John Keble's Parishes: A History of Hursley and Otterbourne

Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary), 1823-1901Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.3

Word count: 285K words
Chapters: 29

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.John Keble's Parishes: A History of Hursley and Otterbourne by Charlotte M. YongeAuthor: Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary), 1823-1901,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Sep 1, 2004

Editor's review

Charlotte Yonge's local history follows the parishes John Keble served, recording the churches, people, and everyday changes of Hursley and Otterbourne. Rather than a grand narrative, it weaves parish records, oral accounts, and local memory into readable historical essays that combine literary craft with a sense of the archival. For readers studying nineteenth-century English rural religious life, church institutions, and local society, it offers detailed primary material; for general readers, it is more like a nostalgic parish chronicle. As you read, pay attention to how the author draws the line between hearsay and documentary evidence—that is itself one of the pleasures of local-history writing. It rewards slow reading, ideally with a map or local-history reference at hand for place names.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in English rural history and the parish system
Students of nineteenth-century religious life and local society
General readers who enjoy local chronicles and place-memory nonfiction
Readers who want background on the parishes associated with John Keble

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a systematic general or political history of England
Readers who prefer fast-paced narrative and strong plot
Beginners unfamiliar with English place names and church terminology

Reading tips

Read the contents and preface first to clarify the spatial relationship between Hursley and Otterbourne.
Keep a simple sketch map or online map handy and mark churches and villages as you read.
Make a brief timeline of the passages involving people and dates to reduce confusion.
Stay discerning about local hearsay, distinguishing documentary evidence from the author's retelling.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a biography of John Keble?

Not in the strict sense. It takes the parishes Keble served as its entry point and recounts the local history of Hursley and Otterbourne—churches, people, and community change—with Keble as a connecting thread rather than the sole subject.

Can I read it without a background in English local history?

Yes, but it takes some patience. Place names, church terminology, and personal relationships are dense; use a map and basic background material, grasp the overall shape of the two parishes first, then move into detail.

What kind of historical source is this book?

It is local-history writing that combines documents, local memory, and the author's own observations, with a strong literary quality. Read it as a detailed local account and check specific facts against other sources.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary), 1823-1901 Author

Charlotte M. Yonge (1823–1901) was a prolific nineteenth-century British novelist and writer of children's literature, with 65 works held in this collection. Public information is limited, but her representative works reveal the range of her writing: family novels such as The Heir of Redclyffe and The Daisy Chain centre on everyday life and moral growth; A Book of Golden Deeds and The Little Duke, aimed at young readers, recount historical stories and heroic character; she also wrote a life of John Coleridge Patteson, missionary bishop of the Melanesian Islands. Her works generally deal with family, faith, duty and history in a gentle, realistic style, and were influential among Victorian readers, with many long surviving as reading for young people.