1. Part of something special

2. Do you live in one of the places on this map?

3. You are part of something special!

4. You live in a special place! What was it like? What changed and why? How do we know? Over to you!

5. Rockingham Forest Facts Created for royalty to hunt deer Nearly 1,000 years old Some of the woods are even older! Covered 350 square miles Included villages and open land too Had its own Forest Laws Went through big changes Traces can still be seen today

6. You live in a special place! What was it like? Why did it change? How do we know? Over to you!

7. ..woods, organised into coppices, with rides and walks..fenced lawns and parks for deer..hunting lodges..villages..big open fields and smaller closes (enclosed fields) for the villagers to farm...meadows to grow hay..greens and pasture where animals could graze. You can see all these things on old maps of Rockingham Forest…..coming up! ‘Forest’ means an area with special laws, set aside for the king to use for hunting. There were:

8. A map of part of the Forest in the 1580s Deer in a fenced park. LOOK FOR A coppice The road to Oakley A hunter Deer in the woods What is the park called? A hunting lodge meadows Reproduced with permission of Northamptonshire Record Office

9. coppices a stream back gardens a village big open fields small enclosed fields a stone quarry a list of owners’ names CAN YOU SEE: Reproduced with permission of Northamptonshire Record Office

10. The forest didn’t stay the same. The way people used the land in the forest changed through time. The next pictures show the 5 main ways that land in Rockingham Forest was used in the past. The uses have been colour-coded.

12. The next four maps show Rockingham Forest in about 1300, 1700, 1900 and 2000. Choose one place to watch, and find out how it changed.

16. O

17. Evolving patterns of land use 1300 - 2000

18. You live in a special place! What was it like? What changed and why? How do we know? Over to you! one thing led just to another That’s History for you!

19. Hunting in forests very popular.Timber needed for charcoal for iron-smelting People with Forest Land were bound by Forest Law Much woodland (12c-13c) The population rose.. People needed to grow more food… They cut down woods to make arable land The king needed money.. People paid him to exclude their land from Forest law (14c) Plagues and famine. Population fell… (19-20c) Railway built; boot& shoe industry; iron& steel industry Lots more jobs. Towns grew - Less Woodland + More arable Some settlemen ts shrank or were abandone d.. - Less built-up Less food needed.. - Less arable arable land turned back to pasture. + More pasture (15c-16c) Cloth industry doing well. Big demand for wool. Landowners enclosed the open fields for sheep + More pasture (18c) Better farming methods. More enclosure. Landscape parks - Less Woodland + more built-up - Less arable + more built-up (20c) Wartime, needed to grow more food + More arable -no more heath - Less pasture More cattle grazed in the woods eating the young trees. - Less Woodland..The woods were no longer protected by Forest Law. - Less Woodland Landowners made their own deer- parks - Less Woodland Much woodland (16c) Iron industry declined Less need for timber for charcoal - Less Woodland (Late 16c) Hunting no longer popular - Less Woodland

20. You live in a special place! What was it like? What changed and why? How do we know? Over to you!

21. We know because landscape archaeologists have found the evidence: They have searched out all the available maps of the area, old and new. They have studied aerial photographs for a bird’s eye view of the landscape. They have looked at the places as they are today, searching for clues from buildings and the layout of streets and fields.

22. We know because landscape archaeologists have found the evidence: They have gone out and recorded the remains of vanished fields and buildings And they have put all this evidence together to show how all the parts of Rockingham Forest grew and changed over hundreds of years. The next part shows you how they did this…..

23. SOURCE 1. This is a printed Ordnance Survey map of Braybrooke, showing how it was in the 1880s. The parish boundary is in red. Look at the shape and sizes of the fields. Is there any pattern? Most of the fields are quite large and regular. But there are some exceptions….Can you see any? Can you spot any woodland in the parish? Look out for roads, streams and the railway.

24. This air photo shows the village today. You can see the old railway line, the stream, and some of the fields enclosed by hedges. But you can also see traces of the strips of land that made up the medieval open fields, and the strange shaped earthworks of old fishponds.. Reproduced with permission of Northamptonshire County Council

25. The open fields were divided into long strips about 8 metres wide. Each farmer owned several strips in different parts of the township, to have a mixture of good and bad land. Each strip was ploughed in one go. The plough team started in the middle and working round and round towards the edge, clockwise. The soil gradually piled up in a ridge in the middle of the strip with a dip (or furrow) at the edge. This helped the villages know where the strips began and ended. These peasants are sowing seeds on their ploughed strip. © English Heritage Photo Library.

26. This map of 1884 also shows the fields, railway and village. But there were fewer houses in 1884.

27. When the landowners wanted to enclose the old open fields they needed an accurate map to show who owned what. This map, surveyed in 1767, helps us work out what the land looked like before enclosure. Reproduced with permission of Northamptonshire Record Office

28. The thin yellow and purple lines shows how the open fields were organised into furlongs. The thick purple lines show where hedges will be planted to make enclosed fields These little green fields were already enclosed when the map was made Braybrooke village These very thin lines are the actual strips of land Reproduced with permission of Northamptonshire Record Office

29. Information from the old maps and air photos has been used to make the new digital mapping

30. The whole parish is digitally mapped from the historical sources. Now it is possible to show accurately how the parish looked at different times. Compare the next two maps, before and after 1767, when some of the fields were enclosed.

31. Information from all the parish maps are combined to show the whole Rockingham Forest Area. Now, data can be selected to create maps of different periods showing different features. For example…. Land use in the 18 th and 19 th centuries Land use in the 18 th century Land use in about 1300

32. Understanding the shape of the land itself can help us understand why different parts of the Forest area developed differently Relief & drainage

33. Geology Settlement related to geology

34. You’ve seen how the experts do it! Now it’s your turn to be a landscape detective, investigating your bit of the Rockingham forest, looking at evidence, exploring and finding out its own special story Over to you!

35. Produced by Rachel Shaw for Rockingham Forest Trust 2008