The W G Hoskins Lecture 2010

‘The English Story’ presented by Dr. Michael Wood

The twenty-first Hoskins lecture

A large audience in the Ken Edwards Building welcomed Dr Michael Wood who gave the 21st Hoskins Day lecture. Introducing Dr Wood, Chairman of the Friends Frank Galbraith, noted that it was hardly necessary to introduce one who is so well known for a number of historical programmes produced for television, from ‘In search for the Dark Ages’ (1979) to ‘History of India’ (2007). He has also published a number of historical works.

Dr Wood first made reference to the works of W.G Hoskins and R. Hilton and the influence they had on him in forming his understanding of history. Hoskins’ approach of looking at history from the perspective of ordinary people had made an indelible impression on him. By bringing together an understanding of the landscape with the people who lived and toiled in it, Hoskins used whatever information he could find about ordinary people and produced a story showing how they lived, which helps us to understand how our communities have evolved. Michael has taken Hoskins’ approach and adapted it to television, using the latest technology and techniques available to archaeologists and historians. In this way, it is hoped that people will find it easier to understand how history has shaped the way we live today.

‘The English Story’ will be a series of six one-hour television programmes looking at the history of Kibworth, an apparently, undistinguished village on the A6 between Leicester and Market Harborough. Dr Wood explained that the original agreement with the BBC was to produce a series that would explore the history of an ordinary village from the Norman invasion to the present day. It was assumed that a year would be more than sufficient to complete the series. But why choose Kibworth, or more accurately, the three linked villages of Kibworth Harcourt, Kibworth Beauchamp and Smeeton Westerby? The answer lay in the extraordinary amount of archival evidence that is available, especially on Kibworth Harcourt, which came into the estate of Merton College, Oxford in 1270. The Hundred Rolls of 1270 no longer exist but did so when Burton wrote his history of the county in 1672 and Burton’s notes are published in Nichol’s History of Leicestershire (1779). The County Record Office holds over 20,000 pre-1600 wills, including a number from Kibworth. In addition, a number of families have remained in the area for three or four hundred years and therefore provide that link between past and present.

Having decided on a location, Dr Wood explained how the production team set about their work after June 2009. The first that most villagers knew of the project was a notice advising that a team of archaeologists from the University of Leicester Archaeological Service, together with Carenza Lewis and a film crew, would be in Kibworth at the beginning of July and villagers were asked to participate and dig test pits over the weekend. As a result, fifty five pits were dug in the three communities, the majority of which were in Kibworth Harcourt. Finds included Roman pottery, fifth or sixth-century pottery, an Anglo-Saxon bone comb and some eighth-century Ipswich ware at Smeeton Westerby. Some pieces of St Neots and Stamford ware were also found as well as considerable amounts of seventeenth and eighteenth-century items.

While the finds were being analysed, the team were looking for any other evidence of early habitation. They came across evidence of a Roman villa that had been located by Bert Aggass, a local archaeologist and historian, during the 1960s. At this point, the team became aware that the area had a rich history going back much further in time and which offered the possibility of some exciting finds. The BBC agreed for the project to be expanded. A geophysical survey of the area located by Mr Aggass clearly showed the complete plan of a large Roman villa, and in the same field the team found a bronze age barrow. Also in the field is the mound of the first windmill which is known to have been in existence before 1280. Not far away lies a mound, locally referred to as the Munt, which has always been considered to be the base of a Norman motte and bailey. Work undertaken by the survey team now suggests that the mound has a much earlier origin and was originally the burial mound of a Romano-British chief. It subsequently became a motte and bailey in later times.

Turning to later times, Dr Wood acknowledged the work of Dr Cecily Howell whose PhD thesis on Kibworth Harcourt was subsequently published under the title Land, Family and Inheritance in Transition; Kibworth Harcourt 1280-1700 (Cambridge, 1983). Her work enabled Dr Wood to delve further into the history of the families and buildings and relate them to life in the community today. Much of the research was undertaken at Merton College library and the Record Office for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. A dendro-chronology survey of the Manor Farm house has shown that part of it dates from the period 1320-40. Various open meetings have been held where villagers have brought in all sorts of items that have historical connections with the area. As the area is on the western boundary of Danish influence, some of the families who have stayed in the area were asked if they would take a DNA test to ascertain whether there might be evidence of families having stayed in the area since the invasion.

Dr Wood ended the lecture by showing a short film clip of the day that test pits were dug. Time did not permit him to talk about the nineteenth and twentieth centuries but this did not seem important as his enthusiasm for his subject and the enormous amount of information that has been uncovered held the audience’s attention to the end.

This series of programmes will provide an opportunity to take Hoskins’ approach to local history and use the latest technology to describe how communities evolved and so contribute to The English Story. Local historians in towns and villages up and down the country may well wonder how much more could be learnt about their own community if only sufficient money, expertise and time were available. Kibworth is very fortunate in having been chosen for this project because it has elicited knowledge and information that could not have been obtained by the local history society.

From an original report by David Holmes.