Surrey Heritage
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Discovering,
Preserving, Celebrating
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www.surreycc.gov.uk
Making Surrey a better place
Contents
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Welcome from Pat Reynolds
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Stewards of the past: uncovering and preserving Surrey’s heritage
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Spreading the word, forging partnerships
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Supporting communities, enriching lives
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Celebrating diversity, revealing hidden histories
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Looking to the future: working with young people
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To the ends of the earth: digital developments
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Front cover image: Home educated children discovering the delights of Roman food
Left: Bramley church looking east, watercolour by Edward Hassell, 1828, SHC: 8877/2/357
Welcome from Pat Reynolds
Surrey Heritage unites Surrey County Council’s expertise in discovering,
preserving and celebrating our County’s amazing history. We are based
at Surrey History Centre in Woking where the written memory of our
County – archives and rare books – as well as maps, engravings, sound
recordings and digital records is stored on more than six miles of
shelving. These rich materials illuminate all aspects of Surrey’s past but
are also a major source for national and international history, as relevant
for people today as they will be for our successors, looking back on the
cultural legacy of this Olympic year.
Our skilled staff can help you to discover and use these historic materials
and also protect and understand Surrey’s archaeology, historic buildings
and artefacts. We provide impartial advice on all aspects of managing
and preserving the County’s historic environment and offer high quality
archaeological services to commercial and public sector clients. We
also provide a vital link with schools, colleges, museums and a wide
range of partners to help you discover Surrey’s history and ensure that
the experiences of the County’s diverse communities are recorded and
preserved.
Among the developments in 2011 which you can learn more about in the
following pages are the community archaeology excavation of the site of
Woking Palace; the deposit of a magnificent collection of papers relating
to the notorious Guildford pub bombings; the celebration throughout
the year of Surrey’s sporting heritage; and our partnerships with a host of
other organisations to ensure Surrey’s past is treasured for everyone to be
inspired by.
Surrey Heritage is currently undergoing a public value review, which will
set the direction of our work over the coming years. I am confident that
it will enable us to develop and enhance our stewardship of our County’s
heritage, for the benefit of everyone.
Dr. Pat Reynolds
Heritage Manager
www.surreycc.gov.uk/surreyheritage
www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk
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‘You do such important work there. Without
your work nothing would be secured for future
generations, it’s absolutely vital.’
Mrs Bras, depositor
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Between April 2010 and March 2011 478 enthusiastic volunteers gave Surrey Heritage a
spectacular 13,504 hours of their time
Stewards of the past: uncovering and
preserving Surrey’s heritage
An ever-growing collection: new accessions to the archive
The archive and local studies service, represented by our Public Services
and Stewardship and Preservation Teams, is a front line service that
rescues, preserves and makes accessible the documentary history of
Surrey. In addition to the Four Star rating awarded us by The National
Archives, we were delighted to receive a 100% user satisfaction rating
in the national Survey of Visitors to British Archives in early 2011 and
gratified, in March 2012, to be voted ‘Archive of the Year’ by readers of
Your Family History Magazine.
In 2011 we received 298 new accessions from external depositors
(ranging from single documents to over 70 large file boxes) and
26 transfers from Surrey County Council departments. That is
approximately 16 cubic metres. A full list of these accessions is on our
website.
The largest deposit comprised papers accumulated by the solicitor
Alastair Logan OBE, relating to the notorious case of the Guildford
Four and Maguire Seven. The bombings of the Horse and Groom
and the Seven Stars public houses in Guildford by the IRA took place
on 5 October 1974. Five people died and at least sixty-five people were
injured. Some 46 people were arrested and four were found guilty of the
bombings in October 1975 - Gerald Conlon, Paul Hill, Patrick Armstrong
and Carole Richardson. Conlon’s testimony implicated his aunt Annie
Maguire and her family and they were convicted in 1976. Two appeals
failed but profound questions remained about the safety of the verdicts
and police conduct during the investigation and the case was taken up
by Cardinal Basil Hume, Roy Jenkins, Merlyn Rees, and the Law Lords
Scarman and Devlin. In 1989 the verdicts were quashed and a public
inquiry chaired by Sir John May revealed the depth of malpractice and
collusion among the authorities. Mr Logan was involved at every stage
of the trials and appeals and the copious records he kept will be a key
source for the legal battles and the wider events surrounding them.
With the approach of the Olympics, sporting organisations were
well represented among depositors. The Surrey County Football
Association deposited records stretching back to 1897 and the Cyclists
Touring Club deposited papers documenting their activities since
1924. We were also delighted to receive the records of The Centurions
walking club, established in 1911 for amateur walkers who had completed
100 miles in 24 hours in competition. Their major event was the London
to Brighton and Back (104 miles) promoted every four years by the
Surrey Walking Club.
In a year of profound economic gloom, some accessions recalled earlier
periods of crisis, when the very survival of the nation appeared to be
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in question. The Godley Hundred Yeomanry was formed in 1803 by
Edgell Wyatt when war with Napoleon’s France had broken out again
and at a time when “everything which is dear to us is threatened with
annihilation by the implacable enemy of mankind”. This troop of
volunteer cavalrymen, decked out in dark blue, silver-trimmed uniforms,
aimed to ensure domestic peace and thwart any invasion. A minute and
account book document their activities through to their dissolution in
1824. In 1914, when Britain was again faced with global war, many
large houses were requisitioned as temporary war hospitals. Clandon
Park Military Hospital opened on 14 October 1914 and was equipped
by Lord and Lady Onslow as a first line hospital, receiving casualties
from the front and staffed by a matron, a theatre sister, five sisters in
charge of wards, three staff nurses and members of the Voluntary
Aid Detachment. Letters sent to Lord and Lady Onslow document
the difficulties of running such an establishment. Local civilians were
called on again when war broke out in 1939. Helen Lloyd (1899-1977)
of Albury became Women’s Voluntary Service Centre Organiser in
Guildford Rural District, overseeing the billeting of evacuated children
and the reception of exhausted soldiers returning from Dunkirk. The
ten volumes of her diary cover the years 1940 to 1945 and are particularly
detailed for the period 1940-41 when the fear of invasion and the
possibility of defeat haunted the country.
