CRICK HISTORY

In November 2002 a small group of like minded people in Crick met with tutor Rosemary McCarlie to organise a 10 week history course, which started in January 2003. In reporting this in the December 2002 edition of Crick News, Jim Goodger said that 'with sufficient interest this could be the start of something big.'  


Thus the Crick History Society got under way with the aims of:

• encouraging an interest in the history of Crick village
• researching and sharing knowledge of the history of Crick 
• creating a record of the history of Crick village and establishing an archive of that information for future generations
• organising meetings and events of historical interest for the benefit of members and others
• and promoting contact with other Local History Societies, Associations and responsible bodies.

It has developed into the group it is today with an impressive history of its own in terms of  meetings, projects and achievements. However it is important to note that we have got where we are today through the generosity of folk willing to share information. Without it we would not have been able to amass the information available in our archive, most of which is now held digitally.
Please contact us if you have something you think might be of interest to the Society:- documents, photographs or postcards, artefacts (or even an old house!).

We will be very pleased to hear from you.
(Email the Society)

CRICK RELATED ANCESTRY RESEARCH
In addition to detailed parish register for Crick, we can search through Hearth Tax returns (1660s-1670s), Enclosure Awards and Militia Lists (1770s), census returns (1841 to 1910), transcripts of wills (1500-1700) and other records. These aids are not yet available online - and in some cases there are technical and/or copyright reasons why they cannot be put online - but a certain amount of voluntary research can be undertaken, and this is conducted by email (see contact details below).
You can search the Crick parish registers between about 1540 and the early 1900s yourself, by visiting our partner website at Rugby Family History Group, which holds searchable copies of our transcribed databases of baptisms, marriages and burials for several west Northamptonshire villages. (However, you will need to join the group as a paid-up member if you want to use this search facility.)

Crick village family names:
Many Crick names go back a long way - in some cases we may be able to trace a family name back for several hundred years. However, Crick's location close to a network of busy railway and canal routes means that there have also been many transients among the village population, particularly during difficult periods such as wartime, and during the construction of the canals and railways in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
It is well worth checking some of the other local villages, as families in the past moved quite regularly between villages (especially if they were land-workers or labourers or had other occupations that caused them to change their place of work) and often had one or more of their children baptised, married or buried in a neighbouring village.
Over the years we have been able to share some family names with researchers. Because of this we have been able to extend our family knowledge base which can be made available to researchers, providing of course the party(ies) agree.

Check out the house histories section
Information on the histories of specific houses - and the people who lived in them over the years.
Amongst the data recorded for each house (usually as a result of searching through the house deeds) is a list of the owners and/or occupants at different dates - and this can sometimes be helpful in tracing a family history.
Don't forget to check the house histories for any houses in other neighbouring villages for which house-history records have been compiled.

Confidentiality:
Any contact that we receive from you will be treated in strict confidence. Information sent to you will not be divulged to any other party without your prior approval. We use a simple but secure process for handling contacts with possible third parties, as follows:

1. If we know that someone else is researching your family name(s), we will first notify you of this, and ask you if you wish your email contact details to be passed to the other party or parties.
2. If you confirm to us by email that you are willing (and on that basis only), we will pass your contact details to the other party or parties. It is then up to them whether or not they wish to contact you.

Further information:
Simply email the Archivist in the first instance, giving brief details of any name(s) and date(s) in which you are interested. 

An important aspect of any village history site is the investigation and documentation of the village's vernacular architecture. This is often referred to in short as "house history work", and it involves the study of all available documentary records for a particular property and its successive owners, plus careful study of the form and construction of the property and its associated outbuildings where relevant.
In Crick, a conscious decision was taken to carry out a large-scale house history project for as many as possible of the village's historic buildings within the scope of a formal project, which is referred to as the 'Crick Historic Building Record'.

The Crick Historic Building Record
The aim of this project is to investigate and document the history of Crick's older houses, based on analysis of surviving property deeds, study of wills and other documentation about the people who lived in the houses – and of course, detailed examination of the properties themselves, both as they are today and via old maps and photographs.
Information in the deeds is checked and expanded via other documentation such as parish registers, Enclosure Awards, Land Tax returns, Land Surveys, census returns, wills etc., much of which can be found at the local county record office. This in turn permits educated guesswork about the dates at which changes were made to the fabric of the buildings – a large house partitioned to allow part to be let to lodgers, two adjacent houses knocked together to accommodate a growing family, an extension added, a barn converted into living space, some land sold off or acquired, and so on.
The Crick Historic Building project commenced in 2010, and it is expected that it will take many years to process and analyse the mass of detailed documentation that has been generously made available by the owners of many of Crick's oldest houses. In due course, a series of detailed house-histories will emerge from this analysis work, providing a unique insight into the development of the whole village over the last 2 or 3 centuries. In the meantime a "House History Recordl" document is available for every house or property so far examined.

