History detective
- Attending local history courses to get skilled up
- Interpreting the archived collections
At the beginning I attended a university continuing education course and did a piece of written work on an aspect of Freckleton history, though subsequently I preferred to attend day schools and local history courses as a way of widening my understanding.
'... each community will have some aspect that is unique ...'
I also asked for help from professional historians, to be sure I was on the right lines, but in 'going alone' I realised that it is vital to keep my feet on the ground and be aware that there is always much more to learn. It is also important to remember that each community will have some aspect that is unique and which you will have to unravel yourself.
I found the detective side of local history exciting but frustrating - but detective work it undoubtedly is. This is the most important phrase to remember when undertaking research for the first time.
The majority of my research was carried out at the Lancashire Record Office, looking at written documents covering several centuries of history. At the start of the work two problems were immediately apparent.
The first was that it was absolutely essential to learn to read 16th and 17th century handwriting (I still have a lot to learn in this respect!). The second was that documents relating to a single village can be found in a wide range of archive collections, some of which may not be catalogued.
The detective work necessary to locate these documents, and to track down material in collections with no obvious connection to your subject, is very challenging but also very rewarding, and may lead to a wider and more ambitious project. In my case, it led to me writing a 26-chapter History of Freckleton, which was published in the autumn of 2001.
Published: 2005-03-03
