Victoria County 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.

Assessing Impacts of Land Subsidence in Victoria County, Texas, Using Geospatial Analysis

Land subsidence is an ongoing problem negatively affecting Victoria County along the Gulf Coast. Groundwater withdrawal and hydrocarbon extraction in the County are some of the known factors behind this geological hazard. In this study, we have used geospatial analysis and a conceptual model to evaluate land subsidence. A significant decline in the groundwater level in this area was noted from 2006 to 2016. The decline in the water level correlates with the major drought events along the Gulf Coast reported in earlier studies. These results are further corroborated by the emerging hotspot analysis performed on the groundwater data. This analysis divides the study area into intensifying, sporadic, and persistent hotspots in the northwest region and intensifying, persistent coldspots in the southeast region of Victoria County. Hydrocarbon production data show high oil and gas extraction from 2017 to 2021. There are a higher number of hydrocarbon production wells in the central and southern regions of the County than elsewhere. The conceptual models relate these events and suggest the existence of subsidence in the County, through which the water and hydrocarbon reservoirs in the study area may lose their reservoir characteristics due to sediment compaction.

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.

Frequency and developmental timing of linear enamel hypoplasia defects in Early Archaic Texan hunter-gatherers

Digital photographs taken under controlled conditions were used to examine the incidence of linear enamel hypoplasia defects (LEHs) in burials from the Buckeye Knoll archaeological site (41VT98 Victoria county, Texas), which spans the Early to Late Archaic Period (ca. 2,500–6,500 BP uncorrected radiocarbon). The majority (68 of 74 burials) date to the Texas Early Archaic, including one extremely early burial dated to 8,500 BP. The photogrammetric data collection method also results in an archive for Buckeye Knoll, a significant rare Archaic period collection that has been repatriated and reinterred. We analyzed the incidence and developmental timing of LEHs in permanent canines. Fifty-nine percent of permanent canines (n = 54) had at least one defect. There were no significant differences in LEH frequency between the maxillary and mandibular canines (U = 640.5, n1 = 37, n2 = 43, p = .110). The sample studied (n = 92 permanent canines) had an overall mean of 0.93 LEH defect per tooth, with a median of one defect, and a mode of zero defects. Average age at first insult was 3.92 (median = 4.00, range = 2.5–5.4) and the mean age of all insults per individual was 4.18 years old (range = 2.5–5.67). Age at first insult is consistent with onset of weaning stress—the weaning age range for hunter-gatherer societies is 1–4.5. Having an earlier age of first insult was associated with having more LEHs (n = 54, rho = −0.381, p = 0.005).

Digitonthophagus gazella auctorum: an unfortunate case of mistaken identity for a widely introduced species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Onthophagini).

At risk of committing entomological heresy, we question the identity of a dung-burying beetle species that originates from Africa and has been introduced first into Hawaii and subsequently to Australasia, North America, and South America (Fincher 1986; Edwards 2007; Noriega et al. 2010) for pasture improvement and biological control of dung-breeding flies (Waterhouse 1974; Bornemissza 1979). Under the name Onthophagus gazella (Fabricius 1787), it was the first species selected for introduction into Australia by the CSIRO Dung Beetle Project (Bornemissza 1976; Edwards 2007). Firstly, in 1968, a "tropical strain" was introduced from Hawaii where it had become established after introduction from Zimbabwe in 1957 (Markin & Yoshioka 1998). Later, after establishment of the CSIRO Dung Beetle Research Unit in Pretoria in 1970, a "cold" or "even rainfall strain" was introduced into Australia directly from South Africa (Bornemissza 1976) (even rainfall region = south coast of Eastern Cape). The species was subsequently introduced into the southern continental United States of America (Victoria County, Texas) from Hawaii (Montes de Oca & Halffter 1998) then elsewhere into southeastern and southwestern states from Hawaii and breeding colonies from Australia (Anderson & Loomis 1978). It has since expanded its range through Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean to coastal Colombia (Kohlmann 1994; Noriega 2002; Noriega et al. 2006, 2011). Expansion of its range within central southern South America (Noriega et al. 2010) has been assisted by introductions into Brazil from the United States of America since the 1980s (Bianchin et al. 1998), and others into Venezuela and Chile (Vidaurre et al. 2008). More recently, it has been introduced into quarantine and field trials in New Zealand (Forgie et al. 2013) using individuals originating from the south coast of the Eastern Cape and Northwest Province of South Africa (S. Forgie, personal communication).

