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The Essex Record Office holds records about the county, its people and buildings and provides a useful resource for individuals interested in family, house and local history.

Art in the archives

Posted on April 12, 2016 by admin

As well as looking after the archives for Essex, the ERO also looks after Essex County Council’s art collection. Besides commissioning portraits of its chairmen ECC has never actively collected art, but has received a number of donations and bequests over the decades. Some of this art is displayed in ECC buildings, while other pieces are in storage at ERO.

Many pieces are viewable on the Art UK website, and if there is something in storage that you would like to see you can make a request for it to be made available – please contact us on ero.enquiry@essex.gov.uk

The responsibility to care for ECC’s art is a relatively new one for us, and much work has been done over the last few years to organise and properly store these paintings. Now that this work is mostly complete, we can start to do more with the collection to make it available for all to use and enjoy.

Behind-the-scenes it has been a busy few months for the art collection. Staff have been trained to properly store and hang paintings, and to carry out condition checks. We have undertaken a project to digitise many of the paintings, which means we can now make images of even more of them available online. We are also in the process of hanging more paintings in public spaces in the ERO, and will shortly be launching a new page on our website as a hub for information about the collection.

Performing a condition inspection of an oil painting

Digitising a portrait of Barbara Villiers from the studio of Sir Peter Lely. Barbara was a mistress of Charles II – more on this painting in a future blog post

Digitising a portrait of Barbara Villiers

We have been fortunate in this work to have the assistance of Marta Jimenez, an Art History graduate from the University of Essex who has been with us on an internship supported by the University as part of their Essex Interns scheme. As part of her work here Marta has been researching the stories behind some of the paintings, examining their subject matter and visual and artistic interpretation, and putting them into their historical context. As part of her work she has uploaded images of several paintings to our Flickr page and we will be publishing the results of some of her work here on the blog over the coming months.

More paintings have been hung in public spaces in ERO, with more to follow. Each year we offer public tours of the art collection, and groups can also book tours – just contact us on ero.enquiry@essex.gov.uk

We have previously shared one of the highlights of our collection – a family portrait by Pompeo Batoni, here – and we will continue to share more highlights from the collection here on the ERO blog, so do check back in the future.

Paintings recently hung on the ground floor of ERO, including the portrait of Barbara Villiers shown above in our Digitisation Studio

Document of the Month, April 2016: A new ruling class

Posted on April 4, 2016 by admin

By Katharine Schofield, Archivist

Deeds, c.1140-1144 (D/DBa T2/1, 3)

2016 marks the 950^th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings (which we are marking with a conference on 1 October – find out more on our events pages).

The two documents we have chosen to highlight this month date from nearly 80 years after the Norman Conquest, and they show how securely the Norman ruling elite had established themselves in England.

The success of the Norman Conquest produced a dramatic change in land ownership as William the Conqueror rewarded his supporters with English land, displacing the 1066 landowners. In 1086 Domesday Book illustrated the process of land redistribution in each county, listing the manors held by each of the king’s tenants-in-chief. These two deeds were issued by Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1^st Earl of Essex, a grandson of two of the Essex tenants-in-chief. They date from the early 1140s, and record grants of land to Eustace and Humphrey de Barentun, ancestors of the Barrington family of Barrington Hall, Hatfield Broad Oak.

The deeds are not dated but this one must date from before the second half of 1140, before Geoffrey was made Earl of Essex, as he is named only as G de Mand[eville]. In this deed de Mandeville grants the land of Alan de Scheperitha to Eustace and Humphrey de Barentun. (D/DBa T2/1)

In this second deed Geoffrey he is described as Gaufr[ido] Comes Essexe (Geoffrey, Earl of Essex). In this document he confirms a grant of lands in Hatfield [Broad Oak] and Writtle to Humphrey de Barentun. (D/Dba T2/3)

Geoffrey was the grandson of two of the Domesday tenants-in-chief, Geoffrey de Mandeville (or Magna Villa) and Eudo Dapifer (dapifer is the Latin word for steward), and Eudo served as steward to William the Conqueror and his sons William II and Henry I. Eudo was sometimes described as Eudo son of Hubert [de Rie/Ryes]. Hubert had been a prominent supporter of the Conqueror in Normandy and Eudo’s brothers William, Ralph, Hubert and Adam also benefited from the Conquest. Ralph became constable of Nottingham Castle and Hubert constable of Norwich Castle and all four held land in England.

