Local History News Number 136 Summer 2020

By Alan Crosby

In the July 2020 issue of History Today, Eleanor Parker asks what will be the impact of the changes associated with the coronavirus on history and how it is practised. She asks whether we will have new and global perspectives: because access restrictions “mean scholars are limited to their immediate area, will historians respond by broadening their fields of interest, becoming more eager to travel far abroad in mind even when they cannot travel in body”. Or she queries, on the other hand, “will we instead see a golden age of local history, as researchers decide to make the best of those resources closest at hand”.

It seems to me a rather strange argument. We don’t, I believe, practise local history simply because the resources are close at hand, but because of its intrinsic interest and significance. Indeed, the resources we use may well not be nearby—for example, if I want to research properly the history of Garstang in North Lancashire (it’s on my ever-longer long list) I must travel to Norwich because important source material is held at Norfolk Record Office. And, in reality, a library or archive repository may be close at hand but is likely to be no more physically accessible than one far away.

But much of what Eleanor wrote struck a deep chord with me. She naturally enough emphasises the way in which digital online resource have become fundamental to so many of us over the past few months. How many times have I thought or said ‘Thank heavens for the internet’. Her perception is that this may change the priorities for institutions which are making their collections available in this way. Like ‘independent scholars’ everywhere, I’d like to think that it might include making a lot more published material available without having to pay grotesquely high access charges, as is the case with many key journals. But I’m not optimistic ...

And how right she is when she suggests that ‘digital fatigue’ is perhaps setting in: “[I] do miss real books – books you can come across by accident on a library shelf, without having to wrestle with an online catalogue which never understands what you’re looking for”. That’s spot on – it’s my perpetual, endlessly (tediously?) repeated argument about the pernicious practice of getting rid of hard-copy archive catalogues ... you simply cannot search an online catalogue at random, or browse it with abundant curiosity. It requires you to know in advance what you want to see, but so much of the most satisfying historical research is triggered by the serendipitous discovery, the catalogue entry which catches your eye as you skim down a page.

But I digress ... Eleanor’s main point about local history is that lockdown has given us all a fresh local perspective which a great majority of us have either lost or generally ignore. It’s true: quite a few people have said to me that walking around their immediate locality has opened their eyes to streets and roads a few hundred yards from home but never previously visited; or to the detail of the architecture of houses and public buildings; or to street furniture; or to views and visual perspectives seen on foot rather than, as usual, from a car window. Talking to people in the street (at a suitable distance, naturally) has reminded me of photographs of urban settings a hundred and more years ago, when roads were populated with people out of doors, and social life was conducted al fresco, to use the Lancashire vernacular.

Eleanor Parker suggests, at the end of her thoughtful essay, that many of us have been living in a sort of monastic isolation, and that we might think again of the medieval chroniclers who, while writing the histories of their own institutions, also compiled histories “with a vast temporal and geographical remit covering places and peoples they had never seen except in imagination”. And they did all that without the help of Professor Google, for whom God be praised.

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Brian Buss was born in Dorking and learnt to fly in the Fleet Air Arm at the end of WW2 before embarking on a career in aviation design. His interest in aviation began when he attended Sir Alan Cobham’s last air show near Dorking, in 1935. This was followed by several visits to Gatwick airport before WW2. He joined Horley Local History Society in 1988 and re-vitalised it with his enthusiasm. He served as both Chairman and Newsletter Editor and is still a committee member in his 93rd year.

Brian was one of the prime founders of the Local History Centre based in Horley Library since 1995. Its success has meant that other Surrey libraries have followed this lead. In the early days, he was one of those who contributed, along with library staff, to their winning the prestigious Holt Jackson Award for ‘model practice’. Recently he was instrumental in planning the layout of the new library in order that the Local History Centre was allocated space for its books, documents and photograph exhibitions to be suitably displayed.

Brian has also been a key contributor to the Desk at the library where the Society has a twice-weekly presence on Tuesday afternoons and Saturday mornings to answer any questions from the public. Brian’s knowledge and enthusiasm has helped many others with their research projects, and he has given numerous talks to local groups over the years.

Brian is the author of a number of local books. His historical interests are varied, although his main love is aircraft, and to this end he recently co-authored a book about the history of ‘Southern Aircraft’ at our nearby airport, Gatwick, and another on the history of ‘RAF at Redhill Aerodrome’. Other books include, Horley in Wartime, RAF Horne and The history of public houses in Horley. There are a considerable number of his booklets in the library which make his research available to all; these include delving into the history of a local school, a WW1 ammunition store, and turnpike routes to name but a few.

Brian has been actively involved in the local town in various ways in addition to the HLHS, and in 2015 was a worthy recipient of the Horley Town Award for outstanding service to the community.

Although Brian is no longer a young man, he has always dedicated his energy and enthusiasm to promoting local history and the Horley Society at every opportunity.

With thanks to Brian Buss, Douglas Cox, Veronica Ballard and John Chisolm.

www.horleyhistory.org.uk

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By Katie Finn

In December 2019 work began on a new project at Glamorgan Archives. Time and Tide encompasses two collections closely associated with Cardiff’s docks and the surrounding area: the Associated British Ports Collection (ABP) and the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation Collection (CBDC).

Glamorgan Archives was honoured to receive funding from Archives Revealed to catalogue these important collections. Archives Revealed cataloguing grants are awarded by The National Archives in partnership with the Pilgrim Trust. The programme supports the cataloguing of archival collections that are important to local communities and researchers alike. It actively encourages the participation and engagement of a wide audience of archive users, including those who may not have previously accessed archive collections. Glamorgan Archives received funding for a project archivist for one year to catalogue these two significant collections.

Cardiff expanded rapidly following the construction of the first Bute Dock in the 1830s. The next hundred years saw the rise of Cardiff as a major exporter, with the building of the East Bute Dock, Queen Alexandra Dock and Roath Dock. The main export was coal, transported from the south Wales valleys. This prosperity led to major investment in Cardiff, including the building of the Coal Exchange in Mount Stuart Square. It did not last, however, and the docks went into decline after the First World War. The surrounding areas also suffered from lack of investment.

The Cardiff Bay Development Corporation was established by in 1987 as part of the government’s Urban Development Corporation scheme. Its aim was to regenerate 1092 hectares of the dockland area of South Cardiff, which was seen to be an area of urban decay. Through the creation of a lake formed by the barrage, compulsory purchase orders and development strategies, CBDC sought to make the area an attractive investment opportunity. Companies that invested included those looking to relocate along with retailers and residential construction companies. The collection, deposited at the time of the CBDC’s wind-up, includes papers created by CBDC itself and by its consultants, relating to all aspects of their work.

The bulk of the collection is comprised of the papers created by the various committees established by CBDC. These papers cover all topics relating to the development of the area, including the barrage, financial considerations, staffing and remuneration, in addition to board papers. Consultant’s reports and valuation reports provide further information on the decision making processes of CBDC, through reports on environmental considerations, design proposals, and the valuation of buildings in the bay.

One of the more controversial aspects of the development of Cardiff Bay was the building of the barrage. This was necessary to create the lake in Cardiff Bay. Protestors against the barrage cited the impact on local wildlife, the potential for flooding in residential housing, and the destruction of the tidal mudflats. As such, the collection includes reports on the impact of the barrage, plans of the barrage and documents regarding the Barrage Bill’s passage through Parliament. There are also reports and minutes regarding unrealised projects in Cardiff Bay – the proposed Opera House designed by Zaha Hadid and the Coal Exchange building.

The collection includes a number of maps and plans prepared by consultants. These detail the layout of landscaping, roads, and proposed development areas. They can be used in conjunction with the large photographic collection to trace changes to the physical nature of the bay area. The photographic section of the collection includes slides, prints, transparencies and negatives of the development of Cardiff Bay along with promotional photographs and images of events arranged by CBDC. Additionally, there are computer generated images of planned buildings and road layouts which show the development process of CBDC. This is an exciting part of the project as the images are in the process of being digitised by volunteers and trainees and will be made available online, ensuring quicker and easier access to the material for researchers.

Cataloguing of the CBDC collection is largely complete. The second stage of the project will focus on records of Associated British Ports, which came to Glamorgan Archives in several deposits over the years. ABP was formed in 1981 with the privatisation of the British Transport Docks Board. It has overseen the management of docks across the United Kingdom ever since. The collection includes documents and plans created by ABP South Wales which manages the docks at Cardiff, Barry, Swansea, Newport, and Port Talbot. Additionally, the collection includes papers, plans and photographs inherited by ABP from its predecessors. This collection will provide insight into the business of the docks and Cardiff before the Bay, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

We are more than halfway through the Time and Tide project. Work on the ABP collection has yet to begin. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic unfortunately means that complete cataloguing to item level, as originally intended, is unlikely to be achieved prior to the end of the project in December 2020. But the work will be completed as far as is possible during the remaining months, enabling these large collections to be made fully available to the public for the first time. The project will ensure access to an important resource for the study of the maritime history of south Wales and the history of Cardiff’s docklands.

Katie Finn is Archives Revealed Project Archivist

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By Bill Forster

In 1941-2 nearly one billion pounds in national savings was raised by holding Warship Weeks in towns and cities throughout Britain. Cities raised the cost of the hull of a battleship or aircraft carrier and towns and villages the cost of a destroyer or a smaller vessel.

Posters were printed and programmes and lapel badges sold. The Admiralty presented Councils with adoption plaques; crests mounted on wooden shields bearing brass inscription plates. In return Councils presented plaques to their adopted vessels; many being returned after the war. Some 3,500 scrolls, mostly produced by an artist born without hands, were also presented to villages taking part in Warship Weeks.

Gifts would be exchanged and where possible the Commanding Officer would visit the town and civic dignitaries visit the ship. Local newspapers reported on the money raised, the visits made and, occasionally, on local marriages with crew members.

I have been a member of the “Arc & Arc” in St Albans for 30 years and before my retirement from the University of Hertfordshire Press published books on local history. I now publish the stories of destroyers in print and on the web. The adoption of warships brought these interests together.

I was shocked to find that these wartime links had often been forgotten and in some cases the crests on their wooden shields were thrown into skips for disposal or sold at auction in this country or abroad.

