November 2024 Reviews

By William D. Shannon

(Jake Island Ltd/Inspired by Lakeland 2024 256pp ISBN 978-1-915513-05-2) £29.90

One cannot fail to be immediately impressed by the visual impact of this volume. The publishers, Inspired by Lakeland, are gaining a reputation for sumptuous publications and the quality of production here is excellent. The images more than do justice to the subject matter and remind the reader that maps can be useful, interesting and of high aesthetic value. The book measures 300mm x 250mm and is presented in landscape format. At a little larger than the familiar A4 paper size this has offered much scope for an interesting layout, which has been taken advantage of fully. Maps tend to be much larger than a book format, which causes for problems for their reproduction at scale; even so, those maps shown in this volume at much-reduced scale are as clear as can be expected, while the excellent expedient of providing expanded extracts at larger scale than the original is most beneficial in making detail more obvious.

Of course, publication quality needs to be matched by the written word, and William Shannon provides just that. He offers a very detailed, interesting and yet accessible account of the maps under consideration. He clearly has a long-standing enthusiasm for, and deep knowledge of, his subject. This is no dry account of cartography: each map is put into context and discussion of purpose brings very wide-ranging aspects of the history of Cumbria to the fore. Where relevant, the national and wider contexts are mentioned and remind the reader that Cumbria should not be studied in isolation.

An introductory double-page spread lists the maps and the 68 ‘chapters’ are colour-coded to indicate which category the map(s) fall under: Early maps; County maps; Dispute maps; Estate and enclosure maps; Historical and allegorical maps; Travel and tourist maps; Ordnance Survey maps; and finally maps reflecting ‘Forming Cumbria’, such as geological and land-use maps. As if to whet the reader’s appetite, there then follows a concise two-page outline of the history of map-making. A central theme of this mini-history is the move over time from maps for specific purposes, such as land disputes or surveying the route of a proposed canal, to the generalist mapping of the Ordnance Survey, which is familiar to us today. Even this generalist mapping was driven initially by military needs and, as the author notes, there has been a subsequent shift by the Ordnance Survey to include specialist maps in its portfolio; a move, we are told, that involved often heated debate as to the appropriate map scales that the Survey should produce.

The range of map types included in the book is impressive and helpfully the sources are referenced, so the keen reader could seek out the originals. This reviewer could only think of cave surveys, climatological maps and maps for aviators as categories not represented. The maps are arranged chronologically starting with the Cotton Anglo-Saxon map of c.1025-50 (the first map to name Cumbria) and ending with twentieth and twenty-first century publications—for example, Wainwright’s map of Westmorland at the inception of Cumbria, mapping of the proposed M6 through the Lune Gorge, and finally a 2017 University of Sheffield map of glacial geomorphology. Even maps that contain mythical elements, such as imagined islands to the west of the British Isles, are highlighted and remind the reader that representation can be of the mind as well as of reality. Local historians might find some of the more localised maps of particular interest: the 1561 plan of a deer park at Ravenstonedale, the 1569 sketch plan of Workington showing the harbour, and the 1736 map of confiscated estates around Derwentwater, are just three examples.

Information is provided, in boxes with shaded backgrounds, about such relevant topics as survey methods, latitude and longitude, and old systems of measurement. These augment the text without breaking its flow. Prior to a final acknowledgement page, an extensive section of references and further reading concludes the book. It is arranged as per the ‘chapters’ and provides a substantial amount of potential reading. This is a book that could be read cover to cover but it lends itself also to shorter readings, a map at a time; indeed, the text is so rich in detail that this might be the approach favoured by many. Either way, for anyone interested in either maps or Cumbria (or both) this is a not-to-be missed volume and is thoroughly recommended.

Cumbrian resident and sometime teacher of geography and geology ALAN DOUGHERTY has used maps enthusiastically especially when caving, mountaineering and sailing.

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By Dave Fogg Postles

(davelinux.info 2024 52pp no ISBN) free from https://davelinux.info/BOOKS/clergyfinal.pdf

This short book by Dave Fogg Postles provides the reader with a detailed review and assessment of the Anglican clergy in Leicestershire in the late-Victorian period. Building on the work by Alan Haig at national level and local research undertaken by Gerald Rimington for Rutland for the same period, and for Leicestershire in the early twentieth century, this study extends the previous research in terms of its focus, the data examined and the analytical techniques employed. As a result, it shines further light on the nature and characteristics of the clergy and their contribution to local society in this period.

The book comprises four sections. The first half looks at the clerical cohort of 1881 in great detail, considering issues such as the nature of their livings and parishes, the related patronage, their income, age, marital status, education, and geographic mobility. The second half of the book consists of three shorter sections looking in more depth at clerical wealth and politics, the role of the clergy in local government and the law and, finally and briefly, their cultural impact as local historians and antiquaries.

Postles’ research draws on numerous primary sources such as census returns, the National Probate Register, local newspapers, clerical and trade directories, landowner returns and baptism records and engages with relevant secondary literature throughout. The academic rationale for the choice of the period of study is clearly set out, as are the research methods applied to the data and the way that sources are combined. The 52 pages are packed with detailed descriptive analysis and relational statistics, although perhaps more could have been done to explain some of the statistical techniques to those less familiar with them. The presentation of the data in some of the figures is also a little difficult to read and follow in places (for example figures 7, 8 and 9). Also, perhaps more could have been offered in terms of interpreting and assessing the historical importance of the data so painstakingly assembled and presented. The brief conclusion does this to some extent, drawing out some important and perceptive points such as the continuing longevity of the clergy and the enduring impact of patronage.

