Immersive historical settings: how to create them, have fun and engage the reader.

A great narrative does not have to be fiction and writing creatively does not make an account less factual!  Creating a rich setting provides the theatre in which characters can be expressed and allowed to re-enact their stories.

For many family historians, the pleasure of research lies in sharing discoveries or entertaining others with ancestral tales.  For some, it is the enjoyment of immersion in old documents and learning about times gone by. ​For others, it is the desire to create a legacy for generations to come.   But for all, the question of how to record it all will doubtless arise at some point!

There is the traditional method of recording information in a family tree accompanied by a report containing dates, facts and endless citations.  But if looking to go beyond the time-honoured route, a written narrative account may be the answer.   Nonetheless, the style and format of any account are dictated by the intended audience.   Traditional family history reports are fine for other family historians.  But they don’t and won’t cut the mustard with non-genealogy minded folk!  To keep them reading beyond the first page requires a more sensory approach and language that captures the imagination. 

Writing a factual family history, a biographical account of a specific ancestor or about the place where ancestors lived needn’t be dull.  Cast your mind back to books you have read. What is it about them you enjoyed? I have recently finished ‘Inge’s War' by Svenja O’Donnell.[1]  Taking advantage of the hot weather I sat in the garden and read the account of her grandmother’s life in Germany during WW2 from cover to cover. It is an example of a family history narrative at its best. Meticulously researched, yet the language is highly accessible making it easy for the reader to engage with her story. It is sensitive and compelling but remains honest and factual.

Creating Setting for Historical Narratives

Like any other account, the historical narrative needs to contain specific elements.  Setting is one of the most important as it conveys a sense of place and time as well as providing the backdrop and mood for characters to play out the plot.  I have been having some fun of late indulging in a bit of memoir combined with house history and a 1,000-word challenge.

The house and farm where I spent much of my childhood and adolescence have a history that stretches back several centuries. The house’s listing with Historic England dates it from the late sixteenth - early seventeenth century. [2]  But I am also lucky as many records have survived which show how they have changed and evolved over the years.  I was the fifth generation in my direct paternal line to have lived there, thus I remember it well.  

• ​We entered her care when we first came to the village in 1870.  The Victorian addition and I was the fifth generation to find sanctuary within her walls.  The common denominator and connection between me and my paternal line.  She was a constant, always there and always would be until she was not. 

It doesn’t always need a photograph to generate a visual on which to base more sensory images. This extract from the rental agreement for our predecessors in 1853 paints a picture of a very different internal layout than the one  I remember or exists today.

These differences account for the strange levels of old doorways and windows which can still be seen both inside out.  Instead of producing a literal account, it is possible to create a more dramatic feel for the idiosyncrasies without compromising the truth.

• ​Her exoskeleton bears scars that witness the changes over the years. Cosmetic and functional as fashion or need dictated.  Nails and hooks still protrude from the mortar where once they supported ivy cloaking her frontage. Now exposed, old doorways half above, half below ground and openings that no longer let in the light, visible in her nakedness.  Inside, odd windows between rooms at floor level, long since blinded by stone, plaster, paper and paint

In the 1000-word challenge, I went a step further, humanised the house and treated it as the central character. By creating analogies between the house as a mother caring for her children, and, as a collector of the souls of previous inhabitants, it suited the purpose of the story I was trying to tell.

​Below are some examples of sources that will provide valuable information to help create a setting rich in historical detail and context.

• Old Photographs
• Newspapers
• Estate Records
• Deeds
• Historical Gazetteers
• Manorial Surveys and Terriers
• Some Tax records such as Window, Hearth etc
• Old Maps and Plans
• Letters and Diaries
• Account Books, Ledgers and other Miscellany

​The garden of my early childhood in my grandparents' day has also radically changed.  Granny Smith loved her flowers; a large bed in the centre of the top lawn provided what seemed to be an endless supply of Dahlias and Chrysanthemums.  There was a dry fishpond, a concrete-lined crater surrounded by crazy paving and French Marigolds. But it is the rows of rose beds separated by parallel gravel pathways I particularly remember.

Courtesy of the British Newspaper Archive. The Berwickshire News, Tuesday February 13th 1934. (The Mr Logan referred to is, I believe a Mr George Logan of Ayton.)

​It was this interesting little snippet found in the newspapers that brought it to mind.  Although the paper appeared in 1934, the article relates to recollections of a journey made 40 years earlier in 1895.

• Set in a garden once famed for its roses, where terraces and wooden framed pergolas heavy with blooms lined summer scented pathways, ...  

A picture of my Pa (John Michael Aynsley Smith) and his parents (John Aynsley Smith and Alain nee Davison) in the garden at Longhoughton 1954/56.

My recollections of the structure of the house continue:

• ... her facade is unremarkable to the eye.  A Georgian double front with multipaned windows provided winter canvases for Jack Frost whose intricate designs turned to water at the slightest touch.  Three above and two below flanking a heavy six panelled door with a worn step and a broken boot scraper.  A tarnished brass bellpull set in a smooth square of sandstone that no longer worked – just a knob and a rod with a hole in the end.  The rack of service bells long since redundant, now wrapped in a chaotic tangle of cobwebbed wires, standing on end, demoted to the dairy.  A reminder.  Not destroyed nor discarded as if one day they may again be summoned and bounce back to life. 

