Victoria County History Research Articles

The Victoria County History and participatory historical geography

The Victoria County History and participatory historical geography

The Liberty of Whitby Strand: The Origins and Significance of a Jurisdictional Immunity

Abstract The medieval abbey at Whitby, North Yorkshire, controlled a jurisdictional immunity from royal administration, which was territorial and was known as the Liberty of Whitby Strand. Since Frederick William Maitland, historians have analysed such jurisdictional immunities as an index of royal authority and power. However, the surviving documentation for jurisdictional immunities means that it is often difficult to establish precisely when they were created or what franchises they included. Whitby Abbey claimed that the Liberty of Whitby Strand originated in a grant of King William I and this was accepted by the Victoria County History at the beginning of the twentieth century. Since then, the Liberty has been almost completely ignored. This article revisits the evidence, suggesting that it is possible to pinpoint its origins with rare precision. It argues that the Whitby monks forged a series of charters to persuade King Richard I and King John to transform a narrower portfolio of franchises into the wider territorial Liberty. This article further considers the politics surrounding its creation under Richard and John, and its implications for our understanding of royal authority and power.

Cities, Saints, and Communities in Early Medieval Europe: Essays in Honour of Alan Thacker, ed. Scott DeGregorio and Paul Kershaw. Turnhout: Brepols, 2020, 408 pp.

Alan Thacker is famous as a researcher on pre-Norman Britain (especially for Bede), and as editor with the Victoria County History (that stupendous monument of English local historiography). Now he is honored with essays that take us through England and far from England, providing an accomplished blend of Insular and Continental. There are sixteen of these studies.

The New Victoria County History of Hampshire

The New Victoria County History of Hampshire

BISHOP TUNSTALL’S ALTERATIONS TO DURHAM CASTLE, 1536–48

Since its foundation in 1072 Durham Castle has served as a fortress, palace of the prince bishops of Durham and, from 1837, as a college of the University of Durham. Durham Castle was the bishops’ home and a symbol of their secular authority, whilst its proximity to the bishops’ ecclesiastical centre, Durham Cathedral, established spiritual and ceremonial roles for the castle. This paper will examine the major alterations made to Durham Castle by Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall (bishop from 1530–59), including a new first-floor gallery, stair turret and chapel. A hitherto un-noted gunloop in the stair tower suggests that the turbulent political and religious events of his bishopric, particularly the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536, caused Tunstall to provide some defensive capability within what has previously been considered a purely domestic building programme. Analysis of the documented progress of building also dates the visit to Durham of the antiquarian John Leland to 1543, not 1538 as stated in the Victoria County History.

Pioneering women archivists in England: Ethel Stokes (1870\u20131944), record agent

This paper explores the life of Miss Ethel Stokes who was significantly involved in several major historical, literary and archival enterprises in early twentieth-century England. She established the Records Preservation Section of the British Records Association, she edited historical records and wrote for publication in works of reference including local and British Record Society volumes, the Victoria County History of England and the Complete Peerage, and she established an independent and successful business as a record agent, Stokes and Cox. The article is the first in a planned series which will study the lives and professional contributions of pioneering women archivists in England. An explanation of the background to this work, a literature review and a justification of the need for this new field of study are articulated in Shepherd’s chapter, ‘Hidden voices in the archives: pioneering women archivists in early twentieth century England’ (Shepherd in Engaging with archives and records: histories and theories. Facet Publishing, London, 2016). In line with the collective biographical approach outlined there, this paper will consider Miss Stokes’s family and educational background, her friendships, charitable work and her professional activities and projects, seeking to set her into the context of her own times.

NeilChristie and PaulStamper, eds., Medieval rural settlement: Britain and Ireland, AD 800–1600 (Oxford: Windgather Press, 2012. Pp. xii + 369. 113 figs. 1 tabs. ISBN 9781905119424 Hbk. £30)

The Economic History ReviewVolume 66, Issue 2 p. 648-649 Book Review Neil Christie and Paul Stamper, eds., Medieval rural settlement: Britain and Ireland, AD 800–1600 ( Oxford: Windgather Press, 2012. Pp. xii + 369. 113 figs. 1 tabs. ISBN 9781905119424 Hbk. £30) Mark Page, Mark Page Victoria County History, OxfordshireSearch for more papers by this author Mark Page, Mark Page Victoria County History, OxfordshireSearch for more papers by this author First published: 02 April 2013 https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0289.12015Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume66, Issue2May 2013Pages 648-649 RelatedInformation