To find out more Google “V & W destroyers” + “Warship Weeks” or go to: http://vandwdestroyerassociation.org.uk/Warship_Weeks.html

Dr Peter Schofield holds Excel files of all Warship Week adoptions (more than 1,300) and can tell you which vessel was adopted by your town. E-mail him on: p.schofield13@hotmail.co.uk

Please, trace the plaque presented by the Admiralty to your town, and make sure it is on display in an appropriate place and its history is not forgotten.

Bill Forster

V & W Destroyer Association

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By Nigel Tringham

Since its revival in 1950 (after a rather long gap since the publication of the first volume in 1908), Staffordshire has had a good record of producing VCH ‘big red books’ and just before Easter the fourteenth was sent off to the type-setter (the final ‘tidying up’ of files having to be done under national ‘lock-down’).

Volume XII – yes, number 12, although the 15th in the complete set (it’s a bit too complicated to explain briefly) – is on TAMWORTH, both the town and parish with its several out-townships, along with the adjoining parish of Drayton Bassett.

It’s been a complicated volume to work on because Tamworth was in two counties – Staffordshire and Warwickshire. The county boundary ran right through the centre of the town, with the church in Staffordshire and the castle in Warwickshire. The Warwickshire part of the town was added to Staffordshire in 1890 – on the grounds that there had been a couple of hundred more people in the Staffordshire part in the 1881 census, although this was the only time it did have a majority in the 19th century. Having got the Warwickshire part of the town, Staffordshire almost inevitably got the Warwickshire villages too, but not until 1965.

The 1965 change-over was connected with the second phase of the transformation of a small market town into the hub for vast housing estates laid out to accommodate overspill tenants from Birmingham. Between 1956 (when the first phase was commenced) and the present day, the population of town and wider parish has increased SIX-fold, causing a degree of local resentment (with large-scale demolition of ‘old’ houses and shops), and with social problems on some of the early council estates. But without the influx of new residents, Tamworth would have struggled to survive as a separate entity with its own local authority.

Done under the Town Development Act, 1952, the overspill programme is a fascinating story, and makes a striking contrast with Tamworth’s other main period of importance – as a centre for kings of Mercia in the 8th and 9th centuries, along with its re-fortification in 913 by King Alfred’s daughter Æthelflæd, ‘lady of the Mercians’. Although buried in Gloucester, she died in Tamworth in 918, and two years ago she was commemorated in what many attendees thought was one of the most extraordinary (and lengthy) church services they had ever attended – along with Prince Edward, earl of Wessex. Visitors are now confronted by a more-than-life-size statue of her as they come out of the railway station.

Between its Mercian hey-day and the present day, Tamworth was basically a market town – or rather, of course, a two-market town, as there were markets in both halves! Also, two court houses for the two borough courts. But the division doesn’t seem to have been a real problem – there was only one church, and so everyone met up each Sunday and had to get along with each other.

Drayton Bassett parish, which adjoins Tamworth on the south, has been included in the volume because there were very close links between the two places from the middle ages onwards. Indeed, it was the home from the 1790s of the cotton manufacturer Robert Peel, who tried to create a ‘cottonopolis’ at Tamworth ­– or at least, the locals thought that they were going to rival Manchester. It never took off, but Peel’s son Sir Robert, the prime minister, remained in the area, building a mansion house called Drayton Manor in the 1830s – it was demolished in the 1920s, and the grounds are now part of Drayton Manor amusement park. The PM was a keen collector of paintings, many displayed in a special gallery he had built onto his house, but the collection has to be dispersed later in the century as the family got into financial trouble – rather a sad story.

The volume is also remarkable as it marks the end of the present county editor’s forty-year career with the Victoria County History – a fitting end, it is hoped, but that is for others to say.

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By Celia Cartwright

In 2017 the Ruislip Northwood and Eastcote Local History Society embarked on a project to investigate further the mediaeval history of Ruislip and to make more of its records accessible. There were several reasons for undertaking such a challenging subject: although the history of Ruislip has been well documented by Eileen Bowlt in her excellent book ‘The Goodliest Place in Middlesex’[1] and some mediaeval history had been explored before by local historian Laurence Morris[2], there was more to be revealed: Ruislip has a rich source of early material in the King’s College Archives; and last, but by no means least, the Society’s committee had confirmed there were funds available.

After the Conquest, Ernulf de Hesdin, the Norman lord who owned Ruislip, had granted the manor of Ruislip in his will to the Benedictine monks of the abbey of Bec in Normandy in about 1087. In the Middle Ages, Ruislip in Middlesex together with Ogbourne in Wiltshire were the centres of administration for the revenue which could be raised from English lands to enrich the abbey of Bec in Normandy.

Referred to subsequently as an ‘alien priory’ the manor was in the hands of the abbey for 327 years until it was finally confiscated by the English Crown. Henry VI gave his interest in the manor of Ruislip to St Nicholas College in the University of Cambridge in 1438. The University surrendered its interest in 1441 and the king set up the new College of St. Mary and St. Nicholas, later King's College, Cambridge, in whose archives most of the records are still stored.

In 1987 members of the RNELHS research group collected material for an exhibition to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the abbey of Bec’s acquisition of the manor of Ruislip. An Occasional Paper entitled ‘Ruislip and the abbey of Bec’ was produced and this can be accessed on the RNELHS web site. Some of the members of the original group are taking part in the present project.

As it was soon discovered, any study of mediaeval times has particular challenges: the early documents are in Latin; the handwriting is often difficult to decipher and in an abbreviated form; the condition of the manuscripts is variable mainly because of their age; mediaeval Latin is different from classical Latin and there is a whole new vocabulary to be learned.

However, some interest was shown and a willing group of volunteers came forward. Some of them had been lucky enough to study Latin at school and all were enthusiastic about the project. The research is now organised so that team members do not require any previous knowledge. Feedback is important so there are regular meetings to compare notes. The work in progress will gradually be presented to the Society at its regular monthly meetings and through articles in the annual Journal. Items will also be added to the Society’s website.[3]

Professional help was sought to select copies of manuscripts from King’s College archives. Further work was undertaken on this material by a member of the group, with help from mediaeval specialists to transcribe and translate the documents.

Mediaeval manuscripts generally consist of court rolls, custumals, extents, rentals and accounts. Copies of examples of these drawn from the 13th to the 15th centuries are gradually being collected, transcribed and translated and will be added to the Society’s website.

Family and field names appearing in the rolls and other documents provide a starting point for a study of life in mediaeval times. Surnames were gradually coming into use during this period. They can reveal a person’s occupation, their nickname, where they lived in the manor, their father’s name or their origin in another part of the country. These are being extracted and organised in a spread sheet for future study.

Another research angle will be to compare and contrast the data from the manuscripts in order to build up a picture of life in mediaeval Ruislip. Did national events affect life in Ruislip? We shall look at the effect of the Black Death in 1348-9 (very topical under the present circumstances); life before and after the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381; and differences of administration under the abbey of Bec and under King Henry VI. We can make comparisons with later documentation such as the terrier (land roll) of 1565, a survey of the whole manor of Ruislip drawn up by King’s College.

The research group is greatly indebted to Bob Trease our highly efficient webmaster and to Melanie Winterbotham who hosts and organises the meetings. She has also made available a collection of reference books. Although challenging, the project continues to be an enjoyable and exciting undertaking for everyone concerned. We are indebted to Dr Jonathan Mackman for his invaluable support and encouragement. We are also grateful to Simon Neal who is now assisting us with the transcription and translation of the manuscripts from King’s College and from The National Archives.

In addition to the mediaeval research group, the Society also has a research team working on the censuses. The mediaeval parish of Ruislip consisted of three parts – old Ruislip, (formerly known as Westcote), Northwood and Eastcote. It is interesting to follow the development of these three areas which formed the enumeration districts with similar boundaries in the censuses from 1891 and 1901.

Information such as numbers of the inhabitants, their origins and houses, size of household and occupations are collected from the censuses and entered on to spread sheets. Publication in the annual journal along with articles on interesting personalities or local events is the ultimate goal. Both these active research groups support those who are enquiring into or wishing to widen understanding of the ancient parish of Ruislip.

[1] The Goodliest Place in Middlesex: Eileen Bowlt Hillingdon Borough Libraries 1989.

[2] A History of Ruislip: Laurence Morris, first published by the Ruislip Residents Association 1956.

[3] See the website http://rnelhs.btck.co.uk/

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By Margaret O’Sullivan

Food supplies have been a widespread concern during the coronavirus lockdown and how to use ingredients, sometimes limited or unfamiliar, has been the theme of much advice, online and in print. Crises in the past prompted similar initiatives, most evident in the publication of collections of cookery recipes intended to raise funds for emergencies and which might also offer solutions to contemporary food-related problems.

In the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire in London in June 2017, the Hubb Community Kitchen published Together:Our Community Cookbook. Profits from sales were intended ‘to help the Hubb Kitchen strengthen lives and communities through cooking’. This is typical of the most frequent crisis publication —one with a charitable fund-raising objective — and of local cookery books which increased in number when printing resources became more widely available in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, becoming especially popular options in the first decades of the 20th century, reinvigorated today in communal activities which make use of new communications media. Their historical value often lies not in their content —many offered only basic and familiar dishes— but in their context: why, where and how they came to be published. Communities can be actual, located in a particular place, or intellectual, that is, associations of people sharing the same ethos or interests. Philanthropic objectives, common in the past, may be less conspicuous now and present-day groups may be informal or virtual, often with input from many different cultures. Commercial cookery books which address changes in social conditions may draw on local sources in works on foraging, for example, or on development of culinary skills, especially among groups disadvantaged by lack of money, education, equipment or time. Most community cookery books are suited to collaborative effort, limited in scope, easy to produce, and usable by all social classes. Third-world food crises in the later 20th century led to ‘hunger lunches’ organised by churches, usually during Lent, sometimes supplemented by occasional publications like Delicious Dishes by Denbighshire Dames (c1963) ‘in aid of the Freedom from Hunger Campaign’. Later, Dunnington in North Yorkshire offered in 1977 A Second Helping cookery book ‘in aid of the parish church garden fete and the Queen’s Jubilee Appeal’. National charities such as Oxfam and the Red Cross have also issued cookery publications. In 1979 Christamarie Thomson edited The Hertfordshire Red Cross Cookery Book, with both local and international dishes which reflected the global nature of the organisation. A World War I recipe for ‘Red Cross Cake’ is on the charity’s website, while Anzac biscuits, still popular today, commemorate the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (1914-18).