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.

Integrated Digital Technologies for the Architectural Rehabilitation & Conservation of Beinn Bhreagh Hall & Surrounding Site, Nova Scotia, Canada

Abstract. This contribution summarizes the collaboration between Carleton Immersive Media Studio (CIMS) and Heritage Standing in the use of digital technologies to document the Beinn Bhreagh Hall historic site (house and immediate surroundings) in Baddeck, Nova Scotia for its rehabilitation and protection. The project objectives were to develop a prototype for research and training using 3D scanning, and Building Information Modelling (BIM), as well as other emerging surveying tools to understand the state of conservation of Historic Places in Canada, providing relevant and appropriate information for their rehabilitation and maintenance. The vehicle of this research was the documentation and modelling of this important landmark, the summer home of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell in Victoria County, Nova Scotia. This unique 19thC building, currently under review for designated as a national historic site.

A multidimensional fuzzy least-squares regression approach for estimating hydraulic gradients in unconfined aquifer formations and its application to the Gulf Coast aquifer in Goliad County, Texas

Epistemic uncertainties arise during the estimation of hydraulic gradients in unconfined aquifers due to planar approximation of the water table as well as data gaps arising from factors such as instrument failures and site inaccessibility. A multidimensional fuzzy least-squares regression approach is proposed here to estimate hydraulic gradients in situations where epistemic uncertainty is present in the observed water table measurements. The hydraulic head at a well is treated as a normal (Gaussian) fuzzy variable characterized by a most likely value and a spread. This treatment results in hydraulic gradients being characterized as normal fuzzy numbers as well. The multidimensional fuzzy least-squares regression has an exact analytical form and as such can be implemented easily using matrix algebra methods. However, the method was noted to be sensitive to round-off and truncation errors when the epistemic uncertainties are small. A closeness index based on the cardinality of a fuzzy number is used to evaluate how well the regression model fits the fuzzy hydraulic head observations. A fuzzy Euclidian distance measure is used to compare two fuzzy numbers and to evaluate how fuzziness in the observed hydraulic heads affects the fuzziness in the estimated hydraulic gradients. The Euclidian distance measure is also used to ascertain the influence of each well on the fuzzy hydraulic gradient estimation. The fuzzy regression framework is illustrated by applying it to evaluate hydraulic gradients in the unconfined portion of the Gulf Coast aquifer in Goliad County, TX. The results from the case-study indicate that there is greater uncertainty associated with the estimation of the hydraulic gradients in the vertical (Z-axis) direction. The epistemic uncertainties in the hydraulic head data at the wells have a significant impact on the gradient estimates when they are of the same order of magnitude as the most likely values of the observed heads. The influence analysis indicated that 5 of the 13 wells in the network had a critical influence on at least one of the hydraulic gradients. Three wells along the northeastern section of the study area and bordering the Victoria County were noted to have the least influence on the regression estimates. The fuzzy regression framework along with the associated goodness-of-fit and influence measures provides a useful set of tools to characterize the uncertainties in the hydraulic heads and gradients arising from data gaps and planar water table approximation.

A statistical power analysis approach to estimate groundwater-monitoring network size in Victoria County Groundwater Conservation District, Texas

A properly designed groundwater-monitoring network is critical to evaluate groundwater management policies and regulations and establish a scientifically credible, risk-informed approach towards management of aquifer resources. To achieve proper design, the network must comprise a sufficient number of wells that comprehensively covers the area of interest. In this study, statistical power analysis is utilized to define the size of a proposed monitoring network within the Victoria County Groundwater Conservation District (VCGCD). In particular, the network seeks to provide empirical information to evaluate whether the VCGCD is meeting the criteria of the desired future conditions (DFC) established by the Groundwater Management Area 15 (GMA 15) through the joint planning process, as required by the statutes of Texas. The evaluation of DFCs is expressed as a hypothesis-testing problem with the null hypothesis stating that the VCGCD complies with the DFC, and the alternative hypothesis stating that the VCGCD does not comply with the DFC. The power analysis quantifies the ability of the statistical test to correctly reject the null hypothesis. The power of the statistical test is a function of the sample size and this relationship can be exploited to determine the size of the required groundwater-monitoring network if the effect size can be specified. However, prior to establishing a monitoring network, the groundwater level monitoring tends to be ad hoc; therefore, the statistical moments required for characterizing the effect size are not likely to be known with a high degree of certainty. As such, an innovative framework that integrates power analysis with bootstrap resampling protocols was developed to estimate monitoring network size under uncertainty. The results of the study indicated that a minimum set of approximately 70 wells is required within the VCGCD to statistically evaluate the compliance with DFCs with 90 % reliability and at a significance level of 10 % and 90 % power. The number of wells increased to about 85 when the significance level was reduced to 5 %. Geostatistical analysis indicated that these monitoring wells must be at least 3 miles apart to ensure statistically independent information. The developed methodology provides a practical framework to size a groundwater-monitoring network under data sparse situations.

