This article explores the ways in which the Conservative Party combatted the perceived centralisi... more This article explores the ways in which the Conservative Party combatted the perceived centralising tendencies of Attlee's Labour Government by having recourse to a 'discourse of decentralization', summed up in the famous phrase 'Town Hall not Whitehall'. The theme of centralisation and its corrosive effects upon both individual freedom and local identity reached a crescendo during the election campaigns of 1950 and 1951, and played their part in the Tories' electoral success.
This article aims to extend understanding of the rural middling sort by exploring their engagemen... more This article aims to extend understanding of the rural middling sort by exploring their engagement with cricket. Cricket enjoyed considerable popularity across the south-eastern counties by the mid-eighteenth century; however, very few sources have survived and so our knowledge of the game – especially at the grass roots – is very limited. The article focuses on a unique set of scorecards from a club founded in 1773 in the Kentish village of Wingham, and uses these to examine both who was playing village cricket in this period, and the nature of the social and cultural networks in which it was embedded. As will be seen, those engaging in the game were closely associated with the larger farmers, tradesmen and artizans in the village. The same groups ran the parish vestry, and it is suggested that cricket flourished in this period because it provided a suitable outlet for the middling sort to display their social status both within and beyond the bounds of their own parishes. HISTORY Volume 102, Issue 349 January 2017 Pages 45–67
My Lincolnshire Collection represents a collaborative project between the areas of Human-Computer... more My Lincolnshire Collection represents a collaborative project between the areas of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Heritage to develop a software application designed to promote local heritage visitation within Lincolnshire, UK. The app aimed to gather data on which heritage types are most appealing to local residents and visitors to the area and to widen the public perception of what constitutes cultural heritage. Designed to leverage the popularity of web enabled mobile devices and desktop/laptop PCs alike, and utilizing the sharing power of social media, the app creates a novel platform through which to promote heritage and explore the demographic appeal of a web-app in this context. Findings indicate a positive response to the app but indicate that this medium requires a significant amount of targeted publicity and promotion to recruit participants.
This article explores the tithe system in eighteenth-century Northamptonshire. At enclosure, many... more This article explores the tithe system in eighteenth-century Northamptonshire. At enclosure, many clergy exchanged their right to take tithe for a portion of the newly enclosed land in the parish. The article argues that while the clergy made financial gains from this, more important was the removal of a recurrent source of dissension with parishioners. As such the article tempers the dominant narrative that emphasizes only the material enrichment of the clergy at enclosure, and sees the social and cultural gulf this opened up between the clergy and their parishioners as a potent source of rural anticlericalism.
This article explores the impact of parliamentary enclosure on the cultural life of English villa... more This article explores the impact of parliamentary enclosure on the cultural life of English villages after 1750. It focuses on parish-sponsored vermin control, arguing that the popular ‘hunting’ sanctioned by parish vestries under Tudor legislation, and persisting into the early nineteenth century, created a highly participatory recreational culture which continued to exist under the radar of the game laws. Using a sample of parishes from the heavily enclosed county of Northamptonshire, the article demonstrates that this communal activity survived the reworking of the landscape by parliamentary enclosure, and that, by extension, the level of disruption to village cultural life was less than has been suggested.
The Art of the Possible: Politics and Governance in modern British History, 1885-1997: Essays in memory of Duncan Tanner (1958-2010), eds Andrew Edwards and Chris Williams, 2014
... 186 Matthew Cragoe ... He and his wife had been rehoused on a small cottage on the estate, an... more ... 186 Matthew Cragoe ... He and his wife had been rehoused on a small cottage on the estate, and had accepted an invitation to dine with their landlord on New Year's Day.69 William Nicholas, though not a voter himself, claimed to have lost Ffynondewi on account of his brother's ...
This paper explores the extent to which MPs from different areas of the British Isles represented... more This paper explores the extent to which MPs from different areas of the British Isles represented the interests of their constituents in parliament before the Second Reform Act. Although it considers MPs from all areas, the focus is on Members from Wales. Select Committees offer the opportunity of examining MPs’ involvement with a broad range of issues in an environment where the imperatives of party attachment were at a minimum. Membership was voluntary, but Committees were composed of those whose experience or knowledge was deemed pertinent to the subject of inquiry. Since MPs were often closely associated with the material interests of their constituents it seems reasonable to suggest that those involved with a large number of Committees represented their constituents’ interests well. Examination of the records of Commons’ Select Committees during two complete parliaments (1852–7 and 1859–65) suggests that MPs from Ireland, Scotland and, particularly, Wales generally paid attention to a broader range of ‘local interest’ issues than did those representing English county and borough seats. The evidence also suggests that Welsh MPs were not as unmindful of the real interests of the Principality as contemporary radicals (and some modern historians) have claimed.
This article explores the tithe system in eighteenth-century Northamptonshire. At enclosure, man... more This article explores the tithe system in eighteenth-century Northamptonshire. At enclosure, many clergy exchanged their right to take tithe for a portion of the newly enclosed land in the parish. The article argues that while the clergy made financial gains from this, more important was the removal of a recurrent source of dissension with parishioners. As such the article tempers the dominant narrative that emphasizes only the material enrichment of the clergy at enclosure, and sees the social and cultural gulf this opened up between the clergy and their parishioners as a potent source of rural anticlericalism.
