Bøger i Victoria County History serien

An authoritative and comprehensive account of an important area centred around the town of Howden.

The Littlehampton volume focuses on 12 parishes with particular emphasis on seaside development from the 18th century onwards.

The book comprises the history of a major part of the Essex coastline in Tendring Hundred before the development of seaside resorts from the mid 19th century onwards (the resorts were covered in VCH Essex Volume XI, to which this is the second part of a companion volume).

The volume was originally published in 1954, and was the work of a team of distinguished historians. It broke new ground, for although separate histories of the university and its colleges had been written, it was the first comprehensive scholarly account of all those institutions. The opening chapter on the history of the university from its 12th-century beginnings to the mid 20th century is followed by chapters on the grammar schools of the medieval university and on the architectural and institutional history of the several university buildings. The greater portion of the book is devoted to the histories of the colleges and halls, each of which is the subject of a separate article. The articles are precise and fully referenced, telling of such matters as the foundation and buildings of the college, its estates, its religious and academic history, and its outstanding personalities. The many illustrationsinclude plates of old prints and drawings; there are also plans which carry forward the work of the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments. 'The book abounds in new and interesting information ... the result of research in muniments which have not before been so carefully and intelligently investigated.' (F. M. Powicke in English Historical Review).

Bullingdon Hundred, including Cowley, Cuddesdon, Headington, Iffley, Nuneham, Courtney.

Wilton borough, Old Salisbury borough, New Salisbury city, Underditch hundred. Indexed.

The volume relates the histories of the borough of Devizes and of the 22 parishes in Swanborough hundred. It covers an area in the centre of Wiltshire, including the western end of the Vale of Pewsey, and ascending the escarpmentof the Marl-borough Downs to the north and that of Salisbury Plain to the south. Eastwards Swanborough extends to the Cheverells and the heavy clay-lands of west Wiltshire. Within it stand Milk Hill and Tan Hill, the two highest points in the county, and along the ridge of the Marlborough Downs is a series of important prehistoric settlement sites. Through the hundred run the ancient track known as the Ridge Way, a small stretch of Wansdyke, the Kennet andAvon Canal, and one of the main railway lines to the west of England. Once noted for its sheep-and-corn husbandry, the region has more recently seen a great ex-pansion of dairy-farming, particularly in the parishes of the Vale. Horticulture has also flourished on the greensand soils in the east and west. In 1975 the area remains almost entirely rural, although it in-cludes R.A.F. Upavon and the land on Salisbury Plain is within the army's con-trol. Most of the settlements are small, none now ranking as more than a large village, although Upavon had a market in the Middle Ages and Market Lavington had one until the 19th century. Almost all of the few industries have agricultural orhorticultural connexions. Great Cheverell was once renowned for its sheep-bell makers. Jam is still made at Easterton. Devizes has a history of unusual interest for a town of its size. Its castle, scene of many stirring events inearly times, was described in the 12th century as one of the most splendid in Europe. Its market, still held weekly in the 20th century, can be traced back at least to the early 13th. The central position of Devizes within Wiltshire gave it a claim to become the county town and has caused it to develop some of the characteristics of such a town.

Contains histories of Swindon, Wootton Bassett, and nine rural parishes. This volume focuses on the development of New Swindon after the coming of the GWR works in 1845, and to the effects of that development upon the small and ancient market town of Old Swindon.

This volume gives the history of the 21 parishes in Malmesbury Hundred, including the ancient town of Malmesbury and its important abbey. Buildings of interest mentioned in the text include a Saxon church at Westport, a medieval barn at Brokenborough and the great mansion of Charlton Park.

* Unique multi-disciplinary study of a key part of the Oxfordshire Chilterns over a thousand years, based on intensive new research and exploring landscape, settlement, farming, and social and religious life

