How useful are the following sources in arriving at an accurate understanding of Dartford high street in the mid nineteenth century?

in that location has been much development and change in Dartford later the eighteenth century. One of the umpteen reasons for this is the growth of industry and the manufacture of the railway, this town has gone from being solely from being a market-town and coaching conduct to developing more towards industry. The broad(prenominal) pass has changed a lot since the ordinal century in terms of functions, shops, conditions, etc. at that place atomic number 18 many ways of finding out what it used to be like, including rootages, the census, and the existing grammatical constructions. There are six main creates in Dartford proud exclusivelyey which I am studying.These buildings are generally quite simple to put a rough date to them. The rough date that we outhouse confidently provide these buildings is that they are from the Georgian era, with a couple withal being from the nice era. Some of these buildings, such as the Bulls Head yard building affirm certain featu res tryly(predicate) it which can help give details closely the actual passage and its functions, non vertical the building. The Bulls Head yard building has a pulley system attached to it, which could suggest a storage warehouse and cart way on the opposite hand this does not unavoidably mean that the avenue had many carts going over it.Although, source C (the engraving of Dartford luxuriously route), suggests that carts were common in Dartford high gear route. Moreover, the Bull and capital of Seychelles Hotel gives some recite to suggest that coaches were popular in Dartford as well. We can see this because the entrance is fairly abundantr than it would normally be for an ordinary building or hotel, and then suggesting that this building could have been a coach house. So overall, although the buildings show individual purpose and use, they in themselves, do not inescapably show what the high street was like in the 1800s.The strengths of this source are that thi s report gives detailed culture on the conditions of Dartford advanced road concerning matters of hygienics and sanitation. It is an official enquiry by the General Board of Health and pen by William Ranger therefore, it must have some reliability. It was also written in the nineteenth century so Ranger would have cognize exactly what it was like. The report implies that Dartford is not a real prosperous town, byword things like The general character of this place is such that humans ought not to be allowed to occupy it. This tells us that the area being described has very poor sanitary conditions. The report therefore contrasts with Dunkins description of a wealthy, aesthetically-pleasing town. There are also weaknesses to the report. Firstly, it only focuses on Clarks alley rather than the High Street itself and therefore it does not directly tell us about the High Street. Furthermore, only the conditions are described, rather than other aspects such as its function and p eople.Also, as the report was written for the Board of health, it describes the worst incident scenario of the conditions of the High Street so that the Board of Health would spot where to improve-due to the judicature Public Health Act of 1848, people were hired to report on the sanitary conditions of places. Dunkins history of Dartford is a detailed description of Dartford. It was written in 1844. Due to the fact that it is a go for, it could be said that there were prejudice motives for writing it, as there is an advertising gradient to it, not just an informative side.This is because the source comes across a bit like a brochure, which meat that Dunkin could be promoting Dartford and its shops in particular since he himself owned one. So this could be seen as not very helpful in gaining an mind of Dartford High Street. Although, Dunkin was a local man which means that he should know what he is talking about. Moreover, he was also a historian, which also means that he us es factual information, and has researched what he was writing. The reliability of the source could be questionable, as it doesnt actually tell us a lot of information about the function or look of the buildings themselves.The report to the general board of health was an official document which means that the likeliness of the report being curve is very low. This source contradicts Dunkins view of the appearance and prosperity of the high street saying how it may be incorrect. It gives information on what life may have been like for the ordinary working people in Dartford. However, it is a limited discussion regarding the appearance of the high street itself. It refers more to the alleys and side streets than the high streets.Peter Boreham was a historian who relatively recently wrote an overview of Dartford for the book Dartford Through Time. The strengths of Borehams account are that the fact that Boreham was a historian gives this source reliability due to the fact that his ai m would have been to report the truth, as that was his job. He also has the advantage of hindsight and neutrality, as he was not there at the time. Boreham describes the function of the High Street in his account when he talks of Dartfords role as a shopping centre this tells us that shopping was one of the High Streets major functions.This is supported by the evidence from the census which says that 30% of all of the jobs in the High Street were as shopkeepers. In fact, Boreham probably used the census in bless to make this information. We can tell from Borehams account that he has used other sources, including the census as mentioned previously, when writing this. For example, he says Housing conditions were atrocious. This is probably based on Rangers report to the Board of Health which states a similar thing.He also writes how the shop windows are tightly packed with as many goods as possible which could refer to when Dunkin writes about handsome shops, well stocked with a ch oice assortment of goods tastefully displayed as well as referring to the photographs mentioned. The wide range of sources used adds reliability to the account, as it means that he has not just used a narrow perspective of the High Street but has considered many points of view. The book Boreham wrote was written for schoolchildren in 1990. Therefore, in order to provide the right information to the children, he would have had to have do it as accurate as possible.However, the weaknesses are that Boreham was not there at the time and therefore did not know for sure exactly what the High Street was like. In addition to this, the book was published by Dartford Borough Council and therefore they might have edited it in favour of Dartford. Also, Borehams account was aimed at secondary school pupils so it might not include all of the information in order to make it more interesting or easier to understand. Furthermore, Borehams source lacks detail and can only give us an approximate over view of the function of Dartford, rather than a detailed description.Although Boreham used some sources, there are some which he did not use. For example, the engraving was probably not used, as he does not describe the appearance of the High Street. Therefore, we do not know what other important information he has left(a) out. Overall, Peter Borehams source gives a reasonably reliable overview of Dartford High Street in the mid-nineteenth century, which uses a wide range of sources to help give us an idea of some of the functions and buildings of Dartford High Street at that time. The engraving of Dartford high street was done in 1860.It is a Detailed engraving which gives a clear and complete view of the high street itself, and also a large range of buildings. It gives great detail on the appearance of the buildings, demonstrate all the architectural styles of the buildings, such as Tudor, Georgian, and early Victorian architectural styles are all visible. Although it gives grea t detail on the appearance of the buildings and the high street, it doesnt give a lot of detail towards the actual functions of the high street in the mid nineteenth century.However, it does show some basic information which can help us gain an understanding of what Dartford high street was like, such as in the engraving, we can clearly see carts and carriages in the street. This shows, as mentioned in previous sections, that carts and coaches were popular in the high street, which is plump for up by the image of the Bull and Victoria Hotel. Also, some other functions are visible, these include trade, shopping, and transport. From this engraving, we can also see evidence of prosperity in Dartford.This is made apparent by the obvious wide on the fence(p) airy streets, the fashion, street lighting, and it is obviously clean. We dont, however, know who drew this engraving, which means that it could actually be very unreliable, or it could be reliable. Overall, although it doesnt give detailed evidence of the high street, it does give sufficient evidence of the functions, appearance and prosperity of the high street to give us a rough understanding of what Dartford high street was like in the mid nineteenth century.