The Past Harvests Project
The Past Harvests Project
Researchers on the Past Harvests project spent an exciting week in late March at Chatsworth House and Haddon Hall in Derbyshire. These two jewels of the Peak District contain incredibly rich archival collections. Hidden among neatly tied bundles or tightly wrapped within vellum sheets were records of historic woodland, fields and moorland contained in leases, […]
Historians on the Past Harvests team have spent a rewarding few months delving into the rich archives of the Duchy of Cornwall. Located a short distance from Buckingham Palace, the Duchy’s collections contain records reaching back to its medieval origins as the Earldom of Cornwall. They include royal correspondence, household accounts and portraits of previous […]
Nothing symbolises the difference between historic and modern forms of land use like the European Gorse (Ilex europaeus). Known variously as whin, furze or ling, it thrives on poor, sandy or stony marginal soils, particularly upland heaths and moors. As enclosure and reclamation took hold from the early nineteenth century, it was eradicated from many […]
Powderham Castle was once served by its own harbour where the River Kenn and River Exe estuary meet. Following recent flooding, these rivers had reclaimed lost ground, submerging much of the castle grounds and the marshland beyond. Thankfully, by the time of our visit in early February, the floodwaters had receded a little, granting us […]
Was life simpler for farmers in the past, in a world without huge, complex machinery, agribusinesses, agrichemicals and pesticides, genetic engineering, and the many and various interventions by central government, never mind international regulations? Yes, but our Past Harvests research project shows that life could still be very complicated in other ways. In 1759, […]
In early January, five members of the Past Harvests project team ventured across snow and ice for initial visits to Chatsworth House and Holkham Hall. The purpose of our visits was to meet with the archive teams of each estate and discuss the practicalities of assessing their impressive, often untapped collections. Both estates are situated […]
