Library news: August 2010
by Tony Cooper
William Faden’s map "The country Twenty-five miles round London" 1790.
A new digitally re-drawn version of this map has recently been produced by Andrew MacNair. It is on six sheets, on a scale of one inch to one mile. The Library has bought the two sheets which cover those parts of Hertfordshire within the 25 mile radius.
William Faden (1749-1836), was a London engraver and cartographer, and Geographer in Ordinary to the King. He produced high-quality maps, including the first published Ordnance Survey map, of the county of Kent, in 1801.
The map of the environs of London was not based on a new survey. Faden acquired the engraved copper plates of county maps produced by others, and combined them to produce the London map. Andrew MacNair believes it is probable that for the Hertfordshire sections he used the Dury and Andrews map of Hertfordshire of 1766. This seems highly likely, since it is known that he was selling copies of the Dury and Andrews map from 1782. The Faden map makes a feature of the country estates of the landed gentry. Mr MacNair advises that there seems to have been fairly extensive revisions of gentry houses and parks shown on the Dury map in making the London map. These estates are shown in red, and include the owners’ names; forests and woods are green, and commons are yellow. Mile-posts are marked and numbered on the major roads, but no relief is shown. The presentation is very clear and fresh. The two Hertfordshire sheets are on AO size paper, 841 x 1189mm (roughly 33 x 47 inches), and the area covered extends from a little north of Hertford to a little below Paddington in the south, and all of the county from the west to a small section of Essex in the east.
Our enquiries in recent weeks have included more from the wider world, the furthest being from Nipissing University, Ontario. The enquirer was seeking information on the changing gender role of Catholic clergy as they adopted Protestant practice following the Reformation. Nearer home, an organisation from Canterbury sought information on Sumpter Yard and the Deanery Garden. We were able to provide some information on both these enquiries, but suggested they might also find it useful to approach the Abbey authorities. A London enquirer asked about the history of No 3 High Street, St Albans. We were able to fulfil this enquiry from our own documentary sources, with help from one of our members who advised that it was highly unlikely, as it had been believed, that timbers used in the building’s construction were re-used ship timbers.
Books recently added to stock
The story of the River Ver ,
by Elizabeth Delaney and others. St Albans, Ver Valley Society, n.d.{1990?] 14pp, map, photos, line drawings.
The fairgrounds of Bricket Wood 1889-1929 ,
by the Bricket Wood Society, 1985. 44pp, map, photos, bibliog..
Wesleyan Methodism in the city of the proto-martyr and the St Albans circuit, with reminiscences of folk-lore, and twenty-six illustrations ,
by the Rev. J George Greaves. St Albans, Gibbs and Bamforth, 1907. 152 pp, 16 un-numbered pages, photos.
The diary of Benjamin Woodcock, Master of the Barnet Union Workhouse, 1836-1838 ,
edited with an introduction by Gillian Gear. Hertfordshire Record Society, 2008. Hertfordshire Record Publications, vol 24. xlii, 277pp, illus. The Barnet Union Workhouse was one of the first to be established under the 1834 Poor Law. The diary, produced for the Board of Governors, recorded the Master’s experience of managing the new method of dealing with the poor.
Portrait of St Albans ,
by June and Michael Massey. Wellington, Halsgrove, 2010. 144pp, photos. A collection of photographs of features in St Albans and surrounding villages.
Historic landscape analysis: deciphering the countryside ,
by Stephen Rippon. York, Council for British Archaeology, 2004. 166pp, maps, plans, photos. Introduces some of the techniques which can be used to unravel the complex history of the countryside. Case studies illustrate their practical application.
Datchworth tithe accounts, 1711-1747,
edited by Jane Walker. Hertfordshire Record Society, 2010. 129pp, illus, maps. The edited accounts kept by the rector, the Rev. William Hawtayne. The editor’s introduction includes biographical notes on the Rev. Hawtayne, and on the history and operation of the tithe system.
Recent journal articles
In Harpenden and District Local History Society Newsletter, April 2010.