Geoffrey de Mandeville, one of the richest of the king’s barons, was rewarded with extensive lands, mostly in Essex, but also in ten other counties, as well as being appointed constable of the Tower of London.

Eudo Dapifer also held lands in Essex and nine other counties. He was responsible for the building of Colchester Castle, the largest Norman keep in England, becoming its first constable. In 1096/7 he founded St. John’s Abbey in the town and was buried there in 1120.

Although both deeds relate to land in Essex and are dated 80 years after the Norman Conquest, Geoffrey de Mandeville begins by greeting all his men French and English in the first deed (om[n]ib[us] hominib[us] suis franc[ie] et anglic[e]) and all his Barons and clerks and lay men French and English in the second (Om[n]ib[us] Baronib[us] et hominib[us] suis clericis et Laicis franc[ie] et angl[ice]).

The Geoffrey de Mandeville named in these documents (the grandson of the first Geoffrey and Eudo Dapifer) founded Walden Abbey (which after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s became what is today Audley End), and built the castle at Saffron Walden. He was prominent in the civil war in King Stephen’s reign when a contemporary chronicler wrote that ‘men said openly that Christ and his saints slept’. As a reward for his support for King Stephen he was made Earl of Essex.

After Stephen’s capture in 1141 Geoffrey changed sides to support Stephen’s cousin and rival the Empress Matilda and she appointed him constable of the Tower, forgave him debts owed to the Crown, granted him lands in Normandy and appointed him sheriff of Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and London. He died in 1144 from an arrow wound while in rebellion against the king.

The documents will be on display in the Searchroom throughout April 2016.

Chelmsford Then and Now: 58 High Street – jewellers, musicians and vets

Posted on March 22, 2016 by admin

In the seventh post in our series looking at the history of Chelmsford High Street, Ashleigh Hudson looks at no. 58 High Street through the centuries. Find out more about the project here.

No. 58 Chelmsford High Street is today occupied by the jewellers, Goldsmiths. John Walker’s 1591 map of Chelmsford identifies a small property named Felsteds on this site. The shop took its name from Henry of Felsted and his son Robert, who purchased the shop in the early 14^th century. By the time Walker made his survey the shop was owned by Thomas Hawes.

Goldsmith’s jewellers, Chelmsford High Street

Extract from John Walker’s 1591 map of Chelmsford pointing out the site of no.58 High Street (D/DM P1)

Felsteds was one of the smallest properties fronting the west side of the high street and was recorded as having only 2 hearths in the 17^th century. By 1708 the property was occupied by a musician, James Wright. Wright’s will bequeathed a range of musical instruments, bows and strings to his granddaughters, Ann and Lettice Wyatt.

Extract from the will of James Wright, 1708, bequeathing his musical instruments to his granddaughters (D/ABW 79/191)

Wills are a fantastic source of information which can tell us a great deal about the person who wrote it, particularly in terms of family relations. Wills give a good indication of an individual’s personal wealth, but they can also reveal the items and possessions individuals valued. One would imagine that as a musician, James Wright would have highly valued his collection of instruments.

Wills also provide evidence of property ownership. From 1841 the property was occupied by veterinary surgeon Samuel Baker and his family and we know from Baker’s will that after his death the property passed to his wife, Caroline Baker. The property stayed in the Baker family into the 20^th century.

The will of veterinary surgeon, Samuel Baker, 1857.

Throughout most of the 20^th century, the site housed various jewellers. From 1922, the jeweller Oram and Sons occupied the site and continued to do so until the 1940s when the store came under the ownership of W.G Webber. This continuity has continued to the present day, with the jewellery chain Goldsmiths occupying the site today.

If you would like to find out more about this property, see Hilda Grieves’ detailed history of Chelmsford, The Sleepers and The Shadows. The Essex Record Office has a fantastic collection of wills, many of which have been digitised and can be accessed through Essex Archives Online.

Information compiled from the research and report produced by ERO Archive Assistant, Sarah Ensor.

