Valley Park Woodlands Clothiers Copse 2

Knightwood Cottages

Sky’s Wood 3 Knight Wood 6

Knightwood Farm

Tredgoulds Copse

carr alder nel han eo-c pala 5

Zionshill Copse

Zionshill Farm

4

1 prehistoric/Roman sites 2 Bronze Age barrow 3 Bronze Age barrow 1 4 Deverel Rimbury barrow 5 Iron Age enclosure 6 linear earthwork Test Valley Borough Council 0 500 Licence No. LA079715 metres 1 VALLEY PARK FROM PREHISTORY small areas of heathland. Beech, yew TO THE PRESENT DAY and birch are less common, being restricted to areas where suitable soil conditions and opportunities for INTRODUCTION colonisation have favoured their survival.

Situated within the parish of North For reasons of habitat diversity and Baddesley just beyond the western rarity, the ancient woods have a high outskirts of Chandler's Ford, Valley Park conservation value and are greatly Woodlands comprises five separate prized by local residents. These woods. Until quite recently these were qualities are emphasised in the Borough set within an agricultural landscape that Council's current Management Plan, was characterised by a patchwork of which underlines the ecological fragility small fields used for pasture, and to a and amenity potential of the woods. The lesser extent for arable. Since the plan makes a number of 1990’s extensive residential recommendations for reversing the development, in line with the deterioration in the historic character of requirements of the South the woodlands, caused largely by a Structure Plan, has absorbed most of decline in traditional management the former farmland, leaving the woods practices. relatively isolated in what is now a predominantly suburban setting. Alongside their conservation value, the woods are important as an archaeological and historical resource. Taken together the five woods cover Several sites of archaeological interest some 42.5 hectares and fall into the have been recorded or excavated in category of Ancient Semi-Natural recent years, and these have produced Woodland. The woods are owned by information about the settlement and Test Valley Borough Council and shaping of the landscape before the managed by Leisure Services for present woods existed. Other findings conservation and education, along with relate directly to the origins, informal access to local residents for development and management of the various recreational purposes. The chief woods down to the present day. habitats are created by oak, ash, neglected hazel coppice, alder carr and

2 Zones Climate Woodland Succession Period Period Dates

Modern

Post-Medieval AD 1485

Medieval AD 1066 Sub- Atlantic deterioration Saxon AD 410

Roman AD 43 decline of lime increase of ash, birch, Late Iron Age 50 BC hornbeam and beech Middle Iron Age 400 BC 500 BC Early Iron Age 600 BC

Late Bronze Age 1000 BC Sub- decreasing increase of ash and birch Boreal warmth decrease of elm Middle Bronze Age 1400 BC

Early Bronze Age 2000 BC 3000 BC

Atlantic climatic mixed oak forest with an optimum increase of alder Neolithic 4000 BC 5000 BC

Boreal mixed oak forest with 6000 BC hazel and pine later Mesolithic 7500 BC increasing warmth Pre-Boreal birch, pine, juniper earlier Mesolithic

8000 BC 8000 BC Late Sub-Arctic Tundra Palaeolithic Glacial

Time chart for the post-Glacial. The chart depicts the climate and vegetation trends corresponding to the main archaeological and historic periods

3 THE PREHISTORIC AND ROMAN The Mesolithic PERIODS IN VALLEY PARK 8000-4000 BC It is from the early post-Glacial period, In common with other parts of southern known as the Mesolithic or middle Stone England during the late Glacial period, Age, that the first signs of human activity Sub-Arctic conditions prevailed appear in Valley Park. The remains throughout most of Hampshire. From consist of small numbers of worked flints around 8000 BC, following the retreat of (microliths) found during recent work in the ice sheets, shrubs and trees such as the former farmland alongside Zionshill juniper, birch and pine, were becoming Copse. Microliths are small flakes established. Further climatic detached by carefully controlled amelioration through the Boreal and knapping from a shaped nodule, or core. Atlantic zones encouraged the growth They were used to form composite tools and spread of mixed deciduous forest to such as projectile points, fishing spears, form a complex mosaic over most of the knives or graters by fitting the individual British Isles. Across most of southern pieces into a wood, bone or antler England these ‘wildwoods’ were mount. These tools formed the basic kit dominated by oak and lime, with pockets used by the small and mobile Mesolithic of ash and alder along the coastal fringe. groups as they exploited plants and The ‘wildwoods’ supported a wide animals in a seasonal cycle of hunting variety of animal species such as and gathering. beaver, pine marten, elk, roe and red deer, wild ox and pig, along with a The site near Zionshill Copse may have variety of water fowl. been a temporary camp, used to advantage by a small party occupying the slightly higher and drier ground during a hunting foray. Such hunting bands would exploit various territories determined by the availability of game and the proximity of other Mesolithic groups. To follow the larger animals, such as deer or wild ox, it might have been necessary for the hunters to range over annual territories extending to tens of square kilometres.

