Historical Facts!

Bradgate Park, Leicestershire

My wife has just been reading the Village Newsletter, produced by the Parish Council. It mentions that the long retired village blacksmith, Oliver Blood, is 85. The Bloods are a family with long historical connections with the village and indeed the family have documentation recording a 'trip' to America (I suppose it was called the colonies then) in 1648. I’m not sure the word 'trip' would rightly describe such an adventure in those days – it must have felt like they were stepping off the edge of the world! Thinking of the long association that the Bloods have in our village it makes me realise that Oliver’s long ago ancestors  probably knew James Peacock, one of the subjects of my blog yesterday.

This set me thinking. A week or two ago, our esteemed Secretary for Education – Michael Gove – announced that children need to learn 'more facts' in schools. They should study 'history' in an ordered narrative of historical facts. The educational world in England has been here many times before over recent years, as each successive Education Secretary has had another dream and the following morning made it education policy. I have no problem with Mr Gove liking his facts but I do object to him foisting them on the rest of us and on schools in particular. The problem is, of course, what are the facts we should know? Who selects them? What is a useful fact to know and what not? Judging from Mr Gove’s other utterings we can probably safely assume that his facts are to do with dates of battles won, Kings crowned and the like. This is all jolly exciting – cavaliers and roundheads, knights in shining armour and the like. But exciting and glamorous though it might be I’m not sure it is as important as the things that actually impinge on people’s lives or that have formed the world in which everyday people live. Don’t get me wrong – I love facts, I love the great canvas and pageant of history. But there are other meaningful things for children to study in schools and better ways to approach their learning of these facts.

The ruins of Bradgate House
- birthplace of lady Jane Grey

Oliver Blood’s family history explains much of why our village is like it is. James Peacock’s life (see yesterday’s bog) still affects the village today three centuries after his death. Jesse Boot and William  Booth (see yesterday’s blog) have greater permanence and resonance in Nottingham than 'the great fire of London' or analysing the causes of the first world war. Of course the two areas – local and national history are inextricably linked, but it seems to me that good history teaching starts (as all good teaching starts) with what you know or are aware of and not something abstract and far removed. The stone photographed in yesterday’s blog is a good example – commemorating James Peacock’s endowment to the village but at the same time recording by default the great 1870 Education Act which ultimately meant education for all.

When Pat and I got up this morning there was a weak winter sun, but the promise of a chilly but bright day (as it happens it hasn’t worked out, as I write this it is cheerless and bleak!). A trip out in the car and then  a walk seemed a good option and Bradgate Park on the outskirts of Leicester was the venue. By 10.15 we were parking the  car on one of the many car parks.

We have spent many, many happy hours at Bradgate over the years – summer picnics with the kids, dog walking, winter sledging, rock climbing – it’s a lovely place to visit. Mile after mile of open countryside, heathland, streams, deer, dry stone walls, rocky outcrops, forest land. It is beautifully maintained  by Leicester County Council and the National Trust.

Sheltering form a biting wind!

The Park has much history associated with it. In the 11^th century the area was given by William the Conqueror to one Hugh de Grandmesnil as a reward for his assistance at the Battle of Hastings. Eventually it passed to the Grey family in the late 15^th century and it stayed in their hands till 1928 when it eventually passed into the care of the Leicestershire community 'to be kept in perpetuity  and preserved in its natural state for the people of Leicestershire'. When the Grey family took over the land they built a house – Bradgate House – and it was there that Jane Grey was born. The famous 'Lady Jane Grey' known as the 'Nine Days’ Queen' was a grand-daughter of Henry VII and a cousin of Edward VI. When Edward died, aged only 15, in 1553 he nominated Jane as his successor in opposition to Edward’s half sisters Mary and Elizabeth. Four days later, she was proclaimed Queen but within days Mary had gathered an army and Jane was soon locked up in the Tower of London awaiting execution in February 1654 aged 16. Jane was no fool despite her early demise. She was regarded, perhaps as the most learned woman of her day and was skilled in several languages. And her execution was widely recorded as one of the great events of British history because of the bravery and demeanour she displayed right to the end. But, the rest, as they say, is history!

Bradgate

As Pat and I set off for our walk, we fought the elements – a breathtaking chill wind to struggle against – but eventually a mile or so down the path we reached the ruins of the Grey’s old house. Then it was back to the car, this time the wind behind us so easier. Despite the weather the Park was busy with other hardy souls – one couple in shorts! But in that short walk we had almost stepped back in time – links with William the Conqueror, with Henry VII, with Mary and ultimately Elizabeth 1^st.   There were many other links. For example, when  William awarded the land to Hugh de Grandmesnil it was a hunting park – not just for pleasure. This was a training ground for Norman knights to  ride on horseback as they hunted and so practice  similar skills of balance, using their swords and spears etc. that they would need in battle. The same use was made of the New Forest in Hampshire.

