Preston St Mary 1830 to 1850: A selection of source material for local history research

This new booklet is available HERE.  (https://tinyurl.com/y3lbwp5o)  It includes

• The tithe map of 1838
• The Census of 1841
• Church Registers of Baptisms, Marriages & Burials
• The 'Mary Green Charity'

St Marys Church, Preston

From the FOREWORD:

"This booklet is the first in a series about rural life in the Lavenham area of Suffolk in the early Victorian period.  Using primary documentary evidence, the booklet will provide information about the people who lived and worked in Preston St Mary, and describe features of the farming landscape and countryside.  It will also provide evidence about the landowners many of whom did not live in the village.

Where possible, the census data and the tithe information have been linked.  In this way the exact whereabouts of where people lived and their related land-holdings can be traced.  Detailed maps showing field names and dwelling places provide a useful aid for researching the “hidden lives” of local people.  Researchers “doing family history” will find the parish registers particularly helpful. Each document is prefaced by descriptions and commentaries accompanied by explanatory tables and maps.

Transcribing the documents in their original form proved quite challenging.  Handwriting, for example, was often quite difficult to decipher.  At a time when most agricultural labourers were illiterate, the clerk, census enumerator or clergyman may well have had to make a guess as to spellings based on oral responses.  This has led to some “untidiness” especially in relation to surnames.  For example, Symonds is sometimes recorded as Simms, Hollocks as Hallicks, and Girling as Gurling.  The temptation to tidy up the data has been resisted so that transcribed documents remain as faithful as possible to the originals. 

Supplementary material will be available online at the Suffolk Local History Forum blog where the 1851 Census Returns for Preston St Mary will be particularly useful for readers who would like to check family details especially those related to age and location."

The following files are available in pdf now:

·         Preston St Mary: 1851 Census Returns

·         Preston St Mary 1838: Maps showing major farmers’ land holdings (over 40 acres)

·         Preston St Mary ‘Tithe Map Apportionment’ 1838, arranged by plot number

Forthcoming: Preston St Mary Terriers including 1834 and 1841 (SROB FL616/3/3-9)