It was once believed that Mesolithic hunter gatherers had a minimal effect on their environment. However, the most recent research has suggested that by the later Mesolithic these small groups were manipulating their environment in a variety of ways, ultimately leading to a thinning of the primary forest and a change in its species composition. A Mesolithic hunter using microliths to prepare composite spearheads

4 In the pollen records from several sites, The character of this activity is unclear, peaks in the representation of hazel or but the unusual discovery of a single alder pollen are closely associated with sherd of late Neolithic pottery might finds of microliths and the presence of indicate that some form of more charcoal, both indicating that changes in permanent settlement existed in the the abundance of the two species were vicinity of Zionshill Copse. being brought about by human intervention. At other sites the more open conditions created by woodland clearance are reflected in an increase in the pollen of plantain, sorrel and grasses, while in some areas clearance appears to have initiated the formation of heathland.

Limited observations made during the building development in Valley Park suggest that parts of the lower-lying areas were probably marshy and subject to periodic flooding during the Mesolithic. A Neolithic flint axe hafted in a A palaeo-channel (ancient river bed), the wooden shaft. Experiments have presence of alluvial deposits (water-lain shown that axes of this type are very silts) and the discovery of bog-oak effective for felling quite large trees (fragments of oak preserved in waterlogged silts or peat) during the excavation of the balancing pond near The Neolithic has been seen as a period Zionshill Copse are all indicative of characterised by an agricultural increasingly wet conditions. These are revolution which followed the local reflections of much broader trends introduction of cereal crops and animal in that included rising domestication. It was also a period sea level and coastal inundation, and when more extensive woodland further inland the extension of river clearance for cultivation and pasture was floodplains. While the main agent for undertaken. This rather generalised these changes was climatic, peat picture of a Neolithic economy formation and alluvial sedimentation at universally dependant on agriculture has the local level were almost certainly been challenged in recent years. promoted by the later Mesolithic forest clearance. A number of studies of Neolithic society have stressed the variability of subsistence practices at the local level, The Neolithic especially in marginal environments 4000-2000 BC where hunting and gathering continued Other flint implements recovered by to play an important role. recent fieldwork suggest that small scale With its heavy, wet soils, much of the activity around Zionshill Copse lower land in Valley Park may have been continued into the succeeding Neolithic unsuited to cereal cultivation and almost (new Stone Age) and Bronze Age certainly remained wooded. periods.

5 The wet woodlands with their rich diversity of plant and animal species would have been a valuable resource for local communities, who would have visited the area on a seasonal basis to hunt and collect wild plants. barrow mound pits with The early Bronze Age urns 2000-1400 BC The character of the early Bronze Age occupation of Valley Park is equally elusive, depending as it does on a few woodland boundary bank surface finds of worked flint and two round barrows (burial mounds), one in Sky’s Wood and the other in Clothiers 010 Copse. These were identified during a metres recent survey, and while both are of a form that was introduced during the early Plan of the Deverel Rimbury barrow Bronze Age, neither has been excavated showing the distribution of the pits and consequently their date remains containing funerary urns uncertain. The barrow consisted of a small circular The middle Bronze Age mound measuring some 12 metres 1400-1000 BC across and 0.6 metres high. There was By the middle Bronze Age the no sign of the usual surrounding ditch, archaeological evidence from Valley dug to provide material for the mound, Park is much stronger. The excavation and it appeared that the mound had of a previously unrecorded round barrow been created by scraping up topsoil from in Zionshill Copse, alongside Sky’s the adjoining area. Road, revealed a small cremation cemetery of middle Bronze Age date. Preserved pollen grains recovered from The type of pottery recovered from the the ancient soil buried below the mound site belongs to a tradition known as the showed that the barrow had been Deverel Rimbury Culture; its name constructed in a relatively open setting, derived from two barrow possibly a woodland glade. The tree cemeteries excavated during the species included oak, hazel, birch, alder nineteenth century. and pine, with herbaceous vegetation consisting of grasses, plantain and ferns.