All this from a chilly walk through the countryside – the whole spread of our national history put into a local context. A walk round my village would give another similar spread. No list of facts here. No analysis of cause and effect. But it starts from the known and then travels to the unknown.  Once you ask the question 'who did that ruined house belong to?' other questions and information becomes important. That’s history in context – not Mr Gove’s version of history as an abstraction.

In the Wheatsheaf Inn

But it didn’t end there. Cold and windswept we sought out a warming drink and a little way down the road stumbled on the Wheatsheaf Inn at Woodhouse Eaves. A typical beamed English pub -  a super place to take a foreign visitor. A warming cup of coffee and a sit by a roaring fire soon made us feel better. Of course, a historian would have fun with the pub sign showing the harvest sheaf – it’s an  instant entry to the study of farm labour in years gone and would eventually, perhaps, lead to some of Mr Gove’s facts when we got as far as thinking  about the profound changes that came to the English countryside with the coming of the Enclosure Acts  of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

But, oh dear – we appear to have come full circle as far as the news is concerned. The Enclosure Acts were the brainchild of Mr Gove’s  Tory predecessors . They enclosed the 'common land' and so removed it from the use of ordinary people. Now where have I heard that before............? Got it! In the news over the last few days. The government are planning to sell of great tracts of the nation’s woodland to private individuals – to make a few millions and save them the problem of employing all the people who currently manage the areas. Of course, the concern is that it will also mean large areas will no longer be available for the use of ordinary people – possibly places like Bradgate Park – the enclosure of the forests! Oh, why am I so cynical!

Loughborough Carillon

And so homeward bound.  The car heater on and the clouds gathering.  Not a lot of promise for a pleasant afternoon. On the way we passed through Loughborough. Filled with history, if you care to look.  Difficult to know where to start. But the obvious one is the fine history of bell manufacture. We passed within yards of the bell museum and in the distance I could see the carillon in the centre of the town. Bells have been made in Loughborough since the fourteenth century. Bells made here are used throughout the country and the world – as far as California and the Washington National Cathedral.  The largest bell in the world – 'Great Paul' – made the journey from Loughborough and hangs in Christopher Wren’s St Pauls Cathedral. Again linked with one of our nation’s great events – St Paul’s was built amid the destruction of Great Fire of London.

And, finally, a pleasant lunch at 'The Packe Arms' at Hoton – a pub which has become our 'local' (although it’s a few miles from Ruddington) and is named after the Packe family who lived in the nearby Prestwold Hall. Way back in 1653 Christopher Packe, a London  draper and a follower of Cromwell, purchased the manor of Prestwold and in 1654  he became Lord Mayor of London. This latter day Dick Whittington went to the House of Lords and from then onwards 'made his fortune'. His descendants lived at Prestwold Hall and one of them, Charles James Packe, was closely involved, amongst other things with the growth of the railways in the area. When the first railways were being established in the Loughborough area Packe worked closely with both George Stephenson (he of 'Rocket' fame) and Stephenson’s son Robert. One of the results was the line that passes close to Bradgate Park and which is now part of the Great Central Railway. He also renovated the local pub and in his memory the pub is known today as 'The Packe Arms'- and over the door are the initials 'CJP 1831'

The Packe Arms, Hoton

So a simple pub lunch, a walk in the country, a drive through a  local town generated lots of local history and at the same time so closely intertwined  with the great events and great names of our country – Wren, Fire of London, Henry Tudor, Lady Jane Grey, Elizabeth 1^st,  Stephenson, the Rocket, the Enclosure Acts, William the Conqueror,  the industrialisation of the country, Cromwell.   A far cry this from lists of Kings and Queens, dates of battles,  and the facts so beloved by our Secretary for Education. In fact come to think of it why does he call himself Secretary for Education – what he proposes has nothing to do with education!  So much more sensible to start with the local than with Mr Gove’s shopping list of facts that he decides we should 'know'! But of course using local  starting points is not so easy to teach in the nice order and narrative that the government want. 'This year we’ll do the Tudors and next year we’ll do the Stuarts' doesn’t seem to fit when you’re using context and local history.

Close by Bradgate Park thunders the M1. Thousands daily hurtle along the motorway and pass this area of the east midlands without a thought that it has so many links with the nation’s past and its people and places have had so much impact on the great events of the nation. It doesn’t have the fame or the glamour of London, or Stratford, or Windsor or York or Canterbury. But it’s every bit as rich and important in the history of Britain. It just takes eyes to see and time to explore.

Lady Jane Grey's birthplace