The Local Historian Volume 45 Number 1 January 2015

By Ellie Pridgeon

Wall paintings were a standard feature of churches in England and Wales throughout the medieval period, but most were obliterated or whitewashed at the Reformation and relatively few therefore survive. In this article Ellie Pridgeon, a nationally-known expert on the subject, introduces a research framework which can be used by local historians who, for example, are working on a guide to their parish church or who are considering the history of faith and belief in their community. Essentially, the paper works systematically through a very wide variety of archival and other sources which can be used to identify and interpret paintings. Pridgeon refers to secondary sources briefly, but focuses initially on contemporary archival material: testamentary evidence; churchwardens’ accounts; patent rolls; and chantry foundation licences are discussed. She then considers post-medieval sources: drawings, paintings and photographs; national collections such as the British Library, English Heritage and local and regional archive repositories and libraries; and church records. The final section suggests sources such as faculty records, newspapers, private correspondence and conservation reports. The final section argues that despite much progress in this field, there is still a great deal more to be learned and that further investigation in churches themselves will reveal many additional examples of wall paintings as time goes on. The paper concludes with a very comprehensive set of notes and references.

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By Bonnie White

In this paper Bonnie White, whose work on women and wartime employment has previously been published in The Local Historian, looks at one of the less familiar aspects of the Home Front during the First World War. Historians now recognise that unrest, particularly over food supplies and food prices, was more widespread than the official perspectives had hitherto acknowledged. White begins by explaining the context of alleged profiteering, the black market, the class dimension to food availability, and the challenges that all these represented to central and local authorities alike. She then presents the evidence for popular discontent in Devon, which reached a peak in the spring of 1917 and affected many towns across the county. Its focus was the rapid increase in food prices and the wider sense of unfairness and the existence of privilege and unequal access to essential supplies. Many examples are given and these are placed in a context of principles and historical interpretation of class, gender and political issues. The next section deals with the efforts by the authorities to tackle these questions, including price control and regulation (and its lack of effectiveness), attempts to deal with food shortages, the black market, and distribution problems. White then looks at the relationship between the authorities and local elites, including the role of volunteer organisations, the Food Control Committees, the differing perceptions of equality and sacrifice, and the attitudes of local magistrates to unrest and discontent. She considers how all of these issues impacted upon community identities and the question of how people regarded the local authority and its role. The concluding paragraph suggests that investigation of these issues sheds valuable light on the limits upon public action during the First World War and gives prominence to the way in which mayors, magistrates and others in authority increasingly sympathised with the population in its protests against the ‘mismanaging of the food situation’.  The references provide extensive detail of further reading, contextual discussion and sources which might be used for other local studies on the same theme.

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By Trevor Hopper

This short paper is a case-study of one of the lesser-known groups of migrants to Victorian and Edwardian England. Hopper begins by reviewing the literature on Italian migration to Britain, with special reference to the work of Terri Colpi, and shows how most authorities agree that these migrants had a special affinity with the catering trade in its various manifestations. He then notes how this, almost by definition, made an Italian presence in seaside resorts very likely, and then explains how in the Sussex resorts this role was performed by a small group of interlinked families which formed ice cream ‘dynasties’.  He discusses examples from, in particular, Hastings, using directories, oral tradition and interviews, published histories and autobiographies as evidence and includes discussion of the most famous of all the migrants, Sir Charles Forte, who was from Monteforte in Lazio, south of Rome, and whose family were closely connected with the Sussex ice cream trade. The article shows how these families in some cases have conducted the business for over a century, in four or five generations, and concludes with observations on their enduring links with the parts of Italy from which their forebears came.

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By Helen Kavanagh

This essay was the winner of the British Association for Local History ‘Medieval and early modern essay prize’ for 2014. It begins by considering the terminology of prostitution and ‘sex trades’ in medieval England and links this with the colourful nomenclature of streets, lanes and ‘red light districts’ of a variety of medieval towns and cities. In Oxford what later became (decorously) Magpie Lane was known in the Middle Ages as ‘Gropecunt Lane’ (or variants on that theme). Kavanagh therefore considers the topography of prostitution, looking at possible reasons why areas such as this were so favoured for illicit and nocturnal activities, and identifies that in the special circumstances of Oxford the proximity to colleges and to religious houses was certain to have been a powerful determinant. She then assesses the attitudes of the Church towards prostitution and sexual activity, including contemporary examples of incontinence among the clerics of Oxford, and then turns to the abundant evidence for similar irregularity among the students of the university, its colleges and halls. Examples of specific cases are given, and there is discussion of the punishments which were meted out to women who offended. The inquisitions conducted by the chancellors of the university give further evidence, and Kavanagh makes comparisons between Oxford and other towns and cities, and between England and Continental Europe. Her concluding argument is that prostitution in English towns and cities was not necessarily similar – and that in particular the attitudes of the authorities varied from place to place.  In places such as Southwark and Sandwich there were licensed brothels, whereas Oxford, for example, had no such facility.