Blog: Beating about the Bush in Messing

Posted on March 16, 2016 by admin

Ahead of Messing about with Maps on Saturday 19 March 2016, archivist Lawrence Barker takes a look at one of the most famous stories connected with Messing’s past.

On Saturday 19 March 2016 we are taking a selection of historic maps and documents relating to Messing for display for one day only in the village hall. Messing is a pretty village in the east of Essex, near to Tiptree and Kelvedon. The aim of the event (and others like it that we run around the county) is to enable members of the local community, and anyone else with an interest in Essex history, to come and see these pop-up displays without having to travel to our base in Chelmsford.

Messing was chosen as a location for an outreach event when the church’s copy of the parish tithe map of 1839 was deposited with us for conservation and safe-keeping. The local residents who found it in their church were particularly keen to have it shown to others who live in Messing so they could discover part of their history.

As part of that history, inevitably, the connection with former US Presidents Bush, whose ancestors are thought to have come from Messing, came to mind. The connection is provided by one Reynold Bush ‘of Messing’ who is recorded as an emigrant to Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1631. So, we are also taking along some parish registers which feature Bush ancestors and the surviving will of a Reynold Bush of Feering dated 1602 (Feering is about 2.5 miles west of Messing). But, as with most family history research for ancestors before the arrival of civil registration and censuses in the 19^th century, the connection can only be regarded as conjectural and not factual. D-ABW -120 Regnold Bush name

The will of ‘Regnolde’ Bush possibly relates to a ‘Renould’ Bush whose burial is recorded in the Feering parish register (D/P 231/1/1) dated 16 March 1601/2, although the will is dated at the top 17 March 1601/2, the day after the burial. Wills are key records in family history research because they are one of the few documents which show family relationships before the arrival of censuses in the 19^th century. So, the will shows that Reynold Bush senior was married to Judith and he states that they had five children. Four of them are mentioned by name and a family tree can be constructed (below) by matching them with their baptisms in the parish registers:

Bush family tree

John Bush is possibly the eldest, as he is mentioned first as the beneficiary of the two main properties belonging to his father, and he is possibly the John Bush baptised at Messing in 1594. Both his daughter Anna and his youngest son Reynold appear in the Feering register, so his father possibly moved to Feering from Messing. William doesn’t appear in either register but perhaps comes between John and Anna.

Baptism entry for Reynold Bush, 17 August 1600, in the Feering parish register. Could this be the Reynold Bush who emigrated to America in 1631?

Several times in his will Reynold Bush senior refers to property or money which his children were to inherit when they had reached full age and that in the meantime, his wife Judith was to receive the rents from letting some of his various properties to pay for their upbringing. Thus he must have died relatively young and showed an obvious concern that he was going to die leaving his wife to bring up his five children by herself. Eventually, his youngest son Reynold stood to inherit about £80, a tidy sum in Elizabethan times and enough to pay for passage and settlement in the New World if, indeed, Reynold Bush junior was that emigrant ‘from Messing’ in 1631.

See the original will for yourself at Messing about with Maps:

Messing about with Maps

A fascinating glimpse into the past of the historic village of Messing through maps kept at the Essex Record Office, the oldest of which dates back to 1650. Join us for this one-off opportunity to see these beautiful and unique historic documents. You can find out more about one of the maps which will be on display on the day here.

Saturday 19 March 2016 10.30pm-3.00pm

Messing Village Hall, The Street, Messing, Essex CO5 9TN

No need to book. Tickets are free (suggested donation £2.00)

What Essex sounds like: soft launch of Essex Sounds audio map

Posted on March 4, 2016 by admin

For the past six months, the You Are Hear project team at the Essex Sound and Video Archive has been asking you what Essex sounds like. Whether stopping innocent passers-by in shopping centres, appealing to the public through newspapers, or calling for suggestions through e-bulletins, we have been asking you what noises you hear in your daily routine, what noises you associate with the county, what sounds represent your community.

Now we have the answer! Well, to a point. We have compiled the results with our Sound Recordist, Stuart Bowditch. Based on your suggestions, he has been venturing into the far corners of the county, braving all weathers, to capture those soundscapes. And now you can hear some of the results on our audio map, Essex Sounds.

