Was there a Medieval Cattle Ranch in Whittle-le-Woods?

In 1982, an academic conference was held at Oxford University, the proceedings of which were later published as a book entitled Medieval Villages: A Review of Current Work. One contributor to the conference was Michael A. Aston, then a Senior Lecturer at the University of Bristol, later better known as Professor Mick Aston of Channel 4’s Time Team. Another contributor was Mary A. Atkin, who described herself as a “former Senior Lecturer in Geography at Preston Polytechnic”. Mary Atkin achieved little future fame, but the paper she delivered at the conference, blandly entitled “Some settlement patterns in Lancashire”, forms the basis of this article. In it she set out a theory of the early woodland clearance and enclosure of land in the historic Hundred of Leyland. In the present article, I will outline Atkin’s ideas and will extend her theory to speculate about the early settlement of my home township of Whittle-le-Woods. In doing so, I will add some detail to my previous article about the clearance of the woodland that once covered the area and I will address the question posed in the title above: was there a medieval cattle ranch in Whittle-le-Woods?

Atkin’s Theory: Double Ovals in the Landscape

In the early medieval period, around the time of Domesday Book or earlier, the main administrative unit of central Lancashire south of the river Ribble was the Hundred of Leyland, which embraced the modern boroughs of South Ribble and Chorley and the northern part of the borough of Wigan. Atkin undertook a detailed study of the landscape of Leyland Hundred, using the tithe maps produced in the 1830s along with earlier maps and documentary sources to identify the historical development of the landscape. One feature she identified in several places was evidence for large oval enclosures, half a mile or so wide, often occurring in pairs and apparently of very early date. The boundaries of these enclosures were made up of roads or lanes, footpaths or hedges that were not cut through by other features, suggesting that they represented original enclosure. Fieldwork suggested that such hedges were often thick, with many hardwood species, again suggesting that they had been there for a long time. Frequently they were accompanied by ditches and sometimes a break of slope, with land sloping down inside the oval.

The double ovals tended to be accompanied by a common pattern of farms. One oval would be made up of land associated with a single, often quite large farm, while the other would be loosely surrounded by a number of small farms, whose lands interlocked within the oval (and sometimes outside it as well). Atkin concluded that her double ovals represented clearance and enclosure of the land in the medieval period, or even earlier. The oval controlled by the single farm, she suggested, was a large pasture enclosure, where cattle would be reared. Often one or more “stock funnels” could be identified on the boundary of the oval; hedges forming a v-shaped field, often near to the farm, interpreted as a way of channelling stock being driven from grazing land outside the oval to its entrance. There was likely a well in the stock funnel, to provide water for the stock and within the oval there was often a stream, for the same purpose.

The other oval, that tended to share a boundary with the pasture oval, Atkins suggested, was largely arable land, perhaps with some other resources such as meadow or managed woodland. It would often be associated with a corn mill. Together, the two ovals represented a complete subsistence farming system.

Atkin’s work was done on 19^th century maps and many of the double oval features that she identified are now hard to see on modern maps, due to the amount of subsequent development (and some were so obscured even in the early 19^th century that one had to take her word for it that they were there). One of her examples that is still partially visible on modern maps and on the ground is at Charnock Richard. On 19^th century ordnance survey maps one can clearly see the double oval structure (see diagram below). The upper oval was the pasture oval, delineated by an almost continuous hedge bank and controlled by Charnock Old Hall. The stock funnel can be seen near to the farm. Within the oval was a feature known as Tunsteads, a name associated with other pasture ovals. This oval has now been obliterated by landscape changes and by the M6 motorway, which runs through it. The lower arable oval is still apparent, bounded on the east and south by the A49 Wigan-Preston road and on the other sides by another large continuous hedge. It embraces four farms, spread out along its southern boundary, or just inside it. A stream runs through it and nearby there is the site of a corn mill.

The double oval enclosure at Charnock Richard, as it appeared on the 1894 ordnance survey map. The upper oval is now not visible, having been cut through by the M6 motorway

 Atkin proposed that the double oval enclosures were vaccaries, a form of medieval cattle ranch that are documented in other parts of North West England. They tended to be situated in Royal Forests, such as the Forest of Rossendale and provided oxen for farm work as well as beef for the royal household. A vaccary would be overseen by a vaccarius, who (Atkin suggested) lived in the farm that stood at the entrance of the pasture oval. That oval enclosure would have originally been a single open space and would have provided winter quarters for the herd, which could have numbered up to 80 animals. In the summer, the herd would be driven out to the adjacent waste land, while grass was grown in the oval to provide winter feed. Such a large herd required a number of herdsmen and these lived in the smaller farms that surrounded the arable oval enclosure. This would also have been an open space and would have been cultivated by the vaccarius and the herdsmen to provide for their own needs. The vaccary thus became a self-sustaining farming community.

Vaccaries are documented in the 12^th and 13^th centuries, but Atkin suggests that some double ovals might be of even earlier date, representing Saxon or even Romano-British subsistence farming. The vaccary system gradually went out of favour and the land would have been leased to local landowners under feudal laws. Its usage would have changed and the ovals were likely to have been sub-divided into smaller fields, or later developed for other uses as population increased, until many became obscured. There is a lack of documentary evidence for early land use in Lancashire, with few Saxon or early Norman charters still extant, so the double ovals and their previous functions were gradually forgotten.

