We never tire of commending any serious attempt to produce
a history of one's own town or village, for the need is great and the workers are still relatively few. The young people in every place ought to know something about the ways and deeds of their forefathers ; yet in most cases they have no handy_ or trustworthy book to which they may refer. Let us therefore draw the attention of country parsons and leisured persons to - Mr. II. M. Barron's excellent little work, Your Parish History : how to Discover and Write 11 (Wells Gardner, 3s. 6d.). Here an accomplished antiquary; drawing on a life's experience, gives the would-be parish historian invaluable hints as to where information may be found regarding the families, the lands, the church, the clergy, and so on, of the parish in bygone ages. No other country is so rich as ours in records of the past ; the pity is that they are but little used. Mr. Barron shows by well-chosen examples, especially from Essex, how much interesting detail lies waiting for the searcher in the Record Office and in the printed sources.
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