The Local Historian Volume 43, Number 3 August 2013

By Graham Smyth

In this article Graham Smyth explores in detail one of the key aspects of the German occupation of the Channel Islands-the receiving of news and the dissemination of information, and the means adopted by the occupying authorities to suppress non-German sources and to repress those who sought to break those regulations. In doing so, he highlights not only the impact of the draconian laws and the severity of the penalties, but also the deeply ambiguous nature of the responses to them. He begins with a wide-ranging overview of the published literature on the Occupation and its historiographical context and then focuses on the order of 6 June 1942 which forbade the possession of wireless sets and required that all should handed in and confiscated. The paper then analyses the impact of the order, both in the practical sense of its effectiveness, and the emotional sense of how islanders reacted. Issues covered include the concealment and secret use of wirelesses, the means adopted to disseminate information gleaned from the BBC, and the prevalence of informers and anonymous letters reporting illicit listening. This section concludes with recounting the fate of some of those convicted, ranging from terms of imprisonment to death in the gas chamber at Ravensbruck. 

The next section deals with the highly contentious question of the attitude and actions of the island authorities, who in some cases sought to maintain harmonious relations with the German occupying forces and administrators to the point where they were later accused by some of collaborating. The importance of individual personalities is emphasised, and the uncomfortable evidence of active assistance by the authorities in Jersey in organising the collection and storage of the confiscated sets is discussed. The paper draws our attention to the many stresses and tensions both within the island authorities and communities, and in their dealings with the occupiers. It concludes with a substantial discussion of the principles involved and the extreme difficulties faced by the islanders and their leaders. To avoid bloodshed and violence, and the risk of greater repression, the leaders firmly rejected resistance-only peaceful co-existence would, in their view, save the islanders from much harsher circumstances. But, argues Smyth, there came a point where toleration became active co-operation and some, at least, paid the penalty.

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By Kenneth C Jackson

The house-building cycle has been identified by economic historians for well over half a century. It is recognisable in the historical data with considerable certainty back into the early nineteenth century, and less complete evidence suggests that it could be traceable as far back as the sixteenth. Most commentators have recognised, in general terms, a roughly twenty-year periodicity, between peaks and troughs of activity. In this article Kenneth Jackson suggests that local historians, in contrast, have been neglectful of the building cycle, even though it offers a valuable framework for analysis of housing history and the physical and economic evolution of individual towns, set in broader regional and national contexts. He begins with a comprehensive review of the main secondary literature on the subject, and of the types of data which economic historians have previously employed. 

The main body of the article is a detailed local case study of the town of Skipton in Yorkshire, between 1865 and 1914. This study emphasises the crucial importance of the building plans submitted to the local authority, explaining how to use them and what they offer in terms of statistical analysis. Jackson also points to local authority minute books, newspaper reports and other housing records as ways of reinforcing and supplementing the main source material. His analysis involves charting the building history of the town, illustrated with six clear graphs which use different indices to show the cyclical nature of building activity. Throughout, Jackson shows the practical application of the methodology and indicates how other local historians might follow similar approaches. At the same time he draws attention to the implications of the pattern, both in terms of causes and local effects. 

The final sections of the paper develop that theme, by discussing the broad underlying causes which have been identified at national and regional level, with attention to, for example, the housing market, the role of speculative builders, the financing of house building and purchase, and the changing nature of economic activity. It then looks at local implications, suggesting that the activities of local builders and building firms, patterns of land ownership and the release of land for building, and the detailed changes in the local economy (such as the process of industrial development) are all key determinants. Jackson considers the physical impact of these cycles in terms of house styles and architecture, the pattern and direction of urban growth, and social segregation as different areas developed with different housing type and quality

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By Charles Saccani

This article is a study of the remarkable period of church reconstruction which took place in South Lancashire and Cheshire in the half century before, and the couple of decades after, the Reformation in the 1530s. It focuses on the area of north-east Cheshire centred on Stockport, Macclesfield and Wilmslow, with particular reference to the church of St Mary at Cheadle, on the Mersey west of Stockport. Charles Saccani highlights the importance of gentry patronage in these rebuilding projects, showing how in this area the Stanleys and the Savages, a linked extended family with valuable aristocratic connections, acted in this capacity in a number of local projects. He begins by considering the social, geographical and economic context, including the potential relevance of the economic expansion which was under way in the Manchester sub-region by the late fifteenth century. The paper then argues that patronage of church building was a means of publicising and promoting the image of these families, demonstrated by increasingly elaborate tombs, sophisticated stained glass and, especially, architecturally ambitious chantry chapels either added to in the interior of parish churches. 