So was there a Vaccary in Whittle-le-Woods?

Atkin’s theory is attractive and in the absence of early charters she cites as much circumstantial evidence as she can to support her ideas. Her examples of double ovals across Lancashire include many of the key aspects that she says are characteristic of these old landscape features. She does not pretend that her examples are comprehensive, however, leaving open the possibility that there are more double ovals hidden in the Lancashire landscape. And I believe I might have found one on my doorstep, in my home township of Whittle-le-Woods (hereafter Whittle).

My potential discovery arose from my obsession with old maps, in particular the first edition ordnance survey maps of my locality (1^st edition 1:10560 scale, published 1848 and the 1^st revision published in 1894). I also spent happy hours poring over the superbly drawn tithe map of Whittle in the Lancashire archives. I first noticed long hedges that were not cut by other features running in a crescent south of Town Lane to Croston’s farm and a footpath and another long hedge leading back to Town Lane. These created a rough oval about half a mile in diameter, with Croston’s farm at the bottom, bisected by Lucas Lane. The land dipped down from Town Lane on both sides, forming a kind of bowl. Then I noticed that the land north of Town Lane, opposite the oval, made up an unusually flat feature until it reached the hill topped by Carwood Lane. Gradually, it seemed to me that I was looking at a double oval, the key features of which are set out in the map below.

My suggested double oval in Whittle-le-Woods, with related features, taken from the 1894 ordnance survey map. At that time, it had been cut through by the Lancaster canal (pictured); it has now been further cut through by the M61 motorway and is increasingly being swallowed up by new housing estates

It will be seen that my putative double oval, when viewed on 19^th century maps, includes many of Atkin’s features. The lower oval, from Croston’s farm to Town Lane, looks like a pasture oval. Croston’s farm would have been the controlling farm (my theory assumes that Lucas farm, Lucas Green and possibly Lucas Lane itself represent later settlement). There is a hint of a stock funnel in the hedgerows by Croston’s farm, opening out onto Gale Moss, which would have been wasteland providing summer grazing. As Atkin identified elsewhere, there was a well in the entrance of the stock funnel and a stream running through the pasture enclosure. The natural dip in the land provided the break of slope associated with other oval enclosures.

In this picture can be seen the “break of slope” where the north of the pasture oval meets Town Lane. The boundary is still quite thickly hedged. In the foreground, the stream that would have provided water for the stock

Lucas Lane is an attractive and undoubtedly ancient road, but it is likely to postdate the pasture oval, which would have been open inside. The whole oval is increasingly being eaten up by new housing

  

 The flat land north of Town Lane formed the arable oval. Its boundaries mainly comprise lanes: Town Lane itself, Chorley Old Road, Carwood Lane and the little lane leading from Town Lane to Wilson’s Nook farm. By the 19^th century the land was divided up into a number of small holdings, but four main farms can be identified: Wilson’s Nook, Martin House, Carrwood farm and Lowe farm on Town Lane. In the early 19^th century all of these farms were occupied by farmers who had been born in Whittle, representing likely continuity of tenancy and the longevity of the farms themselves. As Atkin found in her examples, all of these farms held land within the oval in the 19^th century and no farm from outwith the oval had any land inside it. Old field names suggest that the area was not all arable and there were probably areas of meadow and woodland by the River Lostock. Finally, to tick another of Atkin’s boxes, there was a corn mill, on the site of Lowe Mill industrial estate.

Part of my suggested arable enclosure, looking from Town Lane towards Carrwood Lane. In the 18^th century, this area was Whittle’s Town Field

So my putative double oval matches many of Atkin’s criteria. Is there any other circumstantial evidence to support my theory? Well, there is clear evidence that my “arable oval” was indeed once arable as by the 18^th century parts of it made up Whittle’s “Town Field”, providing arable land for local residents. Also, the 1837 tithe map shows that the area within my suggested “pasture oval” then had a single owner, Sir Frank Standish of Duxbury Hall and the land immediately outside it was owned by others. The Standish family had owned land in Whittle since the 16^th century, suggesting that the “pasture oval” had long been a single land unit.

More intriguingly, there are references in 12^th and 13^th century charters, when a leading landowner was the Boteler family of Out Rawcliffe, to a “park” in Whittle. At that time, the term “park” normally meant an enclosed area for raising deer, but it could also mean any area cleared of woodland and enclosed. Was this a reference to the pasture oval? The park’s whereabouts are tantalisingly hard to pin down; a 13^th century charter refers to the sale of land, “of the waste of Werden lying between Sir Richard [Boteler]’s park of Whittle and the Kirkgate from Whittle to Leyland.” The waste of Werden would have been to the east of Worden Old Hall, now in Buckshaw Village and the Kirkgate to Leyland is now Dawson Lane. This suggests that Sir Richard’s park was around the site of the present Shaw Hill golf course, but could it possibly have been further east, putting it on the site of my pasture oval?

