FIELD SYSTEMS AND PLACE NAMES
OF OLD KNOTTINGLEY
SOME FACTS AND THEORIES
by TERRY SPENCER B.A.(Hons), Ph D.
INTRODUCTION : BEGINNINGS :
DOMESDAY :
PORT OF KNOTTINGLEY
MANORIAL RE-ORGANISATION :
GAZETTEER
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this study is to consider the topography of modern day
Knottingley and by reference to sparse documentary sources and within
the context of general historical trends, formulate a theoretical model
concerning the development of the settlement during the medieval and
post medieval eras as reflected in the field systems adopted.
The appearance of the countryside which surrounds the town today is
one of fields, mostly rectangular in shape, with straight line
boundaries and of variable size, the area of each being defined by a
hedge, fence or wall.
The prevailing system of relatively small enclosures is of quite recent
origin being largely created in consequence of the privately sponsored
Enclosure Act in the late eighteenth century. Paradoxically, the system
inaugurated by the wholesale adoption of enclosures mirrored the initial
pattern of cultivation utilised by the earliest settlers on the site of
the modern town.
Settlements by the Anglo Saxons in forest clearings such as that which was
to develop into the manorial vill of
Notinglea (Knottingley) a few centuries later, were dependent on
agriculture and thus by use of axe and fire, clearance of the
surrounding woodland was necessary to provide land for crop cultivation.
The process of clearance, known as assarting, resulted in the piecemeal
accumulation of small areas of cultivable soil which, undistinguished by
fence or hedge, provided the nucleus for the eventual incorporation of
individual clones into the common field pattern known as the open field
system of agriculture, widely in use by the tenth century as the basis
of manorial land tenure.
Under this system, the inhabitants of a manorial vill held strips of land
in various parts of the open fields in return for labour service on the
land of the manorial lord, known as the demesne. Each peasant holding
was roughly equal in size to that of fellow inhabitants, the individual
strips being scattered throughout the area of the open field to ensure
fair apportionment of good and inferior soil.
The expansion of the open fields naturally depended upon factors such as
the ease of land clearance and preparation for cultivation, the
variability and fertility of soil composition and demographic growth. As
settlements became well established a two field system was generally
developed with one field in a given year used for cropping while the
other lay fallow to enable restoration of the natural nutrients within
the soil.
The population of the country in general increased rapidly between the
eleventh and early fourteenth centuries and by the thirteenth century a
majority of manors had, of necessity, adopted the three field method of
crop rotation commonly known as the Midland Field System, in an effort
to boost agricultural production by more efficient use of the land.
In addition to cultivated strips, each peasant had the customary right to
graze a set number of animals on the surrounding common or wasteland and
had free access to the timber, stone and turf found there.
The method of open field agriculture lasted about 450 years until a
combination of socio economic change largely prompted by the Black Death
of 1348-50, undermined the feudal system, promoting the tendency to
consolidate and enclose land holdings. The process received a more
universal application from the mid-eighteenth century and by the
mid-nineteenth century, Knottingley’s fields had been transformed into
the pattern seen today.
Whatever the field system, it was necessary to give specific field areas a
name in order to distinguish a particular field from the surrounding
land in order to avoid operational chaos. Initially, names were
transmitted orally but from the sixteenth century they increasingly
appeared on maps, estate plans and in legal documents such as land
conveyances. With the passage of time, some names were transformed
whilst others became obsolete. Today, only the occupying farmers and a
handful of local historians know and refer to the field names commonly
used by former generations. The general public is, alas, unaware of the
rich historical legacy contained in the field and place names of the
township in which they now reside or work.
Terry Spencer
INTRODUCTION : BEGINNINGS :
DOMESDAY :
PORT OF KNOTTINGLEY
MANORIAL RE-ORGANISATION :
GAZETTEER
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