The goal of this workshop is to make quick headway on developing a parish history, and to familiarise yourself with two important nineteenth-century documents that are available for most parishes in England and Wales; the tithe map and schedule, and the 1841 census. You'll associate the houses shown on the map with the names and occupations of heads of household in the census.
The workshop is divided into two sessions of about two hours. The first session will get you used to working with the data, and start recording it. After a bit of 'homework' you'll get together a few weeks later to compare notes, resolve problems, and consolidate the information the group has gathered.
From that information it will be possible to publish a simple map of the parish settlements showing most of the occupiers.
Sources and recording
The census for 1841 shows the names and occupations of the heads of household, and household members. It is usually possible to match these names of household heads to the occupiers of property listed in the tithe schedule, especially when the dates of the map and census are close together.
For each census head of household you'll look for a matching occupier name on the tithe schedule, which additionally gives the name of the landowner, name, land use, area and tithe value. The reference number on the schedule relates to the tithe map. You can then enter a record on a simple form, showing the census data and the tithe schedule reference, for example:
Place: Ringwould
Folio: 7
Page: 6
Surname: Farier
Firstname: George
Sex: m
Age: 55
Occupation: Ag Lab
Birth County KEN
Tithe ref: 233a
Background reading
If you have time before the workshop it will be worthwhile looking at topics on this website and at other internet resources.
On this site we have an article on Tithe surveys. For background on the 1841 census, have a look at the essay on the HistPop website.
The tithe schedules or apportionments for many Kent parishes are on the Kent Archaeology Society Research website
The tithe map images are available on CD-ROM's that can be purchased, from either the Centre for Kentish Studies or the Canterbury Cathedral Archives.
Ringwould
This section is specific to the parish workshop to be held at Kingsdown Village Hall 17 March 9:30-12:30 and 31 March 10:00-12:00
It will cost just £3.00 per person to cover copying expenditure, and refreshments will be available on both days.
For more information please contact us.
In 1841 Ringwould parish contained two main settlements with just 125 households and a population of 637. An outline of the history of population in nineteenth century Ringwould is here. You can view a transcript of the Ringwould tithe schedule here. We hope have use of copies of the original schedule images for the workshop. If you have a subscription to Ancestry you can browse the Ringwould census. Under Browse this Collection choose the county (Kent) and parish (Ringswould). Choose District 8 for Ringwould village and District 9 for Kingsdown.