Horse riding through busy Maldon street, 1 Jan 2016

The hunt parade through Maldon, 1 January 2016. Image courtesy of Stuart Bowditch.

From church bells to firework displays; the annual New Year’s hunt parade through Maldon to the sounding of ship’s horns at Tilbury to bring in the New Year (yes, he managed to capture both, and more besides that day!): see if your suggestion of an Essex sound has been recorded.

In our public surveys about Essex sounds, many people commented on a perceived difference between the north and south of the county. Commonly, people considered the southern part of the county to contain more industrial noises, more hustle and bustle, more crowded atmospheres: with more people speaking with a London or ‘TOWIE accent’. The north was depicted as quieter, more rural, where the people are more likely to speak with a ‘traditional’ Essex accent.

Peaceful Dedham Vale in north Essex. Image courtesy of Visit Essex.

Is this an accurate depiction of the county, or is it over-generalised? Why not consult the Essex Sounds map to see if it reflects this north-south divide?

The map also enables comparisons between old and new sounds of the county. We have uploaded some historic recordings from the Archive. For example, you can listen to an auction at the Chelmsford cattle market in the 1950s.

You can then compare it with a recording made on that site in 2015, capturing the busy atmosphere of High Chelmer on a Saturday. Try it out here.

If your sound suggestion has not yet been added, do not fear: our site is still a work in progress. Stuart will continue to record Essex sounds over the next few months, gradually uploading them to the audio map. We will also keep adding historic recordings as they are digitised, as part of this Heritage Lottery Funded project. We are also happy to continue to receive suggestions of places and events to record, though we will not be able to include everything within the scope of the project.

In the meantime, why not contribute your own recording to the site? We want the map to fully reflect your experiences of what Essex sounds like. You will find instructions on the ‘contribute’ page, but please get in touch if you have any questions.

We would love to hear any feedback you have, so that we can continue to improve the site and pass on your comments to our website developers, Community Sites. Please be gentle with us, though: we are still in the development phase! We would also be grateful for any volunteers to test the map more extensively, particularly if you are using accessibility software. Please get in touch to find out more.

For more information about the You Are Hear project, you can visit the project site.

Document of the Month, March 2016: Great Eastern Railway Staff Magazines

Posted on March 2, 2016 by admin

Our newest Archivist, Carol Walden, tells us about her choice for March’s Document of the Month.

The Great Eastern Railway (GER) staff magazines provide a wealth of material for a researcher (A10298). We hold an incomplete run of bound issues of the magazine that were issued monthly between 1911 and 1926. They were compiled in-house and the first edition says that it was ‘devoted to the interests of the many thousands of people directly concerned in the welfare of the GER’ and was only possible with the assurances of support from all grades of staff. The focus ‘was on the interests of all, from shareholder and director to the humblest person in their employ’ as well as for the public at home and overseas. The aim was ‘to knit the loose connecting strands of casual intercourse into a closer net of continuous communication; to strengthen the bond of friendship and promote a feeling of unity throughout the service’.

They cover the geographical area traversed by the company so not only encompass Essex, but also London, Suffolk and Norfolk locations. They include obituaries and notices of retirements and marriages of staff and ex-staff which can give the family historian extra information about their relatives. The ‘Woman’s Page’ affords an insight into expected female behaviours, fashion and diets. The magazines are packed with gardening and railway modelling tips; news from clubs and societies; book, magazine and play reviews; updates on new office machinery; educational articles which include places of interest in the GER area and information about the freight being transported; detailed descriptions of engines and rolling stock for the ‘inexpert’; photographs of male and female staff members; local, national and international news stories.

Fashion plates in a 'Woman's Page' of a GER magazine from early 1918

Fashion plates in a ‘Woman’s Page’ of the April 1916 GER magazine

Recipes from the Woman's Page in an early 1918 GER magazine

Recipes from the Woman’s Page in the April 1916 GER magazine

Another regular segment – From the Tea Room Windows, this one is from early 1918

During the First World War the content was expanded to incorporate regular features, such as ‘War and the Railway’, ‘Toll for the Brave’ which have a photograph and short biography of the fallen, ‘Roll of Honour’ a photographic record of staff members who had joined up and stories of local interest from those at home.