Pp 6-13 No 5 Prisoner of War Camp, Batford, Harpenden, by Eric Brandreth. An account of the camp and life in it, from its opening in 1943 to its closure in 1948, when the last prisoners were repatriated. With two photographs.
Pp 22-25 St Albans Poor Law Institution in 1724, by the then Clerk to the Board of Guardians. A contemporary account of the institution, opened in 1720.
In Hertfordshire Archaeology and History, vol. 16, 2009
P 1 Palaeolithic handaxe from St Albans, by Simon West. A large worked flint found in St Albans, now identified as a handaxe, was handed in at Verulamium Museum.
Pp 3-4 Neolithic chert axe from St Albans, with a brief note on the Neolithic of St Albans city and district, by Simon West. Describes a stone axe found in Townsend Drive.
Pp5-26 Excavations on a first-century enclosure at Stanborough School, Welwyn Garden City, by J R Hunn. Excavations took place between 1997 and 1999.
Pp 27-56 An iron-age and Roman site at Leavesden Aerodrome, Abbots Langley, by Adam Brossler, Granville Laws and Ken Welsh. Excavation in 1998 revealed ditched features and pottery. Data obtained indicated a farming settlement which must have been nearby in the late Iron Age.
Pp 57-65 The Boudican Revolt: countdown to defeat, by Grahame A Appleby. Shows how the chronology of the Boudican rebellion can be used to gauge the probable location of the battlefield. The author believes it took place on or near the Icknield Way.
Pp 67-70 Three sixteenth-century pottery groups from St Albans, by A Turner-Rugg. Arc and Arc members and museum staff carried out small excavations in the town centre in the 1960s and 1970s, now reported for the first time. The finds include some of the best examples of forms common in the town at the period, some not found elsewhere in the town, and some imported forms.
Pp 71-74 Buildings on the margins of society: three St Albans almshouses, by G P McSweeney. The location of three hitherto unreported almshouses in St Peter's Street, St Albans, was determined, together with their probable structure, indicating the accommodation considered adequate for the very poor. The ownership of three other sites in the 1500s are among the earliest that have been authenticated.
Pp 75-79 A seventeenth-century butcher’s shop: 30-32 Market Place, St Albans, by G P Mc Sweeney and J T Smith. The shop was first identified as a butcher’s in the Arc and Arc’s 17th-century group’s research on the town, but could not be adequately described in the resulting book (2003). This article remedies the omission.
Pp 81-96 Social welfare in St Peter’s parish, St Albans, 1663-1680, by Pat Howe and Pat Nellist. A continuation of the Arc and Arc’s 17th- century research group’s work, this article describes the working of the Poor Law at the time, based on the surviving record book.
Pp 97-109 The Old Mill, Berkhamsted: archaeological investigations, by Jonathan Hunn and Bob Zeetvat. The study revealed details of the development of the present house and mill, which date from the 18th century, and the dam of an earlier millpond, which might be medieval.
Pp 111-122 George Smith in Hertfordshire, by Laura Levitt. George Smith (born 1783) was a prolific London architect who also worked in Hertfordshire. This illustrated article discusses his most significant building in the county, St Albans Town Hall, along with St Peter’s Church London Colney, and residential buildings attributed to him.
Pp 123-137 Review of archaeological projects in Hertfordshire, 2006-2008, collated by Isobel Thompson.
In Hertfordshire People June 2010
Pp 40-42 Hertfordshire firsts…An account of Vincent Lunardi’s 1784 journey by balloon, the first in England, from Islington to Standon, near Ware.
Enclosed with this issue is a CD of the Hertfordshire Family History Society’s directory of members’ interests.
In Current Archaeology July 2010
Pp 20-27 The deviant dead: Roman Britain’s unusual burials, by Alison Taylor. Suggests that fear of ghosts is the most probable explanation for burials in which bodies were decapitated, mutilated, or laid face own. Reference is made to more detailed academic studies.
Journals received
Hendon and District Archaeological Society Newsletter
issues for May, June and July 2010
Bricket Wood Society Newsletter
June 2010-07-08
Current Archaeology
June 2010
British Archaeology
July/August 2010