Section 3 - Change in place and society

Sequences of maps of the same location coupled with selected images can illustrate how places and the communities which live in them have changed. At the same time, questions can be asked about why those changes have occurred and what their effects on rural and urban coastal landscape have been. The parish of Burton Bradstock is used as an example, but the same activity can be done for most parishes along the coast.

There is plenty of background material in the main DCDA Learning Packages . For example, aspects of the growth of the ports of Poole , Christchurch and Weymouth are described here

Theme 2 Topic 1 Growth and Development of Settlements includes an introduction to settlement geography of Dorset and the growth of towns using Bridport as an example.

Theme 2 Topic 2 Life on the Land and in the Town site describes aspects of the resources available about Burton Bradstock.

SAMPLE LEARNING ACTIVITY 3.1
What changes in occupancy and use have occurred? 

Background

This Sample Learning Activity uses the parish of Burton Bradstock as an example. The 1843 Tithe Map of Burton Bradstock shows the patterns of fields and buildings. The Tithe Apportionments list the ownership, tenancy, usage and size of each plot. The Map Viewer includes the Ordnance Survey 6 Inch maps of the 1880s and aerial photographs from the 1940s and 1970s, but there are other maps at other dates in the Image Library which record the field patterns, although not their use. Burton Bradstock is well represented by photographs, with a large collection of about 300, showing the people who lived and worked in the 1930s on the farms around the village. Luckily, the photographer recorded the names of some of these people. The Burton Bradstock Village site provides a wealth of local information and many more photographs of the parish.

pigs are being watered with a water cart drawn by horses on Cogden Farm which lies about 1 mile (about 1.6 km) east of Burton Bradstock. The survival of some farms during the agricultural depression of the 1920s and 1930s depended upon traditional farming methods. For many people living in these areas, the coast was simply a backdrop to the everyday routines and demands of farming. Maintaining the fabric of countryside life depended upon manual labour. There are few machines in these photographs. The emphasis is on the people.

Maintenance of the roads was carrried out by small gangs of labourers who often carried out the most essential tasks at the roadside. In this image for example, the photographer records a group of labourers breaking stone for road mending on Bredy Lane . Most of the stone was carted to the site by horse and cart. In another of these images, we see Will Ward with his horse and cart by the beach where the new Beach Road is under construction, probably having just carried some of

the stone used in the road to the site.

Images at the same time of people on the nearby beach usually show several activities. Fishing was part of the daily routine of this coastal community, supplementing diets to a very important degree. Images often show the fishermen, sometimes beaching the boats or landing the catch.

Not all the photographs around Burton Bradstock are of men. For example, there are several photographs of Mabel Hussey on Burton beach in the 1930s; seen here braiding – knitting fishing nets – a very important local industry. She lived and worked in Burton Bradstock village and her family details can be found in the 1931 Census.

The Map Viewer provides access to the Tithe maps as well as the First Edition of the Ordnance Survey Six Inches to 1 Mile (1:10560) Scale map. Using these together allows you to identify the ownership, use and size of every landholding in the 1840s and to relate it to later maps and aerial photographs. The activity which follows can be undertaken on any part of the parish. This extract has been used because the name of the owner John Hussey is the same as the lady in the photograph above but they are 100 years apart in time.

Extract from the Tithe Apportionment for the parish of Burton Bradstock. To view the full document go to the Tithe Apportionment.

Landowners		Occupiers	Name & description of lands & premises	State of Cultivation	Quantities in Statute Measure			Remarks
					A	R	P
549	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	New Hill	Arable	15	1	26	-
550	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	The Eight Acres	Arable	7	3	4	-
551	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	The Four Acres	Arable	4	-	5	-
552	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Road from Chapel Plot to East Hill	Pasture	-	3	4	-
553	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Chapel Coppice	Coppice	1	2	8	-
554	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Chapel Plot	Arable	2	2	29	-
555	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Coppice East of Lake	Coppice	1	-	30	-
556	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Turmans Lake	Meadow	11	1	35	-
557	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Stickland including Coppice	Arable	10	2	17	-
558	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	East Hill	Pasture	13	-	19	-
559	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	North Hill	Pasture	36	-	25	-
560	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Coppice in Greason Lake	Coppice	1	1	35	-
561	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Greason Lake	Arable	15	1	14	-
562	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Garden	Garden	-	-	18	-
563	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Road	-	-	2	2	-
564	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Dairy House & Garden	-	-	-	14	-
565	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Nighthays	Pasture	21	-	9	-
566	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	West Mead	W. Meadow	8	-	4	Board Mead Modus of 4d. per Acre
567	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	House, Outhouses, Barn, Garden & Orchard	-	2	1	18	-
568	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Road	-	1	1	26	-
569	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Orchard	Orchard	1	-	33	-
570	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Part of Bathays	Pasture	1	3	35	-
571	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Drove	Pasture	1	-	25	-
572	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Higher Bathays	Pasture	8	2	21	-
573	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Higher Parks	Arable	23	2	16	-
574	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Higher Parks Coppice	Coppice	4	2	22	-
575	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Parks Mead	Meadow	7	3	3	-
576	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Lower parks including Coppice	Arable	3	1	2	checked
577	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Lower Bathays	Pasture	10	1	2	-
578	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	East Mead	W. Meadow	20	1	3	-
579	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Wash Field	Pasture	20	1	39	Board Mead Modus of 4d. per Acre
580	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Willow Mead	Meadow	4	1	33	-
581	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	South Eweleaze	Pasture	65	2	16	-
582	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Coppice	Coppice	4	1	35	-
583	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Yearning Close	Meadow	13	-	20	-
584	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Lot Mead	Meadow	8	3	38	-
585	John HUSSEY Esquire	Isaac MOREY	Swyre Mead	Meadow	3	-	1	-

Activity

A student project could develop a series of maps similar to the one below by

• using the Tithe Map as a base
• identifying the names and uses of the plot and adding them to the map .
• This has been done in this example by using Microsoft Word to edit the image. In part of the area, the names and use of plots are superimposed.

The map area can be saved and copied from the Map Viewer, ideally at Zoom level 8.

Students could then use the later maps and aerial photography of the area to assess major changes. They could, for example, carry out a land use survey of the present area (with the necessary permissions for access)

Thatching at Bredy Farm photographed in the 1930s

Bredy Farm in the 1930s

Aspects of the landholdings can be plotted on maps using Microsoft Word to edit and superimpose information on the underlying map. For example in the map below, the ownership of the plots has been mapped. There are three main land holders of land, John Hussey, Samuel Warren Puddicombe and William Roberts. There are also a number of other individuals who own a single plot or occasionally two plots, mainly arable land.

Section 2:
Smuggling and maps

Section 3:
Change in place and society

Section 4:
Using the archival materials in the field

Section 5:
Landscape change - past to future