We have also been active in salerooms. In July, with assistance from
Surrey Archaeological Society, Surrey History Trust and Guildford
Museum, we acquired two beautiful volumes of engravings, printed
ephemera and original drawings and watercolours of Guildford and its
environs, compiled by the bookseller Thomas Thorp of Guildford. In
November, aided by the Friends of the National Libraries and Surrey
History Trust, we purchased two 18th century surveys containing
meticulous, hand drawn maps of the estates of the Clayton family of
Marden Park in Woldingham, covering over 10,000 acres in eastern
Surrey.
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Guildford Bridge, watercolour by anonymous artist, c.1800, SHC: 8877/1/327
Archive conservation and preservation
Ensuring the long term preservation of our collections is one of
our chief concerns. Damaged documents are repaired by our skilled
conservators so they can be consulted. Such work requires scientific
knowledge of the composition of paper and other record media over the
centuries and superb craft skills. Our work this year included the repair
of the first male case book for the Manor Hospital in Epsom covering
the years 1899 to 1901, which had been badly damaged by damp. The
hospital was established by London County Council for care of the
mentally disabled and this haunting volume includes photographs of
patients.
Our conservators have also repaired 52 maps relating to the
implementation of the 1910 Finance Act. The Act was one of Lloyd
George’s measures in his 1909 ‘People’s Budget’ to raise revenue through
taxing increases in property value. Detailed maps and schedules were
compiled recording owners, occupiers, property details and values –
rather like a 20th century Domesday Survey. The maps arrived from local
valuation offices having suffered from decades of rough handling and
have required extensive repair.
Repair is a long and costly process and much of our work is preventative,
ensuring documents do not deteriorate. Good cleaning and packaging
is crucial, and volunteers play a large part. One volunteer has been
flattening and repackaging a superb, but tightly folded set of 19th century
sale particulars of the Dorking auctioneers and valuers, White and Sons,
and others have rebound a series of reports on the furnishings of Surrey
churches by local groups of the National Association of Decorative and
Fine Arts Societies.
One of the great challenges facing archives internationally is preserving
records in digital formats, when software and hardware become obsolete
so quickly. This year we have begun working in partnership with The
National Archives in a pilot project to preserve through the Internet
Memory Foundation websites of significance for the history of the
County.
Development control
Water damaged Manor Hospital male patients case book, 18991901, before and after repair, SHC: 6282/14/1
Our Heritage Conservation Team plays a key role in development control
across the county. One of the busiest teams in the UK, they provide
expert advice to local authorities across Surrey on developments affecting
archaeological sites and historic buildings and landscapes. In 2010-11,
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the team dealt with over 900 planning applications, and recommended
‘conditions’ on over 400 sites.
The Historic Environment Record (HER) continues to advise planning
authorities and developers of the implications of proposed development.
We have seen an increase in enquiries this year and received funding from
Natural England for the SHINE 2012 project, which has enabled us to
create more accurate maps of Surrey’s archaeological sites.
The implications of the new Planning Policy Statement no. 5: Planning and
the Historic Environment, are still being assessed. For example, Tandridge
District Council now requires all non-householder applicants for planning
permission to consult the HER. This has increased our workload but
greatly improved the protection of the Historic Environment.
Heritage Conservation Team Manager Dr Joe Flatman has recently
published two books including references to his experiences at Surrey
County Council that highlight the economic value of heritage to the
community and the strategic leadership of Surrey Heritage. Becoming
an Archaeologist: A Guide to Professional Pathways (Cambridge University
Press, 2011) is a guide to careers in archaeology and has been voted
Current Archaeology’s ‘Book of the Year’ for 2012. Archaeology in Society:
Its Contemporary Relevance (Springer Press, 2012), explores the place of
archaeology in the modern commercial world.
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Staff from Surrey Heritage investigating human remains found at Fetcham
The Portable Antiquities Scheme
In 2011 nearly 2000 archaeological finds, chiefly by metal detector users,
were added to the Portable Antiquities Scheme’s database by Surrey’s
Finds Liaison Officer. The number of Surrey finds recorded to date
is nearly 8000, of which almost half are coins. Of these coins nearly
1400 are Roman. The year’s star find was a medieval seal matrix from
Cobham, identified as the seal of the Augustinian Priory of St Mary and
St Wulfad in Stone, Staffordshire, and now on display in Stone church.
Comparison with a cast seal impression at the British Library showed that
this originated from the Cobham matrix. Other finds from Surrey in 2011
have included a fine Late Bronze Age socketed axe from Wonersh and an
interesting new site near Charlwood which has been producing Iron Age
and Roman gold and silver coins.
The seal of the Priory of St Mary and St Wulfad in Stone, Staffordshire. The
impression held by the British Library is on the left, and the seal matrix from
Cobham on the right.
