Help deciphering difficult handwriting
For those of us who have struggled to read our GP’s handwriting, the prospect of making sense out of ‘scrawled’ historic documents can often put us off!
But a little help to understand old texts can unlock exciting secrets of the past.
On 28 November, Warwickshire County Council is holding a workshop in Palaeography - the study of old handwriting - which is an essential skill for all family and local historians to help them read and decipher manuscripts.
This hands-on workshop, which takes place at the County Record Office, will provide advice and a chance to practise reading old handwriting and will help to open up fascinating documents from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
For example, an entry from the 1712 Baptism Register from the Parish of St Mary, Ilmington, (pictured) reveals that Francis Warrington, 26 years of age, made her escape from slavery in Constantinople.
The workshop will be run by experienced local historian and expert in old handwriting Christine Hodgetts and is specially geared towards those who are just getting started.
“Palaeography for Beginners” is being held on Saturday 28 November between 9.15 am and 12.15 pm at Warwickshire County Record Office, Priory Park, off Cape Road, Warwick. Tickets cost £12.00 and booking is strongly recommended, by calling 01926 738959 Tuesday to Saturday.
Rowan Fisher, Learning and Outreach Officer at Warwickshire County Record Office, says: “Our workshops are hugely popular and we hope this course will help to make our records more accessible to everyone.”
Warwickshire County Record Office collects, preserves and makes available records to do with the history of Warwickshire and has in its collections documents from as early as the twelfth century, right up to the twenty first.
Visit http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/countyrecordoffice for more information on general opening times, directions and other useful information.