Family History Journey in England

The specific history and geography of each village, town and city in England are unique, and the availability of historic sites and records varies considerably. There are however some common features to look out for:

• Natural resources and features - and some not so natural!
• Manors, manor houses and cottages
• Churches and other religious buildings
• Market towns
• Inns, taverns and public houses
• Occupational and industrial history
• Remains of earlier times - Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, Romans, Iron and Stone Age
• Folk customs, traditions and festivals
• The Domesday Book and other written records and documents

These themes are of considerable genealogical importance and are described in detail below...

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The physical landscape of any village or town will throw up evidence of the ice ages, when the force of the ice and the melt water created new features such as hills, valleys and rivers and left geological deposits from far away. In the wake of the last ice age, forests of trees grew in much of the rolling lowlands, and even the western uplands, of England. Many features in today's landscape were, however, made by human endeavour.

Sources of water, rivers and springs, were very important for communication, transportation, settlement and food production, and later for small-scale industry. Rechannelling rivers began when people started farming, and springs became centres for pagan religious observance. Forest clearance was also necessary. Fields and settlements have always been marked out by natural boundaries, but also by building timber pallisades, deep ditches and large earth banks. Local resource to timber and stone influenced the structure, texture and colour of most villages and town, but there may also be evidence of great endeavour to bring materials from much further away.

Up to the 19th century the majority of the population (90%) lived on, and worked, the land. For most of that time small-scale industry (mining, metal working, pottery, tanning, spinning and weaving) was carried on in conjunction with subsistence farming. Only a very small proportion of people lived and worked exclusively in market-towns and cities. This was changing by the beginning of the Victorian era when the agricultural and industrial revolutions transformed the country side - especially near the great coal fields in the western midlands and north-west. Below many of today's open areas and modern developments lie the remains of much earlier human habitation and industry.

The feudal division of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (usually into shires, hundreds, tithings and hides) was further developed in Viking Danelaw areas. By the Norman Conquest in 1066, the kingdoms were one kingdom, England. After the conquest, the French manorial system was introduced: shires became counties, and manors became the basic unit for administrative, judicial and military purposes.

Of importance through the ages is the parish. Parishes were established by land lords/owners building churches/minsters on their land and appointing clergy. The boundaries of many parishes today reflect the original Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical organization, although some, especially in the north of England, changed in the 19th century to reflect urbanization and massive population growth.

Timber great halls were at the centre of Anglo-Saxon feudalism, but none survive. The Normans built stone manor houses, many of which survive today - albeit with considerable development and embellishment. The Lord of the Manor lived in the manor house, around which he provided, for example, flour mills, bake houses, and forges. Surrounded usually by open fields and woodland, the Lord of the Manor granted serfs and free peasants limited access for subsistence farming, fuel, grazing and/or hunting. The Lord of the Manor appointed priests or vicars within his manor, and only he could authorise cottage-building and maintenance. He would be well known to those serfs and free peasants who depended entirely on his abilities and goodwill to live and work.

Manor residents of whatever status were often tied to the land through the rules of inheritance - which often resulted in some odd patterns of land ownership and tenure and kept lawyers busy and wealthy. Enclosure of particular land required an Act of Parliament: from the 14th and 15th centures, it might be to build a more splendid house and garden, but the pace increased in the 17th and 18th centuries as sheep farming, deep mining or manufacturies (factories) became more profitable.

With more money, many traditional land lords/owners, and wealthy merchants purchasing former church lands, built bigger and more splendid houses, parks and gardens - often away from the centres of manorial activity. Their upkeep has however been too much for many modern owners: many have been sold - for commercial use as hotels etc or for civic use such as museums, others have been opened to tourists, and some have simply gone to rack and ruin.

The earliest Christian buildings in England were probably the Anglo-Saxon minsters, small monasteries serving a wide area. In the 10th century, the network of parishes and parish churches was established. Only a couple of Anglo-Saxon churches survive however. After the Norman Conquest, there was widespread church rebuilding, and a handful incorporated their original Anglo-Saxon features. Not every church or chapel is dedicated to a saint or martyr, but the majority are. The particular saint or martyr may have some connection with the place or area.

