Family History Group
Forthcoming Events
New or Guest Members are welcome at any of our meetings.
The next and future meetings will be held in:
The Boardroom at The Manor [next to the Post Office] at10.00am
Forthcoming meetings
Forthcoming meetings
Monday March 19th
Our AGM – But don’t let that put you off – it is when we also share
many of our little family tales etc and is one of the favourite meeting of the year.
The official bit usually is over in about 16 minutes.
Monday May 21st
Mr John Lower
“The Chesterfield Canal” History and Restoration.
Monday 18th June
Provisional dat
for Summer outing – to be arranged
Monday July 16th
Mr Mick Rawle “Family History
Research 1500-1800” Pre C19 records
Monday Sept 17th
September speaker Mr P McLaughlin
- Green Men and Gargoyles – an amusing and educational look at church decoration!
Monday
Nov 19th
Ms Lynda Hotchkiss “From the Nursery” The background to nursery rhymes and
stories.
Recent meetings
January 16th 2012
For our first meeting of the new year fourteen members and two visitors attended.
As the only business was to remind the group that we will require a new treasurer in March.
Ann introduced our guest speaker Mrs Thelma Childs on her second visit with her talk “ Old Gainsborough”
We started in Trinity Street with a picture of the then Trinity Church, which was opened in 1843 and closed in 1971 then altered into the Art Centre another building most of us are familiar with is Papa's Fish and Chip shop, this was originally a boys school before becoming the Yarborough public house.
The Kings Theatre was called the Albert Hall when first build and has seen many changes both inside and out.
Thelma showed us many pictures of Marshall’s Foundry which opened in1848 by William Marshall and once employed 1,900 men and is now a very popular shopping area
There were photographs of the 1947 “big flood” the 1896 Agriculture Show when Gainsborough the first prize and of elephants walking though the town when non-other than Buffalo Bill came to visit with the circus.
Monday November 21st 2011
Our speaker for the November meeting was Jane Barnes who is a farmer’s wife from Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire.
Jane introduced herself as a dairy farmer’s wife and gave some details of her family, son at college, daughter in final years of study, father-in law, still active on the farm at the age of 80+ and her husband who milks twice a day at 5.30am ant then again at 3.30pm. They have a mixed herd of approx 120 cows in the process of switching from Friesian black and white to Ayrshires. They sell all their milk to Clawson, a family run dairy producing a variety of cheeses but in particular the local stilton. Jane gave details of the high quality milk [measured by butterfat and protein] required to produce the cheese. But even in it’s full fat state [blue top] milk it is normally sold at less than 4% fat and as such is a very healthy food.
The Barnes family are the third generation to farm what is an entirely grass and rough pasture farm with much of its land featuring ridge and furrow as well as many ancient hedgerows. These havens for wildlife make the achievement of income from the higher level countryside stewardship scheme relatively easy to reach. Even with this added income the cost of replacement cows either by purchase or breeding followers a very expensive business. Not only will the move to Ayrshire cattle help further with the milk quality but they are particularly good at foraging in the base of hedges etc where the Friesians may not venture and therefore suit the farm very well.
Jane explained many things about the life on the farm, the work, the stock, from birth to death and some of the financial aspects of making farming and in particular dairy farming a success. Her talk generated a number of questions that kept the discussion going for some time whilst we all had a taste of the very nice stilton cheese she had brought along for us to sample.
A most interesting talk that gave us all a better understanding of the ups and downs of a dairy farmer’s wife on a truly family run farm.
September 19th 2011
Our speaker for the morning was the popular Linda Hotchkiss who entitled this talk – Expanding Family History.
Linda proceeded to give us a Powerpoint presentation starting with the basic sources of information, family knowledge, certificates, Census, parish registers, bishop’s transcripts, I.G.I. and memorial inscriptions. These would build a skeleton on a tree and if you were lucky and read the details then maybe an outline, but to add flesh, colour and clothes to the skeleton one needs to look for other sources. She pointed out a pitfall of the 1911 census where up to 10% of women over 21 were missing as they refused be register as a protest about voting rights.
