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
MANORIAL RE-ORGANISATION:
To meet the growing need, new settlement sites were established on the
southern and eastern edges of the manor. The new settlements occupied
land situated at a moderate distance from the original nucleus and by
the fourteenth century the manor had a fourfold pattern of settlement
based on Aire Street, Racca Green, Fernley Green and Swinley Green (the
latter also being known as Low Green).
It is not known whether the new settlements were created on land
constituting part of the existing field system but it seems quite
probable for topographical evidence suggests examples of settlement
relocation on common field sites. The possible imposition of greens
settlement at Knottingley particularly with regard to the Racca and
Fernley greens, would have meant the forfeiture of prime land and given
impetus to the further expansion of the common fields to provide
compensatory space and additional peasant holdings.
While the piecemeal assart of the surrounding woodland was often
undertaken on an individual basis the eventual expansion of the common
field system resulted in the incorporation of such clearances in
exchange for additional strip allotment to compensate for the individual
assart of closes.
The earliest phase of expansion was undertaken as a supplementary
extension of the two field system commonly found throughout the eastern
areas of Yorkshire and first recorded at Knottingley in the late
eleventh century.
The initial assart of the area to the south of Back Lane was eventually
followed by extension to east and west so that eventually the original
field system comprising the Flatts and the water meadows to the east was
substantially enlarged to include all the area known today as Marsh End,
the southern boundary being Sunny Bank, and all the land lying along the
south side of Hill Top, the southern boundary being the original line of
Spawd Bone Lane. It is not improbable that the area to the east was
eventually extended southward beyond Sunny Bank to encompass the land to
the south bounded by what is now Weeland Road and terminating eastward
at Trundles Lane.
The entire area was first laid out as a two field system with each
individual having half his total holdings in each field. The two
furlongs or fields being separated by a broad balk known as a headland.
Most probably the headland ran in a north-south direction from a
point roughly in a line from the entrance to Stolzle (ex Bagley /
Rockware) glassworks and on beyond the present canal, through Primrose
Hill to the Back Lane with the fields lying to either side and
encompassing the space bounded east by Fernley Green and west by the
Headlands.
Demographic studies clearly indicate that population growth invariably
occurred in areas which had the greatest potential for economic and
physical development such as Knottingley. (21) In such conditions of
demographic growth the two field system, with half the arable lying
unused at any given time, proved to be both wasteful and inadequate. A
three field system appears to have been dictated by economic necessity.
The establishment of secondary settlements at Racca Green and Fernley
Green had invariably put pressure on the area encompassed by the dual
field system and necessitated the extension of the cultivated area
southward and eastward, providing in the process, the impetus for
adoption of a three field system.
There is evidence of a transitionary phase in the general neighbourhood
during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Beal, Kellington and
Whitley are reported to have had three fields systems at a time when
Knottingley, Kirk Smeaton, Womersley and Burgwallis still retained a two
field layout. (22) The adoption of the Midland three field system had
the advantage of reducing the percentage of fallow land whilst affording
greater flexibility on cropping rotas so that over time the Midland
system was widely adopted. (23)
The numerical identification of land division employed later by the
Enclosure Award Commissioners, although somewhat intricate, is
nevertheless of use in identification of the boundaries of the three
great fields of the township of Knottingley at their fullest extent. In
addition, place names afford a glimpse of former boundaries. In the
latter connection, the term ‘bank’ is most useful for the comparison of
‘bank’ names featured within the Award Schedule with their location as
shown on the Award Map reveals that several such sites are situated on
peripheral areas of the great fields, the field edges being delineated
by a ridge or bank separating the cultivated land from the adjacent
wasteland areas. Allied to such locations are others identified by name
elements such as ‘butt’ or ‘balk’. The butts were small, irregular
shaped parcels of land, usually triangular in shape and therefore named
alternatively as gores, the shape of which was determined by
geographical considerations but invariably lying at field edges. Banks
were banks of soil raised by the process of ploughing and served as
divisional markers between land holdings and furlong boundaries. The
name ‘Buttlebank’, recorded in the sixteenth century but doubtless of
more ancient origin, is a superb example of a field name which
incorporates a combination of the name elements ‘butt’ and ‘bank’, and
although its omission from the Enclosure Award Schedule prevents
locational identification it seems possible that Buttlebank was an
alternative name for Sunny Bank and that the forepart of the name was
additionally inspired by the profusion of buttercups on the site of the
early field boundary.