6 Eight pottery urns were found, all in small pits placed around the south- eastern perimeter of the mound. Only three of these still contained cremated bone, representing the remains of four individuals. Three of these were adults, all over 30 years old, and one was an infant of about 4 to 5 years old. Given the fragmentary condition of the cremated bone the gender of the individuals is not certain, but one possible female and one probable male were identified. Deverel Rimbury urns. The vessel at the front is known as a bucket urn, while the urn at the rear is known as a Barrel urn

Reconstruction of a funeral procession at the middle Bronze Age barrow. The central figure at the front Carries a Deverel Rimbury urn containing the cremated remains

7 Unfortunately we have no knowledge of In several parts of southern England this the settlement where these individuals period is associated with the first lived. What we do know from the appearance of permanent fields laid out detailed studies of other sites in on a large scale. While there is no southern England is that the Deverel evidence for prehistoric fields surviving Rimbury cemeteries were rarely more in Valley Park, the middle Bronze Age than a few hundred metres from the does mark the beginning of more stable settlement. These were often small settlement in the lower Test Valley, and rectangular enclosures formed by an by implication this would have involved earthen bank and external ditch. The the formal organisation of agricultural earthworks typically surrounded a few land. round houses, with their walls made from wattle and daub surmounted by a The late Bronze Age and early Iron conical thatched roof supported on Age timber posts. At some sites there is also 1000-400 BC evidence for interior fences marking off Finds of late Bronze Age or early Iron various parts of the enclosure, the post Age pottery from an excavation a short settings for structures thought to be distance to the south of Zionshill Copse granaries, and frequently large numbers suggest some form of continued of grain storage pits. occupation, but we have no detailed information on its extent or character. Deverel Rimbury settlements have the However, the same area has produced appearance of small farmsteads, and for large quantities of burnt or fire-cracked the most part they were probably home flint. This material occurs on many to no more than one or two extended prehistoric sites of different periods, families. The animal bones and though in southern England it is carbonised plant remains recovered particularly abundant on sites of late from excavated sites show that these Bronze Age date. Burnt flint is found small communities practiced a mixed both on settlements, where it sometimes farming economy based on cereal occurs in the filling of pits, and near cultivation, mostly barley, and a range of rivers or marshy areas, where large domestic animal species including cattle, quantities may be formed into mounds. sheep and pigs. In Hampshire, many mounds of burnt Other barrows once stood on Cranbury flint have been recorded in the New Common, just over two kilometres away Forest, where they typically concentrate to the north-east. Their excavation alongside streams. Features of this kind during the nineteenth century produced are thought to mark the location of Deverel Rimbury pottery, indicating that ‘saunas’, where steam was generated by other farmsteads were established in the quenching hot flints with water. Bizarre area. The combined impact of these as this may seem, the practice has been farming communities on the landscape recorded by anthropologists, most of Valley Park was probably quite notably amongst native Americans who dramatic. Although some vestiges of the used ‘sweat lodges’ for ritual purification ‘wildwoods’ may have survived on the as a preparation for war, or during ‘rites wetter and less easily cultivated soils, of passage’ ceremonies These could extensive areas of the more productive include entry into clan societies, or land would almost certainly have been coming of age rituals. cleared for arable and pasture.

8 One other site in Valley Park might have an origin in the late Bronze Age, although in the absence of excavated evidence this is largely conjectural. It e consists of a substantial linear bank and id d r lan ditch passing through the centre of od Knight Wood. In form and scale the wo enclosure earthwork bears some resemblance to those on the chalk downs, referred to collectively as the Linear Ditches System. These are known to have their origin in the late Bronze Age and appear to define extensive territories. If the earthwork in Knight 0 50 100 Wood is of this same period, it is likely to metres be the sole surviving fragment of a once more widespread network, most of which has long since been destroyed. Plan of the Zionshill Copse enclosure. The black rectangle is the ditch The middle to late Iron Age excavation 400-AD 43 By the middle Iron Age the settlement A trial excavation across the silted up and environment of Valley Park emerges ditch was carried out in 1998 and in much sharper detail. Once again it is produced a small assemblage of pottery. Zionshill Copse that provides the source The finds demonstrated that the of our information. Just to the north of enclosure had been occupied between the middle Bronze Age barrow and 310 BC and AD 43, a period spanning alongside a woodland ride, the well the middle and late Iron Age. preserved earthworks of a large enclosure mark the position of a middle Iron Age settlement. The clearly defined earthworks consist of a low spread bank with an external ditch, together enclosing an area of about 0.4 hectares.

