A PURELY AGRICULTURAL PARISH ?
NAZEING BEFORE AND DURING THE GREAT WAR
400 pages, 180 illustrations, only £10 plus £4 P&P
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This book paints a vivid picture of a west Essex country village in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1900 and again in 1912, Nazeing parish council described it as ‘a purely agricultural parish’ and there was undoubtedly much truth in their claim. Almost half of Nazeing people were born in the village, and almost half of those who worked had jobs related to the land. Yet in 1909 a new housing development and the opening of an important new road began the changes that were to transform Nazeing in the twentieth century.
A Purely Agricultural Parish? examines the extent to which the parish council’s statement was true. It draws on a wide range of primary and secondary sources including censuses, the Lloyd George land survey of 1909-12, trade directories, newspapers, and reminiscences of older people who were children in Nazeing before the Great War. It includes short biographies of the thirty-three men who died in that war and the names of the 155 who served. There is an unusual and refreshing emphasis on ‘ordinary’ working families. Over a hundred buildings are described, most of them accompanied by photographs.
The book will be of interest to anyone who lives or has family roots in Nazeing and also to the general reader and the specialist historian.
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David Pracy is a retired librarian who has an MA in local and regional studies from the University of Essex.
"Five miles from everywhere"
The story of Nazeing, part 1
Hardback book, 193pages £10 plus P&P
For a village less than twenty miles from London, Nazeing often seems extraordinarily isolated. In 1907 the writer Edward Hardingham noted that "Nazing ... lies high and wide and five miles from everywhere". Hence the title of this book, which covers the history of this corner of Essex from early times up until the outbreak of the First World War. It takes us from the Saxons, via the Black Death and the Palmer family, to Totty the pig - which slept in its own bed, in its own room, in a family cottage in Nazeing in the early 1900's .
"Seventeen miles from town"
The story of Nazeing, part 2
Hardback book, 384pages £10 plus P&P
The title of this second volume reflects the fact that improvements in transport and other services meant that Nazeing was no longer a "purely agricultural parish" but a "mature commuter area". This volume covers the twentieth century, including the dummy airfield built on Nazeingwood Common during World War 2, complete with plywood Hurricanes. It was designed to attract German bombers away from nearby North Weald, but also fooled one RAF Wellington which, running short of fuel, landed there one night!
The book is full of stories, facts, pictures and maps which, although aimed at those with a particular interest in the village, will also interest the general reader and specialist historian.