Some of the members of GER staff serving with the forces who were included in the October 1918 magazine

The October 1918 issue, which is currently displayed in the Searchroom, includes a report of a ‘keenly fought’ sporting event organised by the GER Athletic Association between the Stratford and Temple Mills Chief Mechanical Engineer’s Departments at Romford.

A women’s tug of war event, reported in the October 1918 edition

The Great Eastern Railway (GER) Society have an extensive collection of records which they are listing and can be accessed at ERO. They cover GER’s predecessors and successors as well as other lines within the GER geographical area and include plans, maps and drawings of tracks, buildings, rolling stock and vehicles; timetables; books and periodicals; staff rule and instruction books.

The Society holds a full set of the staff magazines and they have been scanned and copies are available to buy through their website where they also offer a paid search service for those who wish to see if the magazines hold references to family members (more information here – opens as a PDF).

Staff publications in general can be an invaluable resource to expand our understanding of individuals and working practices. At ERO we hold magazines that cover a variety of dates that include a number of railway companies as well as Harlow Development Corporation, Railtrack and Marconi Installation Design Office.

The October 1918 issue of the GER staff magazine will be on display in the ERO Searchroom throughout March 2016.

Essex Sound and Video Archive releases first recordings online

Posted on February 17, 2016 by admin

The Essex Sound and Video Archive is delighted to announce that we have started to post a selection of our recordings online for anyone to listen for free – recordings such as this clip from a Harold Wood Hospital Radio programme about the old manual telephone exchange in Brentwood (SA 19/1050/1).

Image of Essex Youth Orchestra 45rpm lacquer disc from 1960

Example of an original recording in our collection that has been digitised for preservation and access

Thanks to funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund for our project, You Are Hear: sound and a sense of place, we aim to digitise and catalogue 1900 of the 30,000 fascinating, diverse sound and video recordings in the Archive.

Once the material is in digital form, we can upload it to the sound sharing website, Soundcloud. Researchers no longer have to travel to the Playback Room at the Essex Record Office to listen to the material – though you would still be welcome if you want the experience of listening to an actual cassette or cd. Instead, you can listen on your computer at home, or download the Soundcloud app and listen on the go with your mobile or tablet.

We will be adding material gradually over the next three years – material such as this oral history interview with Ann Chapman (SA 13/7/2/1). It was recorded in 2010 at Fryerns Library, as part of their fiftieth anniversary celebrations. In Part 2 of the interview, Ann describes her childhood delight at jumping in muddy puddles when her family first moved to Basildon after living in crowded, built-up London. She then describes the many shopkeepers that offered door-to-door deliveries – though she also enjoyed trips to the shops with her mother.

From summer 2016, we will be showcasing a selection of our recordings on interactive touchscreen kiosks and listening benches that will tour public locations across the county. Our Essex Sounds website will provide an opportunity to compare the sounds of Essex, past and present: historic sounds of places in Essex from the Archive will be pinned together with new recordings made by our Sound Recordist, Stuart Bowditch. People will also be able to pin their own sound recordings to the map, to help create a representative range across the county.

All these recordings are being made available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial licence. If you wish to use any material for commercial purposes, please get in touch. You can also get in touch if you are interested in listening to recordings that have not yet been uploaded to Soundcloud.

To receive updates about the You Are Hear project, sign up to our mailing list.

For more information about the Essex Sound and Video Archive and the digitisation and consultancy services we provide, please visit our website.

In search of Messing Hall: an adventure in old maps

Posted on February 9, 2016 by admin

We are in the midst of preparing for our next ‘on the map’ outreach event, which will take place in the village of Messing near Tiptree on Saturday 19 March 2016. We have done a few of these events in different locations around the county, taking a timeline of maps from our collection out for a special pop-up display.

One of the maps we will be taking with us on this occasion is this 1650 map showing the lands of Messing Hall (D/DH P1).

‘A survey of all the lands appertaineing to Messing Hall in the county of Essex with the number of acres the wch was surveyed by William Bacon and Benedict Coule’ (D/DH P1)

Messing Hall itself is shown to the east of the village centre as a very grand moated building, with a farm to the north.

