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Interested societies
There are also many societies specialising in particular themes and subjects (including local history societies). These organisations often produce journals, newsletters and booklets which can be of great value because they focus on unusual or less familiar topics and give an expert perspective on matters which might be outside the experience of the local historian.
Today there are societies and journals catering for almost every subject - mining history, railways, canals, natural history, geology, buildings and architecture, police history, naval history, costume history, food history and folklore, to name but a few.
Websites increasingly give direct access to information about such societies, while the local studies library may well collect articles, relating to your area, from obscure or specialised journals published in other parts of Britain or overseas.
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Memories and reminiscences
Collecting and analysing the memories and reminiscences of people - especially of course older people - is a very important but relatively new branch of historical research. It has a special relevance to the work of local historians because memories of what life was like in the past, what a place looked like, how people's work and play were organised, what dialect they spoke, what their attitudes were to particular issues, and what they felt about other people in the street or village or factory are all matters central to our understanding of communities in the past.
Some local history societies have conducted their own oral history projects, while other work has been undertaken by local organisations which are concerned with the elderly. In various parts of the country there have been more extensive university-based projects, since oral history is now recognised as an important aspect of wider historical research covering the last hundred years or more.
Several regions also have their own sound archives, usually based in a university or a record office, which concentrate on collecting, preserving and making available recorded material of all sorts.
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Electoral rolls or registers
These are the lists of individuals who are entitled to vote and have registered themselves as such - they are never entirely complete because significant numbers of people do not register.
They are found from the mid-19th century onwards in increasing numbers and increasing bulk: their size grew rapidly as the franchise was widened. After 1885 most adult males are likely to be included, from the 1890s some women (who could vote in local elections but not parliamentary ones) and from 1918 most women over 30.
Finally, from 1928, virtually all adults could vote in all elections, and electoral registers are very large. However, they may not have survived, since their very size meant that they were often thrown away when they were no longer current, but local studies libraries and record offices should have collections. They are very helpful in listing the presence of individuals and their addresses, though other personal details are not given.
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Rating lists and books
For tracing the history of properties ratebooks or rating lists are a useful source. They were compiled regularly (in many local authorities annually) and list properties, owners or ratepayers and the rateable value of the property, together with a very brief indication of the function or use of the property.
They may tell us about the way in which property values change over time - for example, as industrial premises expanded or contracted.
One major problem is that they are very bulky and therefore many were thrown away long ago, when they had been superseded, so the chances of finding them for your area will be somewhat hit and miss. If they do survive they may still be in the town hall or council offices, but most record offices will have collections for individual local authorities.
For any research it will be necessary to know which local authority was involved - the various reforms of local government during the last century meant that this may not be as straightforward as it seems, so check this first of all.
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Census returns
A census was taken every ten years from 1801 onwards, except in 1941 when the war made it impossible. The detailed returns for 1801-1831 no longer survive, except in a relatively few instances where duplicate copies were kept locally. (Your local record office or archive centre should be able to give information on this.)
From 1841 onwards the original returns exist - they are held at the Public Record Office, Kew - and they represent one of the most important sources for any local historian working on the 19th century. Copies of the detailed returns for individual households are available on microfilm or microfiche in local libraries and record offices.
The 1901 census returns - available for public use from 2 January 2002 - are to be accessible on the PRO website, at a charge, and local record offices and libraries will be acquiring microfiche copies of these in the next few months.
Census returns from 1851 give the following information for each household and individual: address, name, relationship to the head of the household, marital status, age, occupation, place of birth. For many areas, street and surname indexes have been produced, often by family history societies.
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Tithe map and schedule
Tithe maps were produced for about 75 per cent of the parishes and townships in England and Wales, as a result of the Tithes Commutation Act of 1836. This legislation was designed to replace the old system whereby tithes (a tenth of all produce) were paid to the Church in kind, with monetary payments based on land values. As part of this reform, a comprehensive survey of titheable land was made, involving very large-scale maps which are supported by a schedule listing every field and every plot of land.
These surveys were completed (in most cases) in the 1840s and represent a uniquely informative survey and mapping at a key period in the historical development of many communities.
Today they are heavily used and richly rewarding source for local history research. A copy of each tithe map and schedule is deposited at the Public Record Office, and at least one and usually two copies of each are to be found in county and diocesan record offices.
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Manorial records
The manor was the basic unit of feudal landownership in medieval England, and in many communities the lord of the manor was the most important resident (in others he was an absentee lord, and his steward occupied the most prominent position).
Manorial jurisdictions did not necessarily coincide with parish or township boundaries - one parish could have several manors, or one manor could include several communities. They were governed by private but legally powerful courts, which enforced procedures for approving tenancies, maintaining local customs and regulations, managing the land and its use, and controlling the behaviour of tenants.
Because manor courts had legal power over tenancies and leases their records can be a vital source of information for tracing the ownership and occupation of properties from generation to generation. These records are often at least partly in Latin until 1733, and in order to make full use of them it is important to know something of how a manor functioned (they include quite a lot of technical terminology, for example).
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Parish records
From 1538 onwards Anglican parish churches and chapels in England and Wales were required to maintain registers of baptisms, marriages and burials. These parish registers (which do not necessarily survive from as early as 1538 because of later loss and destruction) are the most important single source for family history in England and Wales before the mid 19th century; and are also potentially very valuable for local historians.
In addition to the registers, though, collections of parish records may include a wide variety of other documents, such as Poor Law records, overseers', constables' and churchwardens' accounts, property and land deeds, surveys, memoranda and miscellaneous material relating to the life of the parish, tithe documents, and school records.
In the past 50 years moat parish records over one hundred years old have been deposited in county and diocesan record offices, and this is the most likely place to find material of this sort. All these documents would originally have been housed in a large wooden chest kept in the church.
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Family history society
Family history is one of the great growth industries of our time, and it has close links with local history - we cannot properly understand people in the past without thinking of their historical context, their community and the world they knew, and neither can we understand local history properly without always being acutely conscious of the human dimension. After all, it was people who made the world we are investigating and researching, whether it be farming landscapes, industries, roads and tracks, buildings, cathedrals or chapels.
Family historians, especially those who are trying to gain an insight into their ancestors as people rather than just names and dates, will make use of many of the same sources and methods as local historians, and there is much common ground between the two subjects. Members of family history societies, which now cover every part of the country, are always willing to share information, and if you have a query about an individual or a family this can be an excellent contact to make.
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Ordnance Survey
The Ordnance Survey, perhaps the greatest mapping agency in the world, began its work at the beginning of the 19th century in Kent, surveying and publishing maps at a scale of one inch to one mile. By the early 1840s it had reached the north of England, and at this point started to work on a scale of six inches to one mile in addition to the one-inch sheets - the earliest at six inches are those for Lancashire and Yorkshire, produced from 1844 onwards.
In the late 19th century a national survey at 25 inches to one mile was started. As well as these countrywide surveys, most larger towns were surveyed in exceptional detail at very large scales during the second half of the 19th century. Existing sheets of the national coverage were periodically updated, occasionally in the 19th century, reasonably regularly from the early 20th century onwards. In the 1970s metric scales were introduced. Ordnance Survey maps and plans are of basic importance to most local historians, and not just those studying aspects of the local landscape.
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Published: 28-01-2005
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