The Archaeological Unit
Surrey County Archaeological Unit (SCAU)’s programme of
development-led fieldwork in 2011 has primarily consisted of small
scale evaluations or watching briefs across Surrey and its neighbours.
This work was undertaken on behalf of clients in order to satisfy their
requirements regarding planning permission. Excavation of a site near
Bletchingley revealed that people in the Mesolithic period (8000-4000 BC)
used the area as a frequent stopping place in their hunting expeditions
and also uncovered remains of 12th century field systems obliterated by a
new hunting park for the lord of the manor.
Iron Age gold quarter stater coin found at Charlwood
It is vital that a full report is prepared of archaeological discoveries, and
that wherever practical this is published so the knowledge gained can
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be appreciated by the widest possible public. The highlight for SCAU in
2011 was the completion of a major monograph on prehistoric sites near
Chertsey, the fourth volume in our own SpoilHeap Publications series.
Other major reports made excellent progress, and the next two SpoilHeap
monographs will be on the very rare and important Late Upper
Palaeolithic sites at Church Lammas, Staines, and Wey Manor Farm, near
Addlestone, and the Mesolithic site at Bletchingley, periodically visited
over a scarcely imaginable period of around 4000 years. We also published
a popular full colour account of the Woking Palace excavations.
Medieval pottery is commonly found in archaeological work and,
because its forms and fabrics change frequently through time, it is the
fundamental basis for dating periods of occupation. It is a complex
subject and Phil Jones of SCAU is a widely recognised expert and has
often assisted members of Surrey Archaeological Society to identify
medieval pottery types, notably those uncovered during test-pitting
around the villages and towns of Surrey. We have therefore created a
fabric type series collection to assist independent identification and held
two training sessions for Society members.
Wealden glass project
English Heritage commissioned SCAU to undertake surveys of medieval
glass production sites in the Weald. Keen to involve the community in
heritage projects, SCAU sought a group of volunteers to assist with
surveying and processing and cataloguing the artefacts discovered. The
project will further our understanding of the medieval glass industry of
the Surrey and Sussex border. Thus far, we have investigated 19 suspected
furnace sites using geophysical and topographic surveys and field walking
and have accurately located several furnaces for the first time. The glass
recovered was found to be from bottles, windows and the manufacturing
process.
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Local people taking part in the Woking Palace Archaeology project 2011
Woking Palace Archaeology Project (Old Woking)
A third season of excavation work at Woking Palace organised by SCAU,
the Friends of Woking Palace and Surrey Archaeological Society (SAS),
supported by Woking Borough Council, took place in July 2011. This
large moated site was the manor house of Woking soon after the manor
was granted to Alan Basset in 1189. During the next three centuries it
was occupied by royalty and those close to the throne, most notably Lady
Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII. In 1503 Henry VII made it
a Palace, and it remained a royal house until 1620, when it was granted
to Sir Edward Zouch, and soon after mostly demolished. Exceptionally
interesting remains include well-preserved moats, ruined and standing
structures, and fishponds.
The team uncovered Tudor kitchens, the gatehouse and a lovely gold
hatpin, set with precious stones (probably rubies) in a fleur-de-lys pattern
of c1450-1550 which surely belonged to someone of very high status,
perhaps royalty.
A key part of the project was public involvement. Nearly 200 people,
including 50 children, had their first taste of life in an archaeological
trench and experienced at first hand the processes through which
evidence of the past is obtained from the soil.
‘Thank you (and the team!) I had such a great afternoon. Eyes
opened to the wonders of Tudor Surrey. Feel very privileged to
have been part of your dig. Will be watching the website to see
what else you uncover!’
Local people taking part in the Woking Palace Archaeology project 2011
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‘Finally, on behalf of the Club, may I
thank you and your staff for all the hard and
painstaking work that you have done.
We
are happy that our records are now in safe
hands, while I hope they will prove useful to
other researchers.’
Mr Graham Ashton, Thames Ditton Cricket Club
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Our Heather D Hawker searchroom provides an ideal environment for the public to consult historical records.
Spreading the word, forging
partnerships
‘I’m writing to give my highest possible praise to the staff, and
the holdings, of the Surrey History Centre. I depend upon the
In 2011 6,000 people visited our public searchroom and looked at 26,749 reading room’s entire staff--for information, instructions and
documents.
advice. I have never worked in such a congenial environment,
in which every staff person seems genuinely delighted to be
We handled nearly 14,000 archive or local studies enquiries by phone,
there; they are unfailingly generous and patient with each
email or letter. Many people are researching their Surrey ancestors or
person who needs their assistance. The reading room is filled
tracing the history of their house or village but our rich collections have
with people searching for all kinds of information--often about
also been used for studies of early photography, Surrey artists, garden
history, the planning of the M25, Surrey in wartime, 18th century musical their own families’ histories, and I have witnessed firsthand
instruments and the experience of patients in county asylums. Some
how profound an impact the collection has had on their
enquiries, because they relate to sensitive and sometimes distressing
lives. … the Centre has holdings of international, scholarly
records, require particular care in handling. In 2011 we dealt with 260
significance, and a staff that knows those holdings inside and
requests under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) and Data
Protection Act (1998) for permission to access records relating to patients out--and makes them readily available. The future of my
research--and that of many others--depends upon the Centre,
in Surrey’s mental hospitals, children in care and inquests presided over
and I hope it continues to receive the support it deserves.’
by the county coroner.
Using the collections
The expertise we can offer to family historians has been greatly enhanced
by the success of Jane Lewis in obtaining a Diploma in Genealogical
Studies from Strathclyde University. Now a fully qualified genealogist,
Jane regularly trains her colleagues in the latest online genealogical
material.