The map is part of a collection of papers relating to the Luckyn family of Messing. Sir Capel Luckyn acquired the estate of Messing Hall in 1650, so presumably he commissioned the map as he took possession of his grand new property.

The map makes an immediate visual impact, but on closer inspection bears only a passing resemblance to the actual layout of Messing – cue ERO staff members scratching their heads and poring over maps, aerial photos and any histories of Messing we could get our hands on, trying to work out what the 1650 map actually showed us.

Trying to work it all out

The 6″ : 1 mile Ordnance Survey map of 1874

To begin with it all seemed a confusing mess. While the 1650 map shows the grand Messing Hall on a road heading east out of the village, the Ordnance Survey map of 1874 shows that there is no such road, leaving us with a mystery to solve – where was Messing Hall? The representation of it on the map no doubt blows the size of the house out of all proportion, but clearly an important property existed and we could find no obvious sign of it on any later maps.

There were two main candidates for the site – Harborough Hall, to the south of the village, and Messing Lodge, to the north.

Our sights first landed on Harborough Hall – it was the closest substantial property to the village, and sits on a bend in the road, as does the property on the 1650 map. We read that the manors of Messing and Harboroughs merged in the 1400s, so perhaps the names had been used interchangeably.

Messing Lodge, meanwhile, just seemed too far from the village and too far north. Could the 1650 map really be that inaccurate?

We hunted for anything that would help us tie up the things represented on the 1650 map with more accurate later maps.

Our first breakthrough came from matching up Oynes Brook, shown on the 1650 map, with Domsey Brook shown on later maps. Once we had found the brook, we were able to match up the forked road shown in the 1650 map to the north of Messing Hall with the fork shown in later maps above Messing Lodge. Although not quite the same shape, on both maps one fork crosses the brook (and stops short just after it), and the other fork becomes ‘Easthop way’ or ‘Easthorpe Road’. There are also water features on the 1897 map which could relate to the moat shown in 1650.

Portion of the 1650 map showing Messing Hall compared with 1897 map showing Messing Lodge

This was pleasing evidence, and was further supported by some of the field names surrounding the property.

Fields named ‘Charcums’ near Messing Hall

The 1650 map shows ‘Great Charcums’, ‘Charcum meadow’ and ‘Charcums spring’ to on the opposite side of the road to Messing Hall. On the tithe map of 1839, fields near to Messing Lodge are known as ‘Little Chalkhams’ and ‘Great Chalkhams’.

With the evidence of the brook, the fork in the road, the road to Easthorpe and the Charcum/Chalkhams field names, we think we have a satisfactory answer to our mystery, and we can put Messing Hall back on the map.

One of the joys of research is problem solving, and the excitement when things finally fall into place, especially when you can share that joy with fellow researchers.

Fortunately for the 1650 map, what lacks in accuracy it makes up for in exuberance. Come along to see it for yourself at Messing about with Maps on Saturday 19 March at Messing Village Hall.

Messing about with Maps

A chance to see historic maps of Messing kept at the Essex Record Office in Chelmsford, including a hand-drawn map from 1650 and the Messing tithe map of 1839.

Saturday 19 March, 10.30am-3.00pm

Messing Village Hall, The Street, Messing, CO5 9TN

Just drop in, suggested donation of £2.00

New team member: Catherine Norris, Sound and Video Digitiser

Posted on February 4, 2016 by admin

Since we were awarded a grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund for our You Are Hear project, we have been able to recruit a new team member to work on digitising some of our unique sound recordings to make them easier to access, and to preserve them for the future.

Name: Catherine Norris

Role: Sound & Video Digitiser

Why did you want to work at ERO?

I have always been interested in historical recordings and how they can be restored and digitised. I love stories and I’ve always liked the idea of oral history interviews because of the stories that people tell, and if they were not recorded then those stories would be lost forever.

I hate the fact that I never recorded my Grandmas talking as both were great storytellers. One told tales of bombs falling during the WWII on the Library where she worked in Liverpool, books flying everywhere and hiding behind the counter. When it was calm she would sit down and have a nice cup of tea and a slice of cake! The other told of how on the night of when she married my Grandad he went off to Burma. She didn’t see him for a long time and spoke about how she coped on her own.