The parish structure has remained largely in tact. There were very few changes before the 19th century, when some bourndaries were changed to reflect the massive rise and movement of the population in England. Parishes vary enormously in size, and may contain a 'mother-church' and various other chapels and chantries. Towns may be within a parish, or may contain several parishes within them.

In the 11th and 12th centuries, many manorial land lords/owners founded monasteries - abbeys, priories, friaries, etc. A grange was a manor or estate belonging to a monastery (often at some distance away) and used to support daily life. Local people would go to the monasteries for help in times of ill-health, old age and famine. Some were also places of scholarship and education. People might stay at a monastery whilst travelling from one place to another, and make pilgrimages directly to monasteries.

Anglo-Saxon bishops exercised authority over large regional groups of people, or kingdoms, but they were re-organised in the 11th century. Cathedrals were built in central market towns, some of which were monastic with an abbott at their head and some of which were 'secular' (non-monastic) headed by a dean.

The biggest change to life in England came with the break from Rome. Every man had to swear an oath of allegiance to the monarch as the head of the church in England. Those who refused faced charges of treason and land owners/lords may have their land confiscated. All the monasteries and religious orders were dissolved. The land on which monasteries stood, and their granges, was sold, but the buildings were not always demolished and their ruins may survive. Their former existence is very evident in local street names. Some of their welfare and educative functions gradually became the responsibility of local parishes, and pious land lords/owners began to make charitable donations and bequests for hospitals and schools. Monastic chapters in the cathedrals were replaced by non-monastic ones, and the reformed cathedral towns were designated cities.

The reformation would also bring about voluntary congregations of dissenting non-conformists. Their churches, especially Baptist churches, and later newer Roman Catholic churches, now populate villages and towns too. It is not thought there were many Jews in England prior to the Norman Conquest, but there were synagogues until their expulsion in 1290. Some Jewish merchants settled in London prior to their official return in the 17th century from which synagogues can be dated. The first purpose-built mosque in England was built in 1889. Very many buildings for other faiths in England have since followed.

Traditionally, towns are places with charters from the monarch to hold a market or fair within its boundaries and they had to be at least a certain distance from one another. Once established, they attracted settlers - and more income for the Lord of the manor in the form of rents, licenses, court fines, etc. They were the economic and communications hub for surrounding villages and manors. (They are not to be confused with 'townships', an old term for subdivisions within a parish.)

Market towns are usually distinguished by their market places or broad (wide) main streets where a market cross would often stand - some of which survive even if they were replaced over time. Many market towns had market or town halls, from where the market rules and regulations were administered by town officials. Ealier Anglo-Saxon centres for commerce - burhs and ports - often had mints too, and were fortified against Viking invasion. When the Normans invaded, they built castles in or near these towns. Some important towns were self-governing and given borough status by royal charter.

Only 'free' men (burgesses) and their families could trade and own property within towns, and they could vote in boroughs. This status was usually inherited, bought or earned by serving an apprenticeship in the town. Although not exclusive to towns, the power and authority of guilds - associations of merchants and artisans - was more pronounced in urban areas as they controlled who could practice their craft and trade in its products. Many towns still have guildhalls. Splendid civil ceremonies to welcome new citizens or guild members were characteristic. For the town gamblers, there was bull-baiting, bear-baiting, and cock-fighting - the pits for which may still survive in some towns.

The rules defining towns and boroughs and governing citizenship status changed from 1835, although some of their traditions are remembered in local government structures such as honorary mayors, local customs such as 'freedom of the town' ceremonies for distinguished residents, and events such as fairs. Some places commonly regarded as towns today may have grown up around particular industries or are expanded and urrbanized villages - or are places regarded in former times as cities.

By tradition, city status was recognised by ancient custom, often in founding market charters, or, later, bestowed on towns with cathedrals by a monarch issuing 'letters patent'. Since 1889 it has been usually conferred on the basis of population size. City status does not confer more or less rights on a town than its founding market charter. Its mayor is usually referred to as a Lord Mayor, however, and it remains nevertheless a status worth gaining.

Very many of the cities and towns we see today have, as they have grown, absorbed formerly rural villages and fields as suburbs - but their rural origins are often still evident.

