Good! There are people out there! I'm delighted to see the responses. I don't think that the school holidays are much of a factor, because (a) the Lincs list has been really humming throughout the same period and (b) these lists are global, not local. But the comment about the difficulty of access to records is very likely to explain the milk in the coconut, as my mother used to say. Anyway, it's been really interesting to read all the different views: thank you all. Perhaps I should tell the story of how my interest in the area was reawakened after some years. It may be relevant to someone out there. After a year of deep mourning for my mother I started to feel capable of research again and decided to return to her father's roots in Lincs. His stepfather's funeral at Crowland Abbey was attended by a crowd including Mr Edis Cherrington; his mother's funeral (ditto) was attended by a Mr E. Sharman. As both Edis and Sharman are in my mother's mother's line and her parents met in Tasmania, not in England, I wondered whether there was some family connection that they may not have known about when they met. Crowland is very close to Yaxley, one of the ancestral villages of Grandma's side. Mum told me once that her parents argued over whose aunt was in a family photo: Anne Hard, or Hardy, presumably born in Peterborough, Northants, maiden name unknown, was claimed by both of them. She went to live in America at some time in the C19 but visited her sister Betsy Reed in Crowland c. 1890. The story may be a bit of imagination but it may not.... Grandpa's grandfather William Reed appears on the IGI as christened in Crowland and married in Glatton, Hunts to an Elizabeth Harlock. This can't be Granny Betsy Reed (and I think it is the right William Reed, so it's probably one of those IGI false links) - but there are Harlocks in that area in my grandmother's tree. I'd just love to find that my maternal grandparents were related, so if anyone has any connections to this story I'd be delighted to hear from them. I've got quite a bit to share. Here are the relevant names, dates and places. William George REED b. 1883 Woodston, Hunts; d. 1966 Melbourne: my grandfather. Emma REED b. 1863 Crowland, Lincs; d. 1943 Crowland. Grandpa's mother. George PEPPER b. 1853 Crowland ;. d. 1936 Crowland. Grandpa's stepfather. Elizabeth (Betsy) unknown b. 1833 Peterboro, Northants. Married William REED; mother of Emma REED. William REED b. [1828] Crowland; d. 1884 Crowland. Father of Emma REED. Edis CHERRINGTON b. [1864] Crowland - attended funeral in 1936. E. SHARMAN - no details - attended funeral in 1943. George SHARMAN b. 1798 Yaxley or Holme, Hunts; d. 1867 Tasmania. Mary ELLINGTON b. 1809 Hunts; d. 1891 Tasmania. M. George SHARMAN; my grandmother's greatgrandmother. Mary EDIS b. 1775 Hunts. Married John SHERMAN/SHARMAN 1793, Hunts. Elizabeth HARLOCK - no details - m. George SHERMAN/SHARMAN 1749, Hunts. Parents of John Sherman. George was "of Elton and Yaxley". A very small circle on a map takes in all these places, and remembering that Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the Durbervilles" walked 30 miles in one day and noted only that she should allow herself a full day for the trip reminds us that the C19 concept of distance in England was not as restrictive as genealogists often think it was. Phoebe