Field Names Database

If you want to track down the original location of gallows or gibbets in a field in Herefordshire, the chances are you’ll be able to from the comfort of your own home.

A new resource has recently gone on-line thanks to volunteers who have spent nearly two decades collecting and recording the names of fields across the County.

It means visitors to the Historic Herefordshire on Line website will now be able to quickly search 122,748 field names taken from the 19th century tithe maps of Herefordshire.

"We think this database will be useful and fun for people" said Rebecca Roseff, the Herefordshire Council’s Sites and Monuments Records Officer.

"The database is the only one of its kind in the country and it means you can search the whole county for interesting and unusual names,” she added.

The work was done by volunteers in two stages. Between 1987 and 1993 the Field Names Survey, organised by Ruth Richardson, collected the numbers and names of fields from the original maps held in the Record Office and produced small booklets of each parish.

Between 2000 and 2003 Sites and Monuments Record volunteers typed up the booklets into one large database.

“The result is a useful resource for researchers. You could look and see where the gallows and gibbets or animal pounds were for example or for the type of crops grown in the county in the 18th and 19th century or for sites of industry such as glass, paper or iron works.

“The database also shows that rare plants such as the Whitty Pear and saffron grew in the county.”

For anyone interested, the database can be found at www.smr.herefordshire.gov.uk