New Directions in Local History Since Hoskins

About the book

“All the essays in this volume are detailed, scholarly explorations of local or regional themes. Those by Chris Lewis on local history between the wars, and Ruth Paley on the King’s Bench (crown side) are the two most likely to be cited repeatedly. Both illustrate local history at its best.” HR French, Agricultural History Review

Local history in Britain can trace its origins back to the sixteenth century and before, but it was given inspiration and a new sense of direction in the 1950s and 60s by the work of W.G. Hoskins.

This book marks the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of his Local history in England which was designed to help people researching the history of their own villages and towns.

It is the result of a collaboration between academic historians in the Centre for English Local History at the University of Leicester, which Hoskins founded, and the British Association for Local History, an organisation that brings together the thousands of people who are not professional academics but who practise local history.

More about the book

Taking the work of Hoskins as a starting point, the contributors show how local history is being researched and written today.
Fifteen historians write about a variety of local history subjects which are significant in their own right but which also point to current trends in the subject. They show how local historians use their sources systematically, from the non-verbal evidence of buildings to various types of electronic resources.
All periods between the middle ages and the early twenty-first century are explored, as are many different parts of the country from Skye to the Kent coast.
There are examples of local historians working on ethnic minorities, gender and the working class. Those who study localities use a variety of approaches, including those of social, economic, religious, legal, intellectual and cultural history, all of which are employed here. They are aware of the roots of their subject and examine the history of local history itself.
Together, the editors and authors raise the various dilemmas which stimulate debates among local historians about the nature of the subject, its present health and the directions it will take in the next half century.

View the table of contents

	List of Figures	vii
	List of Plates	ix
	List of Tables	x
	Contributors	xi
	Preface	xv
	Acknowledgements	xvi
	Abbreviations	xviii
	Introduction: local history in the twenty-first century Christopher Dyer, Andrew Hopper, Evelyn Lord and Nigel Tringham	1
	The practice of local history
1	Does local history have a split personality? David Dymond	13
2	The great awakening of English local history, 1918–1939 C.P. Lewis	29
	Region, class and ethnic diversity
3	Twentieth-century labour histories Malcolm Chase	54
4	Parliamentary elections, 1950–2005, as a window on Northern English identity and regional devolution Stephen Caunce	66
5	Locality and diversity: minority ethnic communities in the writing of Birmingham’s local history Malcolm Dick	84
	Making a living in town and country
6	Hythe’s butcher-graziers: their role in town and country in late medieval Kent Sheila Sweetinburgh	98
7	The houses of the Dronfield lead smelters and merchants, 1600–1730 David Hey	114
8	A community approaching crisis: Skye in the eighteenth century Edgar Miller	127
9	‘By her labour’: working wives in a Victorian provincial city Jane Howells	143
	Religious culture and belief
10	Religious cultures in conflict: a Salisbury parish during the English Reformation Claire Cross	159
11	The Court of High Commission and religious change in Elizabethan Yorkshire Emma Watson	172
12	From Philistines to Goths: Nonconformist chapel styles in Victorian England Edward Royle	186
13	Evangelicals in a ‘Catholic’ suburb: the founding of St Andrew’s, North Oxford, 1899–1907 Mark Smith	216
	Sources, methods and techniques
14	The kings bench (crown side) in the long eighteenth century Ruth Paley	231
15	Local history in the twenty-first century: information communication technology, e-resources, grid computing, Web 2.0 and a new paradigm Paul S. Ell	247
	Index	267

About the Editor/s:
Christopher Dyer

Christopher Dyer is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Leicester. His research covers social and economic history, archaeology, and the study of the landscape, in the middle ages in England.
Current research interests
The main project is to complete work on ‘Peasant farming 1200-1540’ which is being funded by the Leverhulme Trust. This is intended to make a new assessment of the types of farming practised by peasants, and to evaluate their role in the economy.
In addition publication of various projects in landscape history such as surveys of Admington, Compton Scorpion, Westcote and Bretford in Warwickshire.
Past research interests
The economic and social history of medieval England, which includes the management of landed estates, agrarian history, peasant mentality and rebellion, standards of living (including diet and housing), consumers and consumption, relations between town and country, the role of towns, especially of smaller towns, the conditions and attitudes of wage earners, poverty, the origins of capitalism, landscape history, rural depopulation, and money and commerce.
Much of this research has been focussed on the west midland region (Gloucestershire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire) but has also included the east midlands, East Anglia and Yorkshire.
Other titles by this author
- Farmers, Consumers, Innovators: The world of Joan Thirsk – with Richard Jones (Eds)
- Deserted Villages Revisited - with Richard Jones (Eds)
Andrew Hopper

Andrew Hopper is Senior Lecturer in English Local History at the University of Leicester.
Other titles by this author
Andrew Hopper and Philip Major (eds), England’s Fortress: New Perspectives on Thomas, 3rd Lord Fairfax (Ashgate, 2014)
Jacqueline Eales and Andrew Hopper (eds), The County Community in Seventeenth-century England and Wales (University of Hertfordshire Press, 2012)
Christopher Dyer, Andrew Hopper, Evelyn Lord and Nigel Tringham (eds), New Directions in Local History Since Hoskins (University of Hertfordshire Press, 2011)

Evelyn Lord

Dr Evelyn Lord was the course director for the University of Cambridge’s Master of Studies in Local History and tutor for local history at the University of Cambridge, Institute for Continuing Education. She is an Emeritus Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, and is currently chair of the Cambridgeshire Association for Local History and a member of the Cambridgeshire Records Society executive committee.

Nigel Tringham

Nigel Tringham is a Senior Lecturer at Keele University.
He is the County Editor for Victoria County History of Staffordshire, Director of the Centre for Local History and MRes Local History programme and Director of the Latin and Palaeography Summer School.

ISBN: 978-1-907396-12-0 Format: Ebook, 304pp Published: Jun 2011

New Directions in Local History Since Hoskins

About the book

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Christopher Dyer

Current research interests

Past research interests

Other titles by this author

Andrew Hopper

Other titles by this author

Evelyn Lord

Nigel Tringham

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