1832 Pavenham Map

A Lucky Find Unlocks 1832 Pavenham Map

Just occasionally, if you wait long enough, a chance find can prove to be the missing link to an existing document in one of our collections. Back in July 1964, Doctor John Linnell, brother of the Pavenham historian Charles D Linnell (died 1963), deposited with us an attractive watercolour map of the parish, as surveyed by Charles Oakden of Waresley, Hunts, in 1832 [Ref: X251/5, right]. The map shows numbered plots for properties, fields and woodland, but is of limited use in the absence of a field book. Amazingly, though, we saw the missing reference book in a dealer’s list a couple of months ago and information in it unlocks the map completely. The first part of Charles Oakden’s field book, compiled in June 1832, [Ref: Z1333/1/1, above right] lists all 218 plot numbers in numerical order, giving field names and identifying public houses and businesses such as blacksmiths. The state of cultivation of each plot is also given (arable, grass or woodland), together with the acreage. At the end of this section there are total acreages for arable, grass and woodland. The second part of the survey gives similar information, but arranged by proprietor, and in some cases the tenure of the land (freehold or copyhold) is noted. So, after a wait of more than 40 years the Pavenham map and field book are reunited!