Probably the most ubiquitous and familiar historical buildings in England are inns, hostelries, taverns, public houses and ale/beer houses. They were found along every road and street and in every village and town, and the names and/or signs of very many are as old, or older, than the buildings. Today there is little to distinguish one term from another, and all are usually referred to as pubs. There are some 50,000 in the UK, although their numbers have been declining year on year for some time.

Beer has been brewed in Europe, including England, at least since the Bronze Age, when it would have had a very low alcohol content and be consumed regularly in the absence of clean water (rather than making tea from boiling water as they did in ancient Asia). When the Romans built their long straight roads across England, they also provided taverns for refreshment along the way. Anglo-Saxon brewsters established ale/beer-houses in their own homes - displaying a green bush on a pole outside when the brew was ready.

Monasteries also brewed beer, and they often provided overnight accommodation and refreshments for travellers. After the Norman conquest, however, this was provided increasingly by inns and hostelries. The display of a sign indicating that a brewer was selling beer was made compulsory in 1393.

With road improvements, and the introduction of toll roads to meet the demands of the industrial revolution, there was a rapid growth in coaching inns during the 18th and 19th centuries. The introduction of cheap gin from the Netherlands at this time saw a rise in gin-shops with their innovative serving counters or bars. The riotous repercussions of gin saw the first licensing laws to regulate its sale. A proliferation of licensed beer houses with bars followed, but their establishment was eventually curbed by stricter regulation and prevented the establishment of more.

The sources of pub names are many. Amongst the most common are the Crown, the Red Lion and the Royal Oak. Pubs may be named after the original signage that hung over the door which may have been a picture or an object. Other sources include local land lords/owners, the contents of their coats of arms, local personalities, royalty, sport or religious symbols, etc.

England's villages and towns were far from being picturesque and quiet places many are today. Most villages, as well as towns, would have had more than one blacksmith, and their hammers smiting metal, for example, would have created sparks and smells easily noticeable as your ancestors passed by - and the sound would have rung out across the area.

Until the Victorian era, most industry was small-scale and local. Village aritsan/s and workers would have worked from their own home, and engaged in some subsistence farming at the same time. In and around most villages and towns, you could find evidence of:

• quarries and masonic activity and clay-pits for brick-making and pottery
• sawyers, joiners, wheelwrights and coach- and waggon-builders
• water- and/or wind-powered mills for producing flour and bakehouses
• butchers
• tanneries and leather-working of all kinds: saddle-makers, shoe-makers, etc
• chandlers for producing candles, soap, etc
• open-cast mining, charcoal burning, kilns for processing minerals
• forges for smiths in a variety of metals, and farriers
• spinners and weavers (framework knitters), reed-makers
• bowyers, stringfellows and fletchers making bows and arrows
• and many more...

Local circumstances, such as the availability of raw materials, may have made particular villages and towns specialize in one particular industry or another, but all of these would have been necessary for a local community to function. In time chapmen (dealers often operating between a market town and villages) would act as intermediaries between primary producers (eg of fleeces), artisans/workers (eg spinners and weavers) and the market place.

With steam power, the development of manufacturies and new communication and distribution networks, local cottage industries could no longer compete and were often abandonned. The industrial revolution is most evident in the middle and north of England: deep shaft mining, large foundaries, textle mills, and associated manufacturies (factories), and mass housing was needed to accommodate the workers.

Some of the historical buildings available locally - churches, manor houses, mills and pubs - may date from the 11th and 12th centuries, following the Norman Conquest, but there was considerable rebuilding and remodelling in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Normans used durable stone, and, later, brick. Very many post-Conquest buildings replaced earlier buildings however. Evidence for pre-Norman settlements and cultures (Anglo-Saxon, Viking, Roman, Iron Age etc) can still be found, but their remains have long since been grassed or built over. More imagination may be required to appreciate their presence.

The Anglo-Saxons built with timber, even their grander churches and residences. They even used wooden tools and utensils. The remains of Anglo-Saxon life have long since burned down or rotted. Place names are the biggest clue to an Anglo-Saxon or Viking presence in local villages and towns. In a very few areas, original Viking or Anglo-Saxon church crosses can still be found in or around the parish church.

Roman roads criss-crossed England and are still present in most areas - a few are still used, although they may now be built from modern materials. Place names ending in 'ceister' or 'chester' are Anglo-Saxon references to places where Roman fortresses existed. Pottery and coins from the Roman era are still being found, and usually kept in local history centres or museums.