While the volume is short and well-written and therefore readily accessible, the engagement of the reader would have been further eased by some conventional structure. For example, there is no general introduction, author’s note or preface, no cover comments, summary of contents, list of tables and figures, bibliography or index. While the purpose, context and direction of the book soon become clear, some structure and signposting would have been welcomed by this reader. Overall, though, this is an impressive and insightful study for which a wealth of data has been gathered, assembled and carefully analysed. As such it achieves its main objective of taking our understanding of the late-Victorian clergy and its role in society to a deeper level. The book makes an important contribution to the historiography which will be welcomed by scholars in this field.

ALISTAIR BEECHER is a departmental lecturer in the Department for Continuing Education at the University of Oxford. His teaching and research interests are in local history, modern religious and social history and the secularisation of society.

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By Rebecca Preston and Andrew Saint

(Brown Dog Books 2024 448pp ISBN 978-1-83952-745-6) £27.50

Readers might know St Giles by its High Street leading into the crossroads at Tottenham Court Road underground station, and could even know the Flitcroft church south of the High Street, but how far does the parish extend? When I became interested in the history of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, I discovered that its Survey of London volume was Part 1 of the St Giles-in-the Fields parish volume. The parish is foot-shaped with the church at the ankle, the eastern boundary of the parish (the toes) running though the grounds of Lincoln’s Inn between the Fields and Stone Buildings (which front Chancery Lane), while the northern boundary (up the shin!) is now on Torrington Place, just enclosing the Heal’s Building. It includes a relatively large area with buildings of widely different styles. As originally built, the smart terraces of the Bedford Estate led down to the slum areas of the Rookery (rooks steal things, so if you went there you were likely to be robbed). To the south are the relatively prosperous terraces around Seven Dials. Eastwards from the church, the streets around High Holborn lead to the eastern boundary. The book has double-page maps of the parish in 1800 and 1950, before and after the ‘Metropolitan Improvements’ of the mid-nineteenth century which gave us New Oxford Street, Charing Cross Road and Shaftesbury Avenue. Kingsway arrived 50 years later

This is no gentle parish history with an emphasis on the church and one or two notable families and their houses. Essentially it is a new edition of that 120-year-old Survey of London volume; indeed one of the authors is a recently-retired editor of recent Survey volumes. All 400-plus pages are packed with information, properly presented in logical form. The description is limited to the modern parish, with only passing references to the carved-out parish of Hawksmoor’s St George in Hart Street.

St Giles has an early history, from 1117 as a hospital including care for lepers on the western fringes of town. Marjorie Honeybourne is quoted as saying the hospital inmates tried to operate as a religious community. After the Dissolution, most of the land was owned in common with the Bloomsbury Manor by Lord Southampton and on the hospital land were almshouses for women. With the rise of Dissent the area supported many places of worship, including a Freemasons’ temple. Before the formation of secular local authorities, the parish vestry ran most of the social services and there is a full account of what was organised by and for the St Giles parishioners

The ‘Improvement’ of building New Oxford Street did not solve the poverty problem of the Rookery, as the poor simply moved to adjoining properties. It was not until local management passed to the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1855 that the drainage of the marshy Rookery area and the London-wide intercepting sewers of Joseph Bazalgette were put in hand. Even so, New Oxford Street did not bring fashion and prosperity to St Giles. Today Soho, over the border in Westminster, is chic but the shops which do remain in New Oxford Street are overwhelmed by the monster office developments to the south of the street and the Charing Cross Road is definitely a poor relation of Regent Street. Nevertheless, St Giles is part of the West End of London and this is a full account of the area, to be read, I suggest, in small chunks to aid the assimilation of all the information provided.

One of my pet subjects not included is the Pneumatic Despatch Railway, a precursor of the Post Office Railway, built in the 1870s below the streets to convey mail by air pressure from the City and West End to Euston, for onward rail transport in the 1870s. A commercial non-starter, its tunnels were used by utility companies for gas and electric supplies under High Holborn and St Giles High Street until, in the interwar period, a visiting engineer lit a match to assist his inspection. This ignited gas which had leaked into the tunnels and blew up the whole length of the roadway. The more modern Post Office Railway used more reliable electric traction during its later 80-year existence.

Neither CrossRail nor the Elizabeth Line is indexed, but I find that, in spite of the closer Euston/St Pancras and Kings Cross complex, I am using Tottenham Court Road station for my London and east and west Home Counties journeys more often now the new East-West line is open. As a result the Tottenham Court Road station entrance is much improved and an amusement arcade takes up much of the old Denmark Street shops where we bought our first guitars … and this is fully described, with plenty of references for any further study the reader may be prompted to make.

ROGER CLINE has lived in Camden for over 50 years and has been an active member of the Camden History Society for almost as long. He has found plenty of pleasures to enjoy in the parish of St Giles over that time, from furnishing his first flat at Heal’s to learning to swim as an adult at The Oasis.

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