Professor Susan Sidlauskas, New Jersey
‘I can’t thank your team enough for what you have done for
me by sending all the copies of his name on the log books and
his inquest. For me that was important. I never thought any
of this information would ever be found after all these years.’
Mrs LJ about her late brother’s inquest.
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Images and details of items from our collections appeared in many
books, magazines, website, electronic media and exhibitions across the
world
1,126,195 pages were viewed on 454,148 visits to our websites
We maintained a strong media presence with interviews on local radio,
press features and contributions to television programmes such as ‘The
Queen’s Hidden Cousins’ on Channel 4.
Our Outreach Work
Heritage helps people discover and value their local community and our
extensive programme of talks, events and displays promotes learning and
community cohesion.
In 2011 we gave 41 talks to local societies and took part in 207 events,
ranging from the world’s largest family history event, ‘Who Do You
Think You Are? Live’ at Olympia, to historical re-enactments of cricket,
baseball, cycling and horse racing at venues across the county (about
which more below).
RC Sherriff and Journey’s End: the man behind the play
The Great War inspired an outpouring of poetry and fiction, which
still resonates today. The most famous British play inspired by the war
is undoubtedly Journey’s End by Robert Cedric Sherriff, which depicts
life on the Western Front with a realism based on his own experience
with the 9th Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment. First performed in
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Private Sherriff in uniform, shortly after enlisting, c.1916, SHC: 2332/Box 12
1929, with an unknown Laurence Olivier as Captain Stanhope, the play
convinced audiences that they were being shown trench life as it really
was. Sherriff ’s papers are among our most treasured collections. They
include his letters home from the trenches and scripts for the many
stage, screen and radio adaptations of his masterpiece along with his
later output as a major Hollywood scriptwriter, such as scripts for The
Invisible Man, The Dambusters and Goodbye Mr Chips.
in Redhill from 1926 until 1935. It included recorded interviews with
former pupils recounting happy memories of games, mischief and
friendship and the pain of growing up in a loveless and often harsh
environment and was accompanied by rare archive footage of everyday
life in the Hospital. Transcripts of the interviews will soon be deposited
with Surrey History Centre.
In Autumn 2011, David Grindley’s acclaimed production of Journey’s
End came to The New Victoria Theatre, Woking. In a joint initiative
with the theatre, Surrey Heritage produced a display revealing Sherriff ’s
experiences as an officer in the East Surreys and how the horrors of
life in the mud of Flanders directly inspired the play. The display, based
at both Surrey History Centre and the theatre, was seen by over 7500
people.
Foundling Voices - the links between Surrey and the country’s
oldest childcare charity
England’s oldest childcare charity, the Foundling Hospital, was the first
purpose built home for children whose mothers were unable to care
for their babies themselves because of poverty or social exclusion. The
hospital, now children’s charity Coram, was established in Bloomsbury, by
Royal Charter in 1739 by shipbuilder and philanthropist, Thomas Coram.
He received support from many leading figures of the time, including
William Hogarth and George Frederic Handel.
In Summer 2011 we hosted a fine exhibition based on the Heritage
Lottery funded project ‘Foundling Voices’. The exhibition, seen by
1,983 people, explored Surrey’s links with the Hospital, which was based
The Foundling Voices exhibition was in our foyer in May 2011.
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Surrey History Centre is a winner!
A unique photograph from our archives won a national competition
to capture ‘100 Images of Migration’, organised by The Guardian in
partnership with The Migration Museum Project. The photograph, of
around 1870, shows John Springfield of Guildford, a freed slave from
Zanzibar. His extraordinary story caught the eye of judges Barbara
Roche, former Minister for Immigration, Kwame Kwei-Armah, actor and
playwright, Afua Hirsch, The Guardian’s legal correspondent, and Danny
Sriskandarajah, director of the Royal Commonwealth Society. According
to family legend, John was the son of a Zanzibar chief and was
kidnapped aged 9 by Portuguese sailors. Rescued by David Livingstone,
he served on HMS Victoria and was renamed. He preached against
slavery in America but finally settled in Guildford with his wife, working
as a bootmaker and teaching cobbling at the Guildford Mission Industrial
School. He died in 1891 and is buried in Stoughton Road cemetery. For
his full story see our Exploring Surrey’s Past website at
http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/news/001009.html
Surrey Museums Month
Surrey Museums Month each April celebrates our 43 museums
and galleries and promotes the outstanding events, family activities,
workshops and exhibitions they offer all year. The 2011 theme was
“A History of Surrey in 50 Objects,” inspired by the successful BBC
and British Museum project. This highlighted ‘stars’ of our museums’
collections, reflecting significant moments, people, industry and
discoveries whose impact not only shaped Surrey history but spread far
beyond. Alongside a wide range of events and a family Treasure Trail
competition, we recruited a previous heritage work experience student to
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John Springfield of Zanzibar and Guildford, c.1870, SHC: 1714/1
conduct and edit video diaries of curators talking about their objects for
our website. Our launch event evening of speakers and a photographic
exhibition was hosted by The Lightbox in Woking.
‘Surrey Museums Month is such a great way of pulling us all
together and the object talks were fascinating.’
P.Cox, Elmbridge Museum.
