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New articles continue to be added during the lockdown as indicated below. Also another photo (front and back) has been added to the article on Ernest Antill, Hathern's own itinerant Victorian photographer.

Hill house and Wide Lane W.I.P.

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26 February 2022 Houses

This article started off as a profile of Hill House the imposing three-story twelve-room house standing on Derby Road (number 31) almost at the corner of Wide Lane and remembered by older Hathern...

Fred Spencer collection

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04 September 2021 Original articles

Fred, Reg and Eric Spencer were the sons of Herbert Everard Spencer, founder of the family bakery business. Some years back the History Society was given access to Fred's photo collection and many...

Streets of Hathern

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19 July 2021 Original articles

This article is just a collection of miscellaneous facts about our village streets. To be added to as necessary. Gladstone Street.It appears first on the OS Map of 1884. It runs up from Cross Street...

The Groves and Poplar House

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07 July 2021 Original articles

For those old enough to remember 'The Grove family' was a much-loved series on 'the wireless' in the 1950s. This is not them. This article was prompted by an email enquiry in May of this year (2021) by...

This is included as as background to the main article on the 1778 enclosure.

Prior to the enclosures in England, a portion of the land was categorized as "common" or "waste". "Common" land was under some kind of collective control. Called the open field system, a single plot of land was divided among groups, often a lord and employed or participating peasants. This facilitated common grazing and crop rotation. "Waste" was the only land not officially claimed by any group, often cultivated by landless peasants.^[

Enclosure Acts for small areas had been passed sporadically since the 12th century, but with the rise of the Industrial Revolution, they became more commonplace. In search of better financial returns, landowners looked for more efficient farming techniques. Enclosures were also created so that landowners could charge higher rent to the people working the land. This was at least partially responsible for peasants leaving the countryside to work in the city in industrial factories.

The Inclosure Act of 1773 was the first to lay down the general rules and procedure to be followed. Many more Acts followed in the C19th century. The long title of the Act was “An Act for the better Cultivation, Improvement, and Regulation of the Common Arable Fields, Wastes, and Commons of Pasture in this Kingdom”. It created a law that enabled enclosure of land, at the same time removing the right of commoners' access.

The Act required the procedure to start with a petition delivered to Parliament signed by the landowner, tithe holders and a majority of people affected. The petition then went through the stages of a bill with a committee meeting to hear any objections. The petition would then go through to Royal Assent after passing through both Houses of Parliament. Commissioners would then visit the area and distribute the land accordingly.

The powers granted in the Inclosure Act were often abused by landowners: the preliminary meetings where enclosure was discussed, intended to be held in public, were often made in the presence of only the local landowners. They regularly chose their own solicitors, surveyors and Commissioners to decide on each case. In 1774, Parliament added an amendment to the Act under the Standing Orders that every petition for enclosure had to be affixed to the door of the local church for three consecutive Sundays in August or September.

[source Wikipedia]

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Over the last 25 years, the History Society has gathered together hundreds of photos of old Hathern and its people. Many of these have been included in the various publications of the Society. These are being added to all the time. If anyone has any photos or videos they think might be of interest, then please contact a member of the Society. Or indeed, if you can offer any extra information about the pictures already on this site.

Churchyard inscriptions and pictures

During the C19th, various publishers produced books every few years for each county, included in which were descriptions of the geography and history of each town and village in the county, along with a list of the trades people. Picture is Henry Harriman's framesmith's factory on the Green mentioned in the 1894 Wright's gazetteer. The following are extracts from some of these these gazetteers :-

1775 Gazetteer	3 years before Enclosure map. list of all freeholders or estate owned elsewhere by Hathern people.
1846 Whites	Manor of Hathern purchased 1663 by Ambose Phillips. Main landowner C.M.Phillips also patron of church in which E.T.M.Phillips is rector. Wesleyan and General Baptist chapels. Free school headmaster James Attenborough (editor's note - this 4 years before National School built). Anchor Inn and Turn Inn and 3 Crowns. 2 hosiery manufacturers. Twells plumber. Bakers, boot and shoe makers, blacksmiths, butchers, farmers, joiners, shopkeepers, tailors, wheelwrights, carriers.
1854 Melvilles	Near Midland railway. E.T.M.Phillips rector. and one of 5 gentry. James Attenborough teacher. John Handfort maker of agricultural implements. Post office. Coal dealer at Zouch bridge.
1863 Gazetteer	Church restoration in 1861-2 in memory E.T.M.Phillipps. Rector now E.Smythies. rectory was built 1819. National school built 1850. Charity estate. Yearly doles. Mr Barnacle schoolteacher. 14 farmers.
1877 Whites	1120 population of which 2/3 are framework knitters. Now a primitive methodist chapel. Co-operative store. Police officer. Hathern Station brick and tile manufacturer. Schoolmaster Henry Lammas. Smythies rector. Burrowes timber. Coddington chemist. Harriman and son framesmiths.
1880 Wrights	"Most of the inhabitants are framework knitters".
1881 Kellys	Population 1313.
1883-4 Wrights	William Swift cow-keeper and curled hair manufacturer. Hathern Co-op and bakers, manager Mr. Mitchell.
1891 Kellys	Hathern Turn famous for meeting of the hunt. Home of John Heathcoat. Liberal club
1894 Wrights	Salvation army meet in temperance hall built 1865. Dewdrop.
1899 Wrights	Population 1131. Stained glass window in memory of Rev. Smythies
1901-2 Bennetts	Burrowes timber yard, Hathern Brick company, Vickers baker.
1908 Kellys	School 193 children. teachers Fern and Quenby. Baptist ministers Foston and Vaughan. Rector Glenn.
1912 Kellys	Landlords Benton, Cooper, Farrow.
1916 Kellys	Population 1200 in 1911. Chapman post office. Fern headmaster. Lawrance rector.
1941 Kellys	Rector Samuel Skelhorn. Farmers Cotton, Groves, Harris,Moody, Oxby, Parker, Russell.

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Hill house and Wide Lane W.I.P.

All stock photos used on this JSN Time 2 demo site are only for demo purposes and not included in the template package.

1830 Electoral Poll	2 lace makers. John Handford plough maker
1832 Electoral Roll	Persons entitled to elect knights. Very interesting as it shows roughly where people live e.g. "near the old Dovecot". Several mentions of Golden Square. Also "Mount Pleasant" (where was this ?)
1865 Electoral Roll	Only 38 voters, almost half not resident in Hathern
1924 Spring Register	Most common family names (over 10 mentions) are Hunt (23), Price (21), Randon (16), Spencer (15), Bowley (14), Swift (12), Groves (11), Moody (10), Warren (10
1951-2 Sreet Directory	This is in street order. Bungalow Estate is the name given to the temporary accommodation providedby the houses and shelters previously used to house the (mainly) Italian prisoners of War on the site behind Pear Tree Cottage.

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Hill house and Wide Lane W.I.P.

Fred Spencer collection

Streets of Hathern

The Groves and Poplar House

Background to Enclosure

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