This article explores the ways in which the Conservative Party combatted the perceived centralisi... more This article explores the ways in which the Conservative Party combatted the perceived centralising tendencies of Attlee's Labour Government by having recourse to a 'discourse of decentralization', summed up in the famous phrase 'Town Hall not Whitehall'. The theme of centralisation and its corrosive effects upon both individual freedom and local identity reached a crescendo during the election campaigns of 1950 and 1951, and played their part in the Tories' electoral success.
This article aims to extend understanding of the rural middling sort by exploring their engagemen... more This article aims to extend understanding of the rural middling sort by exploring their engagement with cricket. Cricket enjoyed considerable popularity across the south-eastern counties by the mid-eighteenth century; however, very few sources have survived and so our knowledge of the game – especially at the grass roots – is very limited. The article focuses on a unique set of scorecards from a club founded in 1773 in the Kentish village of Wingham, and uses these to examine both who was playing village cricket in this period, and the nature of the social and cultural networks in which it was embedded. As will be seen, those engaging in the game were closely associated with the larger farmers, tradesmen and artizans in the village. The same groups ran the parish vestry, and it is suggested that cricket flourished in this period because it provided a suitable outlet for the middling sort to display their social status both within and beyond the bounds of their own parishes. HISTORY Volume 102, Issue 349 January 2017 Pages 45–67
My Lincolnshire Collection represents a collaborative project between the areas of Human-Computer... more My Lincolnshire Collection represents a collaborative project between the areas of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Heritage to develop a software application designed to promote local heritage visitation within Lincolnshire, UK. The app aimed to gather data on which heritage types are most appealing to local residents and visitors to the area and to widen the public perception of what constitutes cultural heritage. Designed to leverage the popularity of web enabled mobile devices and desktop/laptop PCs alike, and utilizing the sharing power of social media, the app creates a novel platform through which to promote heritage and explore the demographic appeal of a web-app in this context. Findings indicate a positive response to the app but indicate that this medium requires a significant amount of targeted publicity and promotion to recruit participants.
This article explores the tithe system in eighteenth-century Northamptonshire. At enclosure, many... more This article explores the tithe system in eighteenth-century Northamptonshire. At enclosure, many clergy exchanged their right to take tithe for a portion of the newly enclosed land in the parish. The article argues that while the clergy made financial gains from this, more important was the removal of a recurrent source of dissension with parishioners. As such the article tempers the dominant narrative that emphasizes only the material enrichment of the clergy at enclosure, and sees the social and cultural gulf this opened up between the clergy and their parishioners as a potent source of rural anticlericalism.
This article explores the impact of parliamentary enclosure on the cultural life of English villa... more This article explores the impact of parliamentary enclosure on the cultural life of English villages after 1750. It focuses on parish-sponsored vermin control, arguing that the popular ‘hunting’ sanctioned by parish vestries under Tudor legislation, and persisting into the early nineteenth century, created a highly participatory recreational culture which continued to exist under the radar of the game laws. Using a sample of parishes from the heavily enclosed county of Northamptonshire, the article demonstrates that this communal activity survived the reworking of the landscape by parliamentary enclosure, and that, by extension, the level of disruption to village cultural life was less than has been suggested.
The Art of the Possible: Politics and Governance in modern British History, 1885-1997: Essays in memory of Duncan Tanner (1958-2010), eds Andrew Edwards and Chris Williams, 2014
... 186 Matthew Cragoe ... He and his wife had been rehoused on a small cottage on the estate, an... more ... 186 Matthew Cragoe ... He and his wife had been rehoused on a small cottage on the estate, and had accepted an invitation to dine with their landlord on New Year's Day.69 William Nicholas, though not a voter himself, claimed to have lost Ffynondewi on account of his brother's ...
This paper explores the extent to which MPs from different areas of the British Isles represented... more This paper explores the extent to which MPs from different areas of the British Isles represented the interests of their constituents in parliament before the Second Reform Act. Although it considers MPs from all areas, the focus is on Members from Wales. Select Committees offer the opportunity of examining MPs’ involvement with a broad range of issues in an environment where the imperatives of party attachment were at a minimum. Membership was voluntary, but Committees were composed of those whose experience or knowledge was deemed pertinent to the subject of inquiry. Since MPs were often closely associated with the material interests of their constituents it seems reasonable to suggest that those involved with a large number of Committees represented their constituents’ interests well. Examination of the records of Commons’ Select Committees during two complete parliaments (1852–7 and 1859–65) suggests that MPs from Ireland, Scotland and, particularly, Wales generally paid attention to a broader range of ‘local interest’ issues than did those representing English county and borough seats. The evidence also suggests that Welsh MPs were not as unmindful of the real interests of the Principality as contemporary radicals (and some modern historians) have claimed.
This article explores the tithe system in eighteenth-century Northamptonshire. At enclosure, man... more This article explores the tithe system in eighteenth-century Northamptonshire. At enclosure, many clergy exchanged their right to take tithe for a portion of the newly enclosed land in the parish. The article argues that while the clergy made financial gains from this, more important was the removal of a recurrent source of dissension with parishioners. As such the article tempers the dominant narrative that emphasizes only the material enrichment of the clergy at enclosure, and sees the social and cultural gulf this opened up between the clergy and their parishioners as a potent source of rural anticlericalism.
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