Our Sporting Life and Surrey’s Sporting Life 2011
The ‘Our Sporting Life’ and ‘Surrey’s Sporting Life 2011’ programme
celebrated Surrey’s rich sporting heritage through a display and reenactments, and was awarded the London 2012 Inspire Mark. The ‘Our
Sporting Life’ display, part of a unique and ambitious national celebration
of British sport organised by the Sports Heritage Network, was exhibited
at 13 venues across Surrey.
Austin Playfoot, 1948 Olympic torch runner, with
Chairman of the Council, Mrs Lavinia Seeley, at Box
Hill, May 2011.
One of the historic sporting landmarks celebrated was the baseball
game which the diarist William Bray of Shere recorded as taking place
on Easter Monday 1755, the earliest known manuscript reference to the
sport. On Sunday 19th June 2011, a historic re-enactment of the match
took place at the Surrey Sports Park, alongside 2,400 competitors at the
Surrey Youth Games. A team dressed in fine 1755 costumes, provided by
Surrey Heritage, took on a team from the Guildford Mavericks, dressed
in modern baseball kit.
Other events staged through the year included a vintage women’s cycling
event demonstrating the famous knickerbocker suits made famous by
Lady Harberton’s daring stand for women cyclists; a re-enactment of
the 1775 match that changed the rules of cricket when Lumpy Stevens’s
exceptional bowling resulted in the introduction of the third stump and
penny farthing races at Brooklands.
Mrs Handa Bray, descendent of William Bray of Shere,
with the baseball teams, June 2011.
Lord Coe with ‘Lady Harberton’ and Surrey Heritage
staff at Box Hill, May 2011.
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‘The course was really interesting and I learnt
a lot of new skills. A great deal of thought
had been put into the course packs and the
organisation of the course, and it was very
well run. The staff were really friendly and
helpful.’
Anonymous comment from a volunteer on a Sayers Croft training day.
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Our volunteers provide invaluable help in sorting, cataloguing and packaging our collections.
Supporting communities, enriching lives
Volunteering
Between April 2010 and March 2011 478 enthusiastic volunteers gave
Surrey Heritage a spectacular 13,504 hours of their time, some in Surrey
History Centre, others on site or at home. They include retired people,
unemployed people, disabled people, students and employed people
looking to enrich their spare time. For some, volunteering provided a
way to develop skills for a future phase of life, such as a change of job
or a return to employment; for students and young people it provided
invaluable training and experience.
The quantity of incoming archives places a considerable strain on our
cataloguing resources and (like almost every county record office) we
have a backlog of uncatalogued accessions dating back many years. Our
volunteers provide invaluable help, tackling priority accessions or adding
detail to existing catalogues of documents with rich and varied content
such as letters and diaries.
Collections catalogued by volunteers in 2011 include:
• Papers accumulated by the court of Quarter Sessions in the years
to 1828. They include witness statements relating to criminal
cases, often resulting in the offender’s transportation to Australia,
reports on the condition of the county’s prisons and papers relating
to appeals against orders to remove paupers from one parish to
another.
• Letters written by the politician Henry Goulburn (1784-1856) of
Betchworth to his wife, Jane. Goulburn was a close friend of Sir
•
•
Robert Peel, serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Tory
governments of the Duke of Wellington, 1828-30, and Peel, 184146, and his letters are full of political intrigue and indiscreet gossip.
A fine series of building control plans submitted to Dorking Urban
District and Dorking and Horley Rural District Councils between
1937 and 1969.
6,675 photographs of Surrey’s historic buildings accumulated by the
County Council.
Many of the finding aids the volunteers have helped us to prepare are
now accessible on our website, including indexes to Chertsey Poor Law
Union admission and discharge books, 1894-1932, Godstone Poor law
Union application and report books, 1869-1915, and admission registers
to the Royal Philanthropic Society’s School at Redhill, 1788-1906.
Volunteers coordinated by Surrey History Trust have also completed
a superb database detailing the cases of over 20,000 people hauled up
before the magistrates of the Surrey Court of Quarter Sessions for a
very wide range of offences between 1780 and 1820. The data is now
available on CD with an introduction to the work of the court and a
name index of the 54,208 defendants (and aliases), accusers, victims and
witnesses. All human life will be found on the CD. Examples range
from the case of William Baker, aged only 15, who was sentenced to
transportation to Australia for seven years in 1820 for stealing a pair of
stockings, to William Winter, a particularly zealous magistrate, who in
1783 committed 13 women for being ‘common night walkers and picking
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up men and committing other acts of lewdness’. The CD is already
proving to be a major resource for Surrey’s family and social historians.
Volunteers with the HER team have continued to enhance the database
entries relating to the 1939-1945 bomb damage archive, further aircraft
crash sites and site condition information on pillboxes along the General
Head Quarters (GHQ) line across the county. Other regular volunteers
help process finds and samples from projects undertaken by SCAU. Work
this year has included finds from the Hatch Furlong project, excavation
of a cremation urn from Flexford and work on samples from a site near
Farnham.
Community Archaeology
Public involvement in Surrey’s archaeology is an important part of the
work of the Archaeological Unit, allowing people to learn archaeological
techniques and providing an opportunity for hands-on digging. The
Wealden Glass project and Woking Palace dig, described above, included
community involvement as did the Preston Manor dig, featured in last
year’s review, but much else has been happening.
