‘Streets Through Time’ project gives ‘snippet’ into history of Harlaxton streets
A history society has launched a new project that looks at the history of streets through its village.
The Harlaxton History Society launched ‘Streets through Time’ in spring of this year.
Those involved collect information from open sources and also from residents in the village about the history of the streets in their village.
The idea initially came from Kim Ridgeway, Facebook manager of the society, inspired by the BBC documentary series ‘The Secret History of Our Streets’.
Kim said: “It seemed like a really good idea to apply it to the village.”
After putting the idea forward to the society committee, a sub-committee for people who wanted to work on the project was formed.
The sub-committee started to access information and collate it.
Steve Parkes, a member of the sub-committee, collated all of the information into a website which continues to grow through the project.
Steve said: “Rather than having a big archive, we thought this would be a good way that people would be able to access it.
“It’s also a structured format that people can just go straight to their road, their address and their particular property and then they can start to drill down into the people who lived there.”
Mostly censuses are used to form the history of the streets, however people have got in contact with photos and more information.
Kim said this brings a “more personal touch” to the project, rather than just it all being “informative”.
She added: “If you go into some of the streets [on the website] you’ll find a lot more information.”
“For example, if you go into Woodbine Cottage there’s lots of information about the families that lived there.
“There was one family in particular where the boy married the girl next door.
“It’s all about encouraging people to share this sort of information so we’ve got an archive and a record of it.”
Alongside the history of the village’s tenants, Kim and Steve have “really touched on the history and architecture as well”, said Steve.
The pair hope the project provides future generations with a “snippet” of the village’s history.
Steve added: “Most records and data now are available because they’re digital.
“But, all of the information we’re trying to get is copies of papers and documents.
“The longer it goes on, the harder it will be to recover.#
“If we can get it and put it into a digital format, it can be stored and placed on the website and that preserves it.”
Kim said they also want to know the “story behind the people that actually lived in the village in the ordinary houses.”
“It’s just really really interesting”, she added.
For the future of the project, Kim hopes to have a “back story on all of the estate cottages”.
She added: “Also, I think going forward it would be good to document the developments during the 1960s when more modern houses were built, to just have a record of them really because that’s when the village expanded the most.”
To check out the project, go to https://www.harlaxtonhistory.co.uk/copy-of-a-street-through-time-2.
If anyone would like to get involved or has anything that could be added to the project, email the history society at harlaxtonhistory@gmail.com.