He provides an overview of the church rebuilding across Cheshire and adjacent areas and then uses his case study to show how architectural and documentary evidence can be linked to provide a clear and rounded picture of the motives and processes by which rebuilding projects were implemented. All of this is in the context of the intricate dynastic relationships which are not merely of genealogical significance, for branches of the family provides exemplars to other branches, and there is evidence that individual craftsmen and architectural and decorative motifs were borrowed in a regional family-based cross-fertilisation of ideas. 

The last section suggests that factors such as regional and local identity, family connections and social networks, were important in helping to explain the existence, long identified, of 'regional schools' of architectural styles. Rather than simply looking for explanation in architectural fashion, we might also give more attention to underlying patterns of social, cultural and economic activity-and to the importance of family and kinship networks among patrons of building schemes.

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By John Chandler

In this brief and provocative article, based on an address given to the Wiltshire Record Society in 2012, John Chandler considers the past, present and future of record societies, long one of the mainstays of British local and regional history publishing. He argues that there is much that gives cause for pessimism and suggests that record societies should not publish material which is, in effect, the equivalent of a telephone directory-that is, lists and compilations of data which would be far more accessible and searchable if placed on a website only. Instead, they should be innovative and seek new types of records to publish (especially if they look at the publications of other societies for ideas and inspiration). In some areas, he proposes, the publication of monographs would be appropriate, while in others there is a need for much more recent material to be made available. And, he suggests, societies should cease to be reactive, only considering that which they are offered, and instead should actively seek new material targeting universities and identifying gaps in coverage and opportunities to produce new and interesting material. Finally, and very challengingly, he suggests that new means of publishing require record societies to embrace on-line publishing from the outset. Dispose of back stocks and place material on the internet!

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By Peter Spufford

This account of half a century of close involvement in the work and activities of the British Record society is written by one of our most illustrious historians. It describes how Peter Spufford came to be involved in the Society as a young postgraduate, and how in the 1960s the Society saw its role and how it operated (often erratically, always slowly, and frequently eccentrically). The article then charts the growing impact of technological change, economic upheavals, and administrative streamlining ... recalling times when microfiche seemed revolutionary, and paperback publishing was the way ahead. Peter Spufford then recounts how in the 1980s a true revolution was experienced-the introduction of computers and all their implications for editing and production. The final section details the emergence of the BRS project for the publication of the hearth tax returns for England and Wales, an undertaking of seminal importance for historians of so many varieties. It concludes with his retirement as chairman in 2010, having been involved in 52 volumes in 50 years, an enviably impressive record in itself.

By Christopher Taylor

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By Melvyn Jones

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By Ian Hinton

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By Bernard Harris

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By Heather Falvey

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By John Martin

THE MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LANDSCAPE 1000–1540 by Graeme J. White (Bloomsbury Academic 2012 271pp ISBN 975 14411 3525 4) £19.99

The increasing popularity of landscape history has, inevitably, been matched by the speed at which new ideas and information are generated and by the consequent growth in the numbers of books and articles on the subject. Even the most ardent landscape historian now finds it difficult to keep up with the flood of material becoming available. At present there are at least four national journals, annually publishing important articles, as well as a plethora of county journals and privately printed papers, pamphlets and books. Last year alone saw the appearance of eight major books on aspects of English landscape history. Where and how, therefore, does the aspiring landscape historian begin? W.G. Hoskins's The Making of the English Landscape (1955), though hugely significant in the development of the subject, and still a major influence on all who study landscapes, is sadly out of date, especially for the medieval period.

Now, at least for the latter times, we have Professor White's new book to aid our search for the latest advances. Here, for the centuries between 1000 and 1540, is a clear account of what students of the subject have discovered, analysed, written and disagreed about in the last few years. There is nothing much in the book that has not been aired elsewhere, usually at far greater length and much less comprehensibly than here. Most of the differences in interpretation of the functions of castles or the development of villages are explained and the chapters on the origins and growth of towns and religious sites are particularly good. In fact the book is a nice record of the state of medieval landscape history in 2012 and thus of value as an introductory work. The only criticism of it is its starting date of 1000. One can appreciate the reason for this, however, for it avoids having to deal with the two most contentious issues in the history of the medieval English landscape-the origins of villages and of their common fields, both of which take some sorting out. Recommended reading.

CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR

Christopher Taylor worked for the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England from 1960 to 1993, latterly as Head of Archaeological Survey. He has written very extensively on many aspects of landscape history, a subject on which he is a nationally recognised authority.