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By John S Lee

This essay, which was placed second in the British Association for Local History ‘Medieval and early modern essay prize 2014’, is designed to demonstrate how local historians can use published sources to build up a body of information about a particular place. They need not, therefore, be deterred by the prospect of using unpublished and difficult manuscript sources. John Lee chose as his case-study the small market town of Masham, north of Ripon in Yorkshire. He begins by looking at sources which relate to landholdings, including the manor of Masham, its descent and evidence for property-holding and property conveyances.  The second main section considers craftsmen, markets and people – published sources include the medieval taxation returns, market charters and inquisitions post mortem. A section on the church and its wider ecclesiastical context considers church court records, monastic cartularies, and records of the prebend of Masham. The final section indicates which other groups of records do not survive for Masham but may be available for other localities, and suggests that it is of course essential also to consider the physical form of the place—for which there are no descriptions of any sort until the middle decades of the sixteenth century. A valuable appendix lists useful reference works for local historians of the medieval period, with websites and publication details, and there is a comprehensive and informative set of notes and references. The paper will provide a very informative framework and exemplar which can be used by local historians elsewhere to guide their investigations into the medieval community.

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By William Evans

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By Sally Sokoloff

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By Margaret O'Sullivan

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By James Bowen

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By Tim Lomas

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By Joan Dils

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By Heather Falvey

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By John Page

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By John S Lee

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By David Griffiths

Victoria County History of Derbyshire vol.III   BOLSOVER AND ADJOINING PARISHES edited by Philip Riden with the assistance of Dudley Fowkes (Boydell/Institute of Historical Research 2013 xv+209pp ISBN 978 1 90435 643 1) £90

The first response to this volume, the third in the VCH series for Derbyshire, might be: ‘Why Bolsover?’ It is published after a very long hiatus; volumes I and II were issued in 1905 and 1907 respectively. This red hardback follows the re-starting of VCH research in the county and the production of two paperbacks, Bolsover: castle, town and colliery and Hardwick: a great house and its estate. These resulted from the project ‘England’s Past for Everyone’ which ran from 2005 to 2010.

The new volume focuses on much the same area: Bolsover, an old but small market town largely undeveloped until recently, and four ancient parishes to the north (Barlborough, Whitwell, Clowne, and Elmton with Creswell) with village communities that were predominantly agricultural until the late nineteenth century. Their identity is shaped in large part by their distinctive geology, topography and mineral resources. All lie mostly on a magnesian limestone plateau characterised by light, easily worked soils, sometimes with coal measures beneath. They are not remote: the MI motorway runs through the area, because they are in the extreme north-east of the county, bounded by the West Riding to the north and Nottinghamshire to the east, and far from Derbyshire’s main centres of population, these places can seem rather isolated. Much less familiar to visitors than the Peak District and the Derbyshire Dales, they have also been adversely affected by late-twentieth century industrial and social changes.  In 2012 Bolsover was reported to be the most deprived locality in Derbyshire.   

So it might have been discouraging to contemplate the history of these five parishes: it was not  a prosperous district in the medieval and early modern periods; markets in places such as Bolsover survived only in truncated  form; other retail activity was limited; few professional services seem to have been established or flourished; protestant nonconformity, though strong for a time in the nineteenth century, has contracted with the closure of many chapels and places of worship; education has had a chequered past, sometimes with deferred reorganisation and only localised rebuilding and refurbishment;  the more important aristocratic landowners did not live locally and latterly appeared to devote more energy to exchanging rather than developing their holdings; a once extensive railway system has been reduced to the Robin Hood Line serving Langwith, Creswell and Whitwell; the parish church in Bolsover has suffered from two disastrous fires; and the built environment still bears the scars of decades of post-industrial decline. The value of this VCH volume is that extensive research and careful analysis has produced a much more balanced account, which will not only inform local and community historians but will encourage new lines of enquiry. Its wealth of detail, full references, extensive bibliography and comprehensive index provide an excellent context for further exploration. There is much to see and to investigate. 