Earthworks and ditches may still point to Iron-Age, Bronze Age or, even, Stone Age activity in any given area. River names, especially, were not often changed by later settlers, and often betray original British language/s.

Many English villages and towns remember earlier folk legends, customs and traditions in symbols and events. Many of these customs and traditions may reflect the deep agricultural past of England, but their origins have often long been forgotten. Some may have Pagan origins, whether from early British paganism or Anglo-Saxon and Viking paganism. Many traditions have, or have acquired, Christian significance from before the break from Rome. Other traditions may reflect more recent events reflecting war and battles or industrialization. Variations of these traditions may also be found across Europe, and many have since crossed the globe with settlers in the Americas or Australasia.

Many events were originally held on days following the tradition in England of dividing the year into quarter days (Lady Day on 25 March, Midsummer on 24 June, Michaelmas on 29 September, and Christmas on 25 December) and the corresponding cross quarter days (Candlemas on 2 February, May Day on 1 May, Lammas on 1 August and All Souls on 1 November). Events leading up to and following Easter may also be associated with particular local customs, as well as the feast days of various Christian saints and martyrs or particularly pious local individuals. Modern versions of customs and events will often reflect modern life: they may be held, for example, on national public holidays and several traditions may now be merged together.

Plays were performed traditionally by mummers or guisers (from 'disguise') going door-to-door and involved characters such as The Green Man or the Jack-on-the-Green, or St George and the Dragon - and, sometimes, included cross-dressing. Market-towns and/or their various guilds sometimes held mystery plays or employed minstrels. Today public performances may be give at annual summer fairs and carnivals by (semi-) professionals and modern-day pantomimes in November and December are a continuation of earlier traditions.

Local dancing costumes and traditions are often known now under the umbrella 'Morris Dancing', although their origins are more various than this term may imply. Dancing around a decorated may pole was common throughout England, but in the north-west dancing is associated with the tradition of rushcarts. The tradition of well-dressing in the midlands is continued today, and will often include these traditional dancers. In the east of England, Molly Dancing was common and often associated with Plough Monday traditions - the first Monday after Twelfth Night, when ploughing began. Other dancing variations include sword dances, horn (antler) dances and hoodening. Music used to be provided by a "wittle and dub", a wooden whistle and drum, but may now be played on a fiddle or an melodian.

More unusual traditions may also still be found in some localities: wassailling, cheese rolling and/or throwing, soul-caking, the festival of the straw bear, etc.

Original local records and documents are important for tracing both local history and pre-19th century family history. Their survival and availability differs significantly from area to area. Those in the public domain may be found in local libraries, history centres and museums, but may also have been deposited in the county records office or even with The National Archives - and may or may not have been catalogued. Some records and documents are still be kept privately, by individuals and churches - and some may have yet come to light.

Much local history begins with the Domesday Book which is the record of a detailed survey of most of England conducted some 20 years after the Norman Conquest. Most villages and towns mentioned pre-date the survey, but it is often the earliest written record of their existence. For some market towns and boroughs, the original Anglo-Saxon or Norman charters may still survive. Subsequent manorial records may include manor court proceedings, lease indentures, survey documents (surveys were often conducted when manorial ownership/lordship changed hands), and correspondence. From 1538 (just after the break from Rome) parishes had to record the baptisms, marriages and burials of all those within the parish, and were charged under the slightly later Poor Law legislation for maintaining settlement, removal, bastardy and apprenticeship registers and indentures. The records of some trade and craft guilds may also survive.

The wills of Lords of the Manor, tenants, tradesman, merchants are important, not just for information about the individual and their immediate families, but because they may have been witnessed by manor, parish or county dignatories and may even contain references to the particular holdings of their tenants and serfs.

You too can walk in your ancestors' footsteps: Family History Tours

The above narrative is provided purely for background information and an aid to contextualizing an English family heritage for clients and customers. Much more information is often provided to these customers through research into their family history tree or through their ancestral home visit. If you cannot find the service you need on this website (for example, a speaker on English history or research), please send in the details and, if Family History Journey can help, a quotation will be provided.

Whilst comments, opinions and corrections from other interested parties are welcomed, individual answers to general or specific comments and questions cannot be provided.