General Topics.
Under this head we may classify the more general and modern subjects that should not be left out of any complete parochial history, but which it is sufficient just to indicate without further comment, only premising that the annalist should keep constantly before him that it is the history of a parish, and not of a county or country, on which he is engaged, and that the more sparing he is of general disquisitions the more likely he is to please his readers.
The value of a thorough study of the field-names, of which we spoke in the first section of this manual, will now also become apparent. Some names will tell of a change of physical features, of swamps and islands, where all is now dry and far removed from water, or of forests and underwood, where the blade of corn is now the highest vegetation; whilst others will point to the previous existence of the vast common fields, and their peculiar cultivation (concerning which Maine’s “Village Communities” should be read). Some will indicate the foolish ways in which special crops were attempted to be forced by law upon the people, for it is few parishes that have not a “Flax Piece” as a witness to the futile legislation of 24 Henry VIII.; whilst others tell of trades now extinct, or metals long since worked out. Some speak of those early days when the wolf or the bear roamed the woods and fields, the beaver dammed up the streams, or the eagle swooped down upon its prey; whilst others tell of the weapons whereby these fauna were rendered extinct, for scarcely a township can be found where some field is not termed “the Butts,” names that certainly date back as far as Edward IV., when it was enacted that every Englishman should have a bow of his own height, and that butts for the practice of archery should be erected near every village, where the inhabitants were obliged to shoot up and down on every feast day under penalty of being mulcted a halfpenny.
It will, of course, be a matter of taste whether the topics here enumerated should precede or follow the manorial and ecclesiastical history.
I. Situation—extent—hill and river—caverns and springs—scenic character—climate and temperature.
II. Geology—mineral workings—quarries.
III. Special vegetable productions, past and present.
IV. Special Fauna—mammalia—birds—fish—reptiles—insects.
V. Agriculture, past and present. Inclosures of different dates—Inclosure Acts; for the mostly sad effects of these most selfish Acts, which profited the rich at the expense of the poor, for lists of inclosures from time of Queen Anne, and for other valuable information on this topic, see “General Report on Enclosures,” drawn up by the Board of Agriculture in 1808. The Board of Agriculture, in the first quarter of this century, drew up most valuable Surveys of Agriculture for the different counties, many of which are replete with varied and interesting information. On the economic and antiquarian side of this question, read Professor Rogers’s “History of Agriculture and Prices in England.”
VI. Trades and manufactures, past and present.
VII. Fairs and markets.
VIII. Roads, canals, railways, and bridges—past and present. Care should be taken in tracing out disused roads, bridle paths, or pack-horse tracks.
IX. Folk-lore. Under this head will come customs and ceremonies relating to childbearing, churching, christening, courtship, betrothal, marriage, death, and burial—public-house signs and their meaning—customs and superstitious pertaining to wells and streams—used and disused sports and games—obsolete punishments, such as ducking-stool or stocks—omens—witchcraft—ghosts—charms—divinations—and other quaint or original customs. Several books have lately been published on this subject, but they are mostly instances of book-making, and none come up to or surpass Ellis’s edition of “Brand’s Popular Antiquities.” A most useful publication society has been recently started, termed “The Folk Lore Society,” which has already begun collecting and publishing. The Hon. Sec. is G. Lawrence Gomme, Esq., Castelnau, Barnes.
X. Dialect. On this subject see the invaluable publications of the “English Dialect Society,” now (1879) in the seventh year of its existence. The hon. secretary is J. H. Nodal, Esq., The Grange, Heaton Moor, Stockport. One of their publications, price 6s. to non-subscribers, is “A List of Books relating to some of the counties of England.” Halliwell’s “Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words” will be found very useful.
XI. Poor Law and general Rating, history and statistics.
XII. Population, inhabited houses, and other census details at different periods.