 Recent changes in English property law
The work to record and copy old deeds is especially important today, because recent changes in English property law have abolished the need for mortgage lenders to hold a copy of the property deeds as security for their loan – and further legal changes have meant that even the Land Registry does not now hold copies of old property deeds. The result of these legal changes is that, since about 2003, increasing numbers of solicitors, building societies and banks have been steadily destroying hundreds of thousands of old parchment and paper property deeds dating back to the 1800s, the 1700s, and in some cases back to the 1600s. It may seem incredible that such an enormous body of valuable historical material can have been casually earmarked for destruction in this way – but such is the case, and for many of our old village and town houses it is already too late to discover their history, for their deeds have been lost or destroyed.

Confidentiality
Any information that we receive from you will be treated in strict confidence. Information made available to us will not be divulged to any other party without your prior written approval. This particularly applies to:
Digital images of any deeds and associated documents made available to us (and in addition, we expressly do not record any recent property documents, or any sensitive financial or similar information).
Digital images of the interior of any property (and in addition, we expressly do not record any images that might endanger the security of the premises if made more generally available).

How to contact us
We are always willing to look at further documents, if the owners of a house are kind enough to let us see the early deeds to their property – just contact the Archivist by email in the first instance.

Capturing the Data
Many guides have been published to assist would-be house-historians. In practice, the historian can only use whatever evidence is available, however. So these web pages do not claim to be an authoritative version of How to Do It; it is merely a reflection of what information was available.

Basic Methodology
The method adopted involves three main stages of investigation

• Examining the deeds to the property
• Physical examination of the property
• Gathering data from other sources

Property Deed Transcripts
Property deeds should first be photographed carefully, using a digital camera with at least 5Mpix resolution. If a separate file-folder is used for each property, and each of the photographs is given a meaningful filename commencing with the date-year of the document (eg: "1754 Crick, mortgage, A Jones to B Smith.jpg", etc), the images will automatically arrange themselves in date order, making it much easier to unravel the evolving story that is told by the documents.
The most useful documents tend to be Abstracts of Title, Conveyances, and Mortgages, because they generally include significant background facts about the owners and occupants.
Understanding the legal terms can sometimes be a challenge (for example, 'lease and release', 'common recovery', 'copyhold or customary tenancy', 'surrender and admission', the various different types of mortaging and arrangements for borrowing, and so on). A good legal reference book can be a great help in explaining such terms in plain English - for instance, "A Concise Law Dictionary" by P.G. Osborn. The Oxford English Dictionary is also a mine of useful information regarding archaic legal and other terms.
When the deeds have been transcribed and analysed, the results can usually be condensed for ease of understanding, into one or two summary sheets; another useful tool is the spreadsheet - especially when combined with family-history data culled from parish registers and other documents, see below under 'Supplementary data sources'.

Physical examination of the property
A physical examination should aim to establish the layout and dimensions of the main building, and any associated outbuildings. A walk around the property with the owner is generally the best method.
Keep an eye open for any special features that might give clues to dating, such as date plates, doorways/lintels, windows/fittings, chimneys (both regarding their form and their position within the house), staircases, ceiling and wall beams, roof timbers, specific period features (such as locks and bars, re-used timbers, decorative features etc), any signs of rebuilding (eg replacing cob with brick, timber framing with stone, raising the height of the roof, etc).
Take plenty of photographs, including close-ups of features of interest. But remember to obtain the owner's permission beforehand - and do not make any of this material public without specific permission from the owner.
Finally, old photographs, sketches, maps and paintings of the property can all be of great assistance in checking the previous history of the building - for instance, helping to establish dates for the blocking of a window or doorway, the addition or replacement of a feature, repair of a roof, etc.

Supplementary data sources
There are so many other potential sources of information that it is impossible to describe them all here in sufficient detail; a list will suffice to indicate the possibilities. Most of the documents can be found in the local county records office, and others (such as old newspaper reports) are now available via online database archives:

• Word of mouth reports
• Parish registers
• Census returns
• Wills and inventories
• Enclosure awards
• Militia List returns
• Hearth Tax returns
• Land Tax returns
• Newspaper reports
• Manorial records

When all the relevant sources have been explored, it will be best to summarise the evidence in a text document or a spreadsheet, or a combination of the two.

Crick Village House Histories

This map shows Crick in more detail. Six areas are highlighted, each leading to more detailed views of the respective areas.