Beyond emergencies, cookery books can be useful for study of self-improvement and social awareness. Hugh Bourne (1772–1852), a founder of Primitive Methodism, promoted working-class education, including instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic. He had a brother, John, who was a printer and a cookery book was amongst edifying works issued from Hugh’s home at Bemersley in North Staffordshire in the early 19th century. Over a hundred years later, The Duchess Cookery Book (1934) by Susan, Duchess of Somerset (1853–1936) had instructions for tea for 140 poor children. From 1905 one of the leading organisers of the Invalid Kitchens charity, Susan Somerset was active in a number of other good causes, such as Dr Barnardo’s Homes, of which her husband became president.

Another concern in present circumstances is the effect, perhaps long lasting, of disruption to social networks. Earlier, this was apparent after World War I and World War II when cookery books advised how to offer hospitality to friends, family and colleagues although income was reduced and foodstuffs (and domestic staff) less widely available. New writers at this time might be women of status prompted to become involved in household management and to seek to earn money by sharing their knowledge. A representative example of the genre was Fare-ye-Well with Ladies of the Realm (1944) edited by Madeleine Howard, née Foshay (d.1958), 5th Countess of Effingham. Purchase of a community cookbook is a one-off transaction, resembling a donation. It indicates support and sympathy, without the ongoing commitment entailed by subscription to an organisation. Other characteristics are appeals to heritage. Food and its history affirm our identity and, to enhance community engagement and indicate authenticity, recipes may have titles like ‘My grandmother’s fruit cake’ or ‘Aunt Anne’s special chutney’, as well as references to regional dishes, either British, such as Bath Buns or Kentish Huffkins, or from ethnic cuisines. Today there are cookery book clubs, a variation on other reading groups. Some are online only, while others have had face-to-face meetings to sample food and share experiences. Recipe sources are normally widely available commercial publications, but the use made of them is a communal one, creating links amongst like-minded ‘foodies’ and, significantly, encouraging participation by men as well as women. They demonstrate ways in which cookery resources have evolved to take advantage of communication media other than print and, in extreme situations like the present, to respond to necessity rather than choice.

Is there anything different about coronavirus pandemic food recipes? All focus on making the most of staple foods, familiar ingredients and on planning ahead, but there is a greater emphasis than in the past on use of fresh vegetables and fruit. Traditional methods of preserving produce such as pickling have also been highlighted, as has cooking in batches or bulk, irrespective of household size. Social isolation has prompted suggestions for simple food gifts like scones or muffins for neighbours and vulnerable individuals, and cooking alongside children has been recommended to relieve boredom and strengthen family feeling. Local Covid 19 groups have provided birthday cakes to self-isolating individuals and celebrity chefs have re-invented themselves as spokespeople for communities, rather than elite professionals. Crises inspire resilience. Emily Lina Mirrlees and her daughter, writing in 1949 when food rationing was still in force, looked forward ‘to happier times’ and called their recipe collection Wishful Cooking, while the writer Nancy Shaw observed in 1951 ‘Even if all the ingredients are not always readily available, there is an added zest to be enjoyed in making the very best of the good things that can be got. It is wonderful what a little ingenuity will do even if all the correct ingredients are not always easy to obtain’. It’s to be hoped their cooking met with a more positive reception than that expressed by the grandfather of another cookery book author, Fortune Stanley. He lived at Mount Clare in Roehampton (now a hall of residence for university students) and at one meal remarked ‘I wouldn’t wash a dog in that soup’.

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By William Farrell, University of Leicester Library

Since 2002 the University of Leicester has provided public access to the Historical Directories of England and Wales.[1] This is the largest free online collection of trade and street directories for England and Wales. It is also by far and way our most popular digitised collection, and usage has only increased because of lockdown. The collection comprises 689 directories from the 1760s to the 1910s. The original project was interested in providing a representative sample, so there is at least one directory for every county for the 1850s, 1890s and 1910s. The full text is keyword searchable, so it is possible to find personal names, businesses and places.

Directories have three main uses for local historians. Firstly, as a reference tool to confirm the existence of a person or business in a place and time. This is essentially the same as the original intended use of the directories. Secondly, because of the strong focus on commercial information, they have been a well-used source to understand the structure and development of local economies, particularly urban ones. Most academic historical usage has been of this type, reinforced by the relatively long publishing history of directories and their wide geographical coverage, which lends thems to longitudinal and comparative studies. However, this is also the area where source criticism is most important as a number of biases can creep in. Perhaps the biggest is the lack of standardisation in how information was collected and reproduced. Thirdly, directories are a good source for topography. Many directories often began with a description the major towns covered, which lay out for the reader key buildings, antiquities and physical geography.

In 2019 we made several updates and additions to the collection that may be of interest to readers. Firstly, we restored the original background pages written by Andrew Hann.[2] These are an excellent introduction to trade and street directories as a historical source. They cover the origins and development of directories as a publishing genre; their uses for local, family and business history; and suggestions for potential research.

Secondly, we have created a YouTube video for users.[3] This demonstrates how to browse and search for information on places and people, and how to download pages. We are aware from enquiries that some users have trouble locating names within a directory, and we hope the video will address this issue. Perhaps the main thing to stress is patience! The directories are large files and can take a moment or two to load properly.

Finally, I have created an online bibliography using Zotero, the reference management software.[4] This provides bibliographic information for anyone using directories for research or teaching. The bibliography covers four areas: guides to sources; major collections; reprints and revised editions; publications using directories as an information source. Readers using directories for the first time may find the last category the most useful, as it provides many worked examples to follow and learn from.

We expect future use to concentrate on the three board areas discussed above. However, there are opportunities to use the collection in different ways. As Andrew Hann points out, directories are under-used in the history of advertising despite the large number of illustrated adverts. The text-heavy nature of the old Post Office directories has perhaps discouraged their use for picture research, although they contain a great deal of visual information. Many of the publishers operated regionally meaning directories could be used to study local print culture and local knowledge. Indeed, surprisingly little seems to be known about even the bigger publishers like Pigot and Kelly. Finally, for anyone interested in using digital humanities techniques, we would recommend trying the versions in the UK Data Archive.[5] These provide the underlying text and image files created during digitisation and are probably better suited for large scale analysis. If you have feedback or suggestions regarding the collection, please email: specialcollections@le.ac.uk.

[1] University of Leicester Special Collections Online, Historical Directories of England & Wales <http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/cdm/landingpage/collection/p16445coll4> [accessed 25 May 2020].

[2]University of Leicester Special Collections Online and Andrew Hann, ‘Background’, Historical Directories of England & Wales, 2019 <http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/custom/background> [accessed 3 June 2020].

[3] William Farrell, How to Search the Historical Directories of England & Wales, 2019 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml3AAvoM0ac&feature=emb_title> [accessed 3 June 2020].

[4] William Farrell, Trade Directories, 2019 <https://www.zotero.org/groups/2337777/trade_directories> [accessed 3 June 2020].

[5] Search “Digital Library of Historical Directories” in https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk.

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By Julie Bagnall

So, what have you been reading whilst locked down and socially isolated?

For me, a browse through an eighteenth century medical book made interesting reading. Glancing down the index certain words jumped out – ‘cough’, for instance. Eleven listings include …the cough of the stomach, the cough of the lungs and the nervous cough. Likewise ‘fever’: fifty nine entries including …of a bad kind often occasioned amongst labourers by poor living … nervous, often the consequences of intense study…frequently attack sedentary persons after hard drinking… putrid of a pestilential nature and who are most liable to it... And then there is ‘infection’ with nine entries: …incurred by injudicious or unnecessary attendance on the sick … is frequently imported… is spread by hospitals and jails being situate in the middle of populous towns…in what respects the spreading of infection may be checked by the magistrate… . Etc etc.

The book in question is the 1782 edition of Buchan’s Domestic Medicine. Dr William Buchan (1729-1805) graduated in medicine from Edinburgh University in the 1750s and established medical practices in Edinburgh, Sheffield and London throughout his career. Dr Buchan’s work was groundbreaking and his Domestic Medicine possibly the first book of its kind. Written for the lay public rather than as a technical academic text for his peers, Buchan recognised the existence of industrial diseases, even at that early stage of industrialisation, noting the prevalence of illness in towns compared to rural areas. He advocated prevention rather than cure, citing the need for public health measures to be put in place. The first edition of Domestic Medicine was published in 1769. Revised editions appeared until his death and remained in print until 1845 by which time household medical books were becoming popular among the general public.

The index listings cited above whet the appetite and promote the desire to discover what, if any, relevance a two hundred and forty year old book has in today’s situation. A few selected excerpts have been chosen to demonstrate Buchan’s ideas on cleanliness, contamination and the spread of infection and to draw parallels with the current situation.

The source of the coronavirus at the root of the current pandemic is believed to be a ‘wet market’ in Wuhan which sold dead and live animals, fish and birds. Such markets pose a high risk of contamination. Typically the poor live creatures are densely caged and hygiene standards are minimal. Slaughtering and butchering on site risks the transmission of disease from one species to another, including humans. Buchan saw this practice as a risk to health: ‘…the slaughterhouses or killing shambles are often to be seen in the very centre of great towns. The putrid blood, excrement &c with which these places are generally covered cannot fail to taint the air and render it unwholesome…’

At the onset of the pandemic we were told that the symptoms were a high temperature (fever), a dry persistent cough and difficulty in breathing. Today, weakness and lethargy are commonly recognised symptoms of viral infections. Bed rest, increased fluid intake and paracetamol are our first tools in effecting a cure. Buchan recognised the same symptoms and treatment advice and deals with these symptoms thus:

Almost every person in a fever [has] a great thirst and calls out for drink, especially of a cooling nature. This must not be denied him.

A cough is generally the effect of a cold which has either been improperly treated or entirely neglected. When it proves obstinate there is always reason to fear the consequences as this shows the weak state of the lungs…

The bed alone would often remove a fever at the beginning but when the patient struggles with the disease, instead of driving it off he only fixes it the deeper. Reports suggested that Boris Johnson worked through the first stages of Covid-19 – albeit from a distance – and his recovery period is likely to be weeks rather than days. Buchan’s advice for convalescence is continued solitude: the mind as well as the body should be kept easy. Company is seldom agreeable to the sick.