The ‘Digging Surrey’s War’ project investigated the hidden air raid
shelters at Sayers Croft, Ewhurst, an evacuation centre built in 1939
for students from Catford Central Boys School in London. The project
was organised in the summer of 2011 by Paul Bowen (SCC Youth
Development) and David Quorroll (Sayers Croft), with SCAU providing
the archaeological expertise. Over 100 local children took part, with a
further 40 families involved in the Basic Archaeological Skills training,
and 350 visitors on the open day. The children learned about life in World
War II by completing a History Trail and descending into one of only
two remaining bomb shelters on site to brave the Sayers Croft Air Raid
Experience. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYxRk8t0jSk
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Schoolchildren in the air raid shelter at Sayers Croft
Also in the summer, the KuTAS Hogsmill Project was organised by the
Kingston upon Thames Archaeological Society, to study the history of
the Hogsmill River at Southwood Activity Centre. The volunteer team
was supported by professional archaeologists from SCAU and Reading
University. Most of the fieldwork was undertaken by scouts and other
local youths from around Kingston and Surbiton. The metal detecting
survey attracted young and old alike and finds included a lead token, a
musket ball, and a pendant with a sundial and French lettering that may
have a military connection.
Volunteers at the Hogsmill Project, summer 2011
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Addressing the Stigma of Mental Illness
Surrey was once home to many mental hospitals due to its proximity
to London and its healthy climate. We rescued many of their historic
records when the institutions closed in the 1990s and we are using these
records to engage with mental health users in discovering the history and
heritage of hospitals such as Brookwood and Netherne.
In the ‘Looking Around Us’ project (funded by Renaissance), members
of Woking Mind visited Surrey History Centre and five museums to
explore what is freely available to them. We provided simple ‘point
and shoot’ cameras and after some basic tuition asked the group to
photograph what interested them, encouraging them to look more closely
at what is to be found at Surrey History Centre and other heritage sites.
With funding from Paralympics Accentuate and The Collections Trust,
Surrey Heritage has also been recording the experiences of people who
worked in some of Surrey’s hospitals from the 1940s to their closure, a
time of great upheaval as patients moved from institutions to care in the
community. Transcripts of the interviews will be added to the archive
and extracts will
appear on Exploring
Surrey’s Past website
http://www.
exploringsurreyspast.
org.uk.
The thrill of touching the past at Guildford Museum
22
Members of Woking Mind handling the finds with the curator at Shere Museum
Celebrating diversity, revealing hidden
histories
Woking Ahmadiyya Muslim Community - ‘Love for all, hatred
for none’
Surrey Heritage has a long established relationship with Woking’s Muslim
community through the Shah Jahan Mosque, the oldest purpose-built
mosque in England. However, there are several different branches
of Islam in the county and to ensure this is reflected in our holdings,
our Collections Development Archivist approached the Ahmadiyya
Muslim Community (AMC). The community’s first overseas mission
was established in the UK in 1913, originally based at the Shah Jahan
Mosque. However, following a split in the community, the Fazl London
Mosque was built in 1924 and there are now branches across the UK.
The community’s Baitul Futuh Mosque in Morden, built in 2003, is the
largest purpose-built mosque in Western Europe, accommodating over
4,000 worshippers. In May 2011, as part of Surrey Heritage’s ongoing
commitment to community engagement, eight members of staff visited
this astonishing building with representatives of the Woking AMC.
display for Woking Inter-Faith Week in November, seen by 1,597 people.
Entitled ‘Qur’an, Islam and a message of Peace’, the display gave an
insight into Qur’anic teaching, the history of Islam and the Ahmadiyyat
and featured over 30 translations of the Qur’an.
‘Masha’ Allah! Beautiful exhibition, very inspiring for the
Muslim Community’.
The Woking branch has now deposited its records with us, including
publications, newsletters and Qur’anic literature published in Surrey, as
well as a fine collection of recordings of Friday prayers, sermons from
The Arch Community Centre, Woking, and video footage of community
events. To nurture this new relationship, the Woking AMC supplied a
Mr Ahmad Syed of Woking Ahmadiyya Muslim Community with the display
23
Working with the Gypsy and Traveller Community
Our project, funded by the European Commission’s Culture programme,
to work with partners from Germany, Slovenia, Greece and Romania to
develop a network of heritage organisations and representatives of Gypsy
and Traveller Communities has continued. Each country is organising
events showcasing Roma culture that will lay the groundwork for a Roma
Route of Culture and Heritage, supported by the Council of Europe. One
aspect of the Roma Routes project is to carry out research into the Gypsy
Roma Traveller artefacts and archives which are held in UK museums.
We are already learning about some fascinating collections; some are well
known but others we are hearing about for the first time.
We organised a Gypsy Display at the Epsom Derby on 4 June 2011
to promote the culture and history of Gypsies and Travellers at the
famous race-meeting. It included traditional Gypsy wagons, modern
trailers, children’s activities, history displays and advice on tracing Gypsy
ancestry. Surrey County Council Chairman Lavinia Sealy opened the stage,
stressing how such events ‘break down barriers between communities’. We
worked with Surrey Arts and Rhythmix to showcase a variety of Romany
artists: Kerieva with their modern electronic interpretation of songs in
the Romani language; The Romany Diamonds, a family of performers
spanning three generations, who played their fast and exciting music; and
the guitarist Cristofe Sors. The ‘Travellers Got Talent’ South East heats
also entertained the crowds.
24
Gypsy display at the Epsom Derby, June 2011
Celebrating the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT )
Community
It is vital we represent all sectors of society and we have continued our
work to uncover the stories of the county’s LGBT community. For
LGBT History Month in 2011, we mounted a display which included
more about Surrey LGBT icons Dirk Bogarde, Edward Carpenter and
Ethel Smyth.
