I have already written about my efforts at writing local history in relation to the names on Southborough War Memorial (Past and Present blog 01/07/12). I think my Book Wish
List - currently over 80 books long! - accurately reflects my perennial passion for all things historical.
There's a poem on my Poetry page about Erddig, the National Trust house formerly belonging to my father's old friend Philip Yorke, and there is an excellent book - The Servants' Hall by Merlin Waterson, which tells its domestic history. We don't have to own a grand house, though, before we can compile a history of our home - anyone can do it, especially with the increasing availability of the internet, which yields all kinds of goodies.
We live in a simple semi-detached brick house, built at the turn of the twentieth-century, so no Roman remains in evidence, but even here there are fascinating things we could incorporate in a house history and hand on to the next owner. For example, the original Extract of Deed which the solicitor dusted down and sent to us when we moved in has a nice little map of the original plot, pictured below:
List - currently over 80 books long! - accurately reflects my perennial passion for all things historical.
There's a poem on my Poetry page about Erddig, the National Trust house formerly belonging to my father's old friend Philip Yorke, and there is an excellent book - The Servants' Hall by Merlin Waterson, which tells its domestic history. We don't have to own a grand house, though, before we can compile a history of our home - anyone can do it, especially with the increasing availability of the internet, which yields all kinds of goodies.
We live in a simple semi-detached brick house, built at the turn of the twentieth-century, so no Roman remains in evidence, but even here there are fascinating things we could incorporate in a house history and hand on to the next owner. For example, the original Extract of Deed which the solicitor dusted down and sent to us when we moved in has a nice little map of the original plot, pictured below:
We also know that there were several sons of this house who served in and were injured in the First World War. One of them at least worked in the local cricket-ball making industry on his return from the trenches, and we are told that home-work was carried out in the cellar. The Pathe news website has a wonderful film showing another Southborough man, Charlie Tingley, (whose brother incidentally is named on the Southborough War Memorial) making a cricket ball: http://www.britishpathe.com/video/cricket-balls/query/Southborough
Recently, when my husband and son were standing on our front door-step, a man going by in a van screeched to a halt, pulled in, and got out of his van clutching a scrap of paper (pictured below). He explained that a builder friend of his had found it below a floorboard, years back, when he was working on our house, and had always meant to hand it to a current owner. We weren't quite sure why we had suddenly been given it, though perhaps the man had heard of my local history activities?
Anyhow, this sort of things can contribute to a pleasant feeling of groundedness, aside from anything else. So don't declutter everything - keep a few choice items back when you go to the tip!
Recently, when my husband and son were standing on our front door-step, a man going by in a van screeched to a halt, pulled in, and got out of his van clutching a scrap of paper (pictured below). He explained that a builder friend of his had found it below a floorboard, years back, when he was working on our house, and had always meant to hand it to a current owner. We weren't quite sure why we had suddenly been given it, though perhaps the man had heard of my local history activities?
Anyhow, this sort of things can contribute to a pleasant feeling of groundedness, aside from anything else. So don't declutter everything - keep a few choice items back when you go to the tip!
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