Although the causes of fever – bacteria and viruses – were unknown to Buchan his observations regarding cleanliness and personal hygiene are relevant. To him there is no excuse for not washing regularly or for wearing dirty clothing – infection is often communicated by clothes…he observes. It seems incredible that we are now being shown how to wash our hands properly for twenty seconds and the controversy over personal protective clothing for key workers continues.

Buchan clearly understood the concept of isolating the sick to prevent the spread of infection. Visiting the sick was known to be particularly risky to both patient and caller – mutual danger incurred by unnecessary visitors… Nothing spoils the air of a sick person’s chamber or hurts the patient more than a number of persons breathing in it…air that has been repeatedly breathed will greatly increase the disease. Persons in health are to be kept at a distance from the sick… Eighteenth century social distancing.

Though his Domestic Medicine was intended for the lay man’s consumption Buchan put the onus for public health measures onto the authorities: Many things are in the power of the magistrate which would tend to prevent the spreading of infection … [the] Health of the people in general [is] a proper object of attention for the magistrates… who have the power for widening the streets… More space for individuals was clearly a necessity.

Our present day comparison here is crossing to the other side of the road if necessary to keep our distance while out on our permitted daily exercise and the taped out spaces and direction arrows now on supermarket floors. And the powers of the magistrates could be translated into the new powers given to our police to enforce lockdown rules to those who flout them.

There are many other examples and comparisons in the 534 pages of Buchan’s Domestic Medicine. The advice and ideas were aimed at the general reader, just as today’s media is aimed at the general public. The language may be different but the message is the same.

Julie Bagnall

This article first appeared in the newsletter of North Staffordshire Historians

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By Chris Culpin and Philip Ewen

A comparatively new avenue in grant funding for history projects, the Chalke Valley History Trust has been awarding grants for both national and local projects. Established in 2012 by the founders of the Chalke Valley History Festival, the Trust is a charitable entity that promotes the understanding and enjoyment of history to everyone.

Funded by the money generated by the festival, the Trustees make grants to applicants for projects which fulfil the objectives of the trust. These have included helping 177 schools to attend the festival, to help run History clubs, as well as expanding libraries and supporting students with grants to enable them to continue their studies towards higher degrees.

In addition to large national projects, grants have been made available for a range of local history activities, a flavour of which are outlined below.

The Trust is currently accepting applications, so now would be an excellent time to apply if you are seeking funding for your project.

See chalkevalleyhistorytrust.org.uk for more information. Although we are based in Wiltshire, applications for grants to support local history in any part of the country can be made at any time and are considered in April and November.

Dorothy Lawrence WW1 Heroine Project
In the early days of the First World War, 19-year-old Dorothy Lawrence from Salisbury decided that she wanted ‘do something’ for the war effort, so took herself to France on her bicycle. Sleeping rough at first she got some soldiers to lend her a uniform, cut her hair and managed to pass herself off as a member of the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) just before the battle of Loos. The military, highly embarrassed, arrested her and packed her off to England. Her own account of her adventure was published in 1919.

Dorothy Lawrence WW1 Heroine Project was an education project to tell the story of Dorothy Lawrence and to generally raise awareness of the role of women in Wiltshire during the First World War. CVHT gave financial support to a theatre group which held a series of workshops in Salisbury in 2016 and toured schools. Fuller Dorothy Lawrence story here http://www.wiltshireatwar.org.uk/story/sapper-dorothy-lawrence-a-forgotten-wiltshire-heroine/

Martin Village Archive
Martin is a village on the western edge of Hampshire with a very active Local History Group. The group had put together a large collection of documents and photographs of villege life and CVHT helped with a grant to digitise this collection. The result is an excellent website https://martinvillagearchive.org.uk/

Sutton Veny History Society
CVHT subsidised the publishing of a book about the history of Sutton Veny, near Warminster.

Bemerton History Society
The Bemerton History Society has a busy programme of talks each month, which have been enhanced with a projector for use by speakers.

Shaftesbury Abbey
The Abbey was founded by King Alfred who installed his daughter Aelfgifu as the first abbess. By the Middle Ages it was the richest nunnery in England and a focus for pilgrimages. It hasn’t been excavated since 1861 but in 2017 a new excavation was begun, led by the professional archaeologist Julian Richards but using lots of local volunteers. CVHT made a grant towards the costs, to be used to support the museum display and educational interpretation of the finds.

Cranborne Chase & Chalke Valley Landscape Partnership
The aims of this Partnership are to encourage individuals, communities and new audiences to help conserve, enhance, understand and learn about this unique heritage and to become the beating heart of the Cranborne Chase itself through a range of activities. The Trust has supported the Partnership who have held exhibitions of their work at the Festival.

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By Linda Devlin and Kate Tiller

In the last edition of Local History News (135, Spring 2020) the Devon History Society highlighted the need for local historical research into the ‘neglected decade’ following the First World War. In terms of potential for local investigation one of the most widespread and significant themes from this period must be the great wave of sales of landed estates that began with the return of peace in 1918. It was being experienced 100 years ago in many parts of Britain. By the end of March 1919 well over half a million acres were on the market and by the mid-1920s between 6 and 8 million acres of land had changed hands in England. This was a transformation compared by modern historians with the impact of the property confiscations and sequestrations during the17th-century civil wars, the permanent transfers of land at the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century, and the shifts of power at the Norman Conquest. F.M.L.Thompson (in English Landed Society in the 19th century, 1963) concluded that the consequences of the sales led to the disappearance of much of ‘the great estate system’ and the ‘formation of a new race of yeomen’, that is the owner-occupying farmers (many former estate tenant farmers) who by 1927 occupied 36% of the total acreage, compared with 11% in 1914. Alun Howkins (in Reshaping Rural England, 1992, p.281) reckons that between 1918 and 1925, ‘The focus of power and deference finally shifted…from the landowners to the farmers.’

One local initiative exploring this theme has been started by the Heritage Centre at Churchill in north Oxfordshire. They have begun a new volunteer project to research and record the 1922 Sale of the Sarsden Estate. The property, on offer in 65 lots, comprised 3,785 acres including ‘practically the whole of the village of Churchill’. It was up for auction at the Randolph Hotel, Oxford on 30 August, 1922. The sale had a profound effect on the villages of Churchill, Sarsden, Chadlington and Lyneham.

The Heritage Centre’s Project ‘22 will include the history of the Sarsden Estate, the reasons for the sale and the subsequent history, owners and occupants of the land and buildings involved, up to the present day. A group of volunteers,16 in total, with Linda Devlin as the Co-ordinator has been formed to carry out this research. They have started with the Sale Catalogue and maps which have details of the various lots, photographing and using Google Earth to look at the properties as they are now and collating as much information as possible from residents – such as deeds, old photographs, postcards, etc. to chart the history of the properties from the sale to the present day. One member is researching the impact on agricultural life and the working of local farms. Earlier maps and the 1910 Valuation records are amongst other sources. Volunteers are making use of on-line research facilities and hope to resume visits to libraries and archives as soon as possible post-Covid-19.

Project ’22 was launched on 30 January 2020 at a packed meeting in the Village Hall in Churchill. The hall, built as a Reading Room in 1870, is just one of an array of estate benefactions around the green which continue to signal the village’s earlier identity as an estate village. The Sarsden estate, big house and surrounding villages, was bought by the Langston family, London bankers, in the 1790s. Not only did they develop Sarsden House and grounds but, particularly in the time of J.H.Langston, MP (died 1863) and his daughter and heir, Julia, wife of the 3rd Earl of Ducie, created a Victorian estate whose influence, on employment, farming, housing, religion, charity and recreation are reflected in buildings still to be seen-church, schools, memorial fountain, reading room, forge, estate housing and farm buildings.

The reasons for estate sales often reflected general as well as local and personal factors. So it may have been at Sarsden. The latter phases of the war saw increased agricultural production and high prices for produce enhanced by protective government intervention, factors that continued after 1918 and were reflected in increased demand for agricultural land. By contrast the owners of landed estates were faced with increased death duties, high taxation and historically low rent levels, likely incentives to sell at least some of their land. Family circumstances might also contribute to decisions. The 3rd Earl of Ducie died in his nineties in 1921, the year following his 63-year-old only son, leaving the title to the Earl’s aged brother, a Queensland cattle- and sheep-farmer. Also in 1921, the government unexpectedly ended guaranteed grain prices, the so-called ‘Great Betrayal’ which reduced prospective agricultural returns and with it the pace of sales and the prices to be had for land. Who was it who bought the Sarsden estate farms and cottages in 1922, speculators or local tenants?

There will be many interesting questions and pieces of evidence for members of Project ’22 as they pursue the why? when? how? and consequences of the Sarsden estate sale of 1922. The project will run for two years – until 2022, the 100 year anniversary of the sale. The group will present their results in the Village Hall and a display in The Heritage Centre. An archive of information and images about the Sarsden estate, its sale and subsequent history will be created. We would be interested to know if others are researching the sale of landed estates elsewhere.

LINDA DEVLIN is Project Co-ordinator for Churchill Heritage Centre.

KATE TILLER spoke at the launch of Project ’22 on ‘Village and Estate 1914-1939. Times of Change’.

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By Ann Smith (Secretary) and Mark Forrest (Dorset Editor)

Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries has the enviable record of being the oldest continuously published periodical of its kind. In the autumn of 1887 a group of antiquarians from Somerset and Dorset decided to create a local journal, based on the example of other counties including Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, and Lincolnshire. An increasing interest in antiquarian matters across the country had resulted in the creation of a series of journals called simply ‘Notes and Queries’. These journals were envisaged as a ‘repository for the preservation of facts’ which would include notes on items of antiquarian interest, transcriptions of documents and queries about historical matters.

The Somerset and Dorset group recognized that the journal they were creating was likely to have a smaller audience than larger shires, so they wisely decided to cover both counties. The first issue came out in March 1888, and Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries has been published in an unbroken sequence ever since. It is one of only two that have achieved similar longevity, the other being Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries which was first published in 1900, the others having long fallen by the wayside.

