion to anyone entering an archive searchroom.

Author Mark Forrest is now a freelance consultant, and archivist for Lord Shaftesbury's estate at Wimborne St Giles, after working as archivist for paper and parchment collections at the Dorset History Centre. He has published widely on social and economic conditions in late medieval and Tudor England.

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By Alan Crosby

Extreme local history? Surely not! There couldn’t be a safer pursuit than exploring the past. Though we might become emotionally entangled with our subject, we don’t usually put ourselves in physical danger to follow our lines of enquiry. Provided we don’t lean too far over battlements or parapets, or stand in a busy road to take photographs, all will be well. But there are exceptions ...

It is Wednesday 4th September and I arrive at Castle Archdale, on the shores of Lower Lough Erne ten miles north of Enniskillen, County Fermanagh. I’m in a coach, leading 27 people on a study tour focusing on the history and landscapes of western Ulster. We plan to go on a short boat trip to White Island, half a mile up the lake, to visit and marvel at its ruined 12th century church which contains eight extraordinary and mysterious carved stone figures. Now dated to the 9th or 10th centuries, they came from a previous church or shrine, and were uncovered one by one over the period from 1830 to the late 1950s. Enigmatic and powerful, they stand guard in a row, re-erected against the walls of the ancient church.

There are too many of us to fit in the small boat which runs to the island, so it’s been arranged that we will divide into two groups. The boatman will take the first group, including me, leave us on the island, return to collect the second group, exchange groups, and then come back for the second group, including me. It will be a five-minute trip each way.
I go to the office and the young man says that we must divide into three groups. He doesn’t want to overload the vessel, it being “a bit choppy out there”. In fact, it’s blowing a minor gale from the west, and the lough has white-topped breakers. We, the intrepid first party, embark and he takes us down the inlet, warning that “it’ll be a wee bumpy when we’re out in the bay”. This proves to be a classic Irish understatement: leaving the shelter of the shore, the boat pitches and tosses and large waves splash over the prow. We pass between another island and the mainland, cross a narrow strait, and arrive (a little damp) at White Island.

The boat leaves us there, intending to return ten or so minutes later with the second group. We walk up to the church and inspect the wonderful carved figures. Each has a rectangular depression in the top of its head, probably intended to accommodate a timber upright to support a roof or gable. These hollows are now filled with coins, following the ancient Irish tradition of making such offerings in sacred places. A squally rain shower glitters through the bright windy sunshine, the lake sparkles and the trees around bend very significantly in the ‘breeze’. We hear the boat returning, walk down to the jetty, and find it ... EMPTY ... apart from the boatman.

He grimly warns us that it’s now too dangerous to bring anybody else, but promises, disturbingly, “I’ll try to get you back safely”. We set off into the gale, the boat pitching at 45 degrees as it hits wave after wave. Water cascades across us and we are drenched. Rounding the point into the bay the boat is hit broadside on by the wind—we are within a couple of inches of taking on water as the boat tilts from side to side. The peaty waters of Lower Lough Erne are darkest brown, the abundant foam is a thick creamy fawn. It feels like we might drown in Guinness! What a way to go ...

Eventually, the boatman holding the wheel grimly and with white knuckles, we reach the sheltered inlet and the violence subsides. Our fellow-travellers stand on the quay, as though welcoming homecoming emigrants. We learn later that they were genuinely alarmed for our safety, but we on the frail storm-tossed barque, far from being panic-stricken, enjoyed every minute. And we had the bonus of seeing those magical, mysterious stone figures. Unforgettable extreme local history!

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Brought up in the east Devon of W.G. Hoskins, I drifted into local history – although topography would be a better description – after reading classics and theology at Bristol, followed by a doctorate there on the church in the late Roman empire. I’ve always been surrounded by books, so it was an easy choice to train as a librarian, and then to work in public libraries. After three years at Amesbury I was appointed local studies librarian for Wiltshire, and my nine years at Trowbridge made me a local history jack-of-all-trades, while in my spare time I was writing. My social history of Salisbury, Endless Street, is still in print more than 35 years later, and I went on to edit an edition of nonconformist records and other bits and pieces. In 1988 I decided to quit my job and go freelance – very brave, my colleagues said, which I interpreted as meaning ‘very stupid’. Ever since then I’ve tried to make ends meet, by writing short popular histories, magazine articles, bits of consultancy, working with archaeologists on development sites, and – since the late 1990s – by learning to typeset and then publishing local history on Wiltshire and neighbouring counties. Hobnob Press, my imprint, has produced some 150 titles since then (I’ve lost count), and my time is now spent partly on that, and partly writing and editing text for the Victoria County History, in Gloucestershire (where I now live) and Wiltshire. I should have retired by now, and the pension is very welcome, but if you’re lucky enough to have been doing your hobby all your working life, what do you do in retirement – just carry on.

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New website
Have you explored our new website? If not, please do so as soon as you have finished reading LHN and TLH! There is much of interest and value. Contributions from members are needed. If you are a society please make sure your group is included in the Society Directory. Write a paragraph for us answering the question ‘Why BALH?’ What have you got out of your membership? Why is BALH an important organisation for local historians to join? You can read some examples already on the site, but we would like to hear from you.

Shortened URLs
One advantage of the new website is the ability for me to generate ‘shortened URLs’ to include in LHN. You know those annoyingly long website addresses – especially, it seems, for a public lecture at a university? You will now find a shortened version given. For this issue of LHN I have put both the short and the long, but if no one complains we will just give short ones in future.

Taunton
On page 4 of the Supplement in this issue you will find information about a BALH event in Taunton. Speakers will consider ‘Unexpected Sources ...’ applicable throughout the country, not just to Somerset. The venue is near the railway station, Taunton has an excellent train service, and there is the M5 too. We will look forward to seeing you there. Where should the next BALH regional event be held? Suggestions welcome!

Local History Day 2020
We hope 6 June is in your diary for Local History Day in London next summer. There are some more details in this Supplement, and booking will start in January, on our website and by post with the form in the next issue of LHN.

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