Essex Past:
The Newsletter of the VCH in Essex
ISSUE 4 - AUTUMN 2004
We have just been informed that Essex County Council, a major contributor to VCH Essex, intends to reduce its grant substantially from June 1 st 2005. As a result, the VCH Essex Appeal needs to raise an additional £60,000 to ensure completion of the current volume in the year 2005/2006 and allow time for new long-term sources of funding to be identified. The full story and why we seriously need your help is explained in what follows .
Since 2000, VCH Essex has been working under a 5-year tripartite agreement between Essex County Council, the University of Essex, and the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. All parties have representation on an Advisory Board which also includes a number of independent members from within the Essex local history community. Under this agreement, Essex County Council has provided an annual grant of £87,000 (year 2000 prices, uprated each year for inflation) and office space at the ERO, supplemented by £10,000 a year raised by the generous donations of many individuals, societies and trusts to the VCH Essex Appeal Fund ( reg. char. 1038801 ). These funds are used to pay the University of Essex for salaries (including on-costs: pensions, NI etc.) of 2.6 staff plus the costs of research, although some deficit on the account has had to be met by the University of Essex. In return for 38 days per year teaching and supervision work by VCH staff, the University of Essex took over the administration of the project, became the employer of VCH staff, and has provided them with office space and IT support. The central VCH office at the Institute of Historical Research has continued to provide academic guidance and editing, architectural research support and IT support, and to bear full responsibility for, and all costs of, publishing the History.
All parties are in agreement that the new arrangements established in 2000 have functioned most effectively and wish to continue the exciting programmes of research, publication, education and outreach.
· The VCH published Volume X of the History in 2001, comprising the histories of 21 parishes in north Essex including the small towns of Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe.
· An ambitious research programme then started on two new volumes to cover parts of Tendring district, volume XI on the modern seaside resorts of Clacton, Walton and Frinton, and volume XII on the earlier history of those places and many neighbouring parishes.
· The VCH team started new collaborations with distinguished individual historians who will contribute special studies and with English Heritage on the architectural work for the two volumes.
· Collaborative work has also proceeded with two groups of volunteers working on different aspects of Clacton's history (Clacton in WWII; the 19 th -century censuses). The Clacton-at-War project and book has been an immense success, pioneering a new format for VCH in partnership with local people.
· A VCH Essex website has been created and the first drafts of new VCH texts placed on-line.
· The team has continued to contribute significant outreach activity in the county, liaising with local individuals and groups, assisting historical societies and projects, answering innumerable one-off enquiries, and now contributing to formal higher and life-long education through the University.
Unfortunately none of this successful activity has spared us from the effects of the financial pressure on the County Council arising from the changing nature of central government funding for local government and the commitment of the County Council to contain increases in council tax for Essex residents. The VCH Essex Advisory Board has now been informed that while the County Council remains committed to the project and wishes to enter another contract, it is likely to reduce its investment in the VCH project by 50% from June 1 st 2005. The University of Essex, suffering its own financial pressures, will neither be able to replace that loss of income nor to continue to fund the existing small deficit on the account in future. Overall, the probable reduction in grant income will lead to a shortfall in the VCH budget of over £60,000 from the year 2005-06 onwards, which will inevitably lead to a sharp cut in staffing (perhaps equivalent to 1.6 persons, leaving only 1 person remaining) with a commensurate decrease in activity and loss of necessary skills and depth.
The VCH Advisory Board and the VCH Essex Appeal Fund have been considering how this change in circumstances can be managed, how the investment in staff and volunteer time and public money already made can be protected, and how a future can be secured so that the immense benefits of having a local VCH can ultimately be provided to all the people of Essex. We will need to attract funding from new sources. This will involve some changes in the way VCH Essex works. Staff will need to identify external funding opportunities from business, development and regeneration schemes to pay for specific historical projects that are themselves important and attractive, but which will fit in with and continue to build the VCH series. This will place an additional burden on a small, research-based team, but the County Editor has already started formulating such an approach .
However, most pressing is the immediate situation in managing the funding cut in relation to current VCH work. In the short term, the Advisory Board deemed it essential that sufficient funds be raised to employ the current level of staff for at least one further year (i.e. 2005-06), so that the research and writing on Vol. XI can move towards completion and arrangements be put in train for publication. We call this a ‘transitional' phase, for it will allow some time for alternative arrangements to be explored, projects designed, and special funding sought. The
completion and publication of Volume XI will also enable a very positive approach to funders for new projects.
