Author

Dr Christopher Brooke

Date

2000-ongoing

Project Type

Research

Subject

Landscape Geography

Datasets

OS Collections including modern and historic datasets

Google Earth imagery

Related Subjects

Historical Geography; Archaeology; Buildings Conservation; Architecture; Ecclesiastical Studies; History; GIS; Genealogy

Sources: Digimap; Google

Dates/Editions: All available dates and editions have been utilized

Scale: 1:500; 1:10 000; 1:25 000; 1:50 000

Publishing Institution

Southwell and Nottingham Church History Project, University of Nottingham, Department of History, and the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham

Summary

This project establishes a database of accurate information on the 300+ churches and 100+ former churches and sites in the county of Nottinghamshire and provides internet web pages for wider circulation.

Aims & Objectives

• Establish an accurate database of information on the 300+ churches and 100+ former churches and sites in Nottinghamshire

• Help parishes appreciate their church buildings and provide booklets and information for visitors and tourists

• Provide historic information to church architects, archaeologists, historians, and conservators to enable them to make proposals on maintenance and improvement of churches in a more informed way

• Promote church buildings as resources for schools and colleges

• Enable family historians to seek out information by ensuring that records are properly protected and preserved

Methodology

In order to collect information about the churches of Nottinghamshire, a large team of volunteer researchers has been recruited and coordinated by a research steering group including two editors. These trained researchers have been collecting historical and archaeological data for these churches and sites. As part of the research process, historic mapping has been extensively utilized to better understand:

• How buildings have changed in form over time

• How churchyards have changed in shape and how they were used in the past (paths, access, points, former buildings, landscaping, etc)

• The former land use of sites of 19-20th century churches to assist with understanding the archaeology

• How some churches in their original ‘mission’ form were moved to several different sites before finally being established in their present location (or final location, if now demolished)

• The location of previously ‘unknown’ churches (eg. short-lived mission chapels which are very poorly documented and whose exact location would be unknown without historic mapping)

Results/Outcome

Output is in the form of completed entries, published on the web, for each church or chapel. Most of the current research is supplanting existing summary information (eg. in the form of guidebooks) due to its more rigorous academic approach and professional editing.

References & Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements are provided on the project website.