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WHY DO WE PURSUE IT?
The answer to the first question probably seems easy enough but we have to tackle it before we can answer the second.
There is more in the first question than meets the eye. 'Local History' --- the first word really means what it says and, as far as our Society and its publications are concerned, we have tried to keep with in certain limits, viz, the area of the valleys of the Rivers Arrow and Alne in Warwickshire. This may not appear to be much but it includes the following civil parishes: Alcester, Arrow, Oversley, Great Alne, Kinwarton, Haselor, Exhall, Wixford, Bidfori (including Broom, Barton and Marlcliff), Studley, Spernall, Morton Bagot, Coughton, Sambourne. So far, we have but scratched the surface in our researches of the area. So that is what we mean as 'local'.
As a society we are not concerned with national or international issues. We must know about them, of course, for a locality does not exist in a vacuum: the 'Nelson' pub in Alcester could not have been so named had not the famous Admiral won at Copenhagen and Trafalgar; the workhouse at Oversley was a result of a Parliamentary discussion and eventual Act. But we do not have speakers or articles on British navalpower or poor-law legislation. We have them, however, on local pubs or local workhouses. 'The Alcester & District Local History Society': had we wanted to range freely over national history we would have styled ourselves 'The Alcester & District Historical Society' -- but we didn't. Folk sometimes fail to read our title correctly and call us a 'Historical Society' but they should not.
The second word, 'History' is really the nub of the matter. It is obvious that it has to do with the past and many people would apply it only to that part of the past which has left written records. Anything before that is pre-history. This we must leave to the archaeologists and, by and large,they must be responsible also for the Roman period in these parts and we, in our turn, must look to them for guidance.
In practice, our interest in local history must be concentrated on '1066 and all that' the 'all that' being the period from the Normans up to 1985. This is a bit of a challenge and so it is incumbent on us to get it right as much as we can. The absolute truth may never be attainable but our job is to seek as much truth as we can. Interpretations of the facts may differ but our work is to seek out the facts.
How to get at the facts? How, for example, to know whether Riverside water-mill was producing corn or needles in 1897? A letter from the tenant in 1897 which mentioned his corn-milling business would be what we call 'primary' information: mention of the mill as a corn-mill in a trade directory of 1896 would be a contemporary confirmation: an advert in the 'Stratford Herald' of 1898 for the 'Sale of a Freehold Corn-Mill' would strengthen the information. There might also be a photograph of the late 19th century in someone's possession showing the corn hoist. All these things are vital to our knowledge, for they date from the actual time we are concerned about.
There is a second kind of information which we must use with far greater caution, viz, secondary data many years divorced from the event in the case above it might be a book of 1971 which says that Riverside Mill scoured needles before its sale in 1898: it might be a lady who said that her grandfather did needle-work at the mill, There may be some truth in these secondary sources which was not revealed in the primary sources; or the lady's memory was probably wrong and it may have been she who informed the author of the book. Where there is no primary knowledge, secondary information must be accepted with some healthy doubt and not broadcast as historical truth. For that matter, even primary sources may be wrong or prejudiced. A good example is found in old wills and inventories a John Bull may be described by his contemporaries as 'husbandman' or even 'labourer', while he, seeking social status, calls himself 'yeoman'.
The whole thing is a kind of detective story and while some facts are obviously what they seem, some need a good deal of investigation.
So, the Society engages in the history of the local scene. We believe that, by and large, we stick to local matters: we also believe that we try to sort out fact from fiction; this we do by going to original sources and not accepting tamely what others have written or what has been handed down orally. If this sounds a little pompous, so be it: but, if we did anything else, we could not call ourselves a 'history society'.
Alcester & District Local History Society