Local History for Family Historians

Dr Gill Draper, Events and Development Officer. British Association for Local History [BALH]development@balh.org.uk

What I plan to cover today

• Online catalogues including The National Archives ‘Discovery’ catalogue’

• Websites and downloadable resources

• Free printed resources available in libraries

• Records of lives and landscape in the local countryside

• Family and place names

• Materials on places including maps

• The poor and the workhouse

• Where to find out more

Starting points: groups and individuals

• Knights and ladies

• Peasants

• Yeomen

• Farmers

• Agricultural labourers

• Schoolteachers

• Governors and staff of workhouses

• Key to English Place Names, http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/

U3a For surname mtyerial and other see kent archives newsletter saved as

pdf under u3a

Looking up Stratton Audley on the Key to English Place Names, http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/

Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland

• Covers more than 45,000 surnames.

• Gives the origins of the name (mainly occupational, locative, or nickname).

• Includes every surname that currently has more than 100 bearers, or more than 20 bearers in the 1881 census.

• Maps the frequency of occurrences in by county in 1881

Tips on using online catalogues – The National Archives [TNA] and others

Variants of the Sussex place and personal name Oxney-bridge

• Oxnebrigge

• Oxnebregge

• Oxnebridge

• Oxenbridge

• Oxenbrigge

• Oxbrigge

• Oxbrydge

• Uxbrigge

• Ox*, Oxen*, Oxne*, Ux*

Rye (Sussex) Chamberlains’ account 1405-6

Tips on using online catalogues – The National Archives [TNA] and others

Variants of the Sussex place and personal name Oxney-bridge

• Oxenbridge

• Oxenbrigge

• Oxbrigge

• Oxbrydge

• Oxnebrigge

• Oxnebridge

• Oxnebregge

• Uxbrigge

• Ox*, Oxen*, Oxne*, Ux*

Rye (Sussex) Chamberlains’ account 1405-6

Calendar of Patent Rolls

Calendar of Close Rolls

Calendar of Charter Rolls

Calendar of Fine Rolls

(from the Middle Ages)

Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic (Henry VIII to modern times)

Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient Deeds

New material on Medievalgenealogy.org.uk In the Feet of Fines section, abstracts of fines added 30

December 2016 Berkshire (1272-1307) (269 fines)•Hampshire (1272-1307) (299 fines)•Oxfordshire (1319-1326) (118 fines)•Shropshire (1307-1327) (209 fines)•Westmorland (1307-1327) (46 fines)•Worcestershire (1307-1327) (184 fines)•Divers, unknown and various counties (1307-1327) (301 fines)

Using the Feet of Fines via medievalgenealogy.org.uk online is ideal because:

• This website makes the Feet of Fines searchable across all the counties which have been entered (instead of having to search numerous printed volumes, usually county based)

• The people involved in having their property transactions recorded often owned land all over the place (due to purchase, marriage, inheritance, etc)

• It has a good search facility place and people names have been matched to modern versions as far as possible, so to search for Fringford (Oxon) for example will bring up Fines with much earlier spellings as in the original such as ‘de Fryngeford’.

Images of the documents are given where available

Summary of the document from Feet of Fines for Oxfordshire

John and William Sampson have granted to William Louell and Alesia themanors, moieties, rent and advowsons and have rendered them to them in thecourt, to hold to William Louell' and Alesia and the heirs of their bodies, of thechief lords for ever… manors of Askham, Drynghous and Daynton' [sic] and amoiety of the manors of Bedale, Ascogh', Kylwardeby, Stillyngflete and Upton'and the advowson of the vill of Bedale in the county of York and a moiety of themanor of Elmeton' in the county of Derby and a moiety of the manor of Granbyin the county of Nottingham and the manor of Duston' in the county ofNorthampton and a moiety of the manors of Shobyngdon' and Estclaydon' inthe county of Buckingham and the manors of Rotherfeld' Gray, Cogges,Herdewyke, Elleford', Stanlake, Bryghthampton', Somerton' and Fryngford'and the advowsons of the churches of the vills of Rotherfeld' Gray, Stanlake,Somerton' and Fryngford' in the county of Oxford and 24 shillings of rent inByrton' in the county of Lincoln.

Review of traditional records and sources for buildings

• The buildings and street scene

• Historic maps (OS, tithe, estate, antiquarian)

• Websites for finding manuscripts and buildings

• The ‘grey literature’

• Secondary sources-articles and books

• Pevsner’s Buildings of England series

• Victoria County History

Buildings records: maps

Using tithe maps and tithe apportionments (schedules)

Where to find tithe maps/apportionments

• The National Archives

• The Genealogist website via personal subscription or free at TNA and some county record offices and libraries

• Guides produced online or in paper by county/city records offices (as on left)

Using tithe maps and tithe apportionments (schedules)

Where to find guidance and inspiration…

• Tithes, maps apportionments and the 1836 Act: a guide for local historians (BALH)

• Articles in The Local Historian

• Specialist websites for particular places -see Internet Sites Directory

• Has a local history society studied and published on their tithe records?

British Association for Local History website www.balh.org.uk includes reviews of sources such as…

MAPS AND THE LOCAL HISTORIAN: THREE HANDBOOKS, a review by Alan Crosby

covering

• Richard Oliver’s Ordnance Survey Maps: A concise guide for historians

• Parliamentary Deposited Plans

• Maps and Map-Making in Local History

Newport Pagnell Union workhouse in early 1900s and 1873-advert for Porter and Cook and Nurse from workhouses.org.uk

The Living the Poor Life guide: what it does for you

• Find names, place names and subjects in 22 selected Poor Law Unions

• How to find people in the records of other Poor Law Unions

• How to search and download the relevant records free using the National Archives catalogue Discovery

• How to find and use other Poor Law records (both in The National Archives and local record offices)

Join the British Association for Local History today to receive one of the books below free.

‘Thousands of named traders and carters each precisely located in time and place offer genealogical riches to historians of thousands of different families’