How to Write History

The schoolmaster of the County Primary School in Offord, Huntingdonshire, England, wanted to do something for the Festival of Britain and asked his pupils for suggestions. One of them had an ambitious idea: "Why not write a book?" Schoolmaster James W. Crick put it up to 13 of his senior students; they thought it was a splendid notion. By last week, Offord had a history of itself it could be proud of.

The book, Two Parishes--One Village (price: 94-c-) spans 1,000 years of history, and its 13 authors (aged n to 14) had to use all the tricks of the scholar's trade to research and write it. They conned old documents, interviewed local authorities, counted everything from pigs to letter boxes. They found that Offord had also been known as Upeford, Opeford, Uppe-ford, Oppeford, Upford, Hupford and Up-pord. In the Domesday Book it was Uf-ford. One Arnulf de Hesding owned ten hides (1,000 acres) at Cluny Manor, and the Countess Judith owned three at Darcy Manor. A restored Cluny Manor still stands (Oliver Cromwell slept there), and some old Offonians still remember when it was haunted by a "little old lady" who would appear late at night, flit through the drawing-room, then vanish.

Today, the village (which includes the parishes of Offord Cluny and Offord Darcy) has 536 inhabitants, 129 cats, 70 dogs, 275 bicycles, 46 motorcars, 167 radios and 17 TV sets. It has lived through the threat of the Armada, when 15 stalwart citizens went off to war bearing pike, arquebus and sword. The village lost one man during the Boer War, 20 in World War I, four in World War II.

The young scholars compiled examples of "folk medicine" ("Warts can be cured by rubbing a black slug on them") and weather lore ("If the wind gets in Gravely Gap, it will rain"), told how the farmers call in their cows ("Coof, coof, nare, nare, nare"). They interviewed all the most prominent people in town--from Lieut. Colonel O.N.D. Sismey, the village squire, to Mr. P. Stocker, the butcher ("His scales are very accurate, as they should be"). Reported one scholar of Mr. J. Dudley, the roadman: "If Mr. Dudley is not sweeping leaves, he is sometimes cleaning drains. When I asked him if he liked cleaning drains, he answered 'Not much.' "

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