She then proceeded to lead us through a plethora of other more detailed sources of information that would add much more to our family trees and in many cases add to the local and social history of our projects. She started with the end of lives and the National Probate calendar that is now available on Ancestry. She took us through a variety of will types and the basic detail to be found in each of them. There was the standard will, the death-bed will, memorandum, and Letters of administration were all forms of settling estates. There were also extras that included inventories of goods, often set out by the room and therefore giving a good indication of the house type and size. Administration accounts were rarer but if found could give much detail on the costs and final distribution of goods and wealth. She demonstrated this with 2 examples. One of an estate worth £19 and another £1225 [adding 0’000 would indicate today’s values].
Then there were death duty registers [1796-1904], now available on the internet, which could add more detail, inquisitions and post mortem – more people, more connections. Grave registers were more informative than burial registers, odd military records and heraldry papers. College of Arms, herald’s visitations, bishop’s visits, Burkes peerage, clerics, Crockfords, University alumni records are all based around individuals or events. Land tax records detailed owner, occupier [tenant], and rents. County trade directories may not include many individuals but gave a very good summary of the villages and their principal occupants, buildings and trades people. Land registers and publican / licensing records showed individuals and when ownership or personnel changed hands.
The list of sources went on to include Electoral records, freeholders, poll books, Burgess rolls all for people with specific rights, house plans, planning applications [not just a recent phenomena] sales catalogues, local papers, mortgage papers, and glebe terriers - the list seemed endless. Linda concluded by pointing out that she had not even attempted to look at military, criminal, or legal records which could all warrant a talk in their own rights and therefore much more than she had talked about for over an hour was available to researchers putting the ‘flesh on the bones’ in our own family tree records.
July 18th 2011
Our speaker for this meeting was Eddie Woolrich who talked to us about the Dovecotes of Nottinghamshire.
Eddie began by explaining what a dovecote was. A structure specifically built to house and breed pigeons / doves, mainly for meat production. Squabs [young pigeons up to fledging age] was the best and most tender meat and reserved for the house owner / gentry whilst the older tougher birds were used by the labourers and other workers. He raised a laugh by explaining that there was a medicinal recipe to rub 2 handfuls of fresh and warm ‘residuals’ [droppings] into the scalp for hair regrowth purposes. The residuals were also a source of material for gunpowder production in place of saltpetre [potassium nitrate]. It was also a good fertiliser and records exist from 1689 when the Rector of Clayworth sold 3 cartloads of ‘residuals’ for 2 guineas.
The oldest reference to dovecotes is in the mist of times in the middle east, and the earliest in the UK from the 12/13th C and they were based in larger residences such as palaces, abbeys, castles and manors, but later in halls, rectories, and then almost all farms. There is a huge variety of design and no two appear the same. Many had just a few dozen nest boxes, but the three biggest locally were Sibthorpe (1000-1200), Serlby and Clifton at 2000+, with the largest having 2350. One of that size, when full of breeding birds and chicks could house up to 10,000 birds. When squabs were harvested regularly birds would produce 2 squabs every 4-6 weeks. [a lot of meat in 4000+ pigeons!!] The shape and size of the nest boxes also varied according to the design of the dovecote and the materials used in construction. Using slides throughout his talk Eddie was able to demonstrate many of these differences.
Bassetlaw had 37%, and Newark 34% of the dovecotes in the county which Eddie believed was due to the clay land in the area and the growing of corn crops.
At Wollaton Hall, the dovecote is above the stable block, with the butchery below, it has 926 boxes on 4 walls and was renovated in the 1980’s. It took Eddie along with 2 other researchers over 25 years to survey and record, well in excess of 300 dovecotes in the county. He had slides of many and discussed fully each of them and their design, structure, location as well as materials used and current condition. These included dovecotes at South Wheatley, Barton in Fabris [octagonal made of gypsum], Cromwell [13 C GII listed building with mud & stud boxes], Church Farm Hayton [Resting pegs right into wall and accessed by JCB bucket], Flintham [made entirely of mud in early 18thC and also listed], Sibthorpe & Thoroton, [both round but different inside and in construction]. He believed the last functional dovecote was built around 1890 as they had fallen into lack of use after the turnip was introduced from the continent and fodder could be grown and kept for livestock feed and hence meat in winter. It was a most interesting and well researched talk.