​The next step is to introduce atmosphere.  Setting and sensory description is often lacking from traditional family histories and other historical accounts.  Again, as well as engaging the reader it is important to remember the contract to provide a truthful account.  In my 1000-word challenge, I drew heavily on personal memories of sounds, smells, taste and touch.

• ​Stone flags and wooden floors stained black around the edges with not a fitted carpet in sight.  Paint and paper formed a skin, stretched and cracked in places over her stony insides. Cold underfoot and cool to the touch.

• To the rear, a huge arched window from a later period dominates the main staircase.  At Christmas, our tree stood in the recess, the smell of pine needles hanging in the air on the landing.  Its twinkling lights visible from the road to the beach after dark

• Rarely warm, with no heating other than open fires, her demeanour was cool in summer and perishing in winter. Chilblains, mittens and vests the everyday norm.  

• Her heart lay in the kitchen where an oak longcase clock pulsed out time at a steady 60 beats per minute.  Heated by a fiery coke-eating dragon, the Aga was one place in the house that offered a warm lean.  Coke dust and breadcrumbs would dance on the hot plate at breakfast.  Aga toast, no other toast smells or tastes as good. Suspended above was a clothes airer, operated by a rope and pulley draped in fresh smelling laundry.  One 1930s unit housing the sink was crammed in a corner.  The red-painted cupboard beneath contained pan scourers, Vim and a rat trap on constant guard against furry intruders.

• … the half-glazed door to the kitchen, the spring voicing its usual complaint.

The smallest detail or object can add mood and ambience as well as focus and interest.

Whilst helpful for setting, the sources listed above also contain information about the human aspect of a property or place.  When combined with the records commonly used for researching family histories, such as Birth Marriage & Death and the Census, it is possible to draw together a chronological account of previous inhabitants.  

A picture of Hannah Smith nee Aynsley (1837- 1922) widow of John Smith w.d. 5th Aug 1881. She is named as the tenant in the rental agreement dated 1882.

• Despite her age, few families passed through her portals before us. The Adams family, residents in the village since at least 1497, were likely the first family entrusted to her care.  Their time ended abruptly in June 1822 when Thomas Adams, aged 41, fell from his horse and  ‘was conveyed into Alnwick the same evening a corpse.’   I don’t think she ever recovered.  The next tenant, Edward Anderson Carr, died in 1852, aged 44, then William Sample junior and senior, father and son, within two days in 1858.  The Forsters, who escaped alive, were our immediate predecessors.  But her appetite was voracious and within ten years she added John Smith to her tally.  They buried him at home on Tweedside, but he didn’t go far.  None did.  It was as if the essence of those who had gone before lingered in passageways and shady corners, souls trapped in plaster.  She was testing our metal, but Borderers like herself we stood our ground. Her story is as much about the women as it is about the men.  Hannah, John’s widow took the tenancy and we stayed put for another 108 years.  

Schedule to Tenancy Agreement for Longhoughton Hall Farm in the name of Mrs Hannah Smith, dated 15th November 1882.

There is enough information about the place and its people to write several chapters of a book. This extract is a brief glimpse, but it needed to be.  Context and relevance are key for both narrative and content.  A tight word count focuses the mind and curtails an over-eager pen!  

Writing a family, house or any other history may seem a daunting prospect. ​Try starting small with a series of small challenges or vignettes written in 1,000 words or less.  It’s amazing how much can be said in under 500 words.  These exercises are great for building confidence and also for providing material for a much larger work. Remember, a great narrative does not have to be fiction and writing creatively does not make an account less factual! Creating a rich setting provides the theatre in which characters can be expressed and allowed re-enact their story. 

A two-part article on the topic of writing family history narrative will be published in Family Tree Magazine. Part I which considers the principles, (moral and otherwise) together with the potential pitfalls, will appear in the October issue on sale from the 10th September.  It is based on the responses to a public questionnaire circulated in June.  If you were one of the 75 individuals who took part and shared their views, very many thanks indeed. Your opinions matter and they were fascinating to read!

Part II will focus on the practicalities of writing family history in its several forms.  If you have written a family history or are writing your ancestors' stories as a narrative, tried to write but given up, or would like to give it a go but don't know where to begin, we would love to hear from you.  The questionnaire is anonymous and contains only seven quick questions.  It will be open throughout August.  The results with a selection of your comments will appear in the December issue. 

Questionnaire

​As research can be a solitary pastime, so can writing. Getting together with others, in a small group, or even just one other individual can provide moral support as well as helpful feedback and suggestions.  Content, Context and Construction are topics I intend to cover in workshops with small groups over the winter months.  If you think these might be of interest, please contact me for further information.

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Extract from Lordship plan of Longhoughton circa 1788 where the house can be clearly seen. Note the absence of the existing road to Boulmer. At that time (and until late nineteenth century the road to Boulmer lay further south on the Lesbury Rd and ran through The Letches

Useful Links

[1] Penguin Books, Svenja O'Donnell, 'Inges' War - A True Story of Family, Secrets and Survival under Hitler'
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1118767/inge-s-war/9781529105476.html​
[2] Historic England, Longhoughton Hall,  
​https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1041774