Excavated section of the Zionshill Copse enclosure ditch. The vertical scale rod measures 2 metres.

9 The wooden stake lying in the base of the enclosure ditch. The scale is 30 centimetres

Pollen contained in samples taken from Types of middle and late Iron Age the enclosure ditch was as well pottery found at the Zionshill Copse preserved as the other organic remains, enclosure and revealed a complex environmental picture. Although trees and shrubs were Although the Roman invasion of Britain well represented, it is quite obvious that took place in AD 43, initially it may have the canopy of any woodland must have had little impact on the day to day life of been fairly open, and that the site itself isolated rural settlements. At the was set in weedy grassland with areas Zionshill Copse enclosure there was no of bare, broken soils. Heather and sign of Roman influence, and the latest bilberry were present and they may have pottery ends with the native tradition. been growing in open, acid woodland close to the site. The presence of Aside from the valuable dating evidence bluebell lends supporting evidence for recovered during the excavation, the this type of woodland nearby, since this ditch silts also yielded important plant thrives under an open tree canopy, environmental data. Owing to the in glades and woodland margins. anaerobic (oxygen starved) conditions Bracken, polypody fern and other ferns prevailing in the wet ditch, plant remains may also have been growing in or close were well preserved. Fragments from a to the edge of a wood. range of species were identified including birch, hazel, bracken, broom The locality was certainly herb-rich, and and grass, as well as seeds from the abundance of plantains and grass buttercup, small nettle and elder berry. pollen, as well as that of docks, thistle In addition, several clusters of small and knapweed suggests that if stock twigs rested on the base of ditch, and were being grazed locally, then the amongst these was found a sharpened numbers of animals were low. wooden stake made from oak heartwood.

10 Reconstruction of the Zionshill Copse enclosure. The picture shows the enclosure as it may have appeared between 310 BC and AD 43 looking from the south-west

Open, broken and ‘waste’ soils were Both of these plants may have been indicated by species such as mugwort, growing along with guelder rose in the dandelion-like plants and nettle, wetter soils of the alder woods that were although they could easily have been very close to the site. growing as weeds in cultivated land. Like the settlements of the middle to late A variety of soils seem to have been Bronze Age, those of the middle Iron present in the pollen catchment. Some Age were occupied by small scale, self- must have been dry and acidic to sufficient farming communities. support heathers, broom, bilberry and Unfortunately no animal bone was bracken. Wetter and richer soils were recovered from the Zionshill enclosure also available, since alder, hazel and ditch, no doubt owing to its poor survival birch do better in damper conditions, and in the slightly acidic soil conditions. the occurrence of sedges also suggest Nevertheless, the range of domestic wetter soils in the locality. In spite of the species is well known from other sites of poor local soils, the presence of elder the period and would have included and nettle indicate nitrogen and cattle, horse, sheep, pig and dog. phosphate enrichment.

11 Arable farming would have been highly occupation in part contemporary with the developed by the middle Iron Age, with settlement at the Zionshill Copse large tracts of land taken into cultivation. enclosure, perhaps indicating a shift in Indeed, the pollen sequence from the location, or some form of activity taking enclosure ditch produced ample place away from the main settlement. evidence for cereals being grown nearby How the Zionshill Copse enclosure fitted and processed on the site. Within the into the broader pattern of settlement in enclosure itself there would have been the lower Test Valley is far from clear. storage facilities for harvested crops, Enclosures of the period are not well animal pens, working areas and shelters represented in the surrounding area and alongside the domestic round houses. the few that are known include sites that are inadequately dated, or of uncertain character.

