The Jigsaw
Updated 27th June with the addition of William Tredwell at Browns, Piece; William Busby at Piddington Common; the Dumbletons at the White Swan.
This is an ambition of mine and may not be shared by many. I would like to thank a number of people who have already provided me with information that has helped me make significant progress, especially in the last few weeks. I am trying to assemble a virtual jigsaw of Piddington in the middle of the 19th Century. The 1851 census provides a snapshot in time and is a good place to start. My interest started with Gwith Cottage and the wheelwright operation, the Parrotts and the wheelwright that followed. It spread to the trades people and their families that also lived in this cottage and were related by marriage. From there to other villagers and farmers, also part of this larger family. The 1851 census shows 420 individuals living in 89 households. The jigsaw should be an easy one with just 89 pieces. My initial ambition was a simple one: to establish the “shape” of the village and where everyone lived. I am already quite some way down this path. As with most jigsaws, I have gone for the easiest pieces first:
This jigsaw did not come in a box and there is no picture on the lid. It may well be that I will have to admit defeat at some stage with a few pieces left to fit. The challenge to build a partially complete jigsaw remains. There are some additional complications:
The location of some households in 1851 may at best be a little vague. We may have to accept "down Cowleys" or "probably between the Stars and the Church" as the best we can achieve. There is some help:
This provides a link to my second ambition for the jigsaw: to establish the family relationships that were in play at that time; how they came about and what happened next? This in many ways is more interesting than bricks and mortar. Not that many cottages had bricks or mortar. Establishing who was related, the when and how is the easy part. I have been building family trees for Piddington families for many years. These straddle the 19th Century, going back further in time and forward in time to the early 20th century. These family trees provide a form of “scaffolding” that support the census “platforms”: 1911; 1901 1891 and back to 1851 and 1841. I am now building family trees at quite a pace to understand more of what was going on in the village 170 years ago: The Bottrells, Browns, Parkers, Jordans, Marlows, Busbys and so on. I was recently able to put together a few more pieces of the jigsaw. This is shown as “The Middle of the Village.” I have now listed below some of the easy pieces that I feel fit comfortably in the 1851 jigsaw. |
A small part of the 1847 Tithe Map showing Manor Farm and the Church
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The number shown in the left-hand column is sequence number in which household is listed in the census. There appears to be very little logic in how the 1851 census was completed. I have just shown the name of the "head of the household" together with occupation as recorded.
I was fortunate to see the deeds relating to the purchase of cottages that were demolished to make way for the school. Unusually, they listed the tenants. This provided me with the location of five households in 1851. There are 29 households listed above. 29 out of a total of 89 households. There are another 60 pieces of jigsaw left in the box. These are the difficult ones! |