Project plan being developed around the following mind map:
Save
Save
Since this project will definitely use many maps it is intended that the team will develop skills in handling spatial data using GIS software. This will undoubtedly also be useful for other projects.
Deciding which order to tackle the many aspects of land ownership will be key. The examination of 1086 Domesday data is top of the list!
July 2017: An outline training programme has been used to learn the skills necessary for implementing Geographical Information System. The open systems software QGIS has been used to develop a process for handling Local History Research activities. Raw data is put into an flexible Access database and then exported to .CSV which can be used to create a QGIS shapefile layer. The attributes are then filtered to show the relevant information on a map where British National Grid coordinates are default. The layers can be overlayed to analyse and interpret the data.
The attributes table fields and values can be used to create specific interactive maps which can be saved as .html and uploaded to our website for sharing.
Sept 2017: all the historical datasets held by the Borough HER department have been provided to us under licence and have been added to our QGIS desktop. The transcription of 1925 Land valuation data has been completed and addition of coordinate values will allow us to include 1925 data to be added to our interactive maps of 1910 Domesday and 1911 census information.
Jan 2018: the Group talk updating the progress on the project was primarily based on
(a) the development of our skillset for mapping events by GIS and
(b) the findings from our analysis of 1086 Domesday records.
Subsequently we have used our contacts within Historic England to apply GIS technology to this Domesday data obtained from the Hull dataset. This will allow us to use some of the analytical approaches of Lowerre, Fowler and Airey (see MindMap) to map derived Domesday data and make comparisons with all parishes in Bedfordshire.
Nov 2020
Visits to the Archive have been different because of COVID-19 restrictions.
Collaboration with Matt Tuohy at Leicester University/Bedford Borough HER has been useful.
The format of the book has beeen agreed and the Chapters listed. GIS generated maps would be used whereever helpful. The draft of the book has been sent for peer review.