“House Detectives”(Tracing the history of smaller buildings in Nottinghamshire)
November 2002 Meeting Report
Guest Speaker - Adrian Henstock
The November meeting of the Keyworth & District Local History Society was held in the Centenary Lounge on 1 November 2002. The guest speaker for the evening was Adrian Henstock who entertained and enlightened us all with his talk relating to discovering the history of smaller buildings. The talk was in two sections, the first explaining what to look for visually in a building and what documentation may be of assistance, (with all the concomitant problems involved therein). The second part of the presentation was in the form of a slide show.
Adrian explained, in the first part of the presentation, how difficult it sometimes is to trace the lineage and origins of a building, especially if the building is very old. Additions and alterations can make identification very difficult. His quote of “Queen Anne front and Mary Anne behind” was very amusing. One of the greatest problems in tracing the history of a particular house is simply identifying it in the first place. House numbers and names are a relatively recent innovation as far as smaller properties are concerned, especially away from the large cities. Nottingham City has vast quantities of documents relating to particular properties but very few of them actually identify the property concerned. The names of owners and occupiers are frequently identified on the many documents, (Wills, Title Deeds, etc), but the actual location of the building is rarely, if ever, shown, other than in very general terms. Thus, John Smith, a resident of Keyworth may have died in 1765 and left a Will but that Will will only state that he was a resident of Keyworth, not the exact location in Keyworth. The problem is something akin to two ends of a very thick rope that has been severed. All the various, severed strands will marry exactly with their opposite number but there is absolutely no clue as where to begin. If a building is more easily identifiable, i.e. an inn or a clergical residence then things may be easier but by and large they are the exceptions and anyone hoping to conduct their own investigations into a particular property may confidently look forward to a considerable amount of searching archival material.
The second part of the presentation was very interesting with graphic illustrations of how the casual, and indeed experienced, observer can be misled by the visual evidence presented by a building. Dates on buildings can be very deceptive. An example was shown of a cottage in Clifton with the date 1707 on one of the walls. The building concerned had actually been refaced with brick in 1707 and the date related to that. The original fabric of the building has been dated to the 14th century with the aid of dendrochronology, (the dating of trees from their annual growth rings). Another very illuminating example was show of The Flying Horse Inn on The Poultry in Nottingham. The date of 1483 appears on one of the front walls. There appears to be no reason for this date whatsoever. Apparently, the building was acquired by an East Anglian chain of public houses in 1926 and they wanted to make The Flying Horse look like an old East Anglian public house. To that end the whole of the front façade with the front that we know today. Postcards of the building prior to that date show a very different aspect to the building!
Other buildings of particular note that were shown were Newdigate House, off Maid Marion Way, and The Old White Hart public house at Newark. The Old White Hart at Newark was especially interesting in that it was recently extensively restored and samples of the timber framing from the building were dated to the 14th century. Indeed, the public house is one of the best examples of its type in the country. It’s very fortunate that it is here at all thought, it would appear that in Victorian times several of the timbers supporting the building had been removed for sale and the floors above had, prior to the restoration, begun to bow to a very alarming extent. There was actually a fear that the building might have collapsed. Fortunately remedial measures were instigated in time and the building can now be viewed in all its splendour. An interesting feature of the Old White Hart was disclosed when an old document relating to a former innkeeper. The documents identified the number, and names, of all the rooms in the building. Apparently the bedrooms were not numbered, as most of the guests were not numerate. Instead bedrooms had a picture on each door and that was how guests identified their rooms. Thus there were such rooms as The Star Chamber, The Blue Chamber, The Fleur-de-Lys, and The Dolphin etc.
Another example of how little documentation there may be relating to a property was illustrated by an example from the Old Water Mill at Hoveringham. The current building has some very old parts to it but the actual site that it is on has only changed hands once since 1160. Thurgaton Priory originally owned the site from 1160 until the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII. Henry then gave the site to Trinity College, Cambridge and they still own it to this day. Thus, any documentation relating to the site tends to be very scarce and imprecise.
All in all the presentation was very illuminating and very well received, well done Adrian!