So when I found out that there was a sound archive at ERO and about the You Are Hear project I knew that I wanted to work here, as being able to preserve stories of the past for future generations is a pretty amazing thing to be able to do!

Describe an average day at ERO for you:

Each day really depends on what collection I’m working on. At the moment I am mainly working with Cassette tapes so I have to make sure that my equipment is working properly and is clean. I also have to make sure the tapes are not damaged in any way, because they need to be in a condition where I am able to digitise them.

Digitisation starts with making the best recording I can of a tape which will then become the master copy. Once that is done I create an access copy and make sure that it sounds as best as it can by using processing and software and of course by using my ears!

There is an amount of problem solving and technical analysis to my day which probably sounds really boring, but I love doing it because I know that I am giving each piece of audio the chance to sound as good as it can.

What do you do when you’re not at ERO?

I am a big music lover so I do spend a lot of time collecting and listening to records. I also enjoy spending time going to gigs and watching films. Most of my time though is spent being a mum to my 10 year old daughter who keeps me very busy!

Can you tell us about an interesting document you have come across while at ERO?

I’ve enjoyed working on a collection about Harlow New Town where residents were recorded for an oral history project to talk about their memories of moving to their new houses post WWII.

I found the collection really interesting because it’s a very diverse collection of stories and memories. Each of the residents had different backgrounds and had come from different ways of life before moving there.

_________________________________________________________________________

You can listen to some of the recordings that we have digitised so far on our SoundCloud page.

Document of the Month, February 2016: Oath book, 1714-1716

Posted on February 1, 2016 by admin

Archivist Katharine Schofield tells us about her choice for February’s Document of the Month.

From the mid-17^th century onwards, holders of public office were required to take oaths swearing allegiance to the monarch, denying the right of the deposed Stuart family to the throne, declaring the monarch to be the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and denying the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation (the belief that during the ceremony of the Mass the bread and wine offered miraculously become the body and blood of Christ). In effect, this meant that public offices were denied to Roman Catholics, who would not have been able to swear to such things.

This oath book (Q/RRo 1/5) is part of the records of the Essex Quarter Sessions – the county authority which preceded the County Council. The book records details of those who had taken local public office, and who therefore swore the required oaths of allegiance, abjuration and supremacy, and made a declaration against transubstantiation.

The whole book contains about 1,000 names, with parishes and occupations of those subscribing between 1714 and 1716. Special sessions were held in various places in Essex to make it easier for people to travel. These names were recorded at an adjourned Quarter Sessions held at the Angel in Kelvedon on 13 December 1715 at the height of the Jacobite Rebellion. The next session was held at the Old Tavern in Colchester the following day and records those from the north-east of the county.

The names in this opening are mostly from central Essex. Most of those recorded are parish and chief constables of hundreds. Church of England ministers also took the oaths and those listed here include the incumbents of Prittlewell, Tolleshunt Knights, Feering and Great Totham, as well as the Revd. Edward Bently, dissenting minister of Coggeshall. Four schoolmasters from Hempstead, Prittlewell, Witham and Coggeshall are among the names recorded here, together with a number of other public officials – Samuel Newton, postmaster of Witham, John Jorden ‘officer of Excise of Salt at Heybridg’, Joseph Waddingham, excise officer at Earls Colne and John Potter of Wakes Colne, assessor. Also listed are John White of Coggeshall, apothecary and John Raven of Kelvedon, writing master.

Quarter Sessions records contain all sorts of useful and fascinating details helpful for a range of different types of research. They encompass a huge range of topics, from cases heard by the Quarter Sessions courts which sat four times a year, to the licensing of victuallers, printing presses and slaughterhouses, and the maintenance of highways and planning of railways and canals. The Quarter Sessions began in 1388 and lasted until 1971. The Essex Quarter Sessions records are among the earliest and most complete in the country, dating back to 1555.

We are introducing a new workshop for 2016 which will provide a closer look at the fascinating snapshots of life in the past that these records provide. Discover: Quarter Sessions Records takes place on Wednesday 11 May 2016, 2.00pm-4.00pm. Tickets are £10 and need to be booked in advance on 033301 32500.

The blog of the Essex Record Office, the storehouse of Essex history

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