The Local Historian Volume 12 Number 2 June 1976

By Alan Rogers

Reflections upon the changes in local history and the methods and approaches adopted by local historians, since the work of W.G. Hoskins in the 1950s. It concentrates on town and village histories. The most notable trend has been the increasing sophistication of the work and the growing interest of the academic community in local history as a subject. There has been a huge growth in available source material, and non-traditional sources such as oral history and folklore have achieved prominence. Researchers are more aware of landscape, architecture and other newer approaches to the subject, and many more documentary sources (such as business records, parish records, and insurance records) are used to add new dimensions to understanding. Techniques and methods have also become more sophisticated, and statistical analysis is widely-used. Historians, it is suggested, are pressured into taking the 'complete' community view, rather than relating local issues to national events, and the author is concerned for the role of the amateur historian. He hopes that the continued growth of local history societies should complement the increased role of the professional or academic, and that amateurs will increasingly adopt the methods and sources discussed in the article.

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By Terence Gwynne and Michael Sill

A study of mid-19th century census enumerators' returns, looking at Middlesbrough and specifically at the extent and location of Welsh immigration to the growing iron and steel town. The evidence suggests that the Welsh families which moved to north-east England were highly mobile and that many had moved several times. Most of the families were reliant upon the iron industry and they were heavily concentrated in a small area of the town - a few streets accounted for a substantial proportion of the Welsh population. A comparison between the 1851 and 1861 census returns also indicates that the 1850s were the main period of migration from Wales to Teesside. The article suggests that census returns provide a key source for the study of population and for demographic analysis.

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By Barbara Hutton

The potential role of the study of vernacular architecture in informing investigations into other aspects of local history is a theme of the article. It is suggested that lesser buildings have not historically been regarded as having a special significance, in contrast to the extensive attention which has long been paid to buildings such as castles, churches and country houses. Only in the early 20th century did an interest in vernacular architecture develop, and the work of the Vernacular Architecture Group (founded 1952) was influential in developing an awareness of the subject. The VAG, especially through its regional groups, has encouraged research and the exchange of information and ideas. Hutton reflects on the growth of the subject and suggests some simple approaches to starting investigations of vernacular architecture.

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By R.J.P. Kain

Kain suggests that tithe surveys have recently been recognised as a major source of information about land ownership, land holdings and the occupation of land, and that their significance as a survey of land use is considerable. The article concentrates on a case-study of the Romney Marsh area of Kent, investigating the pattern of landholdings which is identifiable from the surveys and seeking to compare this with evidence from elsewhere in Kent, the premise being that if the same names can be identified on the marsh and beyond its boundaries it would be possible to suggest that marsh holdings were run in conjunction with 'upland' farms. As is emphasised at the start, such an exercise is really only feasible using computers. The study showed that there were very clear linkages between the two parts of the county, and the results are mapped and analysed, suggesting that for some farmers at least a form of transhumance or separation of winter and summer grazing lands was practised. The conclusions are necessarily tentative, but it is argued that many other possible hypotheses could be tested using similar methodologies, and then confirmed by detailed local research.

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By David Steel

An analysis of a private census which was conducted at Corby Glen, Lincolnshire (population 550), in the early 1970s, partly in order to fill out the information contained in the 1971 census printed reports, which include data only at parish level, and partly to compare with the detailed 19th century census returns. The author sought to carry out the modern census using the same basic procedures of those 100 years before, so he asked questions on, for example, birthplace. The results highlighted several key areas of social change and local history interest: i) population change - the overall total has declined but there were more houses; ii) amenities have improved, as anticipated, but it was not until 1951-1971 that the major improvements in this area took place; iii) names - traditional names for boys and girls were in sharp decline, surnames showed a very rapid turnover of population, and few marriages involve both parties from the parish - most marriages involve an 'outsider'; iv) many more people are over 65 years old; v) there are fewer locally-born people, but most still come from the region; and vi) most people work outside the parish, and agriculture is still an important employer.