Writtle Archives

Archives volunteers Susie, Wendy, Mavis, Celia

Aims-to make a collection of photographs and documents memorabilia to keep for future generations

Background

In Feb 1990 the Writtle Parish Council advertised in their Bi-monthly magazine “Writtle News” for someone to help set up an archive for the village. The Parish Council had an idea that they needed someone to sort out and make a collection of various odd photographs and news items, but they had not foreseen the great interest from parishioners and those with Writtle family connections from much further afield.

Photographs

Two of us were recruited and we started off our collection of old photographs by cataloguing them and buying albums so they could be displayed easily, and our aim was to identify as many people on them as possible, as well as dating and recording them. Although some of our photographs are originals, most of them are colour copies. A collection of original postcards has just been started buying from E Bay to compliment our own collection.

Other memorabilia also comes our way and we also keep an up to date record of present activities from newspapers, and programmes of events etc.

Collection and Preservation

One of our important collections are copies of the Parish Magazine from 1886 up to the present, which have been indexed, and bound. We still require some of the early copies to make up for those that were destroyed completely in the two fires which badly damaged the church in 1974 and 1991.

We also hold a collection of old maps, including the Tithe Map of 1839 and old OS maps and a selection of local history books about Writtle and the surrounding areas in our extensive reference library.

Recording

One of our first projects was the recording of all the headstones in the churchyard. There are over 2000 burials in the churchyard and the headstones have been drawn, and the inscriptions recorded. Some of the more unusual ones have also been photographed. The oldest stones uncovered were a group dating from 1707, a Mr Hugh PETCHEY from West Hanningfield, his wife and son. All the stones were given numbers, carefully drawn, and a map showing their location made. All have been entered on to computer and arranged
alphabetically to facilitate easy reference.
Similar recordings have been done with the church memorials and brasses, some of which are in Latin, and date from the 16th century. Other memorials from the United Reformed Church, War Memorial and on seats and trees around the Green are also recorded.

Transcription

A transcription of the Parish Records between 1634 up to the present is now almost complete. By doing this all original registers can be deposited at the Essex Record Office for safe keeping. We have also obtained copies of all the Writtle census returns which are indexed by name. These date from 1841 at 10 yearly intervals until 1911 and are of great use in delving into family and house history. Other volunteers help transcribe documents and print out lists to help in local history research.

Family History

A considerable number of people contact the Archives asking for help in tracing their ancestors in Writtle. We have had E mails from as far away as Canada, USA, South Africa and New Zealand. In one case we managed to make contact between cousins who hadnt seen each other for many years. It is a very worthwhile job discovering information on people’s families, their occupations and where they lived. With the advent of E mail help can be given very quickly, and brick walls soon demolished. By transcribing and indexing all our records we can do this type of research much more easily, as searching through the originals and microfiche can be very time consuming.

Memory Box

In the archive room we have a collection of essays and memories obtained by interviewing some of the long-term residents in the village. This is an important part of our work, as memories of life at the start of the 20th century are dying with the elderly. Some of the subjects covered are school days, shops and memories of the Second World War. Linked in with this is liaison with the local schools, helping them with project work, both at Junior and Senior level. We run a Church tour for the Writtle Junior School each year and students from Writtle University College have also use our facilities for projects such as land use in the village over the last century.

Archive Room

We started by keeping the Archives in the back room of the Writtle Library, which was open 3 days a week, but it soon became obvious that we would need more room and greater flexibility in opening. The Parish Council pays the rent on a room at the Writtle Christian Centre, to which we have limited access. We keep most of our material in large steel cabinets, secondhand Chubb safes, again paid for by the Parish Council which will hopefully give some protection in case of fire. However, most of our documents are photocopies and we send originals to the Essex Record Office for safe keeping. All our items are recorded and indexed on a colour coded card system, which now seems a bit cumbersome, but when we started 30 years ago we had no idea how the Archives would grow.

At present we are open to the public on Wednesday afternoons throughout the year, and by appointment at other times. On most Wednesdays we have visitors, some just come to bring in old photos etc. or to look at the 14 photograph albums that we have collected over the years. Some are trying to find out about the history of the houses they live in or are tracing their ancestors.

Exhibitions and Displays

We hold exhibitions in the Christian Centre for special occasions. For example we displayed all our photographs and memorabilia from the war years for the V .E. Day celebrations and had large displays for the Millennium and Golden Jubilee Celebrations.
We held a Family History Day to celebrate our 20 th Birthday in 2010 when all our Archives were on display and we helped many visitors starting to research their families. These exhibitions are very well supported and often provide us with new information and photographs by feed back with our visitors.

History of Writtle Books

Seventeen years ago we produced our first book using photographs and documents that we had in the Archives, with some extra research at the Essex Record Office. It was called ‘Writtle Inns and Pubs’ a ring bound book of 50 pages. This quickly sold out and we have reprinted several times. Other publications include 2006 ‘Open all Hours Writtle Shops’ and 2010 ‘Educating Writtle and nearby, School Days and Childhood Memories’. Our latest book in collaboration with Heritage Writtle is ‘Village Life through Misfortune and War’ – the Romans to WW2, published in 2014 to mark the start of WW1. Another on disappearing Writtle is in preparation.

Local History Walks

When we first started collecting photographs for the Archives there was need for a small booklet for visitors about the history of Writtle and the houses around the village Green. We are now on our 3rd reprint of the “Writtle Local History Trail”.
From this our Local History Walks for visiting groups developed. Schools parties, and local groups, are shown around the Green in the summer months. The ‘Children’s Heritage Trail’ was also published with a grant from Local Heritage Initiative.

The income from these walks and donations from family history research helps to keep the books balanced. We are backed by the Parish Council, The Parish Council has updated our computers and printer/photocopier/scanners for us on a regular basis which has been indispensable.

New Projects

Running an archive is a never-ending project, as new information is gleaned from the newspapers every week, new documents are found to be transcribed and enquiries about Writtle families must be researched.
We have been involved with the Essex Place Name Survey and have completed both the Tithe Map of 1839 and Sales Catalogues for Writtle. Although these projects are time consuming, they help us better to understand the area in which we live. Our most recent venture is into archaeology and a group called Heritage Writtle was set up to investigate a possible Roman villa and evidence of a Roman road on one of the farms, with hundreds of finds being discovered and another book written on Roman Writtle.

Writtle Archives is run by a small group of four dedicated members, other volunteers help with displays and publishing when required.
Archive work is never ending, it’s sometimes boring and repetitive, but most of all it is very rewarding and well worth all the effort and time involved.