Iain Dickson's Msc Dissertation – November 2014
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Eversholt: a village of Ends and its landscape. Iain Dickson Kellogg College, University of Oxford MSc in Applied Landscape Archaeology 23 September 2013 i Eversholt: a village of Ends and its landscape by Iain Dickson, Kellogg College, University of Oxford, MSc in Applied Landscape Archaeology (23 September 2013) Abstract Keywords: Eversholt Medieval period common fields assarts Late Medieval Reduced Ware test pits landscape archaeology dispersed settlement Manshead Hundred field names Bedfordshire This interdisciplinary study is an initial landscape archaeological based investigation into the medieval origins and development of the highly dispersed settlement of Eversholt in Bedfordshire. Eighteenth century records cite the village with seventeen separate Ends (interrupted rows) as well as at least ten common fields. Investigations involved a sample series of test pits concentrating on four of the Ends with results compared to information drawn from both documentary sources and field reconnaissance in other parts of the settlement. The evidence for the creation by assart and the medieval extent of the Eversholt common field system is suggested. Reference is made to research carried out in other areas Consideration is also made of the possible locations for the pre-Norman Manshead Hundred Assembly place known from documentary sources as well as evidence for the existence of a medieval deer park within Eversholt both suggested by field names. The results of this study demonstrates the value of test pits as a means of continued research into the origins and development of this settlement and its associated field systems. It also recommends specific areas within the study area for further research. ii Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. iv List of abbreviations ............................................................................................................. v Introduction to the Eversholt Project .................................................................................... 1 Project Aims ......................................................................................................................... 1 Methodology used ............................................................................................................ 3 Eversholt and its landscape ................................................................................................. 4 Project Field Work ............................................................................................................... 8 Test Pits ............................................................................................................................ 8 Field Walking .................................................................................................................. 14 Evidence for the Eversholt historic landscape ................................................................... 17 Common Field system .................................................................................................... 21 Map regression ............................................................................................................... 23 Regressing to the Common Fields ................................................................................. 23 Assarts ............................................................................................................................ 26 Deer park or not deer park that is the question .................................................................. 29 Manshead Hundred ........................................................................................................... 41 Working the land in Eversholt ............................................................................................ 49 Conclusions and possibilities for future investigative work in Eversholt ............................. 52 Appendix A - Test Pit Reports) .......................................................................................... 53 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 78 Websites ......................................................................................................................... 79 Archive references .......................................................................................................... 81 Supplementary Information ................................................................................................ 83 Glossary ......................................................................................................................... 83 Ceramic Finds from Eversholt Test Pits 2013) ............................................................... 85 Tables A & B of the 1764 Field Book as transcribed by Fowler in 1936 ......................... 86 Eversholt Field Map of 1764 ......................................................................................... 108 iii Acknowledgements It would not have been possible for me to undertake and complete this project without the help, guidance and support of numerous people. These include firstly and most importantly: my wife Lamorna Dickson, who over the last thirteen years of various academic courses has often gone above and beyond the calls of matrimony to support me in my studies and latterly research. My tutors who over the last two years of this part time course have tried to instil more than a modicum of their knowledge into my faltering brain, but especially: Dr David Griffiths, Dr Alison MacDonald, Dr. Maureen Mellor (also for ceramic identification), Dr. Olaf Bayer (also for lithic identification), Dr. Tony Johnson and William Windle. This last who hopefully by now will have his own well deserved Doctorate. Those who have helped with my desk based research: The staff of Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service; Stephen Coleman, Historic Environment Information Officer at Central Bedfordshire Historic Environment Record; Mrs. Ann Mitchell, Archivist, Woburn Abbey the Russell Estate papers used here are with permission and copyright Trustees of the Bedford Settled Estates; Kevan Fadden, Ampthill and District Archaeological and Local History Society and Dr Stuart Brookes of UCL. The East Oxford Project for permission to base my test pit work on their guidance notes and the people of Eversholt who allowed me into their gardens, paddocks and playing fields to carry out the test pits which are at the heart of this project. Several of the following individuals were in some instances also able to help with the excavation work: Robert Berkeley, Natalie Muller, Mr and Mrs Emrys Williams, Fritha Fletcher, Anna Blomfield, David Smallridge, Mr and Mrs Howell, Chris Warren and her staff at Eversholt Lower School. My additional assistant excavators: Marcus Cooper, Nick Swift, George and Lucas Berkeley, Margaret Wells, Steve Pope and the pupils of Eversholt Lower School. I would like to also thank the unnamed Bedford Estates Estate Manager whose intransigence over access led me to spend more time on aerial photographs and LiDAR images than I may otherwise have done with what I firmly believe are interesting results. Lastly but by no means least: Jenny Durnan for sorting out several issues I had with understanding how to process my data into ArcGIS and more importantly getting it back out again in a usable format. Emrys Williams (again) for his photograph and verbal confirmation of my suspicions. Ken for his understanding when I got lost and for his local knowledge which helped refine one of my wilder theories into something else. Not forgetting all of my work colleagues who over the years have provided words of encouragement and other forms of support in my part time studies unfortunately too many to name individually here but you know who you are. All photographs were taken by the author and form part of the Dickson-Cape Archive. I would not have undertaken the process leading to this point without the early encouragement of my parents and the interest they nurtured in history and archaeology so this work is dedicated to them as much as my wife. Any errors that it may contain are down to the author. iv List of abbreviations ArcGIS A GIS particularly suited for analysing spatial data Archeox The East Oxford Archaeology and History Project BLRIGS Bedfordshire and Luton RIGS group CBM Ceramic building material DTM Digital Terrain Model GIS Geographic Information System HEFA Higher Education Field Academy HER Historic Environment Record LiDAR Light detection and ranging LM Late Medieval LMRW Late Medieval Reduced Ware Med Medieval OD Ordnance Datum PM Post medieval RB Romano-British VCH Victoria County History v Introduction to the Eversholt Project This project used a landscape archaeological approach to investigate the development of Eversholt (Figure 1) a dispersed medieval village within an area of Bedfordshire which has previously received only limited archaeological attention. There have been recent regional, multi-parish and local parish level archaeological studies in other areas which provide exemplars of how a landscape approach could be used to investigate Eversholt in this way. The earliest complete map of the Eversholt field system, the 1764 Field Map (R1/ 248 & Figure 25), was digitised into a Geographic Information System (GIS) and its analysis formed the core of the projects