Survey of the county Notes and Queries and similar journals (based upon a survey by C R Elrington).[1]

• Bedfordshire Notes and Queries 1883-1893
• Berkshire Notes and Queries 1890-1891
• The Cheshire Sheaf: being local gleanings, historical and antiquarian, relating to Cheshire, Chester and North Wales first series 1878-1886, second series 1891, third series 1896-1965, fourth series 1966-1971, fifth series 1976-1978, sixth series 1989-1990.
• Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries 1900-present
• Gloucestershire Notes and Queries 1879-1914
• The East Anglian, or, notes and queries on subjects connected with the counties of Suffolk, Cambridge, Essex and Norfolk 1858-1869, second, third and fourth series 1885-1910
• Hampshire Notes and Queries 1883-1900
• Home Counties magazine: devoted to the topography of London, Middlesex, Essex, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Surrey and Kent 1899-1912
• Leicestershire and Rutland Notes and Queries and Antiquarian Gleaner, 1891-1895
• Lincolnshire Notes and Queries 1889-1936
• Middlesex and Hertfordshire Notes and Queries 1895-1898
• Northamptonshire Notes and Queries 1886-1896, new series 1905-1923
• Northern Notes and Queries: Devoted to the antiquities of Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmorland, and Durham 1906-1907
• Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Notes and Queries 1892-1898
• Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries 1887-present
• Sussex Notes and Queries, 1927-1971
• Westmorland Note Book and Natural History Record, 1888
• Wiltshire Notes and Queries 1893-1910
• Yorkshire Notes and Queries, 1904-1909

Each of the thirty-seven volumes of Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries has been individually indexed. But the task of producing a consolidated index was a different matter. Revd Bartelot offered to compile a general index to volumes 1-20 in 1929, but the minutes of the following year record it was found to be too costly to produce. In 1937 a general index for the first 22 vols was again considered, but again deemed to be too costly. In 1939 a sub-committee was set up to consider the idea of a general index, but as no more committee meetings were held until 1946, it was shelved. The next time it was mentioned was 1969 when it was thought to large a task. In 2015 the committee came to discuss the matter again, largely because it was clear that the online index to the Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society had greatly increased access to past issues. In an age of optical character recognition and mess editing of spreadsheets the creation of an index had become an achievable task.[i]

Once edited the resulting index was placed on the Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries website and the results of all this editing were immediately visible. Traffic to the website immediately increased, requests for back numbers reached their highest levels and new subscriptions are also rising.

During the course of editing the indexes it became clear that the subject matter of the contributions varied considerably over time. Family histories and genealogies were common in the early volumes, but these are now largely the preserve of the family history societies. Some themes remain constant through the years: dialect, local customs, and curiosity about the natural world. In 1891 when migratory patterns were not full understood and H.J. Moule asked why wild fowl had left ‘temperate Iceland’ for and unusually ‘arctic Dorset’ the previous winter. There are no longer articles about people with unusual physical characteristics and it is now necessary to explain agricultural and manorial terms which were familiar to early readers.

Transcriptions of early documents are still printed, although longer texts would now be published by one of the county record societies, and the medieval churchwardens’ accounts of Sherborne Abbey and extracts from the court rolls of Shaftesbury Abbey would no longer be reproduced in abbreviated Latin. Queries were more common in earlier volumes when scholars like John Fuller Maitland, a founder of the Folk Song Society, sought out ‘traditional songs of the English peasantry’ in 1891 and in particular the tune to the Somerset song “The Harnet and the Bettle”.

The clergy dominated the early editorial committees demonstrated their interests in sermons, religious customs and church art and architecture, would certainly have published the note 'Armourials in Montacute Church', but they might have balked at publishing one titled '“Sluttish Widow's Locks” the Dibilatory Powers of St Cuthburga', both of which appeared in the September issue of 2018.

The Somerset and Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Societies produce annual Proceedings. Dorset’s, which began as the Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club in 1877, predates the first publication of Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries by a decade and the Proceedings of the Somerset Natural History and Archaeological Society was first published in 1851. They publish field and excavation reports and longer articles and, while they are multidisciplinary, much of their content is more specialist than the casual reader might find accessible. Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries publishes shorter, often lighter, but equally well sourced pieces. A note can be a narrative which does not need to enter into a debate that would frame an article.

A piece in the centenary publication in 1988 by Joe Bettey demonstrates SDNQ’s ability to satisfy the curious with scholarly research in a note that explores the landscape, archaeology, wildlife and history. In a little over 1500 words Dr Bettey informs us of the profitability of duck decoys in both Somerset and Dorset in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; considering their construction and management. He draws upon archival and published material from both counties and writes a piece that is at once informative to the casual reader and referenced by economic historians.[2]

Appendix: the indexing process

The Somerset editor scanned the earlier issues for inclusion on the Find My Past website, so these were available in a digitised format. The Secretary and Dorset editor approached John Palmer, a retired computer expert who had created the index to the Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, for advice. Thankfully John was between projects and, having an interest in the contents of Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries, he agreed to assist in the creation of an online index. His help with the more technical elements of conversion was invaluable.

More than 500 scanned images of the volume indexes were turned into text files using OCR (optical character recognition) software. The OCR process worked well for more modern character sets, but has some difficulty with nineteenth century typefaces, italics and lower case capitals. Capitals were retained for the titles of articles while brackets, rather than italics, were used to denote authors. Although John could correct some common errors electronically each page was hand edited by the Secretary, Dorset editor and former web editor, Judith Ford, to remove the remaining mistakes of the text. The results were then consolidated into a single file where matters of style can be resolved: some volumes had reviews of books, while others had book reviews some sea going craft are listed as ships, others as vessels. Many of these issues are still to be resolved by further editing, but the online trial version of the index has provided more eyes and a wider range of subject specialists to note the problems.

A second version of the index resolved many of the problems identified in the trial version. The present web editor, Rachel Hassall, has made further amendments and promotion through Twitter and Facebook has increased the use of the index. Access to past editions available on the genealogy website Findmypast has also increased and as have subscriptions to the printed edition for the first time in several decades.

A short history of Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries together with contact and subscription details may be found on the website https://www.sdnq.org.uk/

[1]C. R. Elrington 'One Hundred Years of Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries' Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries, 1988, v.32, pt328, pp. 689-694

[2]J. Bettey 'the profitability of duck decoys' Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries, 1988, v.32, pt328, pp. 712-714.

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By Evelyn Lord

The Cambridgeshire Association for Local History was founded in 1951 with the purpose of encouraging and supporting local, social and family history groups, and individuals working on the history of Cambridgeshire. The Association’s programme includes monthly lectures from October to June, with well-known speakers discussing a wide-range of themes, an Annual Conference in the Spring of each year, and an Annual Awards ceremony with awards to authors of books on Cambridgeshire which have made a significant contribution to the county’s history, as well as personal awards to individuals who are dedicated to the service of local history. Publications include a free bi-annual bulletin of news from local societies, details of new books about Cambridgeshire, and articles by members, and the annual Review which contains longer articles on recent local history research. Each year there are excursions to places of interest both in the county and outside, and attached to CALH is the Landscape and Local History Research Group which meets once a term to discuss recent research and research methods.

In 2019 CALH inaugurated two joint projects. One is the compilation of a bibliography of Cambridgeshire in World War I. The idea for this came from the large number of publications on the war that the Association has reviewed over the last five years in order to make the book awards. Once the hundred years since the war ended, it seemed that these publications might disappear from sight, and a large section of Cambridgeshire history, and the chance to synthesise this would be lost. On investigation it became clear that there is a considerable amount of material on the war in Cambridgeshire available in different archives and libraries, and on the web, so it was decided not just to list the recent publications, but to be inclusive; this will involve listing in the Cambridgeshire Collection of Cambridge Central Library, the war collection and other publications in the University Library, college and school publications, and publications and photographs from businesses, regimental histories, and religious institutions. In being inclusive it is hoped that gaps in the history of the First World War in Cambridgeshire would be revealed and a resource will be provided for future historians. A team of volunteers will make the initial listing onto specially prepared forms, and the aim is to create a relational data-base, and some printed copies for libraries. To include all CALH members, we have asked those who do not feel like listing to note down any war memorials they see of any kind, and if possible take a photograph. This will be added to the bibliography. Unfortunately, the first meeting to start listing was cancelled by the lock down for the virus, and the closure of all libraries. Work will continue when normality is restored.

The other project was to mark the opening of a new home for Cambridgeshire Archives in Ely in a joint publication by CALH and EAH Press of a book Cambridgeshire in the Archives, which includes essays on topics that have used the archives for their research, as well as an account by the county archives manager on the move to Ely from Shire Hall in Cambridge.

The book was to have been followed by a conference of the same name, organised jointly by CALH and the Archives, at which archivists from different archives which hold Cambridgeshire material would talk about what type of sources they have, and how to access these. Both the book launch in April and the conference have been cancelled, but we hope to arrange these at a later date.

The Association has not been idle during the lock down, and has produced two bulletins of articles and news, and is planning a third for the end of May, while a research bulletin from the Landscape and Local History Research Group is planned for the beginning of June. The research bulletin is asking for details of research projects across the country as well as from Cambridgeshire. It is hoped that this might help to bind the local history research community together.

Evelyn Lord is CALH Chair

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By Andrew Jackson

May was ‘Local History Month’, and indeed through March to May 2020, local historians have risen to various calls for action, and have found new and different ways to sustain their endeavours, and the diverse communities, societies and networks of which they are a part. I have been following with great interest the role of local history through the pandemic, and how its numerous practitioners have contributed to society and culture during a period of national emergency.

For myself, I packed up my local historian’s kit bag in mid-March, and set to the task of digging trenches through the archive record, in order to unearth parallels and to identify any lessons that might be learnt from the past. I was intrigued by the comparisons and contrasts being made with what we were seeing and experiencing, and what was recorded in the Lincolnshire press through two waves of the ‘Spanish flu’ epidemic of summer and autumn, 1918. How did communities in Britain react, and how did the local media respond? I started what became a weekly column in the online free newspaper, The Lincolnite, with my thoughts and reflections. It struck me that never before during my life and career as a local historian, had I found myself writing against a backdrop of such immense disruption, dislocation and distress, and, in conjunction, where so much of the past appeared to be revisiting us. The role that I would increasingly adopt was one of contemporary commentator and journal keeper. In so doing, I also became conscious of the live-fashioning around me of the local historical legacy. What will, or even ought, form the records of the future? What might local historians in 2120, looking back to mark the centenary of Coronavirus 2020, consult and consider in forming their representations and interpretations?