Summer Outing June 13th 2011
Sunday had been the wettest day for several months so it was with some apprehension that 15 souls set off to Laxton. We were greeted with coffee and biscuits by Stuart Rose and family as well as some sunshine. Stuart gave a short refresher talk with the map of the Open Fields using the 3 crop rotation system. He explained how the grass on the sykes was auctioned off in June and how each successful bidder put a small fee in the pot for liquid refreshment at the pub after the auction was over. They celebrate with 4 ‘agricultural’ church services during the year, Plough Sunday in January, Rogation in spring, Lamas to bless the first corn of harvest and finally their Harvest Festival.
Stuart has 120 acres in the village but it is widely spread over 17 locations throughout the Open Fields. There are now 14 farmers with 120-140 acres each and a few more with smaller farms making up the village estate. [Details of this were in last months’ issue]. He told us that there was a Foreman for each of the 3 Open Fields, plus the Bailiff, and Clerk making 5 officers, a representative of the Crown Estate and a local Solicitor as well as the 12 Jurors who form the ancient Manorial Court followed by the Court Leet. There is a new jury sworn in every 12 months. They are still allowed to levy their own fines and are exempt from the Common Law system.
We then set off on a most interesting walk. First stop was by the old village school, now the village hall where a bomb fell early in WW2 and claimed the only victim of the hostilities from the village. Miss Willis the then school mistress lost her life a fact that is commemorated on a plaque in the church along with the names of all the village men and women who served in the forces and all returned safely. It must be the only War Memorial on which there is only one death and that occurred within yards of the church. Inside the church, our next stop, is the 1635 map of the open fields with all 2210 strips indexed by farmers’ name. A genealogist’s dream if they have ancestors from the village. Manorial records for other villages, where they survive, are held at archives and are a mine of information – if you can decipher them!! In 1700 the village population had been 600 but by 2010 it had reduced to less than 300 and the 2210 strips in the fields were down to 174 over a much smaller acreage. Whilst in the church we also looked at other features like the effigies dating from c1360 including one wooden one. Outside the gargoyles made some interesting viewing!
Then it was off to Crosshill Farm which like many in the village has the traditional building layout around a crew yard, each was clear as we studied the uses. Mixed boxes, for calving etc, a stable block with feed storage above, the threshing barn designed specifically to blow away the chaff when winnowing with its large doors and slotted base stone to board up in winter]. Then there was the cow house, the dovecote another source of food, the open buildings for cattle shelter around the open yard – even the hard stone path up one side to keep the farmers feet relatively clean.
We then walked to the Motte and Bailey site of the old castle and later Manor House, covering a 20 acre area. From the high point one can see the boundaries of the parish which are mostly the surrounding woodland. The more recent outlying farms, the open fields with their strips all ploughed downhill to a low point for natural drainage, the location of the springs and streams, the grazed land. More modern landmarks to be seen from here are the 3 Trent Vale power stations. The weather was also good enough for us to see Lincoln Cathedral, over 20 miles away. Returning to the village and other farms by the Back lane which in many villages ran along behind the farm closes and gives rise to the parallel layout frequently found. There was time to look at some of the rare species of grass that still grow on the sykes due to lack of cultivation, fertilisation and managed seasonal cutting.
Back at Lilac Farm we were treated to a superb lunch, answers to questions, a showing of the third film about the village that there had not been time for during our May meeting. Stuart also has his own ‘museum’ of old implements and tools with many artefacts from times gone by where we were challenged by the use of some tools. All in all it was a most enjoyable day out. Some of us I am sure will return!
1635 Map = Stuart Rose of Lilac Farm Laxton explains the detail shown on 1635 map
in Laxton Church including 2210 strips of land and their farmers indexed by name.