Creswell Crags (partly in Whitwell, partly in Cuckney in Nottinghamshire), a limestone gorge riddled with caves with substantial signs of use since palaeolithic times, reveals some of the earliest evidence of human habitation.  In the later eighteenth century a lake was created in the gorge as a feature in newly landscaped parkland and the Crags became a picturesque destination for more intrepid travellers. A hundred years later that their special archaeological status was recognised and (though not noted here) this was further confirmed when drawings found on some cave walls in 2003 were claimed to be ‘Britain’s only known Ice Age rock art’. It is a site of Specific Scientific Interest for its geological and palaeontological significance and a scheduled ancient monument, while new attractions for present-day tourists include a country park and a wildlife reserve. 

These parishes have their share of important houses. Barlborough has not only its Old Hall, parts of which date from the seventeenth century, and Barlborough Hall, a magnificent mansion built in the late-sixteenth century, but also the late-seventeenth century Park Hall and two early-eighteenth century houses, Beightonfields Priory and Barlborough House. Whitwell Hall, a seventeenth- century structure much altered over the years, is reputed to have an entrance porch intended for Welbeck Abbey but re-erected at Whitwell in the early-nineteenth century. But best known, particularly following English Heritage’s substantial investment, is Bolsover Castle. Founded soon after the Norman Conquest by William Peverel, this hilltop fortress was in ruins when Sir Charles Cavendish bought it in 1613 and built a new house, the ‘Little Castle’, on the site, completed by his son William, later 1st Duke of Newcastle. The principal element was a luxuriously appointed re-creation of a medieval keep, intended as a residence rather than for defence. William’s great enthusiasm was equestrianism, notably dressage, and for this he built a vast indoor riding school, still one of the largest in the country, with a splendid roof and viewing galleries.                                                                 

The medieval town which grew up near the original Bolsover castle fared little better than William Peverel’s fortification. By the 1530s it was so small that Leland rather disparagingly described it as ‘a pretty townlet’. Not even subsequent colliery development nearby changed its appearance to any great extent. However, coalmining elsewhere did prompt the construction of Creswell model village, built at the end of the nineteenth century for employees of the Bolsover Colliery Company. This anticipated on a very small scale some aspects of the garden city movement promoted by Ebenezer Howard and followed the same company’s earlier housing provision at New Bolsover. Less appealing features of this area included the Coalite smokeless fuel and chemical factory which, for sixty-odd years before it closed in 2004, contributed an unmistakeable and pervasive aroma to the neighbourhood. A more positive distinction is to be found in the personality and activities of the MP for Bolsover from 1970, Dennis Skinner, whose prominent place in local life in the later-twentieth century is outlined. His enthusiastic advocacy facilitated the decision to create a new junction on the M1 to stimulate regeneration of former industrial sites. 

There is a parallel with circumstances a century or so ago, when an important driver for development was the creation of a complex railway infrastructure. From the third quarter of the nineteenth century innovative mining technology made it commercially viable to exploit coal resources beneath the limestone and ready access to rail transport opened up new markets. Pits were sunk at Whitwell, Langwith, New Bolsover, Creswell, Oxcroft, Barlborough and Clowne. A glance at a map of Barlborough c.1900 demonstrates how much engineering skill was required to connect its colliery to two different railways and a diagram of lines around Bolsover c.1920 shows a spider’s web linking a plethora of small settlements. This was the apogee of growth in these communities; relatively few new houses were built after the First World War and the middle and later twentieth century saw the piecemeal decline and eventual closure of all deep mines in the county. ‘After Coal’ is the sombre title of the last section of the introduction to this volume and to today’s observer the extractive and associated industries may seem to have left the greatest mark on the area. Despite the attractive names of places such as Whaley Thorns and Carr Vale, the after-effects of the extinction of a single dominant source of employment are clear:  characterless housing estates, sparse public transport and a general sense of low aspirations. Nevertheless, air pollution has diminished and this has helped to improve public health and to maintain the fresh appearance of newly-cleaned buildings. Nor should new retail initiatives be overlooked. Few non-locals will have been aware that Clowne has the first superstore in this part of Derbyshire, called ‘Chesterfield Clowne Tesco’ after the town nine miles away!

