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The state of local history: 1 Sussex, by John H. Farrant, published May 1977 in The Local Historian (vol. 12, no. 6, article, pp.267-272)   View Online

General review of the present (1977) state of local history in the county of Sussex, which covers the following major aspects: i) the record offices and local studies libraries; ii) bibliographies; iii) museums; iv) Sussex Archaeological Society and its annually-published Collections; v) the lack of a clear focal point for the promotion of scholarly research, and the failure of the University of Sussex to develop any role in this field; vi) adult education in the county; vii) specialist organisations; viii) local history societies and the possibility of a county federation; ix) the work and publications of the Sussex Record Society; and x) possible ways of developing the work of local historians in Sussex and the creation of a better framework for their activities.

Land purchasers at enclosure: evidence from West Sussex, by John Chapman, published August 1977 in The Local Historian (vol. 12, no. 7, article, pp.337-341)   View Online

Analysis of the process of enclosure, focussing on the compulsory sale of land ('sale allotments') which was required to offset the costs of the enclosure itself, and using this to indicate the process of land redistribution. The paper uses evidence from twenty parishes in West Sussex where this procedure was followed. It is concluded that in most cases it was those who were financially in the most favourable position - usually the wealthier members of local society - who were in theory best-placed to benefit from the sales, but that they did not exercise this option. Instead, therefore, it was the farmers and tradesmen who were the main beneficiaries, purchasing land at favourable prices as an investment. This resulted in a redistribution of landholdings and also of the amounts of land held by individuals in the middle ranks of society - a significant change in the pattern and tenure of land in the community.

Chichester: Documenting a City, by Roy Morgan, published February 1978 in The Local Historian (vol. 13, no. 1, article, pp.11-15) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8517]   View Online

Survey of a project to record details of a large area of the city of Chichester which was about to be demolished to make way for a redevelopment scheme, noting the variety of documentary and other sources which are available for researchers investigating the history of the city. These include archaeological evidence which resulted from rescue excavations in 1970-1971, the large-scale redevelopment having made a major excavation project essential. As part of the research into the areas to be destroyed, each property was investigated and the documentary sources analysed using card indexes. On each was recorded any documentary reference, in some cases running to twenty cards per property (and totalling over 15,000 cards). These were then analysed and mapped, and a variety of summary sheets and indexes prepared from the cards.

Parish Boundaries on records, by Fred G. Aldsworth, published February 1982 in The Local Historian (vol. 15, no. 1, article, pp.34-40)   View Online

The Ordnance Survey's Boundary Remark Books date from the Ordnance Survey Act of 1841, which made the marking of boundaries on OS maps a statutory duty. The result was the extremely detailed mapping which was incorporated in the 6-inch series, and in order to achieve the levels of accuracy required the surveyors kept Boundary Remark Books for every parish and township. These give strip maps of the boundaries themselves, annotated with landmarks, boundary markers and other features, and accompanied by notes which identify a wide range of ancillary detail, description and comment. About 12,700 such books survive and they are indexed in regional groups, for Scotland; Northern England; Mid and South-West England; East England and Wales. The article discusses the specific example of West Dean near Chichester, West Sussex, with illustrations from the original Boundary Remark Book to show the types of information which are included. It also discusses the associated Boundary Sketch Maps, which were produced using the Remark Book evidence and were exhibited for inspection in public places.

QueenSpark Books - publishing life histories for the local community, by Lorraine Sitzia, published November 1997 in The Local Historian (vol. 27, no. 4, article, pp.218-224)   View Online

This article describes the work of QueenSpark Books, a community publishing group which works in Brighton and Hove with local people to publish their life stories. The article gives a historical introduction to QueenSpark, from its beginnings as a local campaign to stop a casino development, to its position today as one of the largest and most successful community publishing groups in the country. QueenSpark's involvement in written life histories and oral histories aims to give ordinary people a voice, and to present an aspect of history which is often overlooked or rejected by commercial publishers. The structure of the organisation is described, with particular emphasis on the processes by which local life histories are produced and marketed by a team of volunteers. Two of QueenSpark's most recent publications, Catching Stories: Voices from the Brighton Fishing Community and Take Him Away, are used as examples to illustrate the types of books produced and the production process itself. The former is the result of a community oral history project, the latter an autobiographical account of childhood written by an ex-convict. These two books highlight alternative approaches to the presentation of life stories. The article emphasises the empowering nature of this work, both for the authors and the book-producers, and argues that life histories of ordinary people can give others the courage to write or tell their stories, and help us to question the past and to ask 'whose history are we presented with?'.

