Rural Roots

Exhibition

Steven — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:44:00 GMT

Many thanks to everyone who helped make our first local history exhibition such a success. In particular we must thank Sue Fraser for all her efforts as the 'Rural Roots' outreach worker from the Beverley Treasure House. Without Sue's encouragement and enthusiasm I doubt the group would have got very far.

Whilst we didn't keep a count of visitors, the Chapel was busy throughout the day, and perhaps most gratifyingly there was a hubbub of discussion, reminiscence and shared experiences. We will be creating some 'features' on the website from the posters that we put together - so even if you missed the exhibits you'll still have a chance to look at the material we brought together.

Our next ehibition is also linked to the Rural Roots project, some posters and artifacts displayed in the Treasure House Buildings over this summer.

17th September 2007

Steven — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 20:38:00 GMT

The cycle of monthly meetings of the group will be starting up again next week. We have a programme of speakers arranged to Christmas with, what I hope is, a variety of topics. Andrew Sefton will be talking about the map maker William Watson, I'll try and set out some of the material I've obtained about Bolton c.1911 through looking at the Land tax valuation, and a local metal detectorist, Tony Laverack, will be talking about material he has found in the locality - and perhaps also about the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

We have also just had an evening practising with the equipment to record oral histories in the 'rural roots' programme. Hopefully it will result in some interesting material - and not too many false starts. I've found this site from the Oral History Society which I'll have a look through before I start!

The pictures on the website have grown a plenty - with copies of all the memorial inscriptions from the graveyard now in place. There's still a fair way to go to add names to faces - and I've got this down as a priority for the coming months.

1st August 2007 - Trip to the National Archives

Steven — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 20:01:00 GMT

Yesterday I took a trip to the National Archives at Kew. Along with researching some family history, there were two things I was looking for: the records of the 1910 property valuation for Bolton and the 1941 National Farm Survey. Both of these records hold information on home owners, property and land and are linked to detailed maps of the area. The 1910 valuation undepinned new taxation and the 1941 Farm survey was part of the national drive to maximise home production at a time when the 'Battle of the Atlantic' was limiting imports. It took a while to find the taxation records (Bolton for once appearing as 'Bolton' not hidden in Bishop Wilton or Fangfoss), but by mid-afternoon I had located a wide range of information from both sources. The Farm survey is particularly interesting with details of who is working on each farm, land use, availability of electricity and water supply and even a 'rating' of the farm -A,B or C. Hopefully this will form the basis of one or two talks in the coming months.

23rd July 2007

Steven — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 20:29:00 GMT

Last week's meeting of the group featured a talk from Richard Walgate from East Yorkshire Family History Society. Based on at least five generations of his own family tree, Richard took us through a variety of the sources used in family history. His family covered much of East Yorkshire and futher afield, including links to Bishop Wilton. For an excellent website for locally relevant genealogy resources try "Gareth's List".

We also saw some developments on the scanning of local documents, with arrangements now in hand to collect documents and get them scanned by the archive service. A big pile of Fangfoss school records made an appearance, and will be scanned in due course.

Another new service provided online by the archives are digitised versions on historical OS maps, look at sheet 176 for Bolton. Maps are available from 1855, 1910 and 1927. You need two plugins (SVG and DjVu) to view the maps, these can be downloaded when you first visit the site.

Finally plans are being made for the planned visit to the Treasure House on Monday August 20th. If you want details contact me on so7@york.ac.uk.