The Local Historian Volume 29, Number 4 November 1999

By Mark Bailey

The commercialisation of the English economy and society between 1100 and 1500 is a major theme of recent research, which has dramatically altered the way in which historians now view the economy. This article, which is based on the author's 1999 BALH Phillimore Lecture, sketches the ways in which our understanding of this subject has been transformed in the past decade, and then considers the scope for commercial activity outside the chartered boroughs. The manorial system was once regarded as inimical to trade, but evidence drawn from thousands of medieval manorial documents now presents a very different picture. In particular, this article explores the important commercial role played by small manorial market towns, which flourished within - and perhaps because of - the manorial system.

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By Stuart A. Mason

In 1778 invasion was feared when France joined the American colonists who were at war with the Crown. The militia was mobilised and sent far from home to train with regular troops in summer camps. The camps were mapped by officers of the Quartermaster General's Department - a collection of the maps was kept by the quartermaster-general and is now in the British Library, while a presentation volume of them was given to King George III and is now in the Royal Collection. In Essex, where some of the camps were located, one of the incidental benefits for local historians is that parts of the county were mapped on an unprecedentedly large scale. The 1778 camp on Warley Common held 10,000 men, ten times the local population. Watching the soldiers was a spectator sport for the upper classes (Dr Johnson paid a visit) and the boredom of camp life, with officers sneaking off at night, was well-documented. The high point was the inspection of the camp by the king, who stayed with Lord Petre at nearby Thorndon Hall. In 1779 the Warley camp attracted little public attention, and camps there is 1781-1782 did not merit new maps. Other camps were formed at Lexden Heath, and Tenpenny Heath near St Osyth. In 1781 a camp was set up on Hornwood Heath to defend the River Colne against the Dutch and in 1782 one at Landguard Fort, Harwich became operational just as hostilities ceased. The soldiers, first hailed as heroes, had become a nuisance to civilians. This essay was the winner of the BALH 1999 Local History Award.

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By Andrew Walker

This article examines the Sheffield township of Attercliffe during a period which saw its population increase from 4,156 in 1841 to 35,883 in 1891. Using census enumerators' books and marriage records as the principal primary materials, the article demonstrates that, despite rapid population growth, fuelled largely by migration, Attercliffe did not suffer from the socially dislocating effects of large-scale immigration. Evidence suggests that the family unit was a 'social support system' in the settlement at critical life stages. Attercliffe family units were not confined to simple nuclear groups, but also included cases where extended family networks were activated. Young families received help from older members of the extended kinship group, and later themselves gave assistance to aging parents. However, the article suggests that within the community divisions separated families engaged in light trades, such as cutlery and edge-tool manufacture, from those whose members worked in Attercliffe's heavy trades, the steel works. The distinctions were encouraged by the former group but seemed to be of less consequence to the latter. Families involved in the light trades in Attercliffe tended to intermarry, but many brides of steelworkers came from families working outside the heavy trades. Such a local study can only tell part of a story regarding an individual's sense of community belonging. This is particularly so when the settlement accommodates a significant number of migrants. For many of those settling in Attercliffe the community to which they belonged extended far beyond the formal boundaries of the township.

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By Alastair J. Durie and Gayle McPherson

When the First World War broke out at the beginning of August 1914, the tourist season was at its height. This study examines both the short-term impact of this crucial event, and also the problems and opportunities that the war created because of the effective closure of Continental Europe as a holiday destination and the considerable amount of disposable income which the war placed in the hands of munitions workers and others. Some areas were much harder hit than others and in Scotland the Highlands suffered particularly badly, with the loss of American tourism and the virtual suspension of grouse-shooting, In contrast, other places did surprisingly well and the Clyde estuary resorts saw ever-growing influxes of holiday excursionists. The clientele of many resorts altered - there were few young men but many more women. Some hotels were requisitioned and transport facilities were reduced, but overall the period of the war was one in which profits could still be made from tourism.

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By George Sheeran and Yanina Sheeran

The central argument in this article is that local historians have so far failed to take part in the kind of theoretical debate needed for a better understanding of the nature of their particular historical enterprise, and for the enhancement of its status as an academic discipline. In order to present their case, the authors first briefly describe the origins and growth of the study of local history since the 19th century, and then go on to explore the limited range of general theoretical thinking which has characterised local history over the past half century. Having briefly sketched the main features of the current philosophical debate between modernist and postmodernist historians, the authors suggest that this debate also has relevance for those engaged in studying local history at an academic level. They centre on the realist orientation of the 'reconstructionist' tendency in local history, and contrast it with the postmodernist view that all history is inevitably nothing more than constructionist storywriting. The article concludes that academic local history can only benefit from more engagement with such theoretical and philosophical ideas - the common currency of adjacent disciplines. This would be a way of creating enhanced understanding, rigour and coherence in a subject which is in danger of the fragmentation produced by a profusion of empirical studies.