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Acton Scott documentary research
The research projects
Training sessions have been held for volunteers at Shropshire Archives.
Those volunteers who expressed interest in conducting research at Shropshire Archives met there in early August for training and familiarisation with the facility and its holdings. As a result of this meeting, responsibilities were assigned as follows:
Graham Brown will create a catalogue of sources about the Roman villa site;
Anne Guest Mason, Julie Brown, Carolyn Smith, and Janet Beach will build on previous research done by Anne Guest Mason;
Sue Youney and Janet Beach will work to flesh out the Archives catalogue;
Malcolm McDonald and Ann McDonald will study the economy of Acton Scott Parish, looking at changes in land use and agriculture;
Michael Barritt and Joy Sims will delve into the life and times of Edward Acton, based on his cash book;
Michael Barritt and John Snyder will, time permitting, examine transport changes in the Parish;
Ann Patterson and Ian Botley will be looking into the changing landscape of the parish before the mid – 19th century.
Thelma Thompson and Henry Hand will study Alcaston through the centuries; and,
Ian Botley will examine the mystery of the Greek coin hoard.
Cataloguing
This map shows Acton Scott parish at a time when some of the last open fields were being lost to enclosure.
Following on these assignments, Janet Beach reports that she and Sue Youney are finding the task of fleshing out the catalogues very interesting. Ivar Romo provided patience and training as the two learn how to read and describe a wide variety of documents that fill ten boxes to form part of the Acton Scott collection. The documents include deeds, transfers of leases mortgages, abstracts and more, mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Most of the documents are written without sentence structure, so it takes a bit of time for the beginner to recognise and ignore repetition, or to become comfortable with unfamiliar word and letter usage. Even though it is still early days, they are already learning of the families connected with the Acton Scott estate, and of properties acquired and sold over time. They have even discovered the origins of terms such as “fine” and “red tape”, something we hope they will share with the rest of us.