We, therefore, need your support now in order to ensure that this plan will work, that we will have the funds to produce Volume XI in a reasonable timescale, and that the project doesn't slow to a halt.
Donations large and small are invited from individuals and societies to the VCH Essex Appeal Fund. The Appeal is happy to receive one-off donations for any amount, or sums covenanted over a period of years that will help provide a regular income. Accompanying letters of support are also particularly welcome as they may assist in demonstrating the genuine and widespread support for the VCH project in the county when we approach grant-making trusts or businesses for help.
More than ever before, the future of the VCH depends on you !
Sir Alex Jarratt, CB DL, VCH Essex Appeal Fund
Dr Chris Thornton, County Editor, VCH Essex
Appeal contact : Mrs Patricia Herrmann , West Bowers Hall, Woodham Walter . Maldon, Essex cm9 6rz. Tel : 01245 222562. e-mail patriciaherrmann@talk21.com
Chairman's Report
As readers will see from the report prepared by Sir Alex Jarratt and Dr Chris Thornton, the going is tough for VCH generally and for Essex in particular. I wish I could say the future looks bright. It doesn't. Despite this, your generosity continues to be remarkable and I thank you sincerely for the faith you have in the VCH and our Appeal Fund.
Your committee has met regularly during the year at the house of the Vice-Chairman in Hatfield Peverel. At these meetings, Alex Jarratt and Chris Thornton have kept us abreast of their progress. I thank them for their work. I look forward to meeting you at the Annual General Meeting.
Chris Manning-Press, Chairman of the Appeal Fund
The EDITOR on VCH Essex Activities
The VCH staff and our volunteers have been continuing work on the seaside resorts for Volume XI. Shirley Durgan has completed a first draft of her history of ‘Frinton before 1914', and Chris Thornton and Herbert Eiden have been making progress with their sections, respectively, on ‘Clacton before 1914' and ‘Clacton, Walton and Frinton between the wars'.
IMAGE HERE
The rapid growth of Clacton in the 1890s encouraged
all building trades, including plumbing
Substantial pieces of excellent draft text have also arrived from our voluntary contributors, Andrew Senter, Peter Boyden and Paul Rusiecki, so the volume is beginning to take shape.
We would especially like to thank the staff at the Colchester and Chelmsford branches of the ERO, the Local Studies library, Colchester, and Clacton library, as well as the members of the Clacton and District Local History Society and the Frinton and Walton Heritage Trust, for their continuing support and access to their important collections.
At the beginning of May, Herbert gave a paper for the Friends of Colchester Museum and at the beginning of the following month Chris gave a lecture to the Essex Seniors Historical Group that meets at the Essex Record Office. Both Chris and Herbert manned a VCH stall at the Essex History Fair on July 11th, assisted by VCH Appeal Committee members Patricia Herrmann and Sir Alex Jarratt. It was a successful fair and drew in quite a crowd from the seafront. Our stall generated a good amount of interest and we distributed many hundreds of leaflets and newsletters and sold quite a few VCH offprints. Chris and Shirley have also prepared papers for a joint VCH and English Heritage conference ‘A Place in History: Perceptions of the Historic Environment' to be held at the Institute of Historical Research on October 26 th . Shortly afterwards all three VCH staff will attend a weekend conference at Cromer, October 29 th -31 st , on ‘England's Seaside Architecture'. VCH staff have also been active in the media (see the next article).
The VCH Clacton Group's book Clacton at War, 1939-45 published last year has now sold about 750 copies. The group has held several further meetings to start work on a new educational project for local schools based upon the materials they collected for the ‘Clacton at War' project. One of the main intentions is to create on-line resources for teachers and pupils to help with the primary school curriculum unit ‘What was it like for children in the Second World War?'.
Chris Thornton , Editor, VCH Essex
VCH Essex staff on television
The Editor of VCH Essex spent an exciting, if exhausting, time in St. Osyth filming with Channel 4's Time Team from 11-13 May. The Time Team crew, led by Tony Robinson (who played Baldrick in Blackadder) and Professor Mick Aston, had three days in which to complete an archaeological investigation into the medieval development of St. Osyth, and in particular into the question of how urbanised and wealthy the town had become by the later Middle Ages. The main focus of attention was the excavation of a suspected medieval wharf on the muddy banks of St. Osyth creek, while landscape and timber analysis was done at the former Augustinian Priory and some of the other medieval buildings in the town. Several test-pits were also dug throughout St. Osyth in search of medieval pottery. Chris had a busy time, dashing between various sites and buildings in order to give advice and interviews. We hope that, when the programme is broadcast early next year some of this material about the founding and wealth of St Osyth, the history of the trade and port in the town, and the ways in which historical documents could help contextualise the archaeological finds, will be included.