Chilworth Ring, some three kilometres to the south of the site, is described as an Iron Age univallate (having a single ditch and bank), but excavations in 1928 and more recently have failed to confirm its date. Another earthwork nearby on Hill is also thought to be of Iron Age date, but again there is no conclusive supporting evidence. Toot Hill, to the south-west of , may have been occupied Grinding corn with a rotary quern. A during the Iron Age, although the only stone quern fragment was found in finds from this site are bronze the enclosure ditch spearheads which might indicate a Bronze Age origin for the earthworks. By the Iron Age, woodland clearance in The only other enclosure in the vicinity of Valley Park is likely to have progressed Zionshill Copse was located to the north- to such an extent that none of the east and is entirely undated. The site primary woodland remained. Although was first recorded from the air, but is the damper low lying land to the north of now lost under housing. the enclosure supported mixed alder, birch and hazel wood this is likely to Iron Age finds have been recovered from have been secondary woodland that was three sites within a few kilometres of closely managed, possibly by coppicing. Zionshill Copse. Sherds of pottery Much of the drier land was probably spanning the late Iron Age to the late utilised for arable cultivation and pasture Romano-British period were found near to the extent that the landscape had Otterbourne, although there appears to taken on a much more structured and be some uncertainty surrounding their managed appearance. provenance; a single sherd of Iron Age pottery and burnt flint was found during Just to the south of Zionshill Copse, fieldwalking close to the Roman Road recent excavations produced an north-east of Chilworth; and an Iron Age assemblage of pottery characteristic of gold stater (coin issued by a native tribal the native pre-Roman Iron Age tradition. ruler) was found in allotment gardens The pottery indicates a phase of just over three kilometres to the east of Zionshill Copse.

12 The Roman period THE LATER SETTLEMENT HISTORY AD 43-AD 410 The only trace of Roman occupation in The Saxon period Valley Park was discovered during AD 410-AD 1066 excavations to the south of Zionshill There is little information for Valley Park Copse. This consisted of three shallow during the Saxon period. The area lay pits and a short stretch of ditch. Several within the conjectured boundaries of the of these features produced sherds of Jutish kingdom which retained a semi- early Roman pottery, while a collection independent status into the seventh of fired clay loom weights was found in century AD, afterwards becoming a part one of the pits. The relatively large of the Saxon kingdom of Wessex. quantity of pottery and the presence of loom weights clearly indicates that the Place-name evidence seems to indicate site was a domestic settlement, possibly that the early settlers were moving into a engaged in pottery production. Most of wooded landscape. The place name the pottery was made in the pre-Roman ending ‘ley’ refers to a settlement in an native tradition, with only a small amount area cleared of woodland, while the of Roman fine ware. This was dated to ending ‘field’ implies a settlement in an the first century AD and may have been open area adjacent to woodland. Both imported from the Continent. of these endings are found in the modern names of settlements such as The evidence for early Roman Baddesley, , Hursley, Ampfield occupation near to the Zionshill Copse and Braishfield, all of which are within a enclosure may testify to a degree of few kilometres of Valley Park. settlement continuity in Valley Park, but if this was the case it was relatively One feature discovered during a recent short-lived. Despite the proximity of the survey that might possibly belong to the Roman road from (known in Saxon period is the bank and ditch the Roman period as Venta Belgarum) recorded in Knight Wood. Although this passing through Chilworth to the south, is undated and could even be Bronze there is no sign that improved access to Age, there are similar earthworks markets had any lasting influence on elsewhere in Hampshire which are indigenous settlements in the local area. thought to be Saxon. The best known It is possible that early Roman examples that have tentatively settlement in Valley Park failed to been assigned to the Saxon period are flourish because of the poor soils, which in the Meon Valley, though they are on a were incapable of nurturing the somewhat larger scale than the Knight economic growth that took place over Wood earthwork. this period elsewhere in Hampshire.

13 Woodland resources in the Medieval Period. Coppicing and hurdle making

The Medieval period AD1066-AD 1485 The first documentary reference to the sixteenth centuries it was dominated by land around Valley Park occurs in the a preceptory (provincial estate or manor) . This refers to the of the Knights of St. John (later known ancient settlement of North Baddesley, as the Knights Hospitallers) which was which at that time was known as granted to the order by Henry Blois, Bedeslei. This name is almost certainly Bishop of Winchester (AD 1129 - 1171). a derivative of the Old English name It is known that the preceptory was BæddeslƝah meaning Bæddi’s Wood established by AD 1167, and that and referring to a settlement in a stretch originally it was a branch of the of ancient woodland. In the eleventh preceptory of the Knights Hospitallers at century the parish of North Baddesley Godsfield. By AD 1355, however, the was situated in the Hundred of Hampshire headquarters of the order Mainsbridge. This was a Royal had been transferred to Baddesley. The Hundred and remained in the hands of preceptory stood on the site now the crown until the fifteenth century. occupied by the manor house, just opposite the Medieval church of All During the fourteenth century the village Saints. of North Baddesley was known as Baldisle, and between the twelfth and

