How to start a Local Study - 7 Steps To Success

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How to start a Local Study - 7 Steps To Success

• This presentation uses a study of Horsforth, West
  Yorkshire to illustrate the information you can
  find when following the 7 steps use it as a
  template to make a presentation based on your
  locality.

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Step 1 What do we already know about our
locality?Find your school on a modern map or
aerial view, ask pupils and local people what
they already know about the history of their
area. You could also use a local
websiteWebsites such as http//maps.live.com/
show street names on an aerial view
No local knowledge? Street names can be a great
starting point Church Road whats the
church? Hall Lane where was the hall? Cripple
Syke what is the story?
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Step 1 What do we already know about our
locality?Look at a modern Ordnance Survey map
http//www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/ for
more detailed information, for example they label
all schools. They can also be compared to
historical OS maps.

• Use OS maps to
• Build up a picture of your area today
• Count the schools, places of worship etc
• Look for clues to the past, questions to follow
  up

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Step 2 What can we find from an initial walk
around the area?Plan and walk around a route
either alone, with a willing local historian or
with pupils Use information and questions from
your map to shape your route.Take along any
photographs you already have and identify the
places in them.
We chose to start from the school, go along the
main street Town Street - as this would be
familiar to pupils up to the station, past the
mills that we had picked out on the map and
wanted to investigate.
main street
old mills
Use the modern map to plan a route
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Step 2 What can we find from an initial walk
around the area? Arm yourself/your pupils with a
digital camera. Look for interesting looking
buildings any dates, foundation stones, plaques
etc different architectural styles local
architectural quirks. NB you dont at this stage
need to know the names for architectural styles
and features. Just record things that look
interesting and note differences
Information from a plaque The Reverend Samuel
Marsden 1764-1838 Christian missionary and
pioneer of the wool producing industry in
Australia and New Zealand served as an apprentice
in a smithy near this place Online research
showed him to have been a very controversial
figure in the early history of the convict colony
in Australia.
A local architectural quirk Shop doorways set
flat across corners of buildings with stone cut
away above
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Step 2 What can we find from an initial walk
around the area? Take photographs and make short
notes about features, patterns etcIf your
project is small then you could end it here
asking pupils to answer the question What makes
my locality special?
We found several unusual doorways
Station House 2007 We had an old photograph of
the station masters house and took a modern view
from the same place
Houses in Town Street 2007 We noticed that
several houses had round windows a bit like
portholes
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Step 3 What did this area look like in the
past?Compare old and new and look for change and
continuity. Historic ordnance survey maps from
http//magazine.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/magazine/tsco
ntent/general/historicalmappingfaq.html can be
compared with your modern map.Ask pupils to play
Spot the Difference they could write the
differences on post its and stick them to the map
2007 A sprawling commuter village with large
housing estates and a railway station
1843 A small rural village strung out along the
main street with a railway station
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Step 3 What did this area look like in the
past?Aerial photographs are also useful source
for showing change and continuity and can be
ordered from English Heritage http//www.english-h
eritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.20091
Identify a shape to orientate yourself Use aerial
photos alongside maps Can you find out when your
school was built?
1948
1970
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Step 4 Which buildings tell me the most about
the history of the locality? Look for old
photographs of the buildings you have chosen ask
locally try your local archives, library, or
museum find a local website or search a national
websites such as www.english-heritage.org.uk/viewf
inder Find the locations today and take a
modern view from the same place take care
the original photographer may have been standing
in the middle of a road!
Station House in the 1950s
The old smithy in the 1950s
Town street in the 1950s
The old workhouse in the 1950s
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Step 4 Which buildings tell me the most about
the history of the locality? Look for change and
continuity particularly changes in use that
reflect wider changes in the character of the
locality and society in general eg heavy industry
to retail units or offices. Consider
conservation issues. Have old buildings been
preserved or demolished? If preserved and re-used
have the buildings been restored sympathetically
and kept their original windows, chimneys etc?
The old smithy in 2007
The old smithy in the 1950s
Station House in the 1950s
Station House in 2007
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Step 5 What were the buildings used for?Having
chosen and photographed some of your areas most
interesting buildings you can find out more about
them. Creating a series of questions to answer is
a good way to structure this.

• The former Mechanics Institute is now the
  library
• Questions
• When was it built?
• What was a mechanics institution and why did
  Horsforth have one?
• When did it become the library?
• See the next slide for where to look for answers!

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Step 5 What were the buildings used for? The
former Mechanics Institute is now the library
how to find the answers

• When was it built?
• Did you spot the plaque above the door? The
  roman numerals Mdccclxxxi tell us it was built in
  1881
• What was a mechanics institution and why did
  Horsforth have one?
• It was a building where skilled workmen could
  learn more about their craft by attending
  lectures and using the reading room.
• Information taken from http//www.imagesofengland.
  org.uk/searchtips/default.aspx click on building
  types
• Use old maps and trade directories see next
  slide to identify local crafts
• When did it become the library?
• Check inside the building for a plaque, ask in
  the library or local archives.

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Step 6 Who lived and worked here?Use a trade
directory to find more about your locality in the
19th and early 20th centuries. Trade directories
are early forms of Yellow Pages giving
information about places along with details of
people who lived and worked thereGo to
http//www.historicaldirectories.org/hd/index.asp
and search for your locality print off relevant
pages as pdfs
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Step 6 Who lived and worked here?Use a trade
directory to find more about your locality in the
19th and early 20th centuries. Particularly
useful is information about occupations, land
use, size of population and notable local people.
Kellys Directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire
1881
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Step 6 Who lived and worked here?Use a trade
directory to find a list of people who lived and
worked in your locality
Extracts from Kellys Directory of the West
Riding of Yorkshire 1881

• Use information from the trade directory to
  integrate ICT skills
• Make a database of the occupations listed
• Find out what were the most common jobs in 1881
  and compare to today
• What does the range of jobs tell you about
  Horsforth in 1881?

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Step 6 Who lived and worked here?Choose
someone from the trade directory and look them up
in the census census information also offers
opportunities for Maths and ICT work eg comparing
average family sizes

• 1881 Kellys Trade directory
• 1891 Census from www.ancestry.com or obtain
  copies from local archives or local history
  centre
• Station Masters House 1891
• Name position age occupation where born
• John A Gott Head 43 Railway Master
  Horsforth
• Emily L Gott Wife 42 Otley
• Minnie G Gott Dau 17 Horsforth
• Herbert H Gott Son 15 Railway Booking Clerk
  Horsforth
• Arnold C Gott Son 13 Horsforth
• Emily M Gott Dau 8 Horsforth
• Clarence R Gott Son 7 Horsforth
• Mary A Pickard Sister-in-law 47 Otley

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Step 7- What was this place all about, what makes
it special? Identify a focus question for the
next stage of the study
Extract from Whites Directory of Leeds 1870
Enquiry Question Why did gentlemen connected
with trade in Leeds choose to build their villas
in Horsforth? This question gives focus to a
study of Horsforth and an opportunity to place
Horsforth in the wider context of the industrial
revolution and consequent movement of working
people into towns and the middle classes away
from them.
Beech House, Scotland Road, Horsforth, built
1800 for William Craven a papermaker