I began to ask myself where the local historical record was most likely to be lost? There were, it seemed to me, three areas: where it is materially most fragile; where local difference and distinctiveness were being diminished, diluted or disregarded in favour of national or metropolitan narratives; and in the sphere of how individual people actually feel, and the importance of recording this now, not when they are reflecting back – if and when that time would come. It was the receipt of one item that helped me to finalise my ‘to-do list’ as a local historian during lockdown. It came from Maureen Sutton, a Lincolnshire dialect poet and folklore historian in her late 70s, with whom I have shared many a stage, mic or lectern in recent years. Today, during the current crisis, she remains under orders, isolated and vulnerable. However, she finds distraction and brings much joy through her rare and much-cherished craft. I will leave you with a verse from one of her latest poems, ‘House Arrest’:

Well maate, I’ve gotten a craw to pick wi Boris, he’s putten me under

‘ouse arrest, an’ I dossent like it, I ain’t gone an’ done owt wrong

An’ now I’ve got to stay at ‘ome for weeks on end.

It ain’t no good werriting so I’ll just have to find summats

To keep me sen busy or I’ll go crazed. Already I’m mazzeled

About what I’m going to do.

Craw = argument/disagreement

Werriting = worrying

Summats = something/some things

Sen = self/myself

Mazzeled = puzzled

Dr Andrew Jackson, Bishop Grosseteste University

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By anon

Being largely "confined to barracks" due to Covid19 meant the opportunity to return to a project started some years ago to produce a book to mark 25 years of a local history organisation, which was never completed due to other commitments. Two of the main sources for any such publication are minutes of meetings and published lists of talks, events etc. Fortunately most of these were accessible but closer scrutiny uncovered some unexpected problems. While it may be easy enough to find adverts or notices about meetings, outings and special events it's much harder to establish definitely if these happened as planned and if so how things turned out. Obviously there are always circumstances when an advertised activity can't happen because of bad weather, illness, problems with the venue etc, but unless these changes are recorded how can anyone know in the future? It's also nice to have some idea of how things went.

Not everything merits a full blown press release, or report in a newsletter/journal but even short comments like "turnout disappointing, not worth doing this again", "planned walk much shortened due to Foot & Mouth restrictions", "very popular speaker, had to turn people away" add flesh to the bare bones of an advertised event. When things do need to be changed it's only giving half the necessary information if a talk has just been crossed through or something like "Speaker ill and could not come" is all that gets recorded. Which does not tell future researchers what actually happened on that date.

Producing the minutes of meetings may be a requirement but is also often a chore. Many of us have no doubt used the short cut of using the last meeting's version as a starting point for the most recent, on the basis that things like list of those attending will be much the same. Fair enough as a labour saving device, provided you change the critical bits like dates, which someone obviously forgot to do on more than one occasion. Some of these errors were corrected on the approved copy in the file but others had remained - obviously no one had really read them carefully. In a standard set of minutes you might expect to find a date in four places - heading; agenda items "Minutes of last meeting" and "Date of next meeting"; date on which the person chairing the meeting at which they were approved signed it. An incorrect date in the heading is not too much of a problem if the others are present and correct, but if no date is given for the last meeting, and the next one just says "to be confirmed", and no one signed/dated a file copy then trying to work out which is which on two or three documents with same heading line is a challenge. Even worse was the year for which the file copy of AGM minutes did have the correct date - but the contents were that of the previous year! What happened in that missing year will remain a mystery.

So please - for the sake of those studying the history of your society in the future take care of your archive items, make sure those minutes are informative and correctly dated, and keep track of changes to advertised meetings/events. No need for anything too high tech - often an amendment on the hard copy will do the trick. Remember - we are all history societies and should devote as much care and attention to our own past as we do to that of other people.

To spare the blushes of the society concerned the author of this item requests anonymity! (name and address supplied Ed)

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The Council for British Archaeology ‘Festival of Archaeology’ is this year in two parts. Many of you will have enjoyed events in the digital festival earlier in July. It is planned that ‘main’ Festival activities will take place between 24 October and 1 November. Look out for events near you which will be listed on their website in due course. www.festival.archaeologyuk.org

Oxford Buildings Record is inviting people to get involved with a project to record and research the county’s railings. Railings are an important feature of townscapes, but relatively little studied. One of the aims is to create a database of pre-1900 iron railings, documenting characteristics from which others can be dated.

http://obr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Historic-Iron-Railings.pdf

Oxfordshire Local History Association www.olha.org.uk

It is distressing when news of unnecessary destruction is mentioned by local societies. Borough of Twickenham Local History Society Newsletter reports how a skip full of 17th century red brick has gone to landfill (replaced with bland wooden fencing). The ancient garden wall marked the ‘furthest flung boundary of Twickenham Parish’ but was clearly not valued by the owner of the property.

www.botlhs.co.uk.

Communities chose to commemorate their fallen in a wide variety of ways, in addition to the familiar war memorial: Parish Halls, hospital wards, clocktowers, and organs. Of 51,000 memorials recorded on War Memorials Online, 149 are organs, spread all across the country. The War Memorials Trust has supported works to a number of these, including in Princes Risborough, Tenterden, Scarborough, and Ilkeston. www.warmemorials.org

‘Under current circumstances’ is a much-used phrase this summer. It means that all organisations, large and small, are making the most of digital facilities to keep in touch with their members and friends, and continue their activities. ‘Website’ and ‘Online’ are becoming as much used as ‘unprecedented’ and ‘Covid-safe’. Many are developing their capabilities in innovative ways. Here are a few examples.

Project Purley is making use of lockdown time by asking for volunteers to transcribed press cuttings from their archives. They have a very large number, from the mid-18th century to the present, which will be scanned to send by email to people willing to transcribe so there is an electronic version of the text for wider use. www.project-purley.net

Smarden Local History Society has created a new channel on YouTube called SMARDEN HISTORY where it is uploading a series of its specially made local history films.

The first films available on YouTube are The History of Smarden in two parts and Smarden's Deadly Year which is the story of a mystery illness which struck the village in 1671 and the local doctor's fight against the disease.

The Society is also placing on-line selected documents and images from its archive. The first items are The Life of Halford Mills, our local historian, and the Story of Smarden Institute, with much more to be added soon.

http://smardenheritagecentre.synthasite.com

Aldermaston History Group is young, formally constituted in February 2018. They set themselves an ambitious remit and made a website the priority. A successful application to the national lottery Sharing Heritage Programme got them a grant of nearly £10,000 to build and run the website, including training, plus separate training for collecting oral histories. In September 2019 they went online, and have gone from strength to strength since. www.aldermastonhistory.uk

Harpenden & District Local History Society has had its current website for 10 years and is planning a new one. They are establishing an editorial team for the new site. www.harpenden-history.org.uk

Rickmansworth Historical Society has a new website. While much of the content has been moved from the old site, there are new features like a ‘blog’ facility, a page of links, and a ‘contact us’ form. From the editor’s point of view behind the scenes it is much faster and more flexible to use. www.rickmansworthhistory.org.uk

‘Lives & Times’ is the title of the newsletter from Epsom & Ewell Local and Family History Centre. Their website is Epsom & Ewell History Explorer. It is being updated regularly, with new and revised material. The latest, as I write this in early July, is two days ago. To illustrate the variety of topics, there is a stagecoach accident in 1826, searchable directories from 1846 to 1938, and stills and a short clip of a silent film of 1912 ‘Bunny at the Derby’. www.eehe.org.uk

At the moment we might feel that 2020 will never be forgotten, but very valuable for future analysis of these times is the special labelling (in addition to the date) of material from this year. Towcester and District Local History Society’s Newsletter has a sub-heading ‘Coronavirus lock-down edition’ www.mkheritage.co.uk/tdlhs

And Keyworth & District Local History Society E-Newsletter comes with the subject line ‘Covid Special’. www.keyworthhistory.org.uk

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I’m not presuming to judge, but others are ... Go to Museum Crush to find ‘the best UK museum exhibitions to enjoy from home’, ‘7 of our favourite museum YouTube channels’; ’10 of our favourite UK museum podcasts’ and much more of interest, all presented in handy bite-sized pieces and labelled ‘4 min read’, ‘10 min read’ and so on. https://museumcrush.org/

While museums remain closed to the public, much work continues behind the scenes, and their websites are vibrant places for exploring local and national issues. One powerful example is the local impact of ‘Black Lives Matter’ and the relationship of slavery to communities in Britain. Many of you will have watched David Osuloga’s television programmes, and you might recall the Legacies of Slave Ownership Project where you can search for local families who received compensation for the loss of their property under the Slave Compensation Act 1837, see LHN 115 Spring 2105 p 17. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/

On the Bridport Museum website Professor Karen Hunt has written an essay about Bridport and Slavery, using the database and many other sources, exploring both the evidence of connections to the slave trade, and of local abolitionist movements. https://www.bridportmuseum.co.uk/blog/view/?v=bridport-and-slavery

Ceredigion Museum has an exceptional collection of quilts. They plan to add two new ones, one real and one digital, to help commemorate shared experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic and to capture the experiences of the community during this transformative moment in time. Ceredigion Museum are asking the public to get involved with the project by sending in content to be displayed on both of the quilts. Closing date for contributions is 30/09/20. Ceredigion is no stranger to isolation and quarantine, we have faced several epidemics, including smallpox in 1738 and 1819, cholera in 1840, the 1918 flu pandemic, and typhoid in 1946. The Quarantine Quilts will form part of Ceredigion Museums exhibition ‘Quilts: Human Threads’. This exhibition explores these objects as gateways to fascinating stories and social histories, and considers how remarkable they are for both their exquisite craftsmanship and their emotional resonance. Both quilts, once completed, will be available to view on www.ceredigionmuseum.wales and at the museum during the exhibition.

