Material Abstract Alan Wright Chopwell
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Alan Wright Chopwell Township 1851-1911: Aspects of Residency Using A Microcosmical Approach Material Abstract This thesis presents the results of an exploration into aspects of the residency of the inhabitants of four County Durham mining villages over the period 1851-1911. These four villages - Chopwell, High Spen, Blackhall Mill and Victoria Garesfield - were all within a few kilometres of each other and housed the population of a region known, historically, as Chopwell Township. Miners in High Spen and Victoria Garesfield had been working coal from the middle of the nineteenth century but major developments at Chopwell from 1895 created a new colliery village of over 5000 inhabitants by 1911. This large in-migration created some unusual conditions for this inquiry into residency. The basic data for the analysis was obtained from the on-line versions of seven Censuses (1851-1911), supported by parish registers (1890-1911) and the 1910 Property Valuation Survey. Generally the ten-year Residential Persistence rates determined for three of the villages are comparable to other published figures, while the ten-year rates of Chopwell differ. It is suggested that the low values found for Chopwell, over the decade 1901-1911, were the result of the influx of workers which created a transient period of social ‘churning’ as the migrants adjusted to their new environment. A study of the inter-censal period, 1901-1911 for Chopwell and High Spen, revealed frequent short-distance migrations with residents moving between streets. Some of these migrations seem to occur for housing reasons, either up-sizing (for larger families) or down-sizing (for smaller families). A limited examination was also made of the conjecture that the presence of large numbers of children in a household restricted mobility but the results were equivocal. To untangle the web of relationships that develop in communities it was necessary to create Household Histories. This exercise revealed ‘hidden’ illegitimate’ children, frequent re-marriages with surname changes, wider kin networks and some doubtful birthplaces. 1 Chopwell Township 1851-1911: Aspects of Residency Using A Microcosmical Approach by Alan Wright DipEE.,MPhil.,MA.,FIEE A thesis presented for the degree MSc by research in Anthropology Department of Anthropology DURHAM UNIVERSITY 2012 2 List of Contents Page No. List of Tables, Maps and Photographs 5 Preface & Acknowledgements 8 Chapter One. Study Introduction and Review 10 1.1. Introduction 11 1.1.1. General 11 1.1.2. Aims and Objectives of this Study 12 1.2. Review of Community History, Migration, Kinship and Residency 14 Patterns 1.3. Summary 27 References and Notes 28 Chapter Two Historical Background and General Source Material 32 2.1. Chopwell Manor in History 33 2.1.1. Chopwell Wood 35 2.2. Industrial Developments in the Derwent Valley 36 2.3. Early Population 39 2.4. General Source Material 40 2.5. Summary 42 References and Notes 43 Chapter Three Housing, Population and Census Data 45 3.1. Settlements in the Township 46 3.1.1. Chopwell 46 3.1.2. Blackhall Mill 51 3.1.3. High Spen 53 3.1.4. Victoria Garesfield 59 3.1.5. Summary Tables of the Populations in the Villages 60 3.2. Preparation of Data for Analysis 60 3.2.1. General 60 3.2.2. Development of the Census Files 61 References and Notes 68 Chapter Four Residential Persistence and Household Histories 69 4.1. Introduction 70 3 4.2. Residential Persistence 1851-1911 74 4.2.1. General Procedure and Results 74 4.3. Residential Persistence 1901-1911 82 4.3.1. General Procedure 82 4.3.2. Chopwell 82 4.3.3. High Spen 85 4.4. Residential Persistence 1910-1911 86 4.5. Summary of Results 1851-1911 90 4.6. Inter-Censal Residential Persistence 1901-1911 91 4.6.1. Introduction 91 4.6.2. Basis for Analysis 91 4.6.3. Discussion 96 4.7. Household Histories 97 4.7.1. Chopwell 98 4.7.2. High Spen 120 4.7.3. Review and Discussion of Results 132 References and Notes 135 Chapter Five Conclusions 137 5. Conclusions 138 Appendices. Appendix A1. Population Summary Tables 1851-1911. 144 Appendix A2. Street Residence Files 155 Appendix A3. Household Histories 179 Bibliography 252 Copyright The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. 