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By Bart Lambert

WATH UPON DEARNE—ARTISTIC VIEWS Landscape and history by Alex Fleming (Wath Community History Group 2012 62 pp no ISBN) £9+£1.50 p&p from author, 7 Chappell Close, Hoylandswaine, Sheffield S36 7LD or alexfleming@waitrose.com

This short publication is most unusual. It is innovative both conceptually and in its layout. Basically, it consists of a historical tour around Wath upon Dearne, a small town (population in 2011 just under 17,000) in the Dearne valley in South Yorkshire between Barnsley and Rotherham. It is a community history in the true sense of the word in that besides Alex Fleming, who wrote the text, there are ten other contributors, all local artists. These include living artists together with three who painted in the nineteenth century, one of whom, James Scott, was born in 1798. Twentieth century artists include a graduate of the Slade School of Art, a former art teacher at the local grammar school, a banker, a steelworks engineer and a fitter at Wath Main Colliery.

The format and layout of the book are quite simple and appropriate for the contents. It is A4 which means that the paintings (all in full colour) and drawings, which appear in the top half of each page, are reproduced at a good size. Below each illustration there is an informative paragraph or two of explanatory text together with photographs and the occasional map or diagram. The subject matter includes historical notes on local farms, a notable country house, the parish church, a dovecote, a blacksmith's forge and even the village lock-up. Because the paintings overwhelmingly represent village scenes and significant buildings, the book is inevitably more about places than people, although space is found for some, including James Montgomery (1771-1854), the hymn writer (best known for Angels from the realms of glory), poet and campaigning journalist, who as a young man worked in a general store in Wath.

Some of the most evocative paintings are of Wath's industrial past, for it had two large colliery complexes, Manvers Main Colliery (which operated from 1870 to 1988) and Wath Main Colliery (which operated from 1879 to 1988). Besides the paintings of colliery headgear, the coke ovens and their clouds of smoke, there is one of a colliery fitters' cabin with the men at work, another of the main gate at Wath Main Colliery, a third of a collier on his knees surrounded by pit props and roof bars wielding his drill as he 'rips' at the rock face and a fourth of a group of colliers having a rest, leaning on pit props and having their 'snap' (sandwiches carried underground in a metal case called a 'snap tin'). Alex Fleming and Wath Community History Group are to be congratulated on taking a singular and probably unique approach to producing a community history. The result is informative, accessible and attractive.

MELVYN JONES

Melvyn Jones is Visiting Professor in Landscape History at Sheffield Hallam University. His local history publications include The Making of the South Yorkshire Landscape(2000) and Sheffield's Woodland Heritage (4th edition, 2009), which was used as the basis of a successful £1.5m HLF bid to restore 35 South Yorkshire ancient woodlands. His latest book is Trees and Woodland in the South Yorkshire Landscape (2012).

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By David Griffiths

HOUSES OF THE WEALD AND DOWNLAND People and houses of South-east England c.1300-1900 Danae Tankard (Carnegie Publishing 2012 ix+214pp ISBN 978-1-85936-200-6) £14.99

This book covers eight of the buildings at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum in West Sussex (WDOAM), six of which were relocated there to save them from destruction and two of which are archaeological reconstructions. It provides an excellent context for each of these disparate buildings (which have no shared history) ranging from a yeoman farmhouse to tiny cottages, and is illustrated by many excellent photographs, mostly in colour, and with numerous maps and line drawings, bringing the buildings to life. The social, economic and regional context of each is explored, starting with an exploration of the vocabulary used in relation to their construction-a valuble guide for building novices. The introduction provides a useful view of our interpretation of the past, where we tend to imbue rural areas with romanticism and in which rural hardship is somehow considered easier than urban hardship.

Taking one example from the book, the iconic Bayleaf-a Wealden house developed over the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries-the study bridges a very important period of social and domestic change, from the truly medieval open-hall house with live-in servants and communal living to the later closed, chimneyed and ceiled buildings of the early modern period. It uses contemporary documents to outline the changes to the houses, their contents and the lifestyles of the occupants during the period. Local documentary records allow the occupant's families to be revealed, with a large number of children despite catastrophic neo-natal mortality rates, as well as the trials and tribulations of dealing with the lack of property rights and the many charges and fines required for everyday life. It also explains how the differences in architecture, farming practices, and the position in society of the house and its occupants, were caused by changes in society in general, and explains that differences also occurred within the fairly small geographical area of southern England that is covered by the Museum's building collection.

The analysis of some of the buildings highlights how important the control over resources held by those at the top of feudal society was to the population in general. This particularly affected building, as access to some of the major elements, such as timber and straw, were carefully controlled by the lord of the manor and used as a way of limiting the spread of the poor. It describes the measures required for small cottages to be built on the 'waste' or common land and the costs and penalties involved for those who were not accepted. For the beginner, who does not know the buildings at WDOAM, this book should entice them there and will add considerably to the visit; for the expert who already knows the buildings, it will add new layers of contextual information. This is a book that has something for everyone.

IAN HINTON

Ian Hinton has a PhD in Landscape History. Now retired, he was one of the founder members of the Norfolk Historic Buildings Group, where he is the membership secretary, produces the newsletter and takes an active role in their research.

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