14 The old church was re-dedicated to St. reserved for repairs to the houses of the John the Baptist, the patron saint of the preceptory and places of the Templars. Knights Hospitallers, following their transfer from Godsfield. The post-Medieval to modern period After AD 1485 At the dissolution of the monasteries in Buddlesgate B i 1536, Baddesley, which was still held by sh o p s e W the Knights of St. John, fell to the crown. rn North a o l b Baddesley th m a It was immediately afterwards granted to o m S s g Sir Thomas Seymour, Henry VIII’s n Ki Chilworth brother-in-law, who nine years later was North B Stoneham ud tried and beheaded for high treason. dle sg ate South Stoneham After a brief restoration to the Knights Hospitallers during the reign of Queen Botley R Hound Mary, the manor passed through various e d detached br id families down to 1908. At that date the g Hound e d S l o ie Victoria County History of Hampshire u f t ch h it am T records that the estate was owned by p to n Hamble Le Rice Parishes in the W Mr. Tankerville Chamberlayne of at Hundred of Mainsbridge er , who was lord of the manor. The Hundred of Mainsbridge An evocative postscript to the residence In 1338 Prior Phillip de Thame made a of the Knights Hospitallers at Baddesley return to the Grand Master of the appears in John Marsh’s ‘Memoranda of possessions of the Hospitallers in the Parishes of Hursley and North England. This includes particulars for Baddesley’ published in 1808. Marsh Baddesley, where there was a writes that the ancient building of the messuage (dwelling house with Hospitallers was still remembered by outbuildings and land) together with a many locals as ‘the old monastery’ and garden and pigeon cote; 360 acres of although most of the Medieval structure land; 18 acres of pasture; 40 acres of had been destroyed by fire, the kitchen meadow; pasturage for 24 oxen; remained and was still being used as a pannage for pigs; pasturage for 30 cows; kitchen to the manor house. Marsh also and pasturage for 400 sheep. notes that some of the arms and Baddesley also had a 100 acre common accoutrements of the knights, including wood of large timber, which was swords and saddles, were still to be seen in the manor farmhouse.

15 16 The outline character of the landscape By the end of the eighteenth century the around Valley Park is first revealed by land around Valley Park was still Ralph Treswell’s map of Hursley dominated by heaths and common land. produced in 1588. Commons and William Faden’s map of 1791 shows that heaths were a dominant feature of the the commons extended around the landscape at that time, as they had been villages of Chilworth and Badsley (now throughout the preceding centuries. The Baddesley) and included a part of commons were tracts of land over which Zionshill, then called Sion Hill. The certain local inhabitants held shape of the commons depicted on common-rights for grazing, and Faden’s map is fairly typical, with the sometimes for woodcutting. concave, irregular outlines hinting at a piecemeal encroachment of private land. Wooded commons were especially important to rural communities since Even though Faden’s map shows the they provided wood-pasture for cattle woods at Zionshill, it shows no sign of and sheep and pannage for pigs, as well Zionshill Farm. Knight Wood and as coppiced underwood for building, Knightwood Farm are also absent, with fencing and fuel. Underwood was neither appearing on a map until the traditionally distinguished from timber early nineteenth century. Both farms are both in practice and in law, by which it believed to be associated with the was precisely defined. It consisted of Knights Hospitallers, though there is no the poles from coppicing and pollarding, direct evidence that either was of as well as small suckers and the Medieval origin. Sion Hill Farm (later branches from felled trees. Zionshill Farm) first appears on Greenwood’s map of 1826. The same Common rights were strictly regulated, map seems to show buildings on the site and more often than not the lord of the of Knightwood Farm, although they are manor retained ownership of the not identified by name. valuable timber. By the thirteenth century, wood-pasture appears to have R. C. Gates’ survey of the lands of been in general decline, either through Thomas Chamberlayne, produced in the the conversion of woods for other uses, same year as Greenwood’s 1826 map, as a consequence of over-grazing, or provides the first detailed view of the five through simple neglect. Some wood- woods now making up Valley Park pasture was converted to agricultural Woodlands. The survey shows both of use, while in other places the pastures the farms and records that Knightwood were appropriated by the lord of the Farm was then tenanted by James manor to become parks or coppices. Rider, and Zionshill Farm by Thomas Tarver.