Just a few weeks after Chris took part in the making of the Time Team programme in St. Osyth, I was also interviewed by Tony Robinson, this time in the beautiful setting of Cressing Temple. My D.Phil. thesis on the English Peasants' Revolt of 1381 led to an invitation from the Oxford-based company Spire Films to contribute to a documentary, fronted by Tony Robinson, on the events of the Revolt. I spent the afternoon of Wednesday 7 July filming at Cressing Temple, which in 1381 was a manor belonging to the Order of the Knights' Hospitallers. My part was to offer insights into why Cressing Temple was attacked and the domestic buildings destroyed by the rebels, and what a loss that was for the then Prior of the Hospitallers in England, Sir Robert Hales. The documentary was broadcast on September 30 th .
Herbert Eiden
We hope many of you saw the programme about the Peasants' Revolt and will watch out for the Time Team episode on St Osyth. It is not often that we can see two tv-stars on their first appearances! Editor
In September 1904 there was considerable excitement in Clacton when the town was selected as the site of combined army and naval military manoeuvres. These were designed to test the military's ability to launch a seaborne invasion of a foreign country, with Essex being selected to represent the target. The defenders were led by Major-General A.S. Wynne, while the attacking forces were commanded by General Sir John French who was to lead the British Expeditionary Force a decade later.
The first landings took place east of the town, the troops being welcomed by an ‘immense crowd' on the cliffs and beach that can have done little for realism. Additionally, Clacton was soon crowded with military officers and umpires, royal visitors, politicians, other dignitaries, and foreign military attaches. Over the following week the manoeuvres stretched across the neighbouring countryside with numerous skirmishes, artillery duels and cavalry charges, the attacking force eventually penetrating far inland and successfully capturing Colchester.
The National Press remained unconvinced, correspondents complaining that the manoeuvres were unrealistic in form and that the lessons of the Boer War had clearly not been absorbed. Contemporary cartoonists were also cynical:
IMAGE HERE
It will be necessary in future for soldiers to qualify as interpreters in nautical language.The Clacton Graphic , meanwhile, soberly reported on a number of injuries, amputations and deaths amongst the soldiers and sailors, and the fatal accident of a military compensation officer who fell off his bike at St. Osyth perhaps whilst following an engagement too avidly. Reported with more relish were slips in military discipline, such as the case of three soldiers sentenced to hard labour after being apprehended (whilst under the influence) for the theft of confectionery from an “Automatic Cackling Hen” in Pier Avenue. In general, however, the town and its tradesmen clearly benefited from the event, local bakers providing thousands of loaves for the troops.
When war really came in 1914 the economic effects were, of course, much less positive.
Chris Thornton
A Bargain !
A well-wisher has kindly given to the VCH a work that can be sold to raise funds for the Appeal. It is a two-volume set of Thomas Wright's History and Topography of the County of Essex , published in 1836. The books have nice replacement bindings in leather and marble boards and internally they are in reasonably good condition – except that all the plates (apart from the frontispiece) have been removed!
Now, we all know of people who would like to own Wright's Essex solely for its plates. But true historians want it much more for the text – and here is your opportunity to acquire a real bargain. Without the plates, this set has been valued at a mere £60 (against the £400-500 fetched by one with plates intact).
So the Appeal Fund has decided to auction the books to the bidder offering the highest sum above that valuation. Please send your bid to the Secretary when returning your AGM form (you will find there a space where your figure can be entered and the form will, of course, give us details of your name and address).. The History will be presented to the highest bidder at our AGM on 24 November , yet another reason which we hope will persuade you to join us on that occasion.
Appeal Fund results 2003-2004
During the year, the Fund raised a total of £14,070.36. We received exceptionally generous donations from two Essex trusts: William Hunt and Augustine Courtauld; and likewise from our faithful supporters at the Essex Society for Family History. But, as this grateful Treasurer never tires of saying, the majority of our funding came from generous individuals, groups and societies, and these included many extra sums raised by our committee members and by the editors themselves. The success of the Clacton at War paperback was such that the VCH Clacton Group decided to repay the Fund's grant towards the printing costs of the publication; and we were also able to reclaim tax of almost £1,700, thanks to donors signing Gift Aid declarations.
During the year, our regular payments of £2,000 a quarter were made to the University of Essex to support the work of the VCH editorial team, augmented by an extra £2,000 at the 2003 AGM. In addition to grants to the two VCH volunteer groups, the Appeal Fund met all Library expenses and subscriptions to learned journals.