A  Medieval Water Meadows

Statements in Crick's manorial rolls throughout the Tudor period make regular mention of 'the great meadow' and 'the rush beds'.
Comparison of later documents (such as the Enclosure Award of 1778) and deeds for land and property dating from the 1800s, together with study of the modern Ordnance Survey map, show that the meadow in question was the low-lying stretch of land west of the village, where streams descending from the eastern and northen slopes come together. This area would have been subject to flooding in medieval times, and thus unsuitable for ploughland; however, it would not have been wasted, but used as valuable pasture in the early spring - an important resource for the village's flocks and herds.
The stream was not culverted, as it is today throughout the modern industrial estate, and its banks were lined in the 1500s with dense clumps of reeds. These reeds also had their use - they were a major source of fuel for the village bake-ovens (for Crick had no woodland at all, and timber was in such shortage in this lordship that the few trees that were growing were never used as fuel, but carefully saved for building material).
The manorial court rolls make regular mention of the reed-beds and the shortage of timber. For example, in 1536 Robert Kylworth was accused of having carried away rushes for fire-lighting, and was fined 12d (about one week's pay); and later in the same year we read that 'No-one may cut rushes except on his own land, on pain of a fine of 3s-4d. Bakers must put out their fires after they have withdrawn the bread, fine 12d.'

B  Crick Village North

This map shows the north area of Crick in more detail. House HistoryRecords are available for:

• Church Street, No. 6, (Elms Farm)
• Church Street, No. 10(Cromwell Cottage)
• Church Street, No. 12
• Church Street, No. 14 (Meadow View)
• Church Street, No. 16
• Church Street, No. 19 (Churchside)
• Church Street, No. 31
• Church Street, No. 33 (Fennel Cottage)
• Church Street, No. 39 (The Hall)
• Drayson Lane, No. 5 (Pytchley Cottage)
• Oak Lane, No. 5 (Ash Tree House)
• Oak Lane, No. 12 (Oak Cottage)
• Oak Lane, No. 15 (The Poplars)
• Oak Lane, No. 17 (The Homestead)
• Yelvertoft Road, No. 24
• Yelvertoft Road, No. 26 (Ranmoor)
• Yelvertoft Road, No. 15 (Barley Croft)

C  Crick Village Centre 
The Church of St Margaret of Antioch dates back to at least Saxon times. In about 1077 AD the wooden built church, on the site of the preset Chancel, was replaced by a stone building. Over the centuries the church has been extended from its Norman structure with the addi tion of aisles and a spire.
The Doomsday Book (1086) records 32 households in the paish with a population of about 140 including a priest. Because of the numbers, Crick would have been considered a town. Most of the population would have lived beside or near the church.
Over the centuries the population spread out along the Oxford Way. This was the medieval route linking ecclesiastical centres of Oxford, Leicester and Peterborough. The Oxford Way roughly followed the line of High Street, Church Street and Yelvertoft Road.
Following the Black Death (1346 - 1352) many villages suffered from depleted population resulting property and land being laid to waste. This is believed to have happened in Crick and land was subsequently set aside for sheep grazing. The Welsh drovers would rest the sheep on pasture land before moving them on to East Anglia and then Europe. The drovers route through the village passed by what is now Lauds Road, Bury Dyke, Oak Lane and Drayson Lane. During the 16th to 18th centuries, farming and cottage industries of weaving, spinning and wool combing provided a livelihood for Crick people and buildings sprung up along the Oxford Way and drovers route.
This map shows the central area of Crick. House HistoryRecords are available for:

• Boat Horse Lane, No.5
• Bucknills Lane, No. 1
• Chapel Lane, Nos. 6/7
• Church Street, Nos. 1-3 (the Manor)
• Church Street, the Old School
• High Street, No. 8 (Curfew House)
• High Street, No. 9 (Hill Farm)
• High Street, Nos. 16 &18
• High Street, No. 19 (Spencer House)
• High Street, No. 27 (Phoenix House)
• High Street, No. 31 (Hunters Gap)
• High Street, No. 33 (Owen Dicey's Shop)
• King Style Close, No. 1
• King Style Close, No. 2 (Cranbrook Cottage)
• King Style Close, No. 58
• Lauds Road, No. 7 
• Lauds Road, No. 18 (Lilac Cottage)
• Lauds Road, No. 19 (Woolcomb Adams Farm)
• Lauds Road, No. 29 (Hghfields Farm)
• Lauds Road, No. 31-33 (Furlong House)
• Main Road, No. 15 (The Wheatsheaf)
• Main Road, No. 17, (Maltings)
• Main Road, No. 23
• Main Road, No. 28 (Well Cottage)
• Main Road, No. 37 (Home Close, aka Fairview)
• Main Road, No. 38 (Hillside)
• Main Road, No. 42 (Northgate House)
• Main Road, No. 56
• Main Road, No. 62 (The Retreat)
• Main Road, No. 76
• Main Road, No. 78
• Main Road, No, 80 (Woodbine Cottage)
• Main Road, No. 86 (Post Office, formerly Flying Horse)
• The Derry, No. 2
• The Derry, Mill House
• The Marsh, No. 1
• The Marsh, No. 2
• The Marsh, No. 4
• Watford Road, No. 6 (Vynter's Manor)
• Watford Road, No. 8, (Frant Lodge)
• Watford Road, land around former brickworks
• Watford Road, Hillcrest
• Watford Road, Mill Hill House

