Exciting Find at the Vicarage

Arksey ephemera found in the vicarage

My 'Holy Grail'

Launching a facebook page alongside this site has been one of the best things I could have done. It is really paying dividends as far as sparking people's memories, and is quickly becoming a good source of new material.

One such piece of material which was loaned to me by a reader of my page, has been a cause of great interest to me. A handwritten notebook, chronicling the early history of Arksey, and dating from 1913 has been like finding the Holy Grail for me, and I've been poring over it ever since it came into my hands.

Notes on the Parish of Arksey by A E Trout 1913

The Trout Historian

The notebook Notes on the Parish of Arksey was written by Archie Ernest Trout (1879-1962). Eagle-eyed readers, have probably spotted the name 'Trout', as being synonymous with the Plough Inn, and indeed Archie Trout is of the same family, although his immediate roots lie in the Hull district. In fact, Archie Trout is the great-grandfather of Edwin Trout, who assisted me in my research of the Plough Inn. The notebook was left at Arksey vicarage, and was passed on to the new vicarage in Chadwick Gardens. The family now living there discovered the book and kindly loaned it to me to scan and transcribe for this site.

Transcriptions and Scans

Transcriptions of the notebook are presented over the next ten posts. In addition, scans of the original pages are available to view via the link below.

Archie Trout never actually completed his book, some chapters are titled, but have not been entered, and there are lots of blank pages, but there is plenty of information, which is clearly written and referenced. While the condition of the book is, on the whole, very good, there are a couple of mice chewed pages; one page in particular has been so badly damaged that piecing the text together proved difficult.

Mouse damaged page

To continue go to - Notes on the Parish of Arksey - Part 1

To see the scans go to - Notes on the Parish of Arksey - Scans




Alison Vainlo 

First written 2013, updated 2020