The History of Myddle. Ed., with an introd. and notes, by David Hey.

by Richard Gough, David Hey

This Penguin edition is the complete text of Richard Gough's family history of all the occupants of each pew in the church in 1701

Genres: History, Historical

334 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1834

About the author

Richard Gough (1735 - 1809) was an English antiquary.

Reviews

[Michael Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The history you learn in school is “big” history -- wars, world leaders, crusades, international treaties, industrialization -- but I’ve always been far more interested in small, day-to-day, “next door” history. What people wore and ate, how they earned a living, their personal wartime experiences, why they left the family farm and went elsewhere to raise their families, and what sort of things were important to them.

The remote, rural parish of Myddle in Shropshire was a bustling place in 1701 when Richard Gough, a gentleman of the parish, decided to write its history. He had a pithy style, a tolerant sense of humor regarding his neighbors, and a gift for the revealing anecdote. He also had a longstanding interest in the evolution of his little community, the derivation of its place-names, its local antiquities, and the local families of note. His own family had lived in the area for several centuries and to add to his personal memory, he was conversant with local oral traditions. He also talked to retired farmers and soldiers, consulted the rector, and rummaged through his family’s muniment box.

The result is a delightful example of the sort of history that fascinates me. Gough sometimes got confused about the earlier generations of even his own family, and he committed various other minor errors, but the flavor of his narrative sucks you right into country life in England 300 years ago. I recommend it to anyone with a serious interest in social history. The book was originally published in 1834 and has been reprinted a couple of times since, And if you have difficulty locating a copy, remember that Inter-Library Loan is your friend.

[Paul Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

The History of Myddle is a wonderful over-the-garden-wall gossipy read, as well as being a great primary historical source. Written in 1700, the author basically goes through every pew in his local church and tells stories of the people who sat there. For example:

"Richard Cleaton went into the furthest part of this County; and below Bridgnorth he gott another wife, and had severall children by her. At last, Anne Tyler, his first wife, caused him to bee apprehended, and indicted him att an Assizes at Bridgnorth upon the statute of Poligami. Shee proved that shee was marryed to him, but could not prove that hee was married to the other woman, but only that hee lived with her. The other woman denied that shee was marryed to him; and thereupon the Judge sayd: "Then thou art a whore." To which shee answered "the worse luck mine my lord." Cleaton was acquitted, and went out of the country with the other woman, and I never heard more of him."

[Rick Goff · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1701 a wealthy widower decided to write a book about his home parish of Myddle in the west midlands bordering Wales. He structures the book according to the seating arrangement of the parish church. Like, in the northwest corner is the Shotton pew. Let me tell you about the Shotton family. As he works his way through the pews he basically gossips about all of his neighbors and the preceding generations, in some cases back the Tudor period, complete with begats, fortunes, vices, virtues… the lot. The pews are assigned according to ownership of certain land parcels, so there is a lot of exposition of real estate deals, who got rich and bought a nice place, who “broake”, as in went broke, and went to live with his sister’s family, which usually resulted from abuse of ale, and all that.

I can’t explain it but I am completely charmed by this book. A part of my pleasure just comes from the quaint spelling, vocabulary and syntax. Then there is the author’s sometimes snarky frankness in characterizing his neighbors. There are anecdotes that are funny either in content or delivery.

And there’s the general sense of the culture of a 17th century rural English community. I was surprised by the treatment of religion. Basically, we’re Anglican, rather than Papist or Phanatickal. Nuff said. Of the dozens of quotations sprinkled throughout the book, not one is from the Bible. All from Greeks and Romans.

Anyway, that was fun.

[John Coates]

I found this book rather hard going. Lots of names and lists of families and relations, almost reminiscent of the Bible. However, it did give some insight into life in the 17th century in and around Myddle, Shropshire, England. Interestingly, there seemed to be more murders than today, and quite a few hangings for relatively minor misdemeanors as well as the more serious ones. Many people seemed to fall on hard times and had to sell their leases to pay debts. Drinking seemed common, and could be a cause or aggravation of poverty. Some suffering from hard times would open an alehouse. Many people married 2 or 3 times, through death of a partner rather than divorce, families were larger, and many children died in infancy. Far fewer rules and regulations than today and people tended to express their emotions much more freely.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

How do you rate someones personal ramblings on local history? It was never meant to be someone's "book", but what a slice of history. I learned a lot, really. About many arcane things that were fun and about history in general. Just tough reading and I kept counting how many Richards and Williams there were. Or Marys. Not very original in names back then. The short chapter on parish court cases before the local magistrates were interesting too.

[Kate]

5books.com

[Jordie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly tedious. Almost unreadable. But valuable as a primary source, if someone were researching the time period (17th century). We're brainwashed by the conventions of our times, so stepping-into another period with different superstitions can show us our own superstitions. Relative to three or four hundred years ago, we currently have a shockingly low level of violence in our everyday lives. And an equally shocking lack of intimacy and dependence on each other.

[Julaine]

Source: Edmonton House