The ownership, occupation and use of land on the South Downs, 1840-1940: Amethodological analysis of record linkage over time

Three major complexes of documents are now available for the study of agric ulture from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. The tithe su rveys, already well known, are now joined by the Lloyd George 1910 Valuatio n Office material, and the National Farm Survey of 1941-3. This paper explo res the methodological issues arising from the use, and especially the comp arison, of the three sources in the context of a case study from the South Downs in Sussex.