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BALH GUIDED VISITS Visits are arranged to places of interest to local historians, often not easily accessible to individuals. See EVENTS page for current programme. MEMBERSHIP Click Here to become a member of the BALH ACCESSIBILITY How to make this site easier to use. Search The Site advanced search		The Local Historian Volume 32, Number 4 - November 2002
		Contents	[ Close all Abstracts ]		Current issue
		'The War Courts': the Stratford-upon-Avon Borough Tribunal 1916-1918 By: PHILIP SPINKS [ Read Abstract ] The war death and injury toll up to mid-1915 and the plans for offensives in 1916 meant that the British government was forced to consider other ways to fill the Army's ranks. Volunteer recruitment failed to provide sufficient numbers and in January 1916 the Military Service Act was passed. It included clauses allowing claims for exemption from military service. All claims were to be made within a three-week period after the conscript received his call-up papers. The definition for grounds for appeal were summarised as 'Exemption in cases of hardship owing to financial, business or domestic obligations'. Claims for exemption on conscience grounds would also be allowed. Claims could be made by individuals or a sponsor, normally an employer. The claims were to be heard by local tribunals which were to be '[not'>more... military, but civilian courts. This article examines and analyses the process of claim, appeal and decision-making in the tribunal which was established for the borough of Stratford upon Avon, looking at the local circumstances of individual cases, the character of the tribunal and its membership, its operational processes, and the relationship between this new form of authority and the community. It uses, particularly, the detailed reporting of tribunal cases available in the local newspapers, together with the papers for Warwickshire which, by chance, survived a 1921 order for their destruction. The article is a valuable case study of the impact of the Great War in just one small town, and presents a model which other researchers might follow. Taxing medieval cloth By: PHOEBE MERRICK [ Read Abstract ] The manufacturing of cloth was the most important single industry in medieval England, and as such was subject to a considerable interest on the part of governments intent on raising revenue. In 1353 a tax on finished cloth was introduced: this tax, known as the ulnage, was levied, under various procedures and administrative structures, until the late fifteenth century. Cheaper woollen cloths and all worsteds were excluded, so the tax only related to one section of the cloth trade - and it applied only to cloth for sale, so that cloth made at the behest of the person who would use it was exempt. In 1394 the administration of the tax was restructured and many records of its administration from then until the 1480s have survived and are now in the Public Record Office. These records have had a poor reputation among historians, but in this article Phoebe Merrick reassesses their potential as a valuable source for the study of local history. She uses the county of Hampshire, and the city of Winchester, as her case study but, quoting examples from other parts of England, demonstrates that despite their manifest weaknesses the ulnage records can be exploited. The entirely negative judgment of earlier historians is thus refuted. Among the information available from the ulnage returns are: lists of the names of individuals and those involved in the cloth trade; the relative significance of different towns as cloth-producing centres; details of the business and commercial activities of leading citizens and county figures;' and the role of patronage, sinecures and networks of influence in later medieval England. Ways of using and interpreting the records are suggested, and a detailed list of published sources is given. People and places: local history and landscape history By: CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR [ Read Abstract ] In this very personal account of his career and the principles on which he has based his work, Christopher Taylor, one of the greatest landscape historians of the second half of the twentieth century, discusses the significance of the human contribution to landscape development and landscape change, noting the way in which what was once seen as a minor element has in the past forty years come to be regarded as the most important and far-reaching. This article, which is a summing up of the work of a leading and nationally known figure whose work has had a major influence upon others, was given as the BALH 2002 Phillimore Lecture. Christopher Taylor emphasises that he eschews a philosophical perspective, preferring to follow the practical, pragmatic and down to earth approach which characterises local historians. Taylor draws attention to the depth, longevity and complexity of human activity and its effects upon the landscape, and uses a wide range of specific examples - many illustrates by plans and photographs - to highlight this message. The article shows that the two disciplines of local history and landscape history are closely related, and use many of the same sources, but there are differences in methodology which are not always appreciated. The aspects of the English landscape that have always been of special concern to Christopher Taylor - its dynamic nature, the problems of understanding its origins, and the nature of historical perception, are here set out. A new source: the Gazeteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516 By: SAMANTHA LETTERS [ Read Abstract ] The Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516 project began in 1998 and was completed in 2002. It was based at the Centre for Metropolitan History, part of the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London, and the Gazetteer was researched and compiled by Samantha Letters, author of this article. The aim of the project was to provide a catalogue of markets and fairs in medieval England and Wales (it is the first-ever comprehensive survey) and to give systematic information about them, including the date of their establishment and how long they operated. The Gazetteer has special importance for any local historians investigating the Middle Ages, and is also very valuable to those interested in subsequent periods, since the medieval markets and fairs formed the basis of the later network. The Gazetteer is now available online and will be published in book form in the near future. This article describes the structure and content of the gazetteer, giving special attention to the standardised layout of individual entries and the systematic method of notating information which has been employed. The arrangement of entries in the Gazetteer is by county, using the boundaries in existence up to the 1974 reform of local government. Within each county, the gazetteer is arranged by place, in alphabetical order. For the Welsh section of the Gazetteer places are simply arranged in alphabetical order, because the pre-1974 pattern of Welsh counties was not established until the Act of Union of 1536, which is twenty years after the termination date for Gazetteer coverage. The article gives full details of how to access the Gazetteer and its scope, and points to a major and highly effective new source for local history research. Reviews Recent Publications in Local History
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