If names such as Pudding Bank, Kemp Bank, Park Balk and Butts Close
identify parcels of land situated at the extremities of the great fields
then locations such as Banks Lane, Bank Dole and Sunny Bank, situated
more centrally within the township area, provide a clear indication of
the perimeters of early field systems, thus confirming Spawd Bone Lane,
to which Banks Lane provided access, and Sunny Bank, as the boundaries
of an early two field layout.
Naturally, the transformation of the field system at Knottingley required
a high degree of communal compliance and organisation. The extent to
which lordship was a factor in promoting change is variable in general
but the manorial lord had the authority to implement change and the
medium of the manorial court as the means to enforce his will and could
command the services and skills of manorial officials to give practical
expression to his desire. (24) The lord stood to benefit from greater
efficiency which in turn rendered savings in time and reduced waste, to
say nothing of the financial gain in service rents accruing from the
newly enfeoffed peasantry. The imposed layout of the town of Pontefract
at this period which is clearly evident from examination of its present
day thoroughfares, its topography and commercial trading names, has been
remarked by various authorities. The evidence of reorganisation in
respect of Pontefract and other de Lacy holdings is indicative of the
likelihood that the reorganisation occurred at Knottingley was prompted
by the tenant in chief. (25) The peasantry, for whom survival was the
paramount factor, bonded socially and psychologically to feudal
servitude and may have welcomed reorganisation of the existent system if
it was perceived to be materially beneficial to them. However,
regardless of its source, change could only be undertaken with the
approval of the lordship. (26)
The extent to which reorganisation of the field system at Knottingley was
an instant operation or a more protracted scheme is also conjectural.
Domesday evidence indicates areas of woodland clearance in some manors
pending future cultivation. Such clearance may have been undertaken at
Knottingley to provide sufficient space for reapportionment of holdings
as the initial stage of agricultural expansion for there is evidence of
individual assartment during the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries.
By the latter period the existing fields which were located between
parallel boundaries formed by the River Aire to the north and the line
of Weeland Road – Spawd Bone Lane – Simpson’s Lane to the south, had
been incorporated into the vastly expanded three field system.
The most extensive of the reorganised open fields at Knottingley was the
South Field which occupied the acreage lying west of a line created by
England Lane and Banks Lane and the western edge of the present Warwick
estate and extended southward as far as the boundary with Darrington.
The smaller Middle Field incorporated the eastern portion of the
previous area of cultivation and widened out to occupy the land lying
between England Lane – Racca Field Lane (Womersley Road), extending
southward as far as the boundary with Darrington. The East Field, also
known as the Low Field due to the eastward declination of the land below
Broomhill, was located to the east of the boundary with the Middle Field
and extended from the East Ings beyond Stocking Lane, (the latter name
being derived from the process of assartment) to the common or waste
land of the South Moor (originally situated adjacent to a woodland area
and known as South Moor Wood). The southern and south-eastern boundary
of the East Field abutted the rein of Cridling Park before turning
northward to absorb the area known as Gascoigne Reach lying east of Bank
Dole. (c.f. fig ii)
Each of the three great fields was between 300 and 500 acres in extent and
each was sub-divided into a number of smaller fields known variously as
furlongs, flats, riggs or shotts, which subject to geographical
conditions, were of rectangular shape, approximately ten acres in
extent. The layout was, however, decreed by the lie of the land in order
to take advantage of factors such as natural drainage, convenience of
access and ease of ploughing. Thus, some furlongs rather than being
parallel were situated at right angles to each other. Theoretically, the
furlongs were 220 yards long by 22 yards wide, the area representing a
day’s ploughing for a single ox-gang. Here again, a degree of variation
existed according to the configuration of the fields and the nature of
the soil. The furlongs were separated at each end by a headland some
15-20 feet wide which was the space required to turn round the ox-gang.