Natural History and Local History in Late Victorian and Edwardian England: The Contribution of the Victoria County History

AbstractIn 1899 the Victoria County History (VCH) was established as a ‘National Survey’ of England which was intended to show the present day condition of the country and trace the ‘domestic history’ of all English counties to the ‘earliest times’. Natural history was seen as a key component to be included in the first volume for every county. In this paper we examine the reasons for the prominence given to natural history and demonstrate how the expert knowledge of natural historians was marshalled and edited. We use the contrasting counties of Herefordshire and Nottinghamshire to examine key intellectual debates about the role of the amateur and the expert and concern about nomenclature, classification and the state of knowledge about different groups of species. We emphasize the importance of the geography of the natural history and the way in which the VCH charted concerns about species loss and extinction. We examine the reasons why the VCH later abandoned natural history and finally we assess the value of its published output for modern historical geographers, historical ecologists and environmental historians.

W. G. Hoskins, the Victoria County History, and the Study of English Local History

The Victoria County History (VCH) was founded in 1899 but struggled to survive during the inter-war years. After 1945 it was revived in a number of counties, including Leicestershire, and this raised questions about its subject matter. This article argues that W. G. Hoskins' interests in the 1930s and 1940s were far distant from the VCH approach to local history, but that with the founding of the Department of English Local History at University College, Leicester, in 1948 he needed all the 'academic friends' he could find. The VCH had been taken over by the University of London in 1933, and work had resumed in Oxfordshire. These credentials were helpful to Hoskins, but he soon ran into difficulties with the VCH over the nature and content of traditional VCH parish histories. This led to a debate between 1950, when he drafted an entry for Great Stretton, Leicestershire, and 1952 when he left Leicester University College for a post at Oxford. The VCH moved its position on the subject matter of its parish histories in the 1950s and in doing so reflected Hoskins' argument for greater emphasis on the community of farmers, labourers and their farms in addition to its traditional strength in manorial and church history.

Topography and landscape history: the role of the Victoria County History

ABSTRACT This paper examines the process whereby topographical historical writing has merged into landscape studies, and asks what the role of the Victoria County History was in this process? The author, who was Director and General Editor of the VCH 2005–10, sets into context the changing nature of VCH parish topographical entries and looks at how these have altered and developed through time as a result of both practical and academic shifts in thinking. Today's VCH still has its traditional elements, none more so than the manorial descent, which is a legacy of its antiquarian past, but also contains up-to-date discussions of settlement, landscape, and place names.

Human: Half a Million Years of Life in Bucks.

Since George Liscombe’s Victoria County History (1831-1847 and 1905-1927) subsequent comprehensive studies of Buckinghamshire County history have been scarce. The exhibition Human (6th March-11th July 2010) and its accompanying publication; An Illustrated History of Early Buckinghamshire, (Farley 2010), aim to resolve such a hiatus. Both book and exhibition chronicle the local archaeology, spanning over a century of fieldwork, and places local level archaeology within an epic narration of human history. Presenting local archaeology thus lends it with the wider relevance that will hopefully inspire increased patronage of local museums, presently about to be hardest hit by current economic policies. The exhibition is a collaborative achievement by the Buckinghamshire County Museum curatorial team.

Libraries and the Victoria County History

The Victoria County History (VCH) is one of the great collaborative enterprises in England, along with the Dictionary of Biography and the History of Parliament. In this article, which is an expanded version of a lecture to the Historic Libraries Forum in November 2007, the current VCH Director sets out the VCH's background, the way in which county editors handle libraries within the ongoing research work, and the use that local historians more generally make of libraries, particularly those which contain contemporary printed material and archives.

