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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