Investigating Local War Memorial Committees: Demobilised Soldiers, The Bereaved And Expressions Of Local Pride In Sussex Villages, 1918 - 1921, by Keith Grieves, published February 2000 in The Local Historian (vol. 30, no. 1, article, pp.39-58)   View Online

In the last ten years the commemoration of the Great War through memorials and acts of remembrance has been the subject of writings at the intersection of cultural and military studies and local historians have been heavily involved in generating entries for the National Inventory of War Memorials. Much attention has naturally focused on the physical appearance of war memorials as objects for mourning, whether they be monumental or social amenity structures. Further investigation remains to be undertaken on local processes of commemorating the fallen in rural communities, especially in relation to the interplay of traditional social elites, ex-servicemen's organisations and the relatives of the Absent Dead.
The survival of proceedings of some war memorial committees in parochial records provide remarkable and diverse 'snapshots' of consensus and disunity in six Sussex villages after the First World War, particularly on the question of whether parish churches remained the physical focus and historic embodiment of village life. Evidence of the disruption of hierarchical social relations by the experience of mass soldiering emerges through the study of committees which organised the design, finance, site, inscription and unveiling of war memorials, but this was not always the case. In Slinfold, Warnham, Ashurst, East Chiltington and Angmering highly localised decision-making processes took varied form in relation to the matrices of continuity and change, coercion and consent, and privilege and obligation. These case studies highlight the value of studying commemorative processes for the local historian who wishes to reconstruct the impact of total war on rural communities in the early twentieth century.

Typhoid in Worthing in 'Fever Year', 1893, by J. Virgoe, published August 2006 in The Local Historian (vol. 36, no. 3, article, pp.163-174) accessible at: British Library   View Online

This article is a case-study of a public health crisis which affected an ostensibly 'safe' and-according to its own publicity-notably healthy seaside resort in the late Victorian period. John Virgoe describes the outbreak, progress and impact of the epidemic of typhoid during the summer of 1893, and then goes on to consider its consequences for a town which depended so heavily on the visitor trade (its motto is 'Ex Terra Copiam E Mari Salutem': 'from the land, plenty, from the sea, health'). A substantial section of the discussion focuses on arguments about the responsibility for the outbreak, including the hotly-debated issue of polluted water supply. This was a particularly severe outbreak, with 186 deaths, and some 7.5 per cent of the population being affected, and yet despite two official and contradictory reports a definitive explanation of the origins of the epidemic was never provided. Virgoe demonstrates how vested interests played a part in 'shaping' the news coverage of the outbreak-the town council was desperate to play down the scale of the problem-and also shows the process (a combination of logical reasoning and guesswork) by which the medical investigations were carried out. He includes an assessment of the costs of the epidemic, financial and social, and concludes with consideration of the relative significance of this outbreak compared with other better-known events elsewhere.

The Weald And Downland Open Air Museum 1970 To 2010, by Danae Tankard, published November 2010 in The Local Historian (vol. 40, no. 4, article, pp.281-291)   View Online

The Weald and Downland open Air Museum, at West Dean near Chichester, is one of the most important, extensive and highly-regarded such establishments in Britain. It now houses over fifty historic buildings, ranging from farmhouses and cottages, through barns and outbuildings, to workshops, a market hall and a watermill. The large and attractive site has been used to skilful effect to provide a setting for buildings (dating from the medieval period to the late nineteenth century brought from all over South East England, The buildings themselves have all been threatened with demolition and destruction, often because they stood in the way of redevelopment schemes, reservoirs and other projects. The aim, however, was not only to reconstruct and conserve the buildings, but also to interpret and place them in historical, social and architectural context in order to give a uniquely large and innovative educational resource, as well as an enjoyable place for the visitor to experience. In this article Dr Danae Tankard, the social historian based at the Museum, discusses its origins and evolution during the forty years since its foundation, explaining the philosophy behind its development and the practical issues and challenges which have been faced. She emphasises the continuities in approach, while also pointing to the way the application of policies and practical questions have changed and adapted in the light of experience.

Italian ice cream families in the East Sussex seaside resorts, by Trevor Hopper, published January 2015 in The Local Historian (vol. 45, no. , article)   View Online

This short paper is a case-study of one of the lesser-known groups of migrants to Victorian and Edwardian England. Hopper begins by reviewing the literature on Italian migration to Britain, with special reference to the work of Terri Colpi, and shows how most authorities agree that these migrants had a special affinity with the catering trade in its various manifestations. He then notes how this, almost by definition, made an Italian presence in seaside resorts very likely, and then explains how in the Sussex resorts this role was performed by a small group of interlinked families which formed ice cream 'dynasties'. He discusses examples from, in particular, Hastings, using directories, oral tradition and interviews, published histories and autobiographies as evidence and includes discussion of the most famous of all the migrants, Sir Charles Forte, who was from Monteforte in Lazio, south of Rome, and whose family were closely connected with the Sussex ice cream trade. The article shows how these families in some cases have conducted the business for over a century, in four or five generations, and concludes with observations on their enduring links with the parts of Italy from which their forebears came.