Following the completion of the ploughing of a particular field the
headland was then ploughed along its length in order to utilise all
available arable land. (27) Furlongs were divided lengthways by a ridge
or balk of earth created as a result of the soil turned over by the
ploughshare as it traversed the length of the furlong. The strips
created by ploughing each length of the furlong were apportioned pro
rata amongst those manorial peasants entitled to an allotment within the
open fields, thus ensuring an equitable distribution of the good and
poorer soil within each furlong. (c.f. Fig vi, infra)
From the foregoing it will be seen that the term ‘field’ had considerable
flexibility being applicable to the entire area under cultivation or the
smaller sub-divisions formed from groups of furlongs, each furlong
having its own name, while small individual enclosed areas, although
commonly referred to as closes, were also designated as fields.
Therefore, as a furlong consisted of a series of parallel strips so a
group of furlongs comprised a field which was a larger division within
the even larger open field area. (c.f. fig iv, infra showing a stylised
representation of the various land divisions).
The assart of surrounding woodland was probably undertaken a furlong at a
time with subsequent apportionment of the cleared land taking place on a
piecemeal basis. Portions of land cleared as a result of individual
assart were mostly incorporated within the reorganised system with
compensatory apportionment within the newly created furlong. Evidence of
individual activity is seen in the form of small enclosures, several of
which are clearly shown in the areas of secondary settlement on the
Enclosure Award map of the late eighteenth century. (28)
The size of the medieval population of the manor is not known although as
mentioned earlier, the Poll Tax of 1377 was levied on 73 persons. The
Poll Tax was levied on all people 14 years and older but under
assessment and evasion are constraining factors which in the case of
Knottingley was doubtless compounded by a degree of mobility arising
from the burgeoning maritime activity and associated trades at that
time. Furthermore, the Tax was calculated in the immediate wake of a
series of visitations of the Black Death, occurring between 1348-69. The
plague had devastating effect upon all manorial communities and it may
be assumed that Knottingley with its maritime connections was a
potential crisis area.
By the middle of the fourteenth century climatic change, soil exhaustion,
plague and the technological limitations of medieval agriculture
practise had combined to limit demographic growth. The large scale
reclamation of land slowed to a gradual halt, not least because of a
growing awareness of the need to preserve the remaining woodland for
constructional purposes, fuel and pannage. (29)
The open fields of Knottingley endured for almost a further four and a
half centuries during which feudalism which formed the basis of the open
field system of agriculture, was replaced by capitalism based on
individual land ownership. The advent of a money economy with wage
payment replacing feudal service led to the abandonment of demesne
farming and the breakdown of the complex administrative aspects of
medieval economy. Consolidation of strips took place by means of
exchange, leasehold agreement and partible inheritance with comparable
gains in time and efficiency of purpose. By the sixteenth century the
manorial lordship of Knottingley had been divided and was abandoned in
all but name by the middle of the eighteenth century. Local additional
factors promoting the demise of the feudal system are the expansion of
the maritime trade from the late Middle Ages and the rapid and
widespread development of the limestone trade from the sixteenth
century. Both these developments had considerable implications for local
labour and land usage in the post medieval period. Ironically, because
of the development of the limestone extraction industry, much of the
physical evidence of the medieval field organisation was destroyed so
that where most other towns present a palimpsest, Knottingley presents a
series of voids. Nevertheless, the retention of a myriad field and place
names allows some insight into the township of yesteryear. (30)
Terry Spencer
INTRODUCTION :
BEGINNINGS :
DOMESDAY :
PORT OF KNOTTINGLEY :
MANORIAL RE-ORGANISATION :
GAZETTEER
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