A additional event has been added for April 2008.  Click on 2008 events to access the programme for 2008

Maps and Surveys of Hanslope

On 12 January 2008, a search facility was added to the 1779 map of Hanslope, similar to the facility previously provided for the 1818 map.

On 21 December a higher magnification map of the centre of Hanslope village in 1818 map was added.  This map displays the names of each property and the owner or tenant, and can be clicked to access further information about many properties.

Two early maps of the whole of Hanslope parish and accompanying surveys were added in the last two month: a map from 1779 was added in November, and another from 1818 added in December.  Both maps show every building and field, and the accompanying surveys provide the names of owners, and in some cases tenants.  The maps can be viewed using Google software to zoom and move about the map.  Note that a high speed, broadband link is advisable due to the size of the files involved. 

Also added was a Glebe Terrier from 1599 which lists land in the parish originally intended to provide income for a rector, as well as the tenants.then occupying the land.

All persons identified in maps and surveys have been added to the people database, so that searches for a person will return links to relevant maps and surveys.

Click here for a list of all Maps and Surveys.

A start has been made on transcribing wills, which provide a good deal of information about family relationships.  Most of the wills tackled so far are from the period 1750 to 1850 in the hope they will shed more light on families before the period when the census is available.  For a list of wills and the status of transcription click on wills.

The records for 1754 to 1779 are transcribed and are now available on the database of past residents on the village.

For more information click on Family History Introduction.

To begin an enquiry click on search database

We are experimenting with advertising. The driver for this is shortage of money to develop the web site.  Until now we have relied on support from Milton Keynes Heritage Association which has been able to obtain a series of one-off grants which have been used to provide software, training and support for all its member organisations.  The last grant was exhausted in August 2006.  While the Heritage Association is hopeful of eventually obtaining a more permanent source of finance, we want to find out whether advertising could raise sufficient to help us fund further additions to make the site more interactive, such as discussion forums, maps that can be "zoomed"., and other uses of "flash" technology.

There is a tricky balance to strike between allowing advertisements to become too intrusive and giving them sufficient prominence to attract users and generate revenue.  The current experiment is for approximately a six month period to test the impact. Please let us know your views by email to hdhs@btinternet.com.