As a charity, we have to hold monies for committed expenditure, in our case the payments to the University, so we maintain a reserve of £6,000 in order to feel confident that we can honour that undertaking.
This year we received a handsome sum from a long-time supporter who had bequeathed a legacy to the VCH in his will. Please may I ask you to remember us when you are next considering making, or revising your will? It may sound like a lugubrious proposal, but I believe many donors would be happy to extend their generosity in this way.
Treasurer, Appeal Fund
At the very beginning of the year, we were greatly saddened by the death of the Revd. Christopher Studd, my predecessor as Treasurer of the Appeal Fund. Chris's wife, Pamela Studd, our committee member who has done so much splendid work for the Essex VCH, sought his help when we needed a Treasurer and Chris responded nobly. He was wise, gentle and perceptive, a much respected and greatly loved man of the cloth. We miss him.
Patricia Herrmann
The Future for Essex Archives
The Essex Archive Users Forum was established earlier this year, amid concerns over the loss of the post of County Archivist, to express the interests of those who use and value the ERO. It brings together representatives of the major county associations (including the VCH Appeal Fund Committee). Together they embody a membership of over 20,000.
The Forum now meets regularly with staff and members of the County Council to voice concerns and to be consulted on issues of service provision. At the second meeting, on 2 July 2004, a range of subjects was discussed. The Council is currently reviewing the services it offers in relation to those London boroughs which were formerly in the county of Essex and where the Record Office still holds records as a historical legacy. The Council sees this as an anomaly at the expense of Essex council tax payers. Options for the future are being discussed and a consultation phase is promised for later in the year.
Simultaneously the Council has commissioned a consultants' report on ways of making better use of (and increasing income from) parts of the ground floor of the ERO building in Chelmsford.
The meeting also heard of the Council's need to review its level of support to VCH Essex. While the Council acknowledged that VCH "provides a major contribution to education and lifelong learning", readers already know from the first article in this issue of Essex Past that ECC has been obliged to cut deep into its current annual grant.
Although the Forum is primarily focused on the Council's archive services, we received a report at our request on parallel efforts to reduce costs within the Archaeology Service . Over coming months there will be discussions with the Essex District Councils on a more equitable sharing of costs for the maintenance of the Essex Heritage Conservation Record and the provision of expert advice to Districts on the archaeological aspects of some 22,000 planning applications a year.
Among subjects for future meetings are ERO's educational services and the Archives Service Points established in Harwich, Saffron Walden and Loughton, the use of which is under review.
Anyone wishing to bring views to the attention of the Forum should contact the Convenor, Maureen Scollan at 22 Abercorn Way, Witham, CM8 2UF (mjscollan@macace.net).
Vic Gray
My name is Sarah Gilbert and between 5 th and 16 th July 2004, inclusive, I spent two weeks with the Victoria County History for Essex. My job was to assist Dr Chris Thornton and Dr Herbert Eiden in looking after the VCH Appeal Fund library collection. I decided to spend my work experience with the VCH, and the Department of History in which it is based, as I am considering either archaeology or historical research as a career.
Most days, I had to find books and catalogue them on a computer database. If I found something with a severe case of mould (or what looked like bubonic plague in one instance), then I had to separate it off. The VCH collection is larger than I expected, especially when all the court rolls are taken into consideration. However, my favourite book had to be one that was two inches thick, about the size of an A3 sheet of paper, roughly one hundred years old, and entirely devoted to the Essex Hedge.
I enjoyed my time spent with the History Department and the VCH enormously. A highlight would have to be accompanying Dr Eiden to a television programme recording to which he was contributing, especially as I got to meet Tony Robinson and lots of other very nice people. I have now entered my final year of secondary school and will be sitting all of my GCSEs in June 2005 (including history).
Sarah's brief sojourn at VCH was immensely useful. As a result of her efforts in the Department, the Editors now have a proper computerised catalogue of most of the items in our Library. We thoroughly enjoyed having her working with us and wish Sarah the very best with her examinations next year. CT
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The VCH Essex newsletter, which is distributed to all our donors, is published twice a year (spring and autumn) by The Victoria County History of Essex Appeal Fund, a registered charity number 1038801.
It is printed by Contact Reprographics at the Cowdray Centre, Colchester.
For information (and for additional copies of this issue) please contact the Hon Secretary, Patricia Herrmann, at West Bowers Hall, Woodham Walter, Maldon, Essex CM9 6RZ