The volume gives the history of the ten parishes that form the north-western part of Bramber rape, from Sullington in the south to Warnharn in the north, lying mostly in the Weald. Horsham is the focus of the area, and its historyoccupies more than a third of the volume. It was a borough by 1235 and developed later as one of the chief towns of the county, hav-ing the county gaol from the 16th to the 19th century and being from 1889 to 1916 joint county town of West Sussex with Chichester. Horsham parish also contained an extensive rural area, and West Grin-stead and Shipley were other unusually large parishes. The land was heavily wooded in the Middle Ages and settlement was scattered; many settlements originated as outlying holdings of manors centred in the south end of the rape. Later, some settlements grew as ribbons along main roads, others around the edges of commons. From the mid 19th century there was an influx of wealthy residents: among the new- comers was Hilaire Belloc, and the large houses built or rebuilt included Warnham Court, seat of the Lucases, and Little Thakeham, designed by Lutyens. Humbler houses in considerable numbers were built at Ashington, Barns Green, Partridge Green, Sullington, and Thakeham, and Horsham more than trebled in size between 1891 and 1971. Agriculture was limited by the extensive woodland; open fields were few and small, and there were many parks and commons. To provide for London and the coastal towns stock raising and dairying came to predominate over arable from c.1850, and was accompanied by poultry farming and market gardening. The mainindustrial activities have been ironworking and brickmaking.

The volume tells the stories of eighteen parishes in the southern part of Holderness wapentake, the wedge of Yorkshire between the North Sea and the Humber. The low--lying landscape has changed repeatedly during the historical period, with lands along the north bank of the Humber being washed away or growing, lesser watercourses silting up, new drains being made, the steady erosion of the cliff along the sea coast, and the cyclical breaching, destruction,and redeposit of the long spit of land at Spurn Head. The church of Kilnsea and several small settlements have gone with the receding cliff. Sunk Island, which forms part of the Crown Estate, is a parish consisting entirely of newground thrown up by the Humber. In the Middle Ages the land comprised the liberty of Holderness, with a centre at Burstwick manor house, and belonged to the counts of Aumale before passing to the Crown. The counts' extensive privileges in Holderness included the right to exclude the royal sheriff. Within the parish of Preston a medieval borough was established by the count at Hedon, but access for ships from the Humber was difficult and the town later decayed; it is noteworthy for its magnificent church, dubbed 'the king of Holderness'. Another borough and port established by the count was Ravenser Odd, at Spurn head, but that was later destroyed by the sea. There was a haven alsoat Patrington, a large village distinguished by its fine 14th-century church, 'the queen of Holderness'. In the part of the area near Hull, Thorngumbald, in Paull parish, and Keyingham have grown into large dormitory villages. Withernsea, in Hollym and Owthorne parishes, was developed from the 1850s as a seaside resort used mainly by residents of Hull. Other places of which the volume contains accounts are Easington, Halsham, Holmpton, Ottringham, Skeffling, Welwick, and Winestead.

The volume covers a large area at the southern end of the Yorkshire Welds, lying west of the city of Hull and the town of Beverley. It is concerned with the history of fourteen parishes which comprise the greater part of the Hunsley Beacon division of Harthill wapentake. Though the rolling chalk hills of the wolds dominate the area, several of the parishes extend into the low- lying ground of the Hull valley to the east and the Vale of York to the west. InSouth Cave parish the reclamation of Broomfleet Island from the river Humber adds further variety to the agricultural history of the area. There are several deserted medieval villages. Much of the countryside described here is still wholly rural in character, but some of the settlements lying on the eastern slopes of the welds, like Cherry Burton and Skidby, have become commuter villages for the near-by towns. The large medieval vil-lage of Cottingham became a popular place of residence for Hull merchants in the late 18th century, and much of the parish has since been absorbed within the city; the village now houses many of the students of the University of Hull. Notable country houses described in the volume include Dalton Hall and Houghton Hall, and the churches include an outstanding Norman building at Newbald. Many of the villages consist of brick houses of the 18th century and later, but 17th-centurytimber-framed houses survive at South Dalton and Cot-tingham. In other villages, however, much use is made of the local Jurassic limestone which outcrops below the wolds escarp-ment. At Leconfield there survives the moated site ofa seat of the Percy family, earls of Northumberland, and it was from Rowley that the rector emigrated in the 17th century to found a town of the same name in Massachusetts.

Comprehensive and authoritative history of north-west Staffordshire, including Keele, Trentham and Audley.

Tracing the history of Darlington from its beginnings as a small Anglo-Saxon settlement right up to the present, this volume marks the rebirth of the Victoria County History of Durham.

Authoritative account of the history of villages in the western parts of Oxfordshire, including Kelmscott, famous for its pre-Raphaelite associations.

Dealing with the history of Northamptonshire, this volume covers the history of its industry in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including, its most celebrated products: boots and shoes. It pays attention to the impact of industrial development upon the infrastructure, topography and environment of the county.