None of these pieces of evidence are conclusive and all could of course be interpreted as evidence that my proposed early medieval or Saxon double oval is actually much younger. My “vaccary” doesn’t meet all Atkin’s criteria, in particular there are no similarities between the names of the farms surrounding the arable oval, a feature that she found elsewhere. And of course, for my theory to be correct, Mary Atkin’s theory must be correct also. But to date, thirty years after she first proposed it, no one has sought to refute it, or to offer alternative theories of the early development of this part of Lancashire. So until someone does, Atkin’s theory stands – and so does mine!

Envoi – Farm Names and Stock Tracks

So my hours of exploration of old maps, along with Atkin’s paper, led me to a theory of the early woodland clearance and development of Whittle-le-Woods. But I wasn’t quite finished, as another aspect of Atkin’s thinking led me to speculate still further. Specifically, it allowed me to propose an answer to a question that had often puzzled me: how did Croston’s farm in Whittle get its name?

A simple answer to that question is that it was once farmed by a family named Croston. But Atkin’s paper and my possible discovery that Croston’s farm may have been the headquarters of a medieval vaccary lead to another possibility; one that links the farm with the medieval township of Croston.

As well as identifying double oval enclosures, Atkin’s work led her to propose a network of stock tracks running across central Lancashire. These would have been of similar date to the vaccaries and would have provided a way of moving cattle around the area. Atkin’s examination of old maps led her to identify long strips of land, 100 to 400 yards wide, with parallel hedgerows on each side. Often they followed present day roads and appear on 19^th century maps as long lines of small fields. Sometimes they would widen, often at a place named …Green. These Atkin interpreted as stopping points where the herd could be rested overnight.

One such stock track led from Croston, in early medieval times a lead parish and market town, to Chorley, which was then an under-developed and thickly wooded township that was part of Croston parish. Along with Chorley itself, there are a number of places in the area whose names end in –ley (Astley, Kingsley, Healey, Knowley), signifying that they began as clearings in woodland. Atkin identified a number of such clearings and believed that they represented summer grazings for stock owned by farmers from Croston, who drove their herds along the stock tracks to and from the grazings each year.

The main stock track from Croston to Healey heads east, following the current A581 road through Shaw Green and past the Traveller's Rest pub to where the road doglegs to avoid the estate of Euxton Hall. As the stock track predated the estate, it ran straight through it, crossing the Wigan-Preston road (now the A49) and ran parallel to Euxton Lane (on the edge of Buckshaw Village) uphill to Hartwood Green, now the site of Chorley Hospital. From there it turned north for a hundred yards or so, parallel to the Chorley-Preston Road (the A6). Then, when it reached the boundary between Chorley and Whittle, next to the Sea View pub, it turned east again and passed over Gale Moss to Healey (which in later medieval times was a deer park). Other branches went into Chorley itself and the surrounding area.

Viewed from the A6 just south of the Sea View pub, one can make out the stock track from Croston to Healey, at the point where it turns due east, having followed the A6 north from Hartwood Green (now Chorley Hospital). It is possible that a branch from this section went north again to Croston’s farm, allowing stock to be led to its double-oval enclosure

 The interesting point for me is that, when it crossed Gale Moss, the stock track ran just south of Croston’s farm and the double oval enclosure in Whittle. Could it be that, as well as using grazings in Chorley and Healey, Croston landowners also had links with the vaccary in Whittle? It was unusual at that time for parishes to have land outwith the parish (remember that at the date in question Chorley was part of Croston parish but Whittle was not), but it was not unknown. Just maybe, Croston’s farm’s name reflects the fact that it was once worked by farmers from Croston, linked to its home village by the nearby stock track.

Again, it is a theory, just as is Mary Atkin’s and it is unlikely that it will ever be proved (or disproved), but it’s my theory and I’m sticking to it. Anyone who wishes to refute my ideas about Whittle’s possible vaccary from evidence on the ground will have to hurry, for the area in question is increasingly being eaten up by new housing estates. Just recently, the ancient hedge that formed the western boundary of the pasture oval became a casualty of the new development.

I don’t know what became of Mary Atkin; she published little subsequent work. I can’t tell if she would have supported my theory. I can’t help wondering also what Atkin’s fellow medievalist and conference presenter, the late Professor Mick Aston would have thought of it. Sadly, I will never know.

Sources Used

Tithe maps available at Lancashire Archive, Preston.

Historic Ordnance Survey maps available at Old Maps

A History of the County of Lancaster, Volume 6 (Victoria County History). British History Online

Atkins M (1985) Some settlement patterns in Lancashire. In: Hooke D (ed) Medieval Villages: a Review of Current Work. Oxford: Oxford University Committee for Archaeology.

Atkin M (1995) Field namesand field shapes in NW England. From a lecture given in Lancaster, Feb 28^th.

Hodgkinson K (1991) Whittle & Clayton-le-Woods: A Pictorial Record of Bygone Days. Chorley: CKD Publications.

Winchester A (2006) England’s Landscape: The North West. London: Collins (English Heritage).