| Description | From 1752 to 1765 the Field Books contain occasional records of measurements and estimates for the cost of erecting, altering, repairing and decorating public and private buildings in the neighbourhood of Sheffield. This branch of the work then grew so important that William Fairbank began a parallel series of Building Books, with the same numbers as his Field Books. This original numbering has been retained, and the Building Books are FC/BB/30 to FC/BB/98. William Fairbank's sons did not do nearly as much of this type of work as their father. About 1800, the Building Books cease, and similar estimates are only to be found as separate papers, and occasionally in the Note Books.
There are two types of page heading, which sufficiently show the scope of these books. Private work is headed in this way:
"William Birks's carpenter work by Robert Unwin" (Birks being the owner, and Unwin the carpenter); for public work, as "Glazing the front part of Hollis's Hospital by Thomas Dam." The entries are so methodical that students will not find searching difficult; they are in exact chronological order, every one is fully dated, and each book has a list of contents at the end.
The original numbering has been followed. From 1752 to 1765 the measurements made for estimating the cost of erecting, altering and decorating private and public buildings were entered in the Field Books numbered 1 - 29; after that date the two series were kept separately with parallel numbers
User copies (photocopies) available in most cases (FC/BB/Photocopies/30-98). |