We have also worked with the ‘Out, Loud & Proud!’ Youth Group
supervised by Nikki Parkhill and Gemma Rutter from Surrey’s Youth
Development Service. They have been exploring the impact of World
War II and the holocaust on the LGBT community. Extraordinary
fundraising activities throughout 2011 allowed the young people to
visit Krakow, and Auschwitz-Birkenau and their experiences will be
preserved as part of the LGBT archive. An article praising the project
has been published in Citizenship magazine. Youth workshops and
school information packs for use in history and citizenship lessons are
now being developed. The group contributed to events for Holocaust
Memorial Day and Gay Surrey’s IDAHO (International Day against
Homophobia) celebrations at County Hall, where they were thrilled to be
named winners of the Gay Surrey Heart of Equality award.
Further details of our LGBT projects can be seen at www.
exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/themes/subjects/diversity
‘I feel now that people have taken notice of our work and are
taking us seriously’.
Sian
Out, Loud & Proud with Gino Meriano of Gay Surrey, International Day against Homophobia, County
Hall, May 2011
25
‘Being able to see, touch and discuss actual
items from the war, is truly inspiring.’
‘Probably the best workshops we have ever
been on – more please!’
Comments from parents
26
Home educated children discovering the delights of Roman food
Looking to the future: working with
young people
Schools
Surrey Heritage works closely with teachers to show how the County’s
heritage can complement the curriculum and our local history source
packs and archaeological loan boxes were used by local schools
throughout the year, with particular favourites being those relating to
World War II and the 1948 Olympic Torch Route. We continue to drive
museum education forward in Surrey by ensuring that all those involved
meet regularly to develop skills and programmes, have a presence at
school network meetings and feed into national initiatives such as the
‘Kids in Museums’ manifesto. Out of term time, our regular school
holiday activities have continued and grow in popularity.
Working with Surrey’s Looked After Children
Embracing the County Council’s role as the corporate parent we are
now working closely with colleagues in Children and Families. We have
created a simple guide on using Surrey History Centre’s resources in Life
Story Work, a government requirement for each child in care, and have
identified ways in which we can make this work easier for already very
busy colleagues in social care. We have also offered behind the scenes
tours of the Centre to Looked After Children and their carers to help
them better understand their heritage and are now seeking funds for
a larger project that will help to develop a sense of place, identity and
heritage for children in care.
The theme for Surrey’s Looked After Children’s summer party in 2011
was the Olympics. We took along a display on the past Olympic Torch
Relay race through Surrey and talked to foster carers and adoptive
parents about the range of events and activities that Surrey Heritage puts
on.
Home education
During autumn 2011 Surrey Heritage provided educational workshops to
a group of 30 home educated children. The multi-disciplinary sessions,
with staff from across Heritage and Surrey Museums, focused on World
War II, including rationing, air raid shelters, evacuation, the Home Guard
and Women’s Voluntary Service, and gave children an opportunity to read
original records, handle artefacts and find out about the archaeological
legacy of the war.
27
Work Experience, Apprenticeships and Placements
Surrey Heritage offers regular work experience placements for
schoolchildren, A-level students and undergraduates to prepare for the
workplace and help them gain employment. The broad scope of our
service provides the ideal environment for training in a wide range of
careers across the heritage sector.
Alex Egginton came to Surrey History Centre for a placement when at
school. Inspired, she went on to take a BA degree in Archaeology and
an MSc in Archaeological Computing and recalls “the opportunity to
complete work experience here, provided a brilliant introduction to the
varying job roles related to the preservation and communication of local
history. It was the spark for a long-term interest in the use of digital
methods for recording, managing and communicating heritage data.” She
has now joined the staff as a temporary Historic Environment Record
Assistant (HERA).
In 2011 two undergraduates from Kingston University’s history
department spent several weeks preparing listing photographs from
the former Netherne mental hospital at Coulsdon and the glass plate
negatives of patients at the Royal Earlswood Asylum at Redhill, learning
in the process about archive preservation and cataloguing.
In 2010 we appointed an apprentice as part of Surrey County Council’s
apprenticeship scheme. The two-year apprenticeship enables a young
person not in education, employment or training to achieve a NVQ
level 3 qualification in Cultural and Heritage Venue Operations. Our
apprentice has been particularly involved in outreach work, helping with
family activities, poster design and promotional mailshots. Placements
28
Netherne mental hospital, Coulsdon, c.1960, SHC: 6376/12/4/1/5
in museums and in the County Council’s Communications Team have
broadened his skills and understanding.
Our Heritage Conservation Team and Archaeological Unit also benefited
from an Institute of Archaeologists Heritage Lottery Funded ‘Workplace
Learning Bursary’ placement for a year. The placement provided
training in the role of archaeology in the planning process, and provided
opportunities to respond to enquiries to the Historic Environment
Record and also undertake some fieldwork and finds evaluation.
Community Archaeology was also boosted by a year long Heritage
Lottery Funded ‘Workplace Learning Bursary’ placement, made by the
Council for British Archaeology, recognising our particular expertise
in this expanding field. The trainee was involved in all aspects of the
role, notably organising and delivering courses for children and helping
provide training and support at fieldwork projects such as Sayers Croft
and Woking Palace.
Our apprentice played a key role with our education and outreach work
29
‘A great website and easy to navigate. I
really like how interactive the website is and
that people can add themes.”’
Jessica Hogan-Smith, Project Officer, Infrastructure Network
for Disability Information South East
30
To the ends of the earth: digital
developments
Exploring Surrey’s Past
The ever more popular Exploring Surrey’s Past website
(http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/) offers a collection of searchable
general interest information and databases from the county archives, Historic
Environment Record and local museums and history societies. It showcases
information about Surrey related themes and projects.
