In Search of Past Time: Popular Perceptions of Time c.1550-c.1800

This project will investigate popular perceptions of time and their interaction with cultures of memory in the English Midlands, c.1550-c.1800 primarily through use of the c. 12,000 depositions and other papers of the Lichfield and Coventry consistory court. The court covered a wide area (Staffordshire, Derbyshire, north Shropshire, and north Warwickshire) allowing for comparison between very different socio-economic zones, from the Peak District to the rapidly industrialising areas of Birmingham and the Black Country. The project will enable a mature and informed understanding of popular time perception, exploring claims about the rise of clock and industrial time and thereby historicising analyses of changes in productivity.