LL-L "Comprehens" 2008.07.08 (08) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 08 July 2008 - Volume 08
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From: heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk <heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Comprehension" 2008.07.08 (02) [E]

from heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk

Ron wrote:   So, yes, I agree that Heather's paleography class is a great
thing. Jonny, so there isn't such a thing where you are. How about you
starting one?

Just to whet Jonny's appetite even more, let me tell you about the exciting
time we have been having with our teacher - ex Birmingham University
classicist specialising in the Italian bishops of Worcester (!)

Thanks to the internet I have been able to search the country / world for
original documents and have discovered a cache of mid 13th - 14th century
deeds etc among the Middleton papers held by the University of Nottingham.
We have been over 3 times this summer and read most of them and have learnt
SUCH a lot.

We can now re-write the Victorian County History of our parish and one next
door and place an old Norman estate of Ridgehall firmly within our
boundaries.

What was the cherry on the icing last week was to discover a bailiff's
accounts dated 1358 which listed 17 fields in Wichenford rented out for
pasture including one called Dedefeld ...  still there and nowadays known as
Deadfields ; it lies on the opposite side of Kings Green from my house. 650
ago!!!! Mind blowing. The farm down the road was also mentioned and we know
the names of several other fields from a rental dated 1499.

Makes you think when you walk out in the morning with the dog for the usual
walk!!!

Among the other documents we have deciphered / translated are

a 1703 will detailing the contents of a house which is no longer here but we
know where it was.

a 1730 letter to the bishop asking permission for a William Thrupp to be
allowed a small 'hoppet' of land from the Common to build a new forge and
house. Both of these buildings are still here. This was an importnat
document because it allowed us to pinpoint the original Common that lay at
the centre of the parish, long divided up into fields.

a 1650 parliamentary survey listing all the tenants of all the houses/ farms

a whole set of 1646 claims against Cromwell's soldiers for board and
lodgings and stabling and the cost of bread, cheese and bacon and beer sent
to the garrison at Worcester.

a 1570 document detailing the beginnings of the Chantry Free School in the
next village supported by rents from land within our village.

the 1499 rental had been our oldest document till now: now we go back to c
1270!

Bliss!

Come on, Jonny, starting searching your local archives: if there are old
documents, ask whether they can be digitally photographed. We find this
helps enormously because you can enlarge a word or even a letter till it
fills the screen which makes deciphering much easier.

Unfortunately some of the ones we have located at the Public Record Office
at Kew, London are so large that they can only be officially photocopied. I
had one quote for £189 for one 1554 document. We decided we would have to do
without it!

My aim is to get back to the Anglo-Saxon charters which have not been
re-read in the original for some time. We are lucky enough to have a whole
load of them referring to this area dating from 750 onwards! But whether we
will ever be allowed to handle the originals remains to be seen.

here's hoping!

best wishes and much encouragement, Jonny!

Heather

(REndAll] !!!
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