Polish up your British History

It is clear that many of the people who use my web site are comparatively new to family history research and have little real understanding of the the relevant historical and social environment that their ancestors would have known first hand. For those of you who did not study history in any detail at school, or were taught about the Kings and Queens and great events but nothing about the everyday lives of everyday people I strongly recommend the BBC History Web Site. I have only recently discovered it, while trying to find out how many people lived in England at various date in the past. Finding it useful I have located a number of articles which I am sure many of you will find helpful. I have added the link to the Key Web Sites Menu on the main site.

A Patterson Sketch of the River Gade at Water End

The River Gade

Cycling

Frank Patterson (1871-1952) was a prolific artist who published a large number of pictures  in cycling magazines. This one shows the bridge over the River Gade at Great Gaddesden, just north of Hemel Hempstead.

Gt Gaddesden

In addition to adding the picture I have restructures the Great Gaddesden page so there are now separate pages for St John the Baptist Church, Gaddesden Place and Water End.

Censuses

I have also created new links to an old page on the population of Great Gaddesden in 1881, which demonstrates how few people moved more that a short distance from where they were born in rural Hertfordshire.