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Local History FeaturesTennyson Bicentenary Quiz - Self Publishing - Church Guide - Wrangle Charity School - Tips for L H Groups - Lincolnshire Floods - Chapel Survey - Lincoln's Town Crier - Canon C W Foster - Placename Quiz No. 4 - Torksey The Perils of Self-Publishing Outline of the History of St Giles's Church, Lincoln What do you say to someone who has written about a subject dear to their heart and is considering publishing their masterpiece? Here are some of the more important points to bear in mind when considering publishing a book which has a local rather than a national potential readership. If you aim to produce an attractive and professional looking book, the cost of printing is likely to be several thousand pounds. For example, a recently published book 150 page book (about 60,000 words plus 200 illustrations), printed in black and white cost £5600. The printer undertook the design work. The print run was 1000. DEALING WITH THE PRINTER Having decided to go ahead with the proposed book and to publish oneself, three estimates for the printing should be obtained. Do try to examine a book produced by each printer to ensure that the quality of the paper and the clarity of the print is what you want. Take a good look also at the quality of the reproduction of the illustrations. If at all possible have the book perfect bound i.e. with a spine and be very sure that the book title is printed on the spine. No one is going to bother to look at a book stacked on the bookseller’s shelves if they can’t read the title. The printer will need to know the number of copies required; the size of the pages, i.e. A4, A5 or a special size; the number and type of the illustrations and whether they are to be printed in black and white or colour. It is important to know what extra charge will be incurred if you exceed the number of pages or illustrations estimated. ILLUSTRATIONS  Lincoln Cathedral: a History of the bells, bell ringers and bell ringing Having chosen an estimate add to it a suitable amount to cover any cost you might incur for the purchase of photographs or for employing an illustrator, the retailer’s percentage and other expenses. Be very careful to obtain permission to use illustrations that are not your own and acknowledge them correctly in the book. REVIEW COPIES Complimentary copies of the book will have to be sent to magazines, newspapers and other publications so that the book can be reviewed – a book will not sell unless potential purchasers know if its existence. Another means of publicising a book is by advertising but this can be expensive and adds to the cost of producing the book. I have never advertised any of my books but I have published several by subscription. I have found that by offering a reduced price to those who are prepared to support a book by subscribing before they have seen the finished article quite a reasonable sum can be raised. LIBRARY DEPOSIT COPIES  Lincolnshire People Six copies must be put aside for eventual dispatch to the Agent for the Legal Deposit Libraries. It is a requirement of the Copyright Act 1911 that every book published is deposited with the British Library, the Bodliean Library, Oxford; the University Library, Cambridge; the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh; the Library of Trinity College, Dublin and the National Library of Wales. ISBN Although it is not essential, I think it is unwise not to arrange for an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) to be allocated to a book. If a book is not recorded in this way details will not be circulated to libraries and booksellers and sales will be drastically reduced. If an ISBN is known booksellers can more easily trace the source of a book when potential customers ask for it. BAR CODE It is probably wise to have a bar code printed on the back cover and a good printer will be able to arrange for this to be done. Some retailers will not agree to stock a book without this. WORKING OUT THE COVER PRICE  Lincolnshire Women As well as the cost of printing, a professional publisher, in order to arrive at the retail price of the finished book, will need to take into account travel, telephone calls, postage etc. These would typically amount to £200-500. A self-publisher will usually not be so meticulous in recording these items, but they need to be considered. Based on these figures and a printing cost of £5600, with a print run of 1000, each copy will cost a little over £6 to produce. The usual retailer’s percentage is 331/3 or 35, although some well-known bookstores charge much more. If, based on these figures, the retail price is fixed at £10.00 then you will actually receive £6.66 or £6.50 per copy. You have to decide whether this is sufficient. I think in this case I would increase the retail price to at least £10.50. It all depends on how much profit you want to make and how quickly you need to recover your costs. DESPATCHING COPIES Remember to include in your charge for postage and packing the purchase of suitable materials in which to despatch orders by post. CONCLUSION  Lincolnshire Natives and Others This brief account is simply intended as a guide and in practice a potential author needs to sit back and seriously consider what they are letting themselves in for. Perhaps the most important item, which I haven’t