How I make use of Tithe Apportionment and Maps
This is both sharing with you the reader and helping me with some notes regarding the process for Tithe Apportionment articles, dataset, and ESRI Story Maps.
This hopes to provide a useful and consistent layout and content, which I suspect would be most beneficial in the collection of Tithe Apportionment articles.
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How I make use of Tithe Apportionment and Maps
The first part of this is to record the process of how I create information out of the historic data, followed by what I subsequently do with that information.
The end goal is to create sharable information for Family Historians and for myself. My choice of Parishes is reflective of my own Family Tree at the location of key ancestors in the period that the Surveys and Agreements were undertaken, about the 1840's
Introduction
Introduction
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Creating the Dataset
Creating the Dataset
The original schedule is hand written on paper. Scans of those paper pages have been made. Fortunately, most of the handwriting is a lot easier to read that mine.
The images from those scans are available for the Hampshire Record Office and The Genealogist. The former also holds the original documents which can also be viewed by arrangement.
Analog images are very interesting but the data needs to be digitised to allow it to be readily accessed and interrogated.
Transcription from the scans is not very difficult but is time consuming.
Key to creating the dataset is to have somewhere to put it.
Primary Data
Creating the Dataset - Primary Data
Most of the Primary Date will be found within or near the Agreement at the front of the Tithe Apportionment. There are also some checks back to the other parts of the spreadsheet but obviously these will not be correct until all of the other data is input and all the links refreshed.
There is a possibility that the total area stated in the Agreement is not the same as the sum of the parts elsewhere in the Agreement. The spreadsheet checks if the two matches, however, if it shows a variance all that can be done is to check the input and transcription, and if they are correct, accept the historic variance.
Summary
Creating the Dataset - Summary
Find the Summary on the Tithe Apportionment, sometimes after the Schedule. It has a list of all the names and the total quantity of land and total rentcharge for each combination of Land owner and Occupier, and occasionally with an addition of Lessor, with Lessee as Land owner.
The first pass is only to capture the names of those people found in the Summary, ignoring the quantity and rentcharge columns.
Go to the tab 'Names of L and O' which is for Names of Landowner and Occupier. From the Summary enter, in the first three columns, the persons' name, normalised if necessary to given names followed by Surname. Suffix such as Esquire or & another, or & others are inserted in the second column, named appropriately. Part of the tab's calculation area finds the surname form the name and another part strips out any remaining underscores, "_". The third column is to indicate the category, such as Land owner or Occupier, or both, using the dropdown.
Entries such as Herself and Himself are transcribed as the persons name to facilitate separate record analysis.
Also Biddlecomb Widow and the like are transcribed Widow Biddlecome for consistent interpretation. Sad to think that there was a time that a woman was so much the wife of a man, that even on official documentation, they did not have a name, just that they were the Widow of that man.
On a paper copy it is implied that a list continues with the landowner, with multiple occupiers until the next landowner is written in. We a creating a dataset as well as a transcription so each record, or row, needs all of the information, not just a blank, ditto, or ". The name therefore needs to be copied down to all appropriate rows. The same applies to the Lessor if there is one.
Other columns in the tab are not relevant at this time and include data for cross-referencing between the Tithe listed people and the TNG database and the Census data.
The next step is to repeat the process on the tab 'Summary' but including the total quantity of land and total rentcharge this time. Yes, this is duplication of effort, but it is done to improve accuracy by double typing, The totals are also used to check the entries of the Schedule.
In the numerical fields, blanks can be left or leading zeros, up to the first number. However intermediate blanks must be replaced with a zero. I.e. ¦ " ¦ " ¦ 2 can be ¦ ¦ ¦ 2 ¦ but ¦ 4 ¦ " ¦ 8 ¦ has to be ¦ 4 ¦ 0 ¦ 8 ¦ .
At the end of the first page there is probably a total. In a column to the right headed page, input the page or image number and drag it down to cover all the entries for that page. Going back to the values input columns, and then curser down to the bottom. Use the page number to select the relevant information, or use the filter to select the page if that does not work. If all the selections are working, the total written in the Summary and that calculated on the spreadsheet should be correct. If they are not, check and recheck the transcription.
It is easier to do checks progressively, one page at a time, instead of waiting to do the check at the end and then trying to find what page the error is on followed by doing the same check as above for the page.
If it does tally correctly, proceed to the next page and continue. The checks would not highlight compensatory errors, but further checks happen latter.
At the end of the Summary there are totals for area and monies. The spreadsheet should correlate with the historic document.
Return to the Primary Data tab and add the Area Total, Acres, R, P after the names of the Tithe Commissioners.
Repeat with the Monetary Values for both Rent Charges.
The checks inspect the input against the same information on the historical documents.
There are some tabs on the spreadsheet that use the Summary as source. PT is for Pivot Table in these instances. The tabs are 'PT Summary Area Rent', 'PT Summary V Rent', 'PT Summary IM Rent', and 'PT Summary Area'.
Schedule
Creating the Dataset - Schedule
The Schedule has all the detailed data at the important plot level.
The plot number is the first entry, that is simple enough.
Landowner and Occupier are the next fields, which can either be by direct typing or by using the dropdowns which are fuelled by the data filled in Names of L and O tab.
Lands and premises field is a copy of the schedule column Name and Description of Lands and Premises. This is a typing field. Sometimes there is very useful information in this field with names that can still be found on current or older maps. Other times it is a little sparse.
