Village Records

Written documentation concerning Fovant, minimal in the case of the Saxon Charters and the Domesday Book, increased considerably during the 18th and 19th centuries. Then throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, no doubt due in no small part to universal education, records proliferated.

These records, roughly grouped into either Civil, Religious, Trade or Personal categories can have no hard or fast boundaries, for there are some records which could easily fit into more than one group. This is particularly the case with Parish Registers which, while being ordered to be kept by the State, record events that are closely connected with the Church.

Many overlap each other by repeating the ‘same’ information, which should not be discounted for confirmation of the correctness of details helps to establish proof. However, in the same context, differences over reports of apparently the same situation can be just as informative, for one person’s right can be another person’s wrong.

Some village documents resist categorisation, but all, even the odd note on a scrappy bit of paper, are of use in researching the social history of our village

J.O.H.
January 2006

Content last updated
12 January 2006

© 2002 Design - dingo web design. Text - Fovant History Interest Group

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