Former pit villages are not the whole story. The authors examine in detail complex patterns of land ownership and property descent.  Barlborough retains many characteristics of an estate village; Whitwell’s relationship with a nearby large landed estate centred on Welbeck Abbey has influenced its development; the restored Norman chapel at Steetley is an exceptional survival, but the large churches at Clowne and  Whitwell  reflect  centuries of prominence in local life; small-scale farming was important in Elmton until the mid-twentieth century. Some places attracted charitable benefactions, the most visible of which is the fine almshouses at Barlborough built by the Pole sisters in 1752. Nor is community regeneration a new phenomenon. Almost eighty years ago Oxcroft was the site of a pioneering settlement intended to provide an opportunity for unemployed men and their families to make a living from the land. Derbyshire County Council bought a 399-acre farm from the duke of Devonshire and divided it into forty smallholdings, each with a three-bedroom semi-detached house and associated piggery. The rural writer Fred Kitchen was one of the tenants and produced an entertaining and informative account of his experiences in Settlers in England, published in 1947. Unfortunately, the location was downwind of the Coalite works noted above and the peculiar taste of tomatoes grown at Oxcroft was blamed on its emissions. The experiment ended in 1968 when the land and buildings were sold off: it was the only such venture in Derbyshire and one of only two sponsored by a county council. It improved the living conditions and welfare of the tenants and enhanced their abilities to earn money to support themselves. The same objectives exist today for many communities although times have changed from when it was acceptable to describe residents as ‘breezy, happy men and women and bright, healthy children’.

This volume exemplifies the high standards of research and production always associated with the VCH and it benefits from the priority given recently to the inclusion of more maps and illustrations to complement the text. The familiar systematic presentation of information beginning with a description of each parish’s physical characteristics and progressing through landownership, economic history, social history, religious history and local government makes for ease of reference. It is acknowledged that some of the material has previously been published in the EPE volume on Bolsover, but this does not detract from the overall worth of this work which is aimed at a wider audience with a range of interests including topics which could be broadly described as contemporary lifestyle and leisure. Volume III addresses the question ‘Why Bolsover?’ positively and to very good effect. An area facing serious economic and social challenges has been well served by the historical skill and expertise of the editor Philip Riden, his colleague Dudley Fowkes, and the volunteer groups which have supported them. Further research is said to be well advanced. With this admirable contribution to the history of a particular part of the county, there are convincing grounds for hope that a precedent has been established for the success of future VCH volumes on Derbyshire.

MARGARET O’SULLIVAN

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By Alan G Crosby

THE DIARY OF ROWLAND JONES Headmaster of Diddlebury School 1908 edited by Martin Speight (Shropshire Record Series vol.13 2014 xxvi+156 ISBN978-0-9566459-2-0) £15 (£10 to subscribers)

The latest volume in the Shropshire Record Series is the diary kept for the year 1908 by John Rowland Jones, headmaster of the village school in Diddlebury, a parish in Corvedale, South Shropshire. Martin Speight is a well-known local author, having previously published a parish history of Diddlebury, and his introduction provides background about the diarist, his family and the economy and society of Diddlebury, with an account of the two dominant institutions in Edwardian village life: the school and church. Also considered are the leisure activities of the Jones family, which included summer holidays (notably to Rhyl on the North Wales coast), cycling when bicycles became affordable, and music which featured prominently, overlapping with church and school duties. By comparison, reading does not seem to have been a major preoccupation of Jones, although frequent reference is made to newspapers and publications such as The Schoolmaster. A dimension introduced under the sub-heading ‘Getting and Spending’ is the financial circumstances of this typical lower-middle class household: money problems and poor health are increasing concerns, compounded by Jones’s imminent retirement.

The transcribed diary forms the majority of the volume, comprising a daily account running from 1 January 1908 to 3 January 1909 and covering a wide range of aspects of life in Diddlebury. For example, the diary records such themes as the daily weather; musical activities including organ-playing in church, choir practices and orchestral concerts; cycling in the area; buying goods and provisions; attending fairs and the races at Ludlow and Hereford; and gardening. Occasional reference is made to the police, and Jones writes humorously about the vicar—a similarly prominent local figure with whom he interacted. It is, however, the entries regarding school life which are most interesting, including the subjects taught, examinations, occasional instances of bad behaviour, the visits of HM Inspector and the Attendance Officer and the school’s closure because of a measles outbreak.

It is unfortunate that the diary only covers a single year and does not continue for the six months up to Jones’s death, but nevertheless it is a thorough transcript which provides a snapshot of life in Diddlebury in 1908. The inclusion of indexes outlining the people and places mentioned is useful, giving detail about the people named in the diary, their occupations, businesses, place of residence and the connections with places in Shropshire but also further afield in England and Wales. This book is a welcome addition to the series, providing insight into the domestic and social life of a lower-middle class family who played an important role in village life. It will be of interest to local historians concerned with Shropshire’s history, but also relevant to those researching the history of education and the character of rural life at the beginning of the twentieth century.

 JAMES P. BOWEN

James P. Bowen is a postdoctoral research associate based at the Department of Geography and Planning, the School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool. His research interests include the rural agrarian history of the British Isles, landscape studies and local and regional history. He completed a doctorate in history at Lancaster University, supervised by Professor Angus Winchester and was previously the Economic History Society’s Tawney Junior Research Fellow (2012-2013) at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London.

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