The State of Cultivation on the schedule is interested in land use to establish the Tithe. For those elements it is just typing into the column of the same name. However, I am also interested in other land use. Using the Description of Lands and Premises I make and assessment of the alternative usages, generally into one or more of the following usages.
| Name and Description of Land and Premises | State of Cultivation |
|---|---|
| House and Garden | {Residence} |
| Cottage and Garden | {Residence} |
| Yard and Buildings | {Premises} |
| Farm Yard and Buildings | {Premises} |
| Blacksmiths Shop | {Retail} |
| Willow Bed and Water | {Water} |
| Roadway | {Road} |
| Waste | {Waste} |
| Chapel | {Church} |
| Common | {Common} |
| Pleasure Gardens | {Pleasure Gardens} |
| Orchard | {Orchard} |
| Plantation | {Plantation} |
| House, Blacksmith's Shop, and Garden | {{Residence}{Retail}} |
| House, Blacksmith's Shop, Buildings, Garden, and Yard | {{Residence}{Retail}{Premises}} |
| House and Pleasure Garden | {{Residence}{Pleasure Gardens}} |
| Mansion House, and Pleasure Gardens | {{Residence}{Pleasure Gardens}} |
| Mansion House, Buildings, and Pleasure Gardens | {{Residence}{Pleasure Gardens}{Premises}} |
The new categories of use are enclosed in braces { } to distinguish the entry apart form the transcription. Multiple uses are allocated any combination of the new categories, enclosed in a further set of braces {{ }{ }}, although avoid {{ a }{ b }} and {{ b }{ a }} as this will just collate as two entries when it is only one.
Additional information
Creating the Dataset - Additional information
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Output
Creating the Dataset - Output
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Geolocation
Geolocation
Matching the Tithe Map to current Mapping
As stated above, It is unnecessary to discuss in detail the problems of interpreting a tithe map; but it is well to bear in mind that reliance cannot be placed upon the area of individual tithe areas stated in an apportionment or computed from the tithe map, unless the map is sealed.
I therefore resort to comparing the Tithe Maps to the Ordnance Survey 25" maps held by The National Library of Scotland and prefer the Georeferenced Mapping.
It is not that easy to see the correlation with the OS Map with it's Northerly orientation compared to a Tithe Map which is normally arranged to best fit the paper.
Sometimes I can rotate a digital copy of the Tithe Map 90o or more, to approximate the Compass Rose northerly direction. It is then more discernible as to whether it is the same location as indicated on the 25" OS Maps as being the same as the Tithe Map.
Unfortunately Tithe Maps are frequently without place name annotations. So it is generally down to shapes to enable identification of the places by comparison to both old and current maps.
The shapes of the rivers, roads, and fields as well as the plot numbers confirm that it is the same hand drawn map. Fields are amazingly often the same shape now and then.
Another point of help can sometimes be the Apportionment Schedule, if the plots have named places which can be identified and found on the comparison map.
The first Tithe Map I used was from the Hampshire Record Office. Latterly I use the Tithe Apportionment and Maps held at The Genealogist, under the Landowner & Occupier Record Collection. Some of their Tithe Maps are now geolocated, which makes matching a lot easier.
ESRI Story Maps
ESRI Story Maps
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Creating the Website
Creating the Website
My website articles with regard to Tithe Apportionment has been amended due to Mr Gerry Dutton of Basingstoke whose work on the The North Hampshire Tithe Map Project and the resultant website gave me the inspiration to consider my work on Tithe Apportionment and Maps as a collective as well as the previous thought of only including the work within the relevant One Place Studies or articles.
At the time of writing I am building my fourth Tithe Apportionment dataset and the associated articles within my Genealogy website. Unsurprisingly it has evolved and improved on each draft. For the forth iteration I am creating a template to structure both the information and the resultant articles, based on past experience and The North Hampshire Tithe Map Project.
I will use the new template, which is not a copy of The North Hampshire Tithe Map Project website, but a reimaging of mine, to rework my previous articles on the subject. They will be seperated form the original articls and used as both standalone article together with articles in articles for the original work and the collective Tithe work.
The format will be;
Introduction
The first paragraph will be;
Introduction
For details about what Tithes where, how they came about, and the Tithe Computation Act that gave us all this wonderful information read the article titled Tithe Commutation Act 1836.
This link points to this article but avoids repeating the same text every time there is a Parish Specific Tithe Apportionment Article.
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Notes
Notes and Stories
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Transcription
I transcribe the text of the Tithe Agreement directly into the article for the Tithe Apportionment for the Parish. I use additional script fonts the help maintain the emphasis of the original document, but without attempting to make it a facsimile of that document.
Once I have completed and checked the transcription, I make a copy of it lower down the article, convert it all the Arial 12, select the plain text transcription, and print the selection to pdf. I then upload the file and place a pdf link just beneath the first transcription section, and delete the plain text transcription from which it was formed. Nobody wants to read the same dry text twice. This gives the ability for those that want or need to, read the plain text version as a pdf in a new window.
Primary Data
The Primary Data element of the website is by en-large from the tab of the same name. The spreadsheet page is embedded into the website, with the grid showing. It is interactive, so a change in the spreadsheet is reflected in the website upon refresh.
Detailed Data - Summary
The Detailed Data - Summary element of the website is from the tab called 'Names of L and O'. The spreadsheet page is embedded into the website, with the grid showing. It is interactive, so a change in the spreadsheet is reflected in the website upon refresh. Your text...
Detailed Data - Summary Landowners and Occupiers
The Detailed Data - Summary element of the website is from the tab called 'Names of L and O'. The spreadsheet page is embedded into the website, with the grid showing. It is interactive, so a change in the spreadsheet is reflected in the website upon refresh. Your text...
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Conclusion
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