I wrote to the list once before about a project we were doing on emigration,
and got a very helpful response from a number of people, so thought I would
mention our latest joint research project. This is to study the history of
allotments from 1793 to 1873 right across England. We have been busy finding
researchers in every county, but still have a few gaps such as Lincolnshire
and Somerset where we would welcome volunteers. We are asking our
researchers to visit their record offices and look up everything they can
find about early allotments, in order to compile a database of sites. The
project is being advised by Dr Jeremy Burchardt, who wrote the recent book
on the subject.
I am also writing in hope that any archivists, librarians, historians who
read this may know of useful primary archives which could help us. Often
these references lie buried among vestry minutes or estate records and don't
necessarily turn up on indexes. If you have come across any such records, we
would be delighted to know. We really want to concentrate on primary
archives, as Dr Burchardt has already extensively studied the central
records such as parliamentary papers and Labourers' Friend Society
publications.
If you have any references, do please let me know and I can pass them on to
our researcher in that particular county.
Many thanks
Jacqueline Cooper
Allotment project co-ordinator
Family & Community Historical Research Society
www.fachrs.com
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