17 Knightwood and Zionshill Farms shown in red

18 Extract from the survey of the lands of Thomas Chamberlayne 1826

Knightwood Cottages are also depicted on the 1826 survey map of Thomas Chamberlayne’s lands, when they were tenanted by George Self. Before the recent demolition of the cottages, comprehensive recording found elements of an original timber framed structure surviving in the east wall. On the basis of certain architectural details this was dated to the seventeenth century, with subsequent additions of brickwork made during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The interval between Faden’s map and the two maps of 1826 corresponds to the period when the commons of England were coming under increasing pressure from the enclosure movement. This culminated in Parliamentary enclosure, which at North Baddesley has a The east end of Knightwood Cottages relatively late date of 1867. showing the 17th Century timber frame construction

19 Both Knightwood Farm and Zionshill In Clothiers Copse and Knight Wood the Farm were in existence by 1826, and arrangement of banks preserves the while we have no sure knowledge of historic shape of the two separate woods their origins it seems quite likely that of 1826, which are now joined by they began life as private secondary woodland, while some of the encroachments on common lands. This internal divisions define the individual was known as assarting, a term usually coppices. applied to the uptake of woodland, though it can equally mean the Neglected hazel coppice is abundant in conversion of heaths and commons for Valley Park Woodlands, a reflection of agricultural use. the former importance of underwood in a number of rural industries. In The survey carried out for Thomas Tredgoulds Copse other evidence for the Chamberlayne records Knight Wood as historic exploitation of the woodland can part of the commons in 1826, whereas be found. A naturally low-lying area in Tredgoulds Copse, Sky’s Wood, the southern part of the wood seems to Zionshill Copse and Clothiers Copse have been artificially lowered in order to were all in private ownership by that create suitably damp conditions for time. Indeed Clothiers Copse was coppiced alder. This was a valuable described as ‘The New Inclosure’, source of good quality charcoal, which implying that it had only recently passed was used extensively for the into the hands of the Chamberlayne manufacture of gunpowder. Alder timber family. This may have been part of a had a variety of uses in other rural more concerted uptake of the commons industries and, because of its durability during the first decades of the nineteenth under water, was often used for century, until by an Order of 1857 a submerged piles or supports. further 725 acres were enclosed. By 1868, the survey for the first edition Larger timber had been important for Ordnance Survey map (published 1872) building from the earliest times, but shows the woodlands of Valley Park increasingly during the post-Medieval bearing their present names and period the fate of woodland became appearing much as they did prior to the inextricably linked to the industrial onset of recent development. economic cycle. Oak woodlands in particular were susceptible to these Physical evidence for traditional fluctuations, and cycles of ‘boom and management and woodmanship can be bust’ in industries such as shipbuilding found throughout Valley Park and tanning had a major impact on their Woodlands. In each of the five woods character. the original wood boundary is marked by In the twentieth century, demands for a ditch and bank. timber increased sharply during the two World Wars, and the stumps of felled These are without exception small in mature oaks in some of the woods of size and regular in layout, both of which Valley Park are likely to be the mute are characteristic of post-Medieval testament to this renewed demand. woodland boundaries. There are a number of examples of internal wood- banks, some marking the original boundaries of separate woods that have grown together, and others defining the sub-division of the wood between different owners.

