English county histories, in other words historical and topographical (or "chorographical") works concerned with individual ancient counties of England, were produced by antiquarians from the late 16th century onwards. The content was variable: most focused on recording the ownership of estates and the descent of lordships of manors, thus the genealogies of county families, heraldry and other antiquarian material. In the introduction to one typical early work of this style, The Antiquities of Warwickshire published in 1656, the author William Dugdale writes:[1]
I offer unto you my noble countriemen, as the most proper persons to whom it can be presented wherein you will see very much of your worthy ancestors, to whose memory I have erected it as a monumentall pillar and to shew in what honour they lived in those flourishing ages past. In this kind, or not much different, have divers persons in forrein parts very learnedly written; some whereof I have noted in my preface: and I could wish that there were more that would adventure in the like manner for the rest of the counties of this nation, considering how acceptable those are, which others have already performed
Thus his work was designed primarily to be read by his fellow county gentry of Warwickshire, whose public lives and marriages were largely confined within their own county of residence, which they administered as Justices of the Peace and Sheriffs, and represented in Parliament. The genealogical and heraldic tradition continues with the series of Victoria County Histories commenced in the late 19th century.
Other forms recorded archaeological sites. A closely related genre, which emerged in the second half of the 17th century, was the county "Natural History", which focused on the county's flora, fauna and natural phenomena, but which also often included chapters on antiquities. The best known examples were Robert Plot's two volumes on Oxfordshire (1677) and Staffordshire (1686); and John Aubrey's unpublished work on Wiltshire.
Development
Continental models
Dugdale quotes as his foreign models César de Nostredame (1553–1629), historian of Provence in France, author of Rerum antiquarum et nobiliorum Provinciae, written c.1560, published 1615; Ottavio Rossi, historian of Brescia in Italy, author of Memorie Bresciane, Opera Historica, E Simbolica (1626); Guillaume Catel (1560–1626), historian of Languedoc in France, author of Mémoires sur l'histoire du Languedoc (1633); Samuel Guichenon (1607–1664), historian of Bresse in France, author of Histoire de la Bresse et du Bugey (1650) and Antonius Sanderus (1586–1664), historian of Flanders, author of Flandria Illustrata (1641).
English pioneers
William Lambarde's Perambulation of Kent (completed 1570; published 1576) is generally acknowledged as the first example of the genre in England. It was followed by Richard Carew'sSurvey of Cornwall (1602), and William Burton'sDescription of Leicester Shire (1622), as well as a number of other projects (such as those of Sir William Pole, Thomas Westcote, and Tristram Risdon in Devon, and Sampson Erdeswicke in Staffordshire) which, although they sometimes circulated in manuscript, did not come to completion or publication. Following the appearance of William Dugdale's Antiquities of Warwickshire (1656), a pattern was set. In the nineteenth century John Bowyer Nichols followed the line of a history of Leicestershire compiled by his father John Nichols, and saw numerous counties histories through the press at his printing firm.[2] The scope of county histories varied, but the titles became quite standard: "Antiquities of", "Worthies of", "Geological survey", "Description of", later "Directory of", all could indicate the intention of producing a "history", a term that only in later times acquired the narrower meaning it carries today. Chorography, topography and toponymy might all be involved. Materials and collections for their counties were made by antiquaries, but publication might await sponsorship or enough subscriptions, as well as a capable author who would make a readable book, perhaps of multiple volumes, from notes.
George Lipscomb, The History and Antiquities of the County of Buckingham published in eight parts, 1831–47
James Joseph Sheahan, History and Topography of Buckinghamshire: comprising a general survey of the county, preceded by an epitome of the early history of Great Britain (1862)
Cambridgeshire
Edmund Carter, History of the County of Cambridge (1753)
Richard Burn and Joseph Nicolson, The History and Antiquities of the Counties of Westmorland and Cumberland, 1777.
This goes back to the manuscript Accompt of the most considerable estates and families in the county of Cumberland of about 1603 by John Denton.[6] Through copies made by Daniel Fleming, it used material collected by Christopher Rawlinson.[7] Joseph Nicolson (born 1706, baptised William – 1777), son of John Nicolson of Hawkesdale, was a nephew of Bishop William Nicolson, and inherited from him collections relating to Carlisle.[8][9][10][11] Burn and Nicolson used in particular material collected by Thomas Machell, vicar of Kirkby Thore, and collated by William Nicolson.[12]
Stephen Glover, Directory of the County of Derby (1827–29); and History of the County of Derby (1829–31)
Glover made use of, and expanded, an unpublished history by William Woolley.[13]
Samuel Bagshaw, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Derbyshire (1846)
White, History, Gazetteer and Directory of the County of Derby (1857)
Devon
John Hooker, Synopsis Corographical of the County of Devon (c. 1587), unpublished
Sir William Pole (d. 1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, notes made (c. 1608–1617), published by Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791
James Raine, The History and Antiquities of North-Durham, 1852
William Fordyce, The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham
Whellan, History, Topography, and Directory of the County Palatine of Durham (1856)
Essex
Philip Morant, The History and Antiquities of the County of Essex, two volumes 1763–1768
Morant used collections of Thomas Jekyll;[17] and also material from Richard Symonds he obtained via Gregory King.[18] A major source was the parish descriptions of William Holman.[19] These had been acquired by Nicholas Tindal, for whom Morant worked as a curate; Tindal made a small start on publishing Essex history, around 1732.[20] They then passed via Nathaniel Salmon, Anthony Allen and John Booth, before Morant had them from Booth about 1750.[21]
A New and Complete History of Essex, from a late survey (1772)
John Edwin Cussans, A History of Hertfordshire, containing an account of the Descents of the various Manors, Pedigrees of Families, Antiquities, Local Customs, &c. (16 parts in three folio volumes, 1870–81)
Kent
William Lambarde, A Perambulation of Kent (completed 1570; published 1576)
Richard Kilburne, A Brief Survey of the County of Kent (1657) [a summary digest of parishes]; and A Topographie, or Survey of the County of Kent (1659)
Thomas Philipot, Villare Cantianum: or Kent Surveyed and Illustrated (1659)
Philipot drew on materials originally collected by his father, John Philipot, and the Villare Cantianum is sometimes said to be John's work published under Thomas's name.[29] He also drew on notes inherited from Robert Glover, his great-uncle.
Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, (1st edn, 4 folio vols, 1778–99); (2nd edn, 12 octavo vols, 1797–1801)
Samuel Henshall, Specimens and parts; containing a history of the county of Kent and a dissertation on the laws (1798, partial)
Christopher Greenwood, An Epitome of County History Vol. 1 (1818)
Lancashire
Matthew Gregson, Portfolio of Fragments relative to the History and Antiquities of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster (1817)
Anonymous, History and Antiquities of the County of Norfolk (1781)
By Crouse and Booth of Norwich, this was largely copied from Blomefield.[36]
John Chambers, A General History of the County of Norfolk (1829)
Northamptonshire
John Morton, The Natural History of Northamptonshire, with some account of the antiquities; to which is annexed a transcript of Domesday Book (1712)
Peter Whalley, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire. Compiled from the manuscript collections of the late learned antiquary, John Bridges, Esq. (1762–1791)
This resulted from a project started by John Bridges, and took several generations to come to fruition.[39][40]
George Baker, History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton (1822–30)
Northumberland
John Wallis, The Natural History and Antiquities of Northumberland, and so much of the County of Durham as lies between the rivers Tyne and Tweed, commonly called North Bishoprick (2 vols., 1769).
Eneas Mackenzie, An Historical and Descriptive View of the County of Northumberland (1811, 2 vols. and revised 1825); and A Descriptive and Historical Account of the Town and County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1827, 2 vols.)
John Hodgson, History of Northumberland (unfinished, from 1825)
Alfred Suckling, The History and Antiquities of the County of Suffolk (1846)
M. R. James, Suffolk and Norfolk: A Perambulation of the Two Counties with Notices of Their History and Their Ancient Buildings (1930)
Surrey
John Aubrey, Perambulation of Surrey (written 1673–92); published by Richard Rawlinson as The Natural History and Antiquities of the County of Surrey (1718–19)
John Aubrey, Antiquities of Wiltshire (written 1656–71; partially published 1862); and Naturall Historie of Wiltshire (written 1656–91; partially published 1847)
Francis Drake, Eboracum: The History and Antiquities of the City of York, from its Original to the Present Time; together with the History of the Cathedral Church and the Lives of the Archbishops (1736)
W. Newton, The History and Antiquities of Maidstone (1741)
Philip Morant, The History and Antiquities of Colchester (1748)
Thomas Warton, The History and Antiquities of Kiddington (1782)
Pishey Thompson, The History and Antiquities of Boston (1856)
Richard Vickerman Taylor, The Biographia Leodiensis; or, Biographical Sketches of the Worthies of Leeds and neighbourhood, from the Norman Conquest to the present time, etc.(1865–67)
Howard Dudley, The History and Antiquities of Horsham
↑ An edition is published as Christobel M. Hood, The Chorography of Norfolk (Norwich 1938). Hood's attribution of the work to John Norden is no longer accepted.
↑ An edition is published as D.N.J. MaCullough, The Chorography of Suffolk, Suffolk Records Society vol. 19 (1977).
↑ Two manuscript recensions survive. One (now in the British Library) was published as Robert Reyce, Suffolk in the XVIIth century: the Breviary of Suffolk, ed. Lord Francis Hervey (London, 1902). The other (now Suffolk Record Office HD 474/1) is superior.
Black, S.B. (2001). A Scholar and a Gentleman: Edward Hasted, the historian of Kent. Otford: Darenth Valley Publications. ISBN0-9507334-8-2.
Blatchly, John (1988). The Topographers of Suffolk, 1561–1935 (5thed.). Ipswich: Suffolk Record Office. ISBN0-86055-178-4.
Brayshay, Mark, ed. (1996). Topographical Writers in South-West England. Exeter: University of Exeter Press. ISBN0-85989-424-X.
Broadway, Jan (2006). "No Historie So Meete": gentry culture and the development of local history in Elizabethan and early Stuart England. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN978-0-7190-7294-9.
Brown, Tony; Foard, Glenn (1994). The Making of a County History: John Bridges' Northamptonshire. Leicester: University of Leicester; Northamptonshire County Council. ISBN0-947590-20-X.
Currie, C. R. J.; Lewis, C.P., eds. (1994). English County Histories: a guide. Stroud: Alan Sutton. ISBN0-7509-0289-2.
Gray, Irvine (1981). Antiquaries of Gloucestershire and Bristol. Bristol: Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society. ISBN0-900197-14-5.
Greenslade, M. W. (1982). The Staffordshire Historians. Collections for a History of Staffordshire 4th series. Vol.11. Stoke-on-Trent: Staffordshire Record Society.
Mendyk, S. A. E. (1989). "Speculum Britanniae": regional study, antiquarianism and science in Britain to 1700. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN0-8020-5744-6.
Sweet, Rosemary (1997). The Writing of Urban Histories in Eighteenth-Century England. Oxford: Clarendon. ISBN0-19-820669-0.
Sweet, Rosemary (2004). Antiquaries: the Discovery of the Past in Eighteenth-Century Britain. London: Hambledon and London. pp.36–42. ISBN1-85285-309-3.
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