A Nottinghamshire village in war and peace: the accounts of the constables of Upton, 1640-1666

A Nottinghamshire Village in War and Peace: the Accounts of the Constables of Upton, 1640-1666, has been edited by Dr Martyn Bennett of Nottingham Trent University. The edition comprises a full transcript with index of a volume deposited in Nottinghamshire Archives listing the payments made by successive village constables of Upton during the Civil War, Commonwealth and Restoration periods. These accounts have been described as one of the two best examples of their type and period in the whole country, and they provide a vivid impression of the effects of the Civil War on a local community only a few miles from the heavily defended and frequently beseiged Royalist garrison town of Newark. Amongst the burdens which the villagers had to bear were constant demands for taxation, the raiding of local produce, the presence of unruly troops (including the payment of a form of ‘protection money’ to encourage them to stay away) and the provision of lodgings for a stream of wounded soldiers, refugees, and other travellers.

The publication is available from Nottinghamshire Archives Office, County House, Castle Meadow Road, Nottingham,  NG2 1AG, price £14.95 plus postage.