Victoria county history: a history of the county of Northampton - Edited by Charles Insley, John Beckett, Alan Thacker, Cynthia Brown, Peter Mountfield, and Elizabeth Williamson�Victoria county history: a history of the county of Stafford - Edited by Nigel J. Tringham

Victoria county history: a history of the county of Northampton - Edited by Charles Insley, John Beckett, Alan Thacker, Cynthia Brown, Peter Mountfield, and Elizabeth Williamson�Victoria county history: a history of the county of Stafford - Edited by Nigel J. Tringham

Anglo-American Congrss of Historians, 2-3 July 2009, International Symposium of Victoria County History, 6-8 July 2009

Anglo-American Congrss of Historians, 2-3 July 2009, International Symposium of Victoria County History, 6-8 July 2009

Gillian Cookson (ed.), Victoria County History: A History of the County of Durham, Volume IV: Darlington. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer for the Institute of Historical Research, 2005. 267pp. 57 illustrations. 8 maps and plans. Bibliography. £95.00.

Gillian Cookson (ed.), Victoria County History: A History of the County of Durham, Volume IV: Darlington. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer for the Institute of Historical Research, 2005. 267pp. 57 illustrations. 8 maps and plans. Bibliography. £95.00. - Volume 35 Issue 1

Victoria county history: a history of the county of Chester, vol. V, 2, The city of Chester: culture, buildings and institutions – Edited by Christopher P. Lewis and Alan T. Thacker Victoria county history: a history of the county of Durham, vol. IV, Darlington – Edited by Gillian Cookson Victoria county history: a history of the County of Oxford, vol.

Victoria county history: a history of the county of Chester, vol. V, 2, The city of Chester: culture, buildings and institutions – Edited by Christopher P. Lewis and Alan T. Thacker Victoria county history: a history of the county of Durham, vol. IV, Darlington – Edited by Gillian Cookson Victoria county history: a history of the County of Oxford, vol.

Local history, family history and the Victoria County History: new directions for the twenty-first century

The study of local history has a long and varied past, but its modern form can be dated to the post-Second World War era. The Victoria County History, although dating from 1899, has been transformed in the years since 1945, and is going through a further mini-revolution as a result of a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to run a project entitled ‘England's Past for Everyone’ (E.P.E.). This article provides the background to these developments, including the various changes of focus of the V.C.H., and then argues that the impact of E.P.E. is to offer the V.C.H. the opportunity to transform itself into the recognised quality standard for local history.

Victoria County History, Vol. V, Part 2: The City of Chester: Culture, Buildings, Institutions

THEVictoria County History (VCH) of Cheshire proceeds on its stately progress with the appearance of this, the concluding second part of its coverage of the city of Chester. The first part appeared in 2002 (rev. ante, cxix (2004), 1322–4) and pioneered a fresh and entirely welcome approach to the treatment of large towns by the VCH. Devoting two substantial volumes to the task allowed a fullness of detail which is proportional to the way in which small rural parishes are covered. And the structure of the work allowed the strengths of an urban biography on the lines of many recent monographs on individual towns to be combined with the comprehensive factual descriptions of separate topics, of value chiefly for reference purposes, which was the traditional strength (and weakness in many eyes) of the VCH volumes of past decades. The ‘story’ of Chester was told...

Sheila Sweetinburgh, The role of the hospital in medieval England: gift-giving and the spiritual economy, Dublin, Four Courts Press, 2004, pp. 286, illus., £55.00, €65.00 (hardback 1-85182-794-3).

Sheila Sweetinburgh, The role of the hospital in medieval England: gift-giving and the spiritual economy, Dublin, Four Courts Press, 2004, pp. 286, illus., £55.00, €65.00 (hardback 1-85182-794-3).

A History of the County of Oxford (Victoria County History, Vol. XIV): Witney and its Townships; Bampton Hundred (Part II)

Witney is well worth the honour of its own Victoria County History (VCH) volume. It was the centre of a major (thirty hide) Anglo-Saxon estate which was given to the bishop of Winchester in 1044, whose successors remained its lords almost continuously until 1862. This early grant determined Witney's future in more ways than one. Thus, it included not just Witney itself but also the neighbouring settlements of Curbridge, Crawley and Hailey; and their secular and ecclesiastical government long depended on Witney. Not until 1854 did Hailey-cum-Crawley become a separate church parish and Curbridge has never won ecclesiastical independence. This volume gives good accounts of the satellite settlements; though it is awkward that one neighbouring (and important) village, Cogges, which reaches almost to the heart of Witney, had to be described in a different VCH volume. At least from the early twelfth century there was an episcopal residence at...