Agricultural History Review, Volume 61 Part 2 (2013), p. 356

The familiar ‘red book’ volumes of the Victoria County History (VCH) were the product of an ambitious scheme started in 1899 to ‘trace the domestic history of the English Counties back to the earliest times’ and to include ‘all those factors which tell of the progress of England from primitive beginnings to a large and successful empire’. With this rousing aim, Volume I, for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, was the first to be published in 1900. It focused on natural history and pre-Domesday history for the whole county. Four subsequent volumes covered additional general topics and then individual manor and church histories for every parish in the county. The series was completed with an index in 1914. Progress elsewhere was patchy, and only some dozen counties were ever completed. The whole VCH undertaking continued slowly throughout the twentieth century, and since 1933 work has been co-ordinated by the Institute of Historical Research. A grant in 2005 from the Heritage Lottery Fund provided added impetus, and county groups now focus either on researching parishes not previously covered, or – as in Hampshire – rewriting and updating those published a century ago.

In the twenty-first century there are perhaps questions to be asked of the VCH in general about its intended audience; the nature of its product; and thus its modern function. Particularly around the Millennium there was a rush of parish histories developed by local communities; some of which are now on Web sites where they can be regularly updated and modified. Such sites can make use of a wider range of visual and audio material and be readily accessible to international users. Inevitably the content and standard of scholarship is variable, but the British Library has since 2004 been selectively archiving those sites which it judges to be representative of British social history and cultural heritage, and which have ‘scholarly research value’. It is not clear how this activity might link to the VCH.

Meanwhile, this history of Mapledurwell represents a first publication from the New Victoria History of Hampshire group, which draws upon contributions from both professional historians and local volunteers. Their research is focusing initially upon updating the Basingstoke area, where 1960s overspill expansion produced more change during the previous century than in other areas of the county. As a result, this slim volume represents not so much an ‘update’ as a completely new parish history. In the original VCH, general topics were covered in county-wide chapters, in which Mapledurwell was given a passing mention for its watercress beds, chalk pits and school. Then, its individual parish entry in Volume IV included only post-Domesday lordship with heraldry; half a page on the church, advowson and tithes; and a few sentences about a charity. In this new book, all aspects of the parish and manorial history are described in chapters covering the history of settlement and population; economic, social, and religious history. There is much scholarly research included, and the work is attractively presented with photographs and map reproductions.

The task of co-ordinating and editing work provided by a wide variety of contributors is notoriously difficult and somewhat thankless. Overlaps, repetition and imbalance of historical detail are bound to occur, and parts of the Mapledurwell volume suffer accordingly. If further parish histories in this series are to follow, they would benefit from a heavier editing hand to reorder some of the content and tighten the narrative. For example, the first chapter on settlement and population embarks upon the history of settlement and buildings before it deals with the inhabitants who created them. When it reaches ‘land ownership’ it covers only the landlords and one major freeholder, and relegates the copyholders to the later chapter on economic history. The copyholders are needed in the first chapter as they formed the majority in the village from the fourteenth century onwards, and without them the sub-sections on dwellings, population statistics, and manorial courts are confusing. A similar issue arises in the final chapter about religious life which places the thirteenth-century church at the end, so that it is preceded, rather than followed, by all subsequent religious developments such as the Reformation and the arrival of non-conformity. The reproduction of several of the maps needs revisiting as they are far too small to be read and the list of illustrations at the front would benefit from page numbers. Finally, if it is intended to attract a general audience for the book, then a short glossary would clarify terms such as ‘demesne’, or ‘reversion’, and that ‘moor’ in Hampshire refers to marshy riversides and not to heather-clad hillsides. These issues need to be addressed for future publications in the Hampshire series, but the appearance of this first publication is nevertheless to be applauded.