Thread by @CHPPC_IHR

Hello and welcome to the latest of our online training session on analysing historic settlement, beginning with @DrSueOosthuizen discussing nucleated settlement. So what is that?

This is an example of nucleated settlement, Polbrook in Northamptonshire - the village at the centre of the bounds of the parish. These are typical of but not exclusive to) the 'central province' of England.

So what are the basic tools? Maps! For Britain, the 1:25,000 @OrdnanceSurvey maps, geological maps and - importantly, flood risk maps all give insight into the landscape as a three-dimensional entity.

Another example, Linton in Cambridgeshire showing the underlying geology and the proximity of the village to the river showing how closely the village responds to the topography and underlying soil.

And field names overlaying the OS map and the geology show how these names - Oxcroft (the Ox field), Stocking (an area of cleared woodland), etc.

Key secondary sources - Christopher Taylor's Village and Farmstead, @VCH_London (especially the more recent editions) and many of these are available @bho_history for free!

So what about physical features? Here we have 'Sue's T junction rule' - Where boundaries meet at right angles, the longer boundary is generally the older - in this case the yellow hatched line encloses the church.

Planned elements: if plots share a front boundary and a back boundary then its likely that planning is responsible! Like those outlined in red. There are about 12 and that corresponds with the entry in Domesday Book (1086) so, perhaps...?

And planning takes many forms - greens encroached on later might include several communal buildings. Here's an example from Comberton, Cambs.

And here's this on the map:

Remember that we will be mounting these presentations will be made available online - including the copious recommendations of resources.

And now we move on to Angus Winchester: lancaster.ac.uk/history/about/… who'll be talking about medieval colonisation with a particular focus on Shropshire and Cumbria.

Angus starts by talking about core and periphery, on a county level, but also on the level of the parish with regard to settlement - how do these relate to one another? When do they come about?

Some of these strands - as in Warwickshire - are visible in 1086. Where you find lots of wood, you find fewer plough teams (i.e., arable, crop-based farming). It's the wooded areas that are colonised later.

And you can see this in Shropshire - Myddle - the area between the red lines is roughly where there is evidence of late surviving woodland, evident in place names and also where the parish boundaries lie.

And from @VCH_Shropshire volume XI you can see an attempt to reconstruct and map the 14th century landscape, based on place names and other documentation. You can read about it @bho_history: british-history.ac.uk/vch/salop/vol11

Taking Little Dawley (now part of #Telford) as an example the small village surrounded by open fields and woodland on the higher ground, shown by the names 'riddings' and 'stockings' indicating the removal of trees.

Moving on to the Lake District, Lorton and Buttermere. The 'core' areas are those settled by the late 12th century. The name 'thwaite' is Norse meaning a clearing; 'erg' refers to summer grazing. Both hint at expansion of settlement.

And this is what it looks like now. The picture shows High Lorton, the map shows the whole parish - note the long thin boundaries enclosed from the former open fields and the irregular fields around the hamlets.

Sorry - that should have read 'Township'. The division - perhaps between 1122 and 1133 - falls along Crossgate (the way or road of the cross?) lane & the only building on that lane before the 19th century was the church, implying the existence of a single estate called Lorton.

So could the cross referenced here be a preaching cross that existed before the church? Perhaps. There's more but now we move on to #Buttermere...

And this was divided in two - Gatesgarth has excellent surviving records between 1293 and 1323 (and they're @UkNatArchives as part of the SC 6 series (as discussed last week: history.ac.uk/whats/ihr-even… - we do plan these things, honest!).

And that brings this session towards its end - a recording will be made available via our events archive soon. We'll be back at 5.30 for @RWLDproject. Hope you can join us then.

history.ac.uk/research/centr…