The Victoria County History for Cumbria
The VCH Cumbria is now active. Click this logo for the printable leaflet containing information on how to support and join the project. There will be a public launch of the project at Rheged on Saturday 15th May at 10am. All are welcome. The invitation and details are contained in the launch letter.
The Federation and The Victoria County History
The Federation has been working for the past year with the other main Cumbria-wide organisations to establish a way to restart work on the VCH for Cumbria, in a form which meets the needs and will have the support of local historians in the 21st century. We expect a new registered charity, the Cumbria County History Trust, to be established to raise funds and volunteer resounces for the work, and to provide the community focus for the project. The Federation and its members will be invited to participate in the charity and the project, for which academic leadership will be provided by Lancaster University. The intended project is summarised below. For more general information on VCH please click the logo to enter the
CUMBRIA VCH PROJECT PLAN - SUMMARY
1 As part of a national drive to complete the Victoria County History (VCH), plans have been drawn up to re-start work on the VCH in Cumbria, implementing the preparation and publication of topographical volumes (‘red books’) and related material for the historic areas that now make up the county of Cumbria.
2. A working group – consisting of the Director of the VCH and representatives of Lancaster University, University of Cumbria, Cumbria County Council, the Diocese of Carlisle, the National Trust, the Lake District National Park Authority, the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society (CWAAS), the Cumbria Local History Federation and the Friends of Cumbria Archives – has drawn up a constitution for a new charitable body to be called Cumbria County History Trust (CCHT). The principal aim of CCHT will be to raise funds and volunteer resources sufficient to restart, and, ultimately, to complete, the Victoria County History of Cumbria. CCHT will be a body constituted by membership.
3. The project will be a partnership between VCH central office, Lancaster University (the centre of excellence for regional studies of North West England), and CCHT. There will be a Project Steering Group drawing membership from all three.
4. The Project Leader is intended to be Dr Angus Winchester of Lancaster University. A second professional historian will be appointed, as soon as funds allow, as a full-time County Editor, reporting to the Project Leader. It is intended that the bulk of the research will be done by volunteers, with training and guidance from the County Editor and the Project Leader, who will be responsible for ensuring compliance with VCH research guidelines and academic rigour.
5. The proposal is to divide Cumberland and Westmorland into 15 territories, each of which will eventually be the subject of a VCH ‘red book’. One of these territories will be selected by the Project Steering Group for priority treatment, with the aim of completing all research and writing of the first ‘red book’ within 5 years. As it is prepared, material will be published on the VCH web site by the County Editor. Meanwhile, work will also commence in other parts of the county as volunteers become available, all research being conducted according to VCH guidelines. Completed research materials for these areas will be submitted to a moderator appointed for each volume territory from amongst experienced and competent local historians, and will, if approved, be posted on the CCHT website pending further action in due course.
6. The estimate of the cost of the project is about £60,000 per annum. CWAAS have, subject to matching funding being raised, voted £10,000 per year for 5 years. It is intended to raise the first tranche of matching funding by seeking the equivalent of 100 annual covenants of £100 per year for 5 years. Applications will then be made to appropriate grant-giving bodies for the balance required.
7. The plan is to complete all procedural steps, and put funding in place, to allow a start to be made during 2010.
Coverage of the Topographical Volumes (provisional)
Key*
I Carlisle II Brampton and the Border III Penrith and the eastern Fellside IV Inglewood V Wigton and the Solway
VI Maryport and Workington VII Keswick and the northern Lake District VIII Cockermouth and the north-west lakes
IX Whitehaven, Egremont and St Bees X Millom and the western Lake District
XI Appleby, Kirkby Stephen and the Eden Valley XII Shap and eastern Lakeland XIII Ambleside and Windermere
XIV Kendal XV Kirkby Lonsdale and Milnthorpe
Lancaster VIII Furness and Cartmel (published in 1914, click to read online)
West Riding of Yorkshire - Sedbergh
* The actual numbering of volumes may follow the order of publication.
Contacts for further information
For further information about the Victoria County History project in Cumbria and how you or you society can be involved, please contact Richard Brockington:-
01768 870352 or email richard.brockington@mypostoffice.co.uk
© MMIX - Cumbria Local History Federation