Author: Harriet
Manorial records – long live the lord!
Manorial records can be an interesting resource if you’ve taken your family history back to the 1700s or even earlier. They aren’t an ‘easy’ resource to work with. You can spend a couple of ho... Read More
Jutland, Gibraltar, and Newbiggin Hall
Which Newbiggin Hall is this? There is more than one! Newbiggin Hall – the one at Newbiggin, near Temple Sowerby – became the home of the Crackenthorpe/Crackanthorpe family in the 1300s. Here ... Read More
The Will of the People – nothing new here!
‘The Will of the People’ is a slogan/cliché people in 2019 either love or hate, depending on their standpoint on Brexit. But it wasn’t coined in 2016 – and our present constitutio... Read More
Graffiti – the good, the bad and the ugly
Is graffiti art or vandalism? Down the centuries, it has always been in the eye of the beholder. And time does make a lot of difference. ‘Graffiti’ today conjures up images of spray-painted scrawl... Read More
They paved paradise… a cook’s tale
They paved paradise and put up… well, not a parking lot, in this post about the origins of a place name, and the story of a cook who jumped through a window. Paradise on Earth It is one of those... Read More
Food safety – sawdust sandwich, anyone?
Food safety isn’t something we can ever take for granted. With unscrupulous traders along the chain, our ancestors literally could not be sure what they were eating. Do a search for ‘trading s... Read More
Slander and ‘witchcraft’ in Stuart England
The following examples of slander (and an allegation of witchcraft) were found in a manorial court book, and all come from 1691. Manor courts The manor was Inglewood (Forest), in Cumberland. Manor cou... Read More
Dating advice in the 1840s
The following dating advice was supplied by the Westmorland Gazette in 1841. Some 178 years later, we don’t need dating advice, do we? Because none of us would be daft enough to fall for the wrong ... Read More