.http://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/resident/news/ceredigion-museum-get-creative-for-quarantine-quilts/

The White House Cone Museum of Glass is due to open in 2021. Part of the interpretation in the new museum will be based on pattern books which have recently received a grant from The National Manuscripts Conservation Trust. They come from a number of important glass factories in the Stourbridge area, ranging in date from 1851 to 1945, and contain unique record of patterns, cutters, engravers, materials and costs in the trade. A specialist conditions survey found many of the volumes unsuitable for use, so the grant will allow them to be digitised and therefore widely available to designers, local, social and economic historians, and modern-day glassmakers. In the new museum visitors will be able to follow selected objects in the collection from design to the factory and on to the customer. www.britishglassfoundation.org. www.blackcountrysociety.com

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Remembering Srebrenica is a charitable organisation funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and supported by the Foreign Office. Its aim is to raise awareness of the genocide in Bosnia and bring people together to tackle hatred and help build safer, stronger communities here in the UK. Srebrenica Memorial Week takes place in July when this year communities across the UK will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the genocide. There are a range of education resources available including lesson plans for PSHE, history, RE and form time, Assemblies, arts and crafts activities, poetry and music.

https://www.srebrenica.org.uk/education/

In a small, socially distanced, ceremony Hannah More Primary School in Bristol a mural has been unveiled to mark the 275th anniversary of the birth of Hannah Moore (1745-1833). Her father gave her a wider education that than usually allowed for girls in the eighteenth century. She was a playwright, essayist, author of moral tracts aimed at the poor, and an anti-slavery campaigner as well as an evangelist who set up charity schools and Sunday Schools for poor children. www.bristol247.com www.lucienneboyce.com

Amongst the many, and increasing, online learning opportunities available, you might find something of interest under History & the Arts at OpenLearn, the Open University free courses. https://www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses Or with short online courses at Future Learn https://www.futurelearn.com/subjects/history-courses. There are ‘History & Culture’ listings available with WEA Live Online Learning https://www.wea.org.uk/liveonlinelearning/history-and-culture-courses. And that’s just a very small sample.

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By Alan Crosby

This year the Research and Publications Awards were chosen, as usual, from two ‘longlists’ for longer and shorter articles. The assessors had the difficult task of selecting winners from a strong field, and it was noted that local historians seem increasingly willing to tackle medieval and sixteenth century subjects. In the past the dominance of Victorian studies has been remarked upon, but this is less apparent now. Several of the assessors noted the very high quality of the research, and the in-depth use of primary archival sources.

The title ‘David Hey Memorial Article’ is given to the overall winner of the long article category and this year it went to Brian Hodgkinson, for his paper ‘The Holland Causeway and Bridge End Priory: piety, people and communications in the Lincolnshire Fenland’, published in Lincolnshire History & Archaeology. This detailed case study makes use of a wide range of primary sources, and is the product of extensive research demonstrating the author’s very considerable expertise. It looks at a key link in Lincolnshire’s medieval communications network, which remains as a major artery today, and shows how the small priory at Bridge End near Sleaford tried to manage the considerable burden of upkeep. In addition to giving a detailed history of a little-known religious house the paper clearly reveals first-hand knowledge of the geography of the area. The assessors felt that this was a very strong overall winner for the award (the article is republished in July 2020 issue of The Local Historian).

Another medieval topic was tackled by Neil Wiffen, whose ‘Supplying the army: the contribution of Essex to provisioning the forces of Edward III, c.1337’ (published in the Essex Journal) was runner-up. This is a stimulating study of the local impact of national events during the Hundred Years War, focusing on the requisitioning of supplies and showing who in Essex provided the resources which the king demanded. One assessors noted that ‘this author writes with infectious enthusiasm ... He sets his topic in context and makes very good use of both secondary and primary sources both in print and manuscript’. The records used are challenging, but Neil showed considerable ingenuity in investigating how far the demand for food supplies for the army was fulfilled in Essex. He questions his evidence, but makes solid and sound conclusions. This is an exemplar of how a paper might be used as a model by readers elsewhere seeking to explore the same topic.

Ian Hancock, in ‘Forestry between the Tyne and the Derwent 1770-1870’ (Hexham Historian) gives a detailed study of how deliberately-planted commercial woodland long predated the establishment of the Forestry Commission in 1922. He looks at the economic and geographical rationale, including the significance of parliamentary enclosure, and discusses the ways in which plantations dramatically altered the landscape of the study area in south Northumberland. He is very knowledgeable about forestry and the geography of the area about which he is writing, and makes good use of primary sources. A sub-theme of particular interest focuses on the way in which the demand for different kinds of timber for shipbuilding or local mines affected the types of trees planted. It is a specialised but accessible and innovative piece of work.

The task of improving the urban environment in late 18th and early 19th century Britain often fell to commissioners rather than municipal corporations. David Neilson investigated this in ‘The operation and achievements of the Winchester pavement commissioners 1770-1866’, published in Hampshire Studies. His detailed study describes the history of the Pavement Commissioners, a body which functioned separately from the ancient corporation. In its concluding sections, the paper demonstrates the impact of their work over almost a century on the town’s infrastructure, health and environment. Bodies such as these have been much neglected by historians and it is good to see that imbalance being redressed.

The winner of the ‘short article’ category was Caroline Adams, whose paper ‘The influence of the early modern gentleman on the changing landscape of West Sussex’ was published in West Sussex History. She takes a broad brush approach, looking at a wide range of landed estates in West Sussex and assessing the impact upon the county’s landscape of the creation and development of parkland and woodland in the centuries before the better known ‘designed’ landscapes of the 18th century. By focusing on this earlier period Caroline introduces a variety of factors contributing to what she calls ‘a quiet revolution’: the Dissolution; the need for timber; the charcoal industry; wealth from mercantile activities; mapping and surveying; and the ‘Great Rebuilding’. It is a readable and welcome introduction to a topic which could be researched in other counties.

Sean Gubbins, in ‘Hackney, Shoreditch and Stoke Newington and the Hearth Tax’ (Hackney History) takes one of the key late-seventeenth century sources for local history—the hearth tax returns of the 1660s and 1670s. They are familiar to many but difficult to use and analyse because of the ambiguities in the collection procedures and the scope of the returns. This paper assesses what that familiar source reveals about the social structure of an area which in the Restoration period was just beyond the edge of London and as such had a semi-suburban role, with many prosperous residents. Unlike some hearth tax studies it is comparatively light on statistics, and it shows how other local investigations making use of this source might be constructed.

‘Back to the land’ movements were a widespread national phenomenon, from the Chartist colonies of the 1840s to the plotland developments of the inter-war period. In ‘”Klondike Villa”: the back to the land movement in Bradford’ (The Bradford Antiquary) Norman Alvin looks at an example of ‘land grabbing’ of the Edwardian period, describing the temporary occupation by a group of unemployed workers of land at Manningham in Bradford between July and October 1906. The narrative recounts the ‘action’ and the gradual dwindling of momentum, provides notes on key personalities, and shows how sympathy for the unemployed was very strong in the city. This very interesting article rescues, and contextualises, a forgotten event in Yorkshire’s working class history.

Sue Andrews sought to explain an oddity. In ‘Why did the parish of Hadleigh not join Cosford Incorporation in 1779’ (Suffolk Review) she considers how, from the early 18th century onwards voluntary ‘incorporations’ of parishes for Poor Law purposes occasionally took place, particularly in East Anglia. Her paper analyses the complexities involved in incorporating the parishes in Cosford Hundred, Suffolk, achieved by local Act of Parliament in 1779. The Act was oddly-titled: ‘For the better Relief and Employment of the Poor of the several Parishes within the Hundred of Cosford (except the Parish of Hadleigh), and also of the Parish of Polsted, within the Hundred of Babergh’. In her comprehensive analysis Sue seeks to explain why Hadleigh was excluded and refused to participate in the scheme, remaining independent until compulsorily included in the new Cosford Poor Law Union established in 1834.

Eight awards ... but we could have made many more. There is a wealth of material in the journals published by local and county societies across Great Britain, and as always it has been rewarding and stimulating to read these examples of the work being undertaken by local historians. We look forward to next year’s ‘crop’, which will be shortlisted in the autumn.

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There is, of course, a problem when depicting early medieval saints. They have become rather more than human, examples, intercessors and symbols, yet to be represented they must be given a recognisable form. No-one knows what St David, the patron saint of Wales, looked like. He is believed to have lived in the fifth or sixth century, and the first written account of his life dates from around half a millennium later. So visual representations of the saint must needs respond not to physical likeness, but will be informed by the taste of the age in which they were created, the conceptions of patrons, and the individual style of the artists chosen to create them.

In this lovely little book Dr Crampin has assembled a collection of images of the saint from Welsh churches. Since much of the medieval material has been lost or destroyed, these date largely from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and are mostly to be found in stained glass windows, though other media are included. Here are depictions David as a child and an old man, a bishop and an ascetic, on a mound and on his deathbed, preaching and working miracles, with and without his emblematic dove. The aesthetic responses to these representations will depend on the viewer, but there is much fine work to be found here. I was particularly taken by the stooped, bearded old saint from Tenby, the austere statue by the always-interesting Goscombe John in Cardiff City Hall, and the most recent work, from 2015 by Rachel Phillips in Clydach, which eschews figurative depiction entirely. There are some delightful details too; the red slippers favoured by the artists at Lampeter and elsewhere, the dove by Kempe at Christ Church Swansea, which seems (to me at any rate) to abandon the pacific for a hint of the grumpy archaeopteryx. There are some which I find less successful, Mancini’s toothy, rather manic statue at Llandewi Brefi being amongst them.

Martin Crampin is an acknowledged expert on Welsh ecclesiastical art, and on its stained glass in particular. His commentary shows both the knowledge which comes from detailed research and the insight which comes from appreciation, and is a fine complement to his own excellent photographs, which are reproduced, 170 of them, in colour. The publishers are also to be congratulated on the quality of the production of the work. It costs £7.99, a price which deserves not the usual adjective, “reasonable”, but borders on the astonishing. This is a fine book in every respect.

I end with a personal reflection. I have seen many of these depictions in my frequent visits to Welsh churches. I have seen them, but not looked at them. I have sought out, as (in Philip Larkin’s memorable phrase) a “ruin-bibber, randy for antique”, medieval remains and architectural details, occasionally waving a dismissive hand at “insipid, modern” stained glass. I will not do so again. To this extent Dr Crampin’s work has made a convert. St David might be rather pleased.

Richard W. Ireland

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By James Parry and Jeremy Greenwood

(Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society 2020 88pp ISBN938-1-0162537-1-1) £9.50 www.nnns.org.uk

Emma Louisa Turner (1867-1940) was an ornithologist and pioneering bird photographer. While botany, archaeology and similar pursuits had become acceptable for female participation in the later 19th century, Emma Turner broke new ground with her commitment, her technical skill with the camera, and her writing. She contributed numerous articles to Country Life between 1906 and 1934, and wrote throughout her working life for specialist journals including British Birds and the Transactions of NNNS.

Emma Turner was born in Kent and until her 30s she led a conventional life focused on her family, where she was needed as her mother had died when Emma was 13, and he sister Mary died aged 30. Emma then, aged 33, decided to take up bird photography, and, with no qualifications or formal training, quickly made her mark, developing a career giving lectures illustrated with lantern slides.

