In the VicrortA Hisrory each county is not the labour of one or two men, but of 
several hundred, for the work is treated scientifically, and in order to embody in it all that 
modern scholarship can contribute, a system of co-operation between experts and local students 
is applied, whereby the history acquires a completeness and definite authority hitherto lacking 
in similar undertakings. 
THE SCOPE OF THE WORK 
The history of each county will be complete in itself, and its story will be told from the 
earliest times, commencing with the natural features and the flora and fauna. Thereafter, will 
follow the antiquities, pre-Roman, Roman and post-Roman ; a new translation and critical 
study of the Domesday Survey ; articles on political, ecclesiastical, social and economic history ; 
architecture, arts, industries, biography, folk-lore and sport. The greater part of each history 
will be devoted to a detailed description and history of each parish, containing an account of 
the land and its owners from the Conquest to the present day. ‘These manorial histories will 
be compiled from original documents in the national collections and from private papers. A 
special feature will be the wealth of illustrations afforded, for not only will all buildings of 
interest be pictured, but the coats of arms of past and present landowners will be given. 
HISTORICAL RESEARCH 
It has always been, and still is, a reproach to us that England, with a collection of public 
records greatly exceeding in extent and interest those of any other country in Europe, is yet 
far behind her neighbours in the study of the genesis and growth of her national and local 
institutions. Few Englishmen are probably aware that the national and local archives contain 
for a period of 800 years in an almost unbroken chain of evidence, ‘ not only the political, 
ecclesiastical, and constitutional history of the kingdom, but every detail of its financial and 
social progress and the history of the land and its successive owners from generation to 
generation.” The neglect of our public and local records is no doubt largely due to the fact 
that their interest and value is known to but a small number of people. But this again is 
directly attributable to the absence in this country of any endowment for historical research 
such as is to be found among other cultured nations. The government of this country has 
always left to private enterprise work which our continental neighbours entrust toa government 
department. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that although an immense amount of 
work has been done by individual effort, the entire absence of organization among the workers 
and the lack of intelligent direction has robbed the results of much of their value. 
In the Vicrorra History, for the first time, a serious attempt is made to utilize our 
national and local muniments to the best advantage by carefully organizing and supervising 
the researches required. Under the direction of the Records Committee a large staff of experts 
is engaged at the Public Record Office in calendaring those classes of records which are most 
fruitful in material for local history, and by a system of interchange of communication among 
local editors each county gains a mass of information which otherwise would be lost. 
THE RECORDS COMMITTEE 
Sir Epwarp Maunpe Tuompson, K.C.B. C. T. Martin, B.A., F.S.A. 
Smr Henry Maxwett-Lyte, K.C.B. J. Horace Rounp, M.A. 
W. Jj. Harpy, F.S.A. S. R. Scarciiy-Birp, F.S.A. 
F. Manan, M.A. W. H. Srevenson, M.A. 
F. Marrianp, M.A., F.S.A. G. F. Warner, M.A., F.S.A. 
Many archeological, historical and other societies are assisting in the compilation of this 
work ; and local supervision and aid are secured by the formation in each county, of a County 
Committee, the president of which is in nearly all cases the Lord Lieutenant. 
The names of the distinguished men who have joined the Advisory Council are a 
guarantee that the work will represent the results of the latest discoveries in every department 
of research. It will be observed that among them are representatives of science; for the 
whole trend of modern thought, as influenced by the theory of evolution, favours the intelli- 
gent study of the past and of the social, institutional and political developments of national 
life. As these histories are the first in which this object has been kept in view, and modern 
principles applied, it is hoped that they will form a work of reference no less indispensable 
to the student than welcome to the man of culture. 
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