What's New in 2007

Most recent update: 16 December

Map and Surveys

In November and December persons mentioned in two surveys of the parish were added.  These surveys were made in 1779 and 1818.  Both provide maps of the entire parish and name all land-owners and some tenants.  Images of the maps and accompanying survey data are available. 

Also a copy of a 1599 Terrier (survey) of the Glebe lands has been added.  This does not contain a map, so its main value is in the names of persons holding leases. 

For an introduction to maps and surveys available click Maps and Surveys .

Wills

From September to December, images of a further 31 wills were added, making 40 images available.  Transcriptions of 24 are now complete.  Work continues on transcription.  All persons mentioned in each will are added to the master index, where they provide additional information on family relationships.  A further 494 wills known to be held at the centre for Buckingham Studies have been added to the list.  None of these have been copied or transcribed.  The total of wills listed is now 587.  For a list of all wills and current status of image and transcription, click on Wills.

Transcription of church records completed

The church records from 1571 to 1928 have been transcribe (burials to 1963).  Not all have been proof read yet, but they are all available for enquiry.  If you find transcription errors please let us know.

In February/March 2007, the following records were added to the database:

• Remainder of the transcripts of burials for the period 1813 to 1852, including 251 additional records, mostly from the years 1847 to 1852.  These transcripts have now been proof-read, and a number of corrections have been included as a result.
• Transcripts of the register for the period 1780 to 1812, which included 1,451 baptism records and 1,135 burial records.  These transcriptions have not yet been proof read.
• 180 more burial records for the period 1749 to 1753 which have just been transcribed, but not yet proof-read.
• A transcription of the will of Richard Miles has been added. He was a successful lace merchant who left his property to his many children by two marriages, making curious distinctions as to what each child should receive.

In July the remaining baptisms and burials for the period 1753 to 1779 were added to the database.

The only church records not transcribed are some books of banns of marriage, and recent books (second half of 20th century).  For a fuller picture of the status of transcription of the church records, click on Church Records.

Only minor improvements in functionality were added in February.  The last significant increase in functionality was in May 2006 when a new property-based search was added.  Users may select a property in Hanslope, either from a list of properties, or by clicking on a building on a map of Hanslope in 1900.  A list of persons linked to the property is returned.

So far, the facility covers mainly properties in the village centre and persons from the 1901 census. Prominent buildings such as the major farmhouses are also covered. 

Additional pictures of properties were also added, mostly using photographs dating from the first half of the 20th century.

It is hoped to extend the facility to the hamlets such as Long Street and Tathall End, and to earlier censuses in due course. It is also hoped to add earlier maps.

In July 2007, the 1891 census for the centre of the village was added to the property based search where it was possible to link the census to specific properties.

If you find errors in the data, have any comments on the presentation in web pages, or have information that could be added to the database, please let us know by email to hdhs@btinternet.com.

Advertising

We are experimenting with display of advertisements on a few pages. 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 three month period to test the impact. Please let us know your views by email to hdhs@btinternet.com.