2011
2010
% Increase
Visits
315,860200,708
57
Users
275,597169,620
62
Page Views
738,648
623,706
18
Countries/territories177
168
The website allows visitors to comment on what they find, offering
additional information or correcting a mistake. Our catalogue of
research papers relating to the Surrey builder, W G Tarrant (1875-1942)
inspired this typical observation;
‘Our ‘family home’ from 1978 to 1992 was in Ellesmere Road
(in one of the timber semidetached cottages at the end of
the road) and I have always been intrigued about the Tarrant
properties. I am so pleased that this has been documented
and take my hat off to the level of research that has been
undertaken ..... Many many thanks for this brilliant work!’
The website also allows us to create online exhibitions so that our
travelling and foyer displays can continue to be enjoyed by people across
the globe. Subjects of displays in 2011 have included the topographical
watercolours of the artists John and Edward Hassell (http://bit.ly/
xuWIxo); the 650th anniversary of the creation of the office of Justice
of the Peace, one of the cornerstones of the UK legal system (http://
bit.ly/yz6AiM); the 1948 Olympic Torch Run through Surrey (http://bit.
ly/hlDMnV); and a History of Surrey in 50 Objects for Surrey Museums
Month (http://bit.ly/wukkHk).
‘I’m honoured and feel very proud that you have uploaded
a picture of my late father [Mr R J Turner, 1948 Torch
Bearer (Walton A.C.)] on to your website, and very
impressive it looks too along with the other photos.’
Sue Hammond
Linking archives and archaeology, interactive maps have also been created
to demonstrate the Saxon and medieval origins of Surrey’s churches and
illustrate locations of castles in Surrey. Clickable links enable browsers
to explore the origins of individual churches and castles through
information in the Historic Environment Record and other links take
browsers to information on the parishes, towns and villages, the parish
records held in the archives at Surrey History Centre and the amazing
19th century John and Edward Hassell watercolours. (http://bit.ly/
wda9wN and http://bit.ly/wQ3My2)
31
Twitter and Facebook
Surrey Heritage has also begun to explore the exciting new opportunities
for communication with our public that social media offers. In April 2011
we launched a Twitter account @SurreyHeritage, to share news about
our work and talk to new and existing users. We now have nearly five
hundred followers and on 9 June 2011 participated in #AskArchivists
day, an international Twitter event to advertise the work of archives. Over
140 organisations participated and Surrey Heritage fielded questions such
as ‘How do you decide what records you keep?’, ‘What is your favourite
record?’ and ‘What is the best way to store paper documents?’
Our Twitter account has now been joined by the Surrey Heritage
Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/surreyheritage, an ideal
showcase for our activities.
SURCAT
We are always looking
to improve access to
our holdings, through
cataloguing and
providing online access
to digital images of
documents or to indexes.
A major development in
2011 was the migration
of our existing catalogue
data into a system
called CALM, specially
32
SURCAT: Surrey History Centre’s online
catalogue of archive holdings
The Surrey Tithe Records project has created digital images of the county’s large tithe maps. This detail of the
Haslemere tithe map of 1842 shows the town centre. SHC: 864/1/81
designed for the creation and online publication of archive catalogues.
Archivists at the Centre have been wrestling with the intricacies of the
new software, used by record offices all over the country and far more
powerful than the previous software we used. It also allows us to add
images to catalogue descriptions. The new public web interface is named
SURCAT (see http://www.surreyarchives.org.uk/Calmview/).
Surrey Tithe Records Project
A major event of 2011 was the completion of our Surrey Tithe Records
project. This partnership with Surrey Wildlife Trust and Surrey
Archaeological Society was inspired by the need for the Wildlife Trust to
consult the parish tithe maps and apportionments to revise the inventory
of ancient woodland surviving in the county. Highly detailed maps
survive for almost every Surrey parish, drawn up in the 1840s, when tithe
payments to the church were converted into money payments under the
1836 Tithe Act. Funding from several sources enabled us to digitise the
maps and a team of volunteers, mainly working at home, transcribed the
tithe apportionments
for each parish which
list all the landowners
and occupiers of the
plots shown on the maps
and record land use,
acreage and the amount
of tithe payable. CDs
containing the map,
navigational software
and the transcript of
the apportionment have
been prepared for each parish and can be consulted in our searchroom
or purchased. The project has revolutionised access to one of the most
fundamental 19th century sources for local, economic, social and family
historians.
‘It was very interesting to be involved in such a project and
I can only imagine how much work you had to put in to
organise all of this. A phenomenal effort so very well done’
‘This is an exceptional archive service offering great value and
public service. One of the best in the country. Well done
Surrey County Council.’
Anonymous comment by a respondent of the Survey of Visitors to
British Archives in February and March 2011.
Viewing a tithe district in the searchoom
33
Above: W F Baker winning the Surrey Walking Club London to Brighton Walk, Sep 1928.
SHC: 8923/3/1/139
Right: The south prospect of Flower House, part of the Clayton family estates, Godstone: Surveyed
by William Chapman 1761. SHC: 8948/1
34
Right: Original watercolour showing Womens’ Voluntary
Service office with an officer on the telephone to her husband,
who is cooking supper at 11.30 pm. Part of the personal
papers of Helen Lloyd of Albury, SHC: 1532/9/1
35
Created by the Communications Design Team. 05.12.AS.CS2294.