At the beginning of the 20th century Emma first visited the Norfolk Broads where she was to spend a great deal of time, developing close relationships with local country workers, and becoming part of the established community of Norfolk naturalists. She travelled far and wide in search of birds, including Scotland, Devon and the Netherlands, and also spent months as the ‘tern-watcher’ on Scolt Head in her 50s, which resulted in one of her lavishly illustrated books. By contrast, during the First World War she worked in a VAD hospital as a cook.

This biography traces her extraordinary life, illustrated by striking images many published here for the first time. Emma Turner made an important contribution to British ornithology with her unique photographs and skilful prose, both of which should be better known.

Jane Howells

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Other books:

Shaping the Past:

Theme, Time and Place in Local History

essays in honour of David Dymond edited by Evelyn Lord and Nicholas R Amor

University of Hertfordshire Press 2020ISBN 978 1 912260 22 5

David Dymond is one of Britain’s most respected local historians. He has been long associated with BALH, serving as Chairman, editor of The Local Historian and is now a Vice President. The essays in this Festschrift are written with affection and esteem by colleagues, friends and students, who have been inspired by David’s expertise, interest and encouragement. Among them are many names familiar to readers of LHN and TLH.

Colonel Carless of Brewood

Elaine T Joyce has written a book about Colonel Carless of Brewood in South Staffordshire (he hid in the oak tree with King Charles II). She offers to speak to local history societies in the area, when circumstances allow and meeting programmes begin again. In the meantime she has made a video of herself talking about the book which can be viewed at https://youtube/HI13-x_EHPo (that’s H capital I thirteen). elainejoyce100@gmail.com

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By Alan Crosby

During the autumn of 1609 Liverpool and its rural hinterland were ravaged by plague. It had appeared in the area about a year earlier but became increasingly virulent in September, so that at the Lancashire quarter sessions on 9 October the justices ordered a rate of £140 to be levied in the hundred of West Derby, which included Liverpool, to relieve the ‘poore and infected people’. If this money was insufficient the adjacent hundred of Leyland was to be taxed, and if that was still not enough a second rate across both hundreds was authorised.

By the time of the Epiphany sessions in mid-January the plague had spread further. There were now 19 houses ‘shutt up’ in Liverpool, but ‘ccccxl and over persons in Lyverpoole which have not wherewith to mayneteyne themselves, but are forced to live upon the releeffe and benevolence of the cuntrye’. A county-wide rate was ordered, but the pestilence was slow to depart: the town council had erected cabins on the waste to isolate infected families, and the Easter sessions heard that there were still 28 people in ‘the Cabons of infected and suspected persons’.

It hardly needs to be said that business was badly disrupted, and that fear stalked the streets. The Corporation’s Town Book notes that a sitting of the borough portmoot court for 1609 was ‘of necessitie Deferred and put off by reason of the infection of the plague within this towne ... from the accustomed time until this Daie’ [12 March 1610].

Rarely do we know about the fine detail of the impact of plague, but in September 1610, Alexander Marsh aged 33 testified to the consistory court at Chester about one event which highlights the way in which people adapted to the dangers. On about 7 October 1609, ‘the plague being then very grivous in Liverpoole’, he had been summoned to the house of John Baylie or Bailey, which was infected. Alexander was ‘standinge in the streete neare to the said house when John Baylie ‘looked forthe of a windowe & signifyed to this deponent & others ... that he was willinge to make his will’.

John asked Alexander to ‘take soe much paynes as for to write the same whereupon this deponent tooke pennes Inke and Paper and writt the saide deceadents will as hee the deceadent declared the same from his owne mouth hee the deceadent standinge att a windowe in the howse and this deponent writinge in the streete’. When the will had been dictated, Alexander ‘did reade the same distinctly and playnely twise over to the deceadent and hee lyked well of the same’.

A witness, Richard Bird aged 38, said that ‘sundrie persons’ stood in the street but ‘there durst nott anie present goe into the howse because itt was infected of the plague and some persons deade out of the saide howse of the plague’. John Baylie was not infected: he was then, testified Richard, ‘of good and perfect memorie for he spoake with good discreacion and delivered his minde of his owne accord’.

The will itself is a landscape-format paper which has been folded and subsequently damaged at the fold. It is written in a neat regular hand with evenly spaced straight lines of text; and it has the usual formal preamble. The content, however, is breathless jumble of dozens of monetary bequests, interspersed with legacies of grain in the barns, animals (‘I give to Thomas Masson a hogge that is upon the Backsyde or therabouts’), other commodities (‘unto Richard Rosse younger all the Tymber that lyeth on the back of the castell hill’), charitable donations for the poor of Liverpool, sums for the ringing of bells, and much else.

It seems unlikely that this is the document which Alexander Marsh wrote in the street. It is too neat and tidy, and the formulaic elements are implausible. In the privacy of his own home, I think, he produced a fair copy, and obtained the signatures of witnesses who had been present: Richard Bird testified that he recognised his own hand, as one such. But the body of the document, with its staccato instructions, is surely just as John dictated it through the window. We do not know when John Baylie died. Liverpool parish registers do not begin until 1659, and the date of probate (14 September 1610) is almost a year after the will was made. Whether or not he was a plague victim is impossible to ascertain, but the circumstances in which his will was made have clear resonances more than four centuries later.

My grateful thanks to Jean Moffatt, a volunteer at Lancashire Archives, for drawing my attention to these documents.

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By Gill Draper, Events and Development Officer

At a time when many are missing the regular programme of talks at their local history society, BALH is offering you a chance to propose a ‘Ten Minute Talk’ for the BALH website. You can propose any local history topic you like, ideally perhaps concerning recent research.

The first four talks went on the website in April and included a discussion of a landscape by the artist John Wootton in which he represented the town of Dover and the procession which was part of the installation of the Lord Warden of Cinque Ports in 1727. Another talk examined a document about livestock in Knole Park, Kent (NT) in the 1670s, comparing them with the deer there now. There is a photo of a little boy (my husband now!) stroking the nose of a Jersey cow in 1954, surely the last ‘milch cow’ which was kept in the Park. A third talk explores how ‘ephemera’ such as two billheads, a catalogue and more can extend what is known about the first local exhibition to mirror the Crystal Palace extravaganza of 1851. This was held in Salisbury and demonstrated the skills of local producers and collectors. ‘Shadows in the Bricks: the old shops of South Bank in York’ opens up the project in which Clements Hall Local History Group investigated the history of retail trade which is of interest both to local historians and the wider public. In March 2019 the Group launched a school resource pack for junior school children, based on its researches. Working with teachers at a local primary, Scarcroft School, the group devised a useful pack to link in with the Key Stage 1/2 curriculum. With laminated images and maps, the pack encourages children to walk around their neighbourhood spaces, looking at how traders have changed over a long period and question why.

The talks can be found at https://www.balh.org.uk/resources-other-presentation-material and you will see that there are two files for each, one containing the slides and another the notes of the ‘Talk’. We recommend you use two screens so you can have both open at once, or print the notes so that you can read them as you look through the slides.

There will be more talks: on choosing a marriage partner in south-west Suffolk between 1644 and 1703; time travel in Richmond, London; how a local newspaper suppressed reporting of an epidemic in 1849; and the Cambridge University and Town Gas-Light Company in the 1920s.

If you would like to offer a Ten Minute Talk, please read the invitation on https://www.balh.org.uk/news-invitation-for-ten-minute-talks-2020-05-03 and in particular take into account the points on copyright when considering images for slides. Do contact me if you have any queries on development@balh.org.uk

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Local History Day and Awards

We were very disappointed not to be able to gather for our major annual event in June. I particularly missed meeting the Awards recipients. Their names are listed here (p XX). On 6 June they were all recognised by an exciting social media campaign arranged by Jessica Lutkin, and the details can be seen on our website. Alan Crosby has written his usual summary assessment of the Research and Publications section (p XX), which explains the expertise and interests of the authors, and the skills they have demonstrated in their award-winning articles.

BALH Annual General Meeting

The Association is required to hold an AGM, and this year it will be done as a virtual event in the Autumn. Members will be informed officially when this is fixed, and further details will appear on our website. The papers which were published in LHN 134 (Supplement) will stand. Meanwhile there has been a change at the top, Jessica Lutkin has been co-opted as Chair and David Killingray co-opted as Vice Chair, until these appointments are confirmed at the AGM.

Dennis Mills (1931-2020)

It was with much sadness that we heard of the death of Dennis Mills earlier this year. Many members will have found his perceptive and accessible publications of great value. Many have been inspired by his meticulous and extensive research. Perhaps you knew him as an enthusiastic and generous teacher on Open University courses? A full appreciation of his work will be published in The Local Historian in October.

Local History News Archive

The official ‘archive’ of copies of Local History News, which is passed on from one editor to the next, starts at issue number 38. Not long ago I was delighted to receive a package from a long-standing member containing issues 1 – 25. Does anyone have issues 26 – 37 they would like to donate to complete the set? If so please get in touch editor.lhn@balh.org.uk

Looking & Finding

I was dusting books during lockdown, and came across one from my childhood that brought back many memoires. Looking & Finding by Geoffrey Grigson was a great favourite; my copy is inscribed in my father’s very neat handwriting ‘From Mummy and Daddy Christmas 1959’. The volume’s title continues … And Collecting And Reading And investigating And Much Else’. On the page headed ‘A Word to be Read Second’ Grigson writes ‘It is not a bad thing to give yourself pleasure and delights, so long as your pleasures and delights do not get in the way of other people or upset them. It is not a bad thing to be inquisitive and to wonder. I hope this is a book of wonders, as well as a book against having nothing to do’. All the ‘collecting’ aspects would not be approved of today, but the advice on ’looking’ remains as powerful as when it was written. I hope readers have found some pleasures and delights amongst the sadness, stress, confusion and irritation of recent months. JH

Supporting local bookshops

While fully endorsing John Chandler's plea to support independent bookshops, there are occasions when we can't resist the convenience or temptation of buying on-line. To do so, however, it's not necessary to feed the Bezos behemoth. The on-line bookshop Hive (www.hive.co.uk) is often competitive with Amazon on price, offers home delivery or collection from a nominated local bookshop and, either way, offers that bookshop a commission on the sale price.

David Griffiths.

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