mentioned, is the content of the manuscript itself. We all tend to think our own work is of interest to others. Put bluntly but realistically it is rare for this to be the case. I have found that many authors of such material will not agree to editing. One must be prepared to have a manuscript read by several people from different backgrounds. My last book was read thoroughly by three people each of whom found errors and made suggestions. I also arranged for certain sections to be read by specialists in a particular field. I hope that this paper will be useful – good luck! John Ketteringham (John Ketteringham, PhD, MBE, has written thirteen books, seven of which he has published himself. His books cover the people and local history of his native Lincolnshire, and church bells and bell-ringing, his particular area of interest and expertise. For more details of his books and other activities see his website: homepage.ntlworld.com/john.ketteringham) Writing a Church Guide Blyborough Here are some key areas to consider when researching the history of a church and writing a guide. TALK - to the Churchwardens - to retired Churchwardens - to the oldest worshippers - to ex-choir boys - to previous vicars and school teachers - and ASK them about their memories of church events, history and projects - and COPY any photographs that emerge. READ - old parish magazines - trade directories (such as White's) - Buildings of England volume for the county (Pevsner) - King's England book for the county (Mee) - Discovering Church Furniture (Shire Publications).  Boothby Pagnell READ (for a Lincolnshire village) - Monson's Church Notes, Lincoln Record Society, Volume 31 - Bonney's Church Notes 1845-48 (pub 1937) - Church Furniture by Peacock (pub 1866) - Diaries of Bishop Hicks, Lincoln Record Society, Volume 82 - Church and Society in Medieval Lincolnshire (Dorothy Owen), SLHA CONSULT - library collections (earlier church guides, illustrations, parish magazines) - archive material (parish deposits, vestry books, glebe terriers, wills, faculties) EXAMINE - church memorials (wall tablets, stained glass, other plaques) Brenda Webster Charity School in WrangleThe Lincolnshire Historian of 1963 printed this article - so much for sex equality! In 1555 the Rev. Thomas Allenson left his house at Joy Hill in the parish of Wrangle, Holland, Lincolnshire, as a Bedehouse for the poor of Wrangle and Leake, accommodation being provided for one poor man and one poor woman from each parish. A fifth member of the Bedehouse (and usually referred to as ‘the five poor people’) was to be a schoolmaster. The establishment was endowed with 30 acres of land in Leake and 21 acres 3 roods in Wrangle; and the field names are still the same after 400 years. The bedespeople had for their use the grounds of the house, called the Pingle, and the Bedehouse ‘two acres’ for their cows. Probably bearing in mind the rule of Leviticus 19 vv.9 & 10, whatever could be gained from the sale of the ‘aftergrass’ of the Pingle and two acres did not pass into general account but was distributed equally to the five members. Winter fodder was also provided by the endowment for the Bedehouse cows which had the usual grazing rights on the Common. The parish members each had two small apartments, one of which had a fireplace, but there was no free supply of fuel. The provisions of the will supplied each of the three men with 6d a week and the two women with 5d each. These amounts were unchanged until 20 May 1705, when ‘Mr. William Erskine Vicar of Wrangle, did his last will dated 26 April 1705 gave 9 acres of pasture adjoining to the 6 acres of pasture belonging to the Beadhouse nigh a Common called Seadikes for and towards the augmenting of the weekly pay of 2s 4d given by Thos. Allenson, Vicar of Wrangle to 5 poor people, members of the Beadhouse’. As result of this bequest, each member henceforward received a shilling a week. Note: The original four brick-built almshouses on Joy Hill have been converted into a two units and two additional post-war brick bungalows have been added. Pearl Wheatley, with additional information from Lincolnshire Almshouses by Linda Crust, published by Heritage Lincolnshire, 2002 Tips for Local History GroupsThe Society recently invited several local history and heritage groups to Jews’ Court to show the visitors the building, the shop and the library and to discuss ways in which the Society could help. Under the guidance of Brenda Webster (Chairman of the SLHA Team) there emerged a number of ways in which local groups could enhance their performance and progress. The suggestions may help others. 1. Hold a village walk/trail including a short history as introduction. Finish with tea in the village hall and add to the experience.  village magazine 2. Develop a website – involve the school and other local groups and societies. Add to the village website if one already exists.  