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Alcester No. 3
A pre 1930s map of the state of Manitoba in Canada has come our way:on its western
boundary is printed the name ALCESTER. An informant reports that on a recent trip to
Canada he visited the spot but found only grass; not a building, not a sign of former
occupation. We can only suppose that the Great Depression in America reached Canada and
that many farming sites became deserted (cf. the deserted mediaeval villages of England).
The second Alcester (reported some time ago) is still flourishing in South Dakota, U.S.A.
Follow up article
'Local Past' - we hope it is worth it.
We are very sorry to announce that the price of this magazine will rise to 50p from the
next (Spring) issue. Almost unnoticed, the costs involved have slithered upwards over the
past five years until now it is uneconomic to keep the old 40p price.
Popular History
For some years we have tried to suggest that popular history is often wrong and that the
only history worth believing is that which is backed up by primary sources (often
documentary). A television programme recently on the Spanish Inquisition sought to show
that the usual belief that the Inquisition was a sadistic persecution of heretics and
witches was utterly false. Scholars have had access to the Inquisition's written records
and it has emerged that its sentences were infrequent and light; it had, for example, the
best record in Europe in its treatment of witches. The dreadful deeds said to have been
perpetrated by the Inquisition were, in fact, a deliberate slur in a Dutch protestant
tract which circulated widely in England.
'Needle-Making in Studley -
transformation of a small craft industry'
This degree thesis by Arthur Cooke (1994) is now in Alcester Library (Reference Section).
Mr. Cooke has had no truck with the oft repeated guesses of 19th century authors and his
researches are a welcome addition to our local history.