4 List of Tables, Maps and Photographs Page No. Chapter One Study Introduction and Review Fig. 1.1 Chopwell Township and Associated Parishes 13 Chapter Two Historical Background and General Source Material Fig. 2.1.Chopwell Township Principal Farms and Houses 34 Chapter Three Housing, Population and Census Data Fig. 3.1. East Chopwell c.1911 48 Fig. 3.2. West Chopwell c.1911 49 Fig. 3.3. Some views of West Chopwell streets 50 Fig. 3.4. Blackhall Mill c.1911 52 Fig. 3.5. High Spen East c.1911 54 Fig. 3.6. High Spen West c.1911 55 Fig. 3.7. Some views of High Spen streets 56 Fig. 3.8. Victoria Garesfield c.1911 57 Fig. 3.9. Some views of Victoria Garesfield streets 58 Table 3.1. Summary of Population Totals 1851-1911 60 Fig. 3.10. File Structure for Chopwell and Blackhall Mill 62 Fig. 3.11. File Structure for High Spen and Victoria Garesfield 63 Table. 3.2. Extract from Alphabetical Names Files for Chopwell 64 Table. 3.3. Street Residence File - Wear Street 1901-11 65 Table. 3.4.Head of House Residence File for High Spen/Victoria Garesfield 66 Chapter Four. Residential Persistence and Household Histories Table 4.1. File for all Alexander Families in High Spen/Victoria Garesfield Table 4.2. Partial File for some AAA families in 75 High Spen/Victoria Garesfield 76 Table 4.3. Summation file for High Spen/Victoria Garesfield Table 4.4. Summation file for High Spen/Victoria Garesfield 77 including Residential Persistence Results 78 Table 4.4a. Summary of Residential Persistence Results for High Spen/Victoria Garesfield 78 Table 4.5. Partial File for some AAA families in Blackhall Mill Table 4.6. Summation file for Blackhall Mill 79 Table 4.7. Summation file for Blackhall Mill including 80 Residential Persistence Results 81 Table 4.7a. Summary of Residential Persistence Results for Blackhall Mill 81 Table 4.8. Residential Persistence results for Chopwell streets 5 Table 4.9. Residential Persistence results for High Spen streets 84 Table 4.10. Residential Persistence results for Glossop St. & Howard Terr. 85 Table 4.11. B Clyde Street showing residential changes 1910-1911 85 Table 4.12. Residential Persistence for Chopwell Streets 1910-11 86 Table 4.13. Residential Persistence for High Spen Streets 1910-11 88 Table 4.14. Summary of Residential Persistence Results 1851-1911 89 Table 4.15. Street Residence File Tyne Street 1901-11 90 Table 4.16. Mean Residential Duration - Tyne Street 92 Table 4.17. Mean Residential Duration - Thames Street 93 Table 4.18. Allocation of Slots for Option 2 93 Table 4.19. Mean Residential Duration - Option 1 (Tyne) 94 Table 4.20. Mean Residential Duration - Option 1 (Thames) 94 Table 4.21. Mean Residential Duration - Option 2 (Tyne) 95 Table 4.22. Mean Residential Duration - Option 2 (Thames) 95 Table 4.23. Mean Residential Duration for Chopwell/High Spen Streets 1901- 95 11 96 Table 4.24 Micro-migration from Tyne Street 1901-1911 Table 4.25. Micro-migration from Wear Street 1901-1911 101 Table 4.26. Nominal distances from Chopwell of destinations 105 of those families who moved outside Chopwell 110 Table 4.27. Average number of children for each family category - Blyth Street 110 Table 4.28. Micro-migration from Blyth Street 1901-1911 Table 4.29. Micro-migration from Severn Street 1901-1911 111 Table 4.30. Micro-migration from Thames Street 1901-1911 115 Table 4.31. Micro-migration from Glossop Street/Howard Terrace 119 1901-1911 123 Table 4.32. Average number of children for each family category - West Street 127 Table 4.33. Micro-migration from West Street 1901-1911 Table 4.34. Micro-migration from Short Rows East & West 1901-1911 128 132 Appendix One. Population Summary Tables 1851-1911 Table A1.1. Population summary - Chopwell 1851 Table A1.2. Population summary - Chopwell 1861 145 Table A1.3. Population summary - Chopwell 1871 145 Table A1.4. Population summary - Chopwell 1881 145 Table A1.5. Population summary - Chopwell 1891 146 Table A1.6. Population summary - Chopwell 1901 146 Table A1.7. Population summary (Colliery Streets) - Chopwell 1911 146 Table A1.8. Population summary (Private Streets) - Chopwell 1911 147 Table A1.9. Population summary - Blackhall Mill 1851 147 Table A1.10. Population summary - Blackhall Mill 1861 148 Table A1.11. Population summary - Blackhall Mill 1871 148 Table A1.12. Population summary - Blackhall Mill 1881 148 6 Table A1.13. Population summary - Blackhall Mill 1891 148 Table A1.14. Population summary - Blackhall Mill 1901 149 Table A1.15. Population summary - Blackhall Mill 1911 149 Table A1.16. Population summary - High Spen 1851 149 Table A1.17. Population summary - High Spen 1861 150 Table A1.18. Population summary - High Spen 1871 150 Table A1.19. Population summary - High Spen 1881 150 Table A1.20. Population summary - High Spen 1891 150 Table A1.21. Population summary - High Spen 1901 151 Table A1.22. Population summary - High Spen 1911 151 Table A1.23. Population summary - Victoria Garesfield 1851 152 Table A1.24. Population summary - Victoria Garesfield 1861 153 Table A1.25. Population summary - Victoria Garesfield 1871 153 Table A1.26. Population summary - Victoria Garesfield 1881 153 Table A1.27.