Local History Magazine 8. National Monuments record offer Local Studies Resources pack for £15.00. It includes aerial photos, listed buildings, archaeological sites etc. Tel 01793 414600 email: english-heritage.org.uk/nmr Brenda Webster High Tides on the Coast of LincolnshireWe are warned that global warming over the next few decades may well bring about significant rises in sea level and threaten large areas of Lincolnshire around the Wash. Five years ago we marked the fiftieth anniversary of the severe floods along the east coast in 1953. Inevitably these events cause local historians to refer back to past floods of 1281, 1571 and 1810, and especially to Jean Ingelow’s famous narrative poem, ''The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire, 1571'. This is where difficulties arise. This poem is highly atmospheric, but it has to be remembered that it was written in the 19th century and is fiction, not fact!  Jean Ingelow, 1820-1897 Two aspects in particular seem to catch people’s imagination. One is the alleged tune played on the church bells, The Brides of Enderby. Although Mavis Enderby is a real place (not to mention the other Lincolnshire villages, Wood Enderby and Bag Enderby), and bells could be used to warn of danger (as was planned in World War Two), there is no such tune or peal of this name. It was just an invention that fitted the rhythm of the verse. I hope this will not upset the Canadian place which allegedly named itself after this particular Enderby reference! The second myth is that the tide came in as a really gigantic Eygre, or tidal bore – nowadays spelt eagre. There is no doubt that Boston-born Jean Ingelow conducted some research in preparing the poem (though sadly, not into bellringing!) and used accounts of the 1810 floods as the basis of some of her images. She may well have known people who remembered 1810, and an exceptional eagre is commented on in the Stamford Mercury at the time. This is the only reference to an eagre on the Witham although there used to be a modest one on the Welland at Fosdyke, and there is of course a well-known one that appears on the Trent near Gainsborough. More can be read about Jean Ingelow’s sources in the article by the late Chris Sturman and Valerie Purton in Lincolnshire Past and Present, No. 6 (Winter 1991-2) pp 3-6. A few more flood references are noted in No.10/11 (Winter 1992 -Spring 1993) pp 29-30 of the same magazine. Hilary Healey Chapel Survey : A Non-Conformist Heritage The listed Methodist Chapel at Hemingby The county is dotted with chapels, many of them derelict, some converted into houses, others into workshops or stores. How about the Society gathering enough information to commence a survey? Are you prepared to give us details of your local chapel? Is it Methodist (Wesleyan, Primitive, Free), Baptist or what? Are there interesting inscriptions (foundation stones, Brunswick, dates etc.)? Are there old photographs? If only half of our members respond to this we would have enough to get started.
Some Lost Chapels in Lincoln: 
Lincoln's Town Crier John Foley, last Town Crier Handbells have been used to make announcements or call an opening of a market or other local activity as far back as Roman times. The City of Lincoln always had a bellman until 1898. It was an appointment by the City Council. Many wills lodged with the Lincolnshire Archives record bequests for the remuneration of a bellman. One example was the will of Thomas Palfreyman in 1552 'to the belman of the Citie of Lincoln iiiid (four pence)'. The last crier, John Foley, died in 1898. He was also Mayor's Officer, Sheriff's Officer and Keeper of the Guildhall. He must have been quite a character since a biography of him notes 'more than one occupant of the Mayoral Chair had found it to their advantage to make a friend of him'. The role of Bellman or Town Crier was introduced again nearly 100 years later in 1989 and now the local occupant of the post regularly competes with others nationwide for the best crier of the year.
Canon C W Foster's contribution to Lincolnshire's HistoryIn 1989 the 200th edition of the Victoria County History of the counties of England was published. To celebrate the event SLHA arranged a series of lectures at Jews' Court on Lincolnshire historians. Dr Kathleen Major's contribution was on Canon C W Foster and Sir Frank and Lady Stenton. This and twelve similar lectures were published by the Society in a book entitled: 'Some Historians of Lincolnshire'. (The book is still in print - see Other SLHA Publications.)  Charles W Foster (1866-1935) as a young man On Canon Foster Miss Major said: 'To him we owe the Lincolnshire Archives office and its associated Foster Library - the working library of a scholar so far as I know the finest collection of books in a provincial record office. We also owe to him the foundation of the Lincoln Record Society in 1910. Thirdly - and this may be less obvious - he first brought before historians of the church the fact that the history of the church cannot properly be understood without attention to the administrative and legal records of the daily business of bishops, archdeacons and parish priests.' When considering the many large collections with which Canon Foster dealt, the most striking in bulk is perhaps the series of Bishops' Transcripts of parish registers. He found these is a very dirty and neglected state but managed to sort and index them, despite difficulties with seven different Carltons, six benefices at the various Toyntons and seven at the several Kirkbys.
Placename Quiz (No. 4)The solutions to the following cryptic clues are names of Lincolnshire towns or villages Click here for Answers
(New quiz to appear in 2010) "Doctor Rename" Tennyson Bi-Centenary Quiz(Devised by Rosalind Boyce, Tennyson Society, Lincoln)
Click here for Solutions |