A century ago, many hours were spent by surveyors and administrators on the survey which ultimately proved to be a fiscal white elephant. A hundred years on, many more hours were spent by The Badsey Society team in decoding the forms, and making the information available in a readable format.
The task began with a coach trip to The National Archives in October 2010. Our mission was to take digital images of all the Field Books for our parishes. From the dusty nature of the books, we could well believe that no one had looked at them since they were placed there for safe keeping many years ago.
Back in Badsey in the comfort of our own homes, the team set about transcribing the Field Books on to an Excel spreadsheet and identifying the present-day location of the hereditaments. This data was then imported to the website. Meanwhile, Maureen Spinks visited the Worcestershire Record Office to view the Valuation Books and to compare these with the Field Books.
With many thanks to the following people: Jane Croucher, Paul Green, Trevor Hockenhull, Tom Locke, Mike Lovatt, Valerie Magan, Ivor Martin, Jane Neill, Robin Neill, Lizzie Noyes, Virginia Pawlyn, Richard Phillips, Meryl Pratt, Pat Sparrow, Brian Smith, Hazel Smith, Maureen Spinks, Chris Winton, many of whom can be seen in the photograph of our trip to The National Archives in October 2010.
Every attempt has been made to give the correct present-day location but, if you feel that an error has been made, please contact history@badsey.net.