A FASCINATING glimpse into the past has gone on display at St Mary's Church in Exbourne.

The hand-coloured Exbourne tithe map, which dates from 1841, has been displayed at the church for some time. It shows every house, field, structure, lane, road and path in the village as it was 160 years ago.

But now it has been joined by a beautifully bound copy of the tithe apportionment — 37 large pages of heavy hand-made paper, showing details of all the numbered entries on the map.

Names of the owners, tenants, fields, acreage, crops and value for tithe purposes are all listed in meticulous copper-plate writing.

John Stoneham, who had the apportionment bound, said: 'The whole thing makes a very interesting historical document, a fascinating thing to see after all this time.

'It's amazing to see how many owners of land have stayed the same, and the names of fields — I was absolutely fascinated

by it.'

A wooden cabinet has been made to house the apportionment, and before it was bound, a photocopy was made of all the pages, which can be read easily.

These are available for research purposes to anyone studying the local history of Exbourne.