Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology

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DOING A PARISH HISTORY

A GUIDE TO LOCAL BOOKS AND OTHER SOURCES

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2. Maps and Fieldwork

Many parish historians are residents of the places on which they intend to do research, but even for them an important exercise is to walk round as much of their parish as is accessible, noting landscape features such as rights of way, watercourses, the location of parish boundaries, patches of woodland, as well as buildings. It is worth buying a current Ordnance Survey 1: 25,000 (Explorer) map on which to record observations. This map will show the present-day boundaries of the civil parish, which in many cases will be identical to the boundaries of the ancient parish. However, because many small ancient parishes have been combined, more reliable guides to ancient boundaries are the early editions of the OS Six-Inch maps. These can be printed out from microfiche copies in Lincolnshire Archives and again are useful for recording purposes. (Note, however, that some care is needed if microfiche copies are to be obtained at exactly the original scale). The definition of the territory and its status are discussed again in the next section. The list below is in two sections, the maps first, other references second.

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Maps

Ordnance Survey First Edition One-Inch Maps originally published c. 1824. Later editions had additions, mainly confined to railways. David and Charles and Cassini modern reprint editions are available.
Ordnance Survey early editions of Six-Inch maps c. 1890, c. 1905, c. 1930. c. 1956. Copies at Lincolnshire Artchives (LAO) and Lincoln Central library (LCL) including microfiche copies from LAO.
Ordnance Survey early editions of 25-Inch maps c. 1890, c. 1905, c. 1930. At LAO, LCL, including microfiche copies from LA. These give acreages of OS fields and plots of ground.
Ordnance Survey 1: 25,000 maps various dates, but post-1945, first (provisional) edition was based on Six-Inch maps, c. 1930.
Bryant's One-Inch Map of Lincolnshire 1828 (LAO, LCL) including microfiche copies from LAO. Not as reliable as the OS First Edition, but interesting all the same.
R. C. Wheeler, ed. Maps of the Witham Fens from the Thirteenth to the Nineteenth Century Lincoln Record Society, 96, 2008. Notes are printed for 204 maps, many of which are reproduced in full colour.

A note on the acreages of ancient parishes and townships

Comparisons between parishes are made easier when their sizes are known. Also, as farms and estates will bulk large in the research, it is a good idea to have an accurate figure for the size of the parish, especially as many rough estimates will be encountered, e.g., in directories before about 1890. The first comprehensive and very accurate survey of parish sizes was not conducted by the Ordnance Survey until around 1880, after which the figures collected began to appear in directories and in other publications:

OS Six-Inch maps, especially those of the second edition, often give parish acreages (see above).

The Population Table in W. Page, VCH Lincs II (see list 8).
Census Reports from 1891, thence every tenth year (see list 10).

Having found the late Victorian acreage, keep a look-out for evidence of changes in boundaries before that date, but these are relatively rare in Lincolnshire, except where new parishes were created out of existing townships.

Books

A MAJOR WORK much referred to below is:

S. Bennett and N. Bennett, eds. An Historical Atlas of Lincolnshire Hull, 1993. This includes maps on a very wide range of topics, based on parish boundary outlines, for which there are keys useful for other purposes.

Other useful texts are as follows:

M. W. Barley The English Farmhouse and Cottage London, 1961. This book covers the whole country, but because Prof. Barley was a Lincoln man he used many Lincolnshire examples.
R. Cousins Lincolnshire Buildings in the Mud and Stud Tradition Heckington, 2000. An excellently organised book which includes a gazetteer of recorded examples, some of them now demolished.
P Dolman Lincolnshire Windmills, a contemporary survey Lincoln, 1986.
R. Oliver '''Ordnance Survey Maps: a concise guide for historians (London, 1993).
N. Pevsner and J. Harris The Buildings of England, Lincolnshire London, 2nd edn revised by N Antram, 1989. Describes all Anglican churches, as well as some of the other interesting buildings in most towns and villages. Good background in both editions.

Example: The following indicates the range of items mentioned and described in a village with a substantial, but not exceptional entry in Pevsner and Harris's book:

GRAINTHORPE - St Clements church, much detail of Perpendicular and Decorated styles in the architecture, followed by comments on the font, west gallery, pews and brass. Houses mentioned include the Old Vicarage, Tithe Farm, Grainthorpe Hall, Grainthorpe House and a comment on encased mud-and-stud cottages. Also a note on the tower mill and the canal warehouse on the Louth Navigation.

O. Rackham The History of the Countryside London, 1986: Gives a good background for the study of fauna and flora and landscape of a parish.
D. N. Robinson Lincolnshire Bricks: History and Gazetteer Heckington, 1999. This booklet is concerned with early brick-building and the hand manufacture of bricks. The gazetteer is especially useful in the present context.
H. Thorold Lincolnshire Houses Wilby, Norwich, 1999.
R. Wailes Lincolnshire Windmills (two vols) Heckington, 1991. Contains lists of Lincolnshire post- and tower-mills, now mostly 'lost', with descriptions.
A. Winchester Discovering Parish Boundaries Princes Risborough, Bucks, 1990.

Listed Building Notes, more properly known as Lists of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historical Interest, published by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (and several predecessor publishers). Volumes cover a single parish, or more usually a group of parishes. The distribution of these Lists is erratic, but many are available in LCL. Local authorities have a statutory duty to make them available to the public. Therefore, you should be able to consult them at your council offices, usually in the planning department. The information is not uniformly reliable, since it is largely based on visual impressions of properties from the road frontage, without back-up from literary sources. However, the Lists make a useful addition to Pevsner, and the two together may act as a starting point for more detailed local studies. See also list 7 for items on country houses and list 4 for the Sites and Monuments Records.

The Illustrations Index or photo collection at LCL is indexed by place. The parish files of photos are easily accessible to the public and photocopying is possible.

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