D  Medieval Brice's Close

Statements in Crick's manorial rolls from the reign of Elizabeth the First mention that one of the village husbandmen named Ledger Banbury was leasing a close of land known as 'Brice's Close' in the 1550s.
Comparison of later documents (such as the Enclosure Award of 1778) and deeds for land and property dating from the 1800s, together with study of the modern Ordnance Survey map, show that this close was located alongside the road from Crick to West Haddon, which would have been a route for livestock being moved between pastures and market.
House HistoryRecords are available for:

• West Haddon Road, Home Farm

CRICK TREACLE MINERS

Treacle mining was at its height in Crick during the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries. While most mines had closed down at the start of the 1900s due to the competition from Mr Tate and Mr Lyle some smaller one-man mining operations have continued to meet the occasional demand for Real Treacle. As recently as 2000, Crick treacle was sold on the open market as part of the Crick Millennium Festival.

The outstanding characteristic of Crick Treacle is its sweetness but by some it is reputed to be an aphrodisiac.

Very little remains by the way of surviving documents and most of our evidence is anecdotal. Given the harsh life-style and that the practices of Crick treacle mining were passed down the generations by word of mouth and on the job training, this is understandable. However, below we have pieced together some information.

• Origin of the seams
• Mining and extraction
• Miner's Health
• Crick Mining Co-operative

Research into the ways of Crick’s Treacle Miners and their families is ongoing.  If you are able to provide any factual or anecdotal evidence on the Crick Treacle Miners, please contact us.


Acknowledgement. The source of much of the information below is a research report dated 1/4/2023 by Dr Nogram, Dr B Renrut, Jen Ny-Gee and Reg J Doog OBF based on interviews carried out between 1995 and 2004.

MINING AND EXTRACTION

Until the end of the Victorian era, reading and writing was not universal as it is today and was available to only those who could afford to pay to be taught. So little would have been written down and the practices for treacle extraction and processing would be passed by word of mouth and by example set by father to son. Rather like the Free Miners of the New Forest, treacle mining involved family groups and for this reason the skilled practices for mining and processing the ore remain vague today.

A frequently asked question is - how were treacle seams located? It is believed that the children of a miner’s family were made to follow the behaviour of bees in the fields. Bees gathering together in a spot where there was no visible nectar source could indicate the likelihood of good treacle find. However, in some areas, you only have to look in the fields where the farmer has been ploughing, to discover a fresh harvest of lumps of treacle rock. Often these lumps of treacle rock are difficult to recognise, the lumps usually being plastered with mud. However, a quick wipe over with a handkerchief and a taste of the rock with the tip of the tongue is a simple test anyone can make.

There can be little doubt that the 1776 enclosure act, which put land into the hands of individuals and ended the open fields system of farming, had the effect of increasing treacle mining activities in Crick. The co-operative spirit of the open field method of farming would have continued after enclosure. It is alleged that treacle mining was mainly a clandestine operation but there is little doubt that after 1776 with land being in private hands there was an increased opportunity for small scale drift mining in Crick.
In Crick quantities were extracted in blocks. The thick viscid syrup with the consistency of molasses was extracted from the blocks by a simple pressure extraction process using a treacle press made from local coppice material. Early presses were no more than layers of straw and ore below a wood and heavy stone mass. Later a screw press like a cider press was introduced.

For inferior ore bearing rock, heat was used to extract the molasses. Great care was needed as anyone who has dropped sugar into a fire will know. Often the rock would be heated over the fire in a cauldron held by a free-standing tripod. The liquid would be ladled out.

One problem of heating the rock beside the tendency for material to ignite if overheated was the telltale dark smoke, which like the smoke from the moonshine whisky still, was a tell-tale sign to be avoided.

For more information: Origin of the seams , Miner's Health , Crick Mining Co-operative or BACK

CRICK MINING CO-OPERATIVE

It is easy to be nostalgic and take as romantic view of the life of Crick’s Treacle Miners but theirs was a hard but honest existence. Very little has survived in the way of hard records but a poster from 1872, found in a house in Crick in the 1970’s, showed this to be true. On the poster is a compensation claim for a miner who had sustained injuries; it is remarkable to see the community spirit we take for granted in Crick today existed within the treacle miners from the very beginning.


Whole families retained the knowledge, there was good economic reason to pool their knowledge and resources in a co-operative manner and as numbers expanded the Crick Treacle Mining Company emerged to combine and protect their livelihood.


For more information: Origin of the seams , Mining and extraction , Miner's Health or BACK