20 DECLINE, REVIVAL AND Ancient Woodland in Hampshire, and CONSERVATION the principal objective of the current Management Plan is to preserve and “Almost every wood of which the enhance their ancient character. This coppice stools remain is worth will be achieved by reviving the preserving. Normally re-coppicing is the economic sustainability of the woods, best conservation policy, for it brings to while at the same time maintaining a life the traditional working of the wood balance between conservation interests and all its plants and animals” and the public enjoyment of the area. The popular annual wood fair held in Oliver Rackham 1986 Zionshill Copse is part of this undertaking, and its success is a At the national level, huge tracts of measure of the growing public interest in woodland were lost during the post- the woods and their future. Medieval period, not least as a result of the agricultural ‘improvements’ of the In addition to their habitat diversity and later eighteenth century. By the end of value for wildlife, Valley Park Woods are the nineteenth century the traditional an important archaeological and historic woodland management practices dating resource. It is clear from the various back to before Domesday were already surveys and excavations that the area in steep decline. However, the first part retains significant evidence for past of the twentieth century saw the most settlement and land-use. This is not radical changes in the use of woods, and entirely unexpected, for it is now widely perhaps most significant of these was recognised that in intensively farmed, or the reduction of coppicing which had developed land, many of the more helped to shape their ancient character. vulnerable archaeological sites have The period following the Second World survived only where they are protected War has also seen a significant by ancient woods. reduction in the extent of historic woodland, as large swathes have been Though much altered in recent years, lost to afforestation, agriculture and Valley Park still preserves evidence of its development. ancient past. Archaeological discoveries and the analysis of With the demise of traditional Palaeo-environmental material have woodmanship, Valley Park Woods like enabled us to sketch out the story of its innumerable others have fallen into early settlement, and to gain some neglect as their primary economic insight into the changes in landscape importance has lessened. In more and ecology brought about by human recent times the woods offered some intervention. The shape and structure of economic return through the growth in the woods as they exist today also tell us sporting interest. The evidence for this much about the ways in which they were can be seen in the game release pens managed and exploited through later and the areas cleared for game crops centuries. and shooting rides. The landscape evidence for this survives Since their purchase by Test Valley in the form of boundary banks and other Borough Council, the conservation and features that are the physical reminder amenity potential of Valley Park Woods of the long vanished relationship has been the subject of detailed between rural communities and the ecological assessment. The five woods woods, heaths and commons, which are on the English Nature Register of played such a prominent role in their lives. 21 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The front cover design is based on an aerial photograph held by Test Valley The archaeological work forming a Borough Council (© Copyright 1991), substantial part of this publication was while the back cover design is based on carried out by several organisations. a photograph supplied by Test Valley Special thanks are due to Thames Borough Council (© Copyright 2003). Valley Archaeological Services and to Wessex Archaeology for permission to Ordnance Survey map data is draw on the results of their fieldwork in reproduced by permission of the Valley Park. Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, © Crown Copyright (Test Valley Both the text and layout have benefited Borough Council, Licence Number: LA from the advice and suggestions made 079715). Unauthorised reproduction by Frank Green (Test Valley Borough infringes Crown Copyright and may lead Council, Heritage Officer) and James to prosecution or civil proceedings. Adkins (Test Valley Borough Council, Countryside Officer).

The Iron Age enclosure earthworks in Zionshill Copse were first recorded by local fieldworker Robert Garnham. The subsequent excavation was carried out by Berkshire Archaeological Services with funding provided by Test Valley Borough Council.

Reconstruction illustrations showing the Zionshill Copse enclosure, the middle Bronze Age barrow, the use of a rotary quern and Medieval hurdle making are by Jane Brayne (© Copyright Jane Brayne 2001). Other illustrations and the text are by Roy Entwistle (Berkshire Archaeological Services).

The picture of Knightwood Cottages is reproduced from a slide provided by Wessex Archaeology (© Elaine Wakefield, Wessex Archaeology).

Extracts from historic maps are reproduced by permission of the Hampshire Record Office. Faden’s map of 1791, © Hampshire Record Office; Greenwoods map of 1826, © Hampshire Record Office; map of Thomas Chamberlayne’s estate (89M81/E/P1), © Hampshire Record Office.

22 FURTHER INFORMATION Megaw, J. V. S. and Simpson, D. D. A., 1979, Introduction to British Prehistory, Reports on the Valley Park Leicester University Press archaeological investigations can be found in the Hampshire Sites and Page, W. (ed), 1908, The Victoria Monuments Record, Winchester. History of the : A Web Page: History of Hampshire and the Isle of www.hants.gov.uk/environment/ Wight, Vol III database.html Rackham, O., 1986, The History of the The Hampshire Record Office, Countryside, Phoenix Press, London Winchester, holds an extensive collection of historic maps and Rackham, O., 1990, Trees and documents. Woodlands in the British Landscape, Web Page: Phoenix Press, London www.hants.gov.uk/record-office/ Test Valley Borough Council, 2000, The Information on North Baddesley, Valley of the River Test: Heritage Area including a brief history, can be found on the Internet. Tubbs, C. R., 1986, The : A Web Page: Natural History, Collins, London www.baddesleynet.org.uk/ie/

PUBLICATIONS

Bell, M. and Walker, M. J. C., 1996, Late Quaternary Environmental Change, Longman

Coates, R., 1989, The Place Names of Hampshire

Doubleday, H. A. and Page, W. (eds), 1903, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: A History of Hampshire and the , Vol II

Edwards, B., 1997, Historic Rural Settlement in and Deane and Test Valley, University of

Evans, J. G., 1975, The Environment of Early Man in the British Isles, Book Club Associates, London

Hampshire County Council, 1993, The Hampshire Landscape

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