A GIS-based multi-criteria decision-making approach for establishing a regional-scale groundwater monitoring

A weighted multi-criteria decision-making framework was designed to identify and prioritize areas for monitoring aquifer hydraulic heads within the Victoria County Groundwater Conservation District. The criteria address salient hydrogeological aspects including groundwater variability, recharge, surface water–groundwater interactions, and groundwater fluxes across district boundaries. Texas water statutes require groundwater conservation districts to quantify these factors and utilize them to manage aquifers. A stakeholder survey instrument was used to prioritize these criteria. A monitoring priority index (MPI), whose value theoretically ranges between 0 and 1 was computed as a weighted average of six mutually exclusive criteria. The MPI value was seen to range between 0.2 and 0.6 within the study area. Lower values of MPI indicate areas where the current level of monitoring is adequate and areas with a higher MPI point to locations where additional monitoring is necessary. In particular, monitoring along district boundaries, particularly along the western and southern sections, is recommended. The developed methodology was seen to provide a transparent and simple-to-use approach to identify and prioritize areas within the district for the purposes of groundwater monitoring. The proposed framework demonstrates the utility of GIS in facilitating a scientifically credible and stakeholder-driven approach for establishing groundwater monitoring networks and can be adapted in other similar applications.

Building bridges between health promotion and social sustainability: an analysis of municipal policies in Western Canada

This paper reports an analysis of municipal policies through a population health-promotion lens; its purpose is to identify potential grounds for intersectoral collaboration. Template analysis methods based on widely accepted determinants of health (DOH) and health-promotion strategies were used to study policies from six Western Canadian municipalities: Vancouver, Victoria, Surrey, Edmonton, Calgary and Strathcona County. To illustrate overlapping concepts, findings regarding rich descriptions of social environments (one determinant of health) are highlighted. Similarly, social inclusion as a desired goal and community capacity building (as both process and outcome), appear to be concepts around which health promotion and social sustainability frames converge. These findings identify potentially fertile partnership opportunities: health promoters can deepen their understanding of DOH such as social inclusion and municipal leaders can learn from the evidence of effectiveness in health-promotion strategies.

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

The origin and construction of pre-Hispanic mounds in the Upper Delta of the Paraná River (Argentina)

Pre-Hispanic mounds, known as “cerritos,” “cerritos de indios,” or “aterros” across southeastern South America, are one of the most conspicuous and well-studied cultural manifestations in lowlands archaeology. Nevertheless, in the Upper Delta of the Parana River, mounds are rarely studied, and even their anthropic origin is under debate. This could be related to the fact that anthropogenic mounds are located on a floodplain where other “mound-like” natural geoforms (generated by fluvial processes) are also present. In addition to this, the natural geoforms also contain evidence of Holocene human occupation (sherds, bones, charcoal, humans burials, etc.), which can lead to interpretive errors of their origin and formation. Thus, this project set out to determine the genesis and evolution of these mounds and also to identify the cultural occupation and transformation of natural landforms found in the area. In this article, natural and anthropogenic systems and processes were identified and characterized through the application of proxy record analysis (i.e., sediment composition, stratigraphy, micromorphology, silica bodies and chronological analysis) at the Los Tres Cerros archaeological locality in the Upper Delta of the Parana River of Victoria County, Entre Rios Province, Argentina. This analysis allowed for the recognition of natural anthropogenic interfaces, such as the “pre-mound” occupation as well as evidence of cultural activities such as mound construction, between 1,000 and 500 14C years bp. These findings were integrated into current research on the variability of mound construction during the Late Holocene in the lowlands of South America.

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.