Search results for: medieval

EXTRACTS from a Lincolnshire Gardens Trust site survey Courtesy researcher/recorder Sue Barlow. Location: Aswarby Park, Aswarby, Lincolnshire, NG34 8SD OS grid reference, TF 064 399 Parish, Historic County and District:…

To get you into a detective frame of mind, first study this photograph: Think about: How can you tell that this a man-made, designed landscape? Is it formal or informal…

Maze The labyrinth or maze is associated with Greek mythology, but the Romans introduced the patterns into their gardens. They were interested in location, any site with uninterrupted views. A…

Walls Stone walling encloses many old gardens. The east stonewall in the Medieval Bishop’s Palace Garden in Lincoln, is Roman, the north wall is Medieval. Some mellow brick garden walls…

Garth Monastic gardens featured decorative Norman Gothic arches and gates with the same architectural details as in church abbeys, priories. Cloister gardens or garths were peaceful courtyard enclosures of retreat…

Moat A defensive moat surrounded many a medieval manor house and castle for security but also as a larder for storing fish and attracting wildfowl. Former moats can still be…

What Survives Today Exercise Take the following questionnaire for a walk around your village, see if you can spot any of the relics we have discussed, and see if you…

What survives today Topic 6: Footpaths and Field boundaries While looking around for early settlement remains, it is worth looking at footpaths and field boundaries. Enclosed fields Early enclosed fields…

What survives today Topic 5: Moats Another key earthwork feature from the medieval period is the moat. Many of these survive today as shaped ponds surrounding one or more sides…

What survives today Topic 4: Fields Looking at the fields within and around a settlement can also provide clues to its medieval past. Humps and Bumps A lot of these…

What survives today Topic 3: Village Ponds Village and field ponds are features of the medieval landscape that have often disappeared from modern settlements. However, they can still be found…

What survives today Topic 2: Crosses and Greens Crosses As has already been noted above, medieval village crosses often survive in Lincolnshire. Some of these may be within the church…

What survives today Topic 1: Churches The most common and obvious medieval building found in villages, towns and cities is the church. This was an important community building and often…

Looking Further Afield Exercise Using the following questionnaire as a prompt, have a look at Google maps and the National Library of Scotland Ordnance Survey maps and see if you…

Topic 6: Settlement Hierarchy The overall pattern of settlement can be characterised as a settlement hierarchy ranging from single farmsteads up to cities. The larger the settlement size, the fewer will…

Topic 5: Land Divisions Now, we need to set that individual story in the context of pattern of Lincolnshire’s medieval settlement as a whole. By the time of the Norman…

Topic 4: State Documents State documents such as the poll tax returns of 1377 and the diocesan returns of 1563 may not provide much detail about the layout of the…

Topic 3: Parliamentary Enclosure Award Having looked at the early ordnance survey maps and the google earth image, we can see that there are several layers of landscape that can…

Looking Further Afield Topic 2: Ordnance Survey Maps To take a look at how the village was laid out before the creation of the airfield, it is a good idea…

Looking further afield Topic 1: Google Maps Looking at Google maps can be a good place to start as you can pick up earthworks that are not necessarily visible on…

Monasteries, manors & economic powerhouses Topic 5: Monasteries The main phase of monastery building in Lincolnshire took place during the 12th century. Wealthy land owners gifted manors to religious orders…

Monasteries, manors & economic powerhouses Topic 4: Landlords Whilst the lands held by secular (non-religious) landlords were administrated by the manorial system, the lands held by the church and the…

Monasteries, manors & economic powerhouses Topic 3: Deer Parks During the medieval period, a number of manors were granted the right to create deer parks. These were usually close to,…

Monasteries, manors & economic powerhouses Topic 2: Milling One of the rights that the manor would hold, is the right to own a mill and mill grain. Water mills The…

Monasteries, manors & economic powerhouses Topic 1: Manors There is a tendency, when talking about medieval manors, to think simply in terms of the sites of manor houses. While manor…

Lost and Shrunken Villages Exercise Look at the following questionnaire and see if you can find out about a deserted medieval village near you. download printable sheet

Lost and Shrunken Villages Topic 2: Identifying a deserted village Today, shrunken and deserted medieval villages can often be identified by the occasional surviving building or habitation and the humps…

Lost and Shrunken Villages Topic 1: The Great Famine The period of relative climatic warmth experienced by the northern hemisphere, known as the medieval warm period, came to an end…

Discovering the Medieval Origins of your Village Topic 2: The Domesday Book Having established the ancient origin of a settlement, we can now look at one of the most significant…

Discovering the Medieval Origins of your Village Topic 1: Place Names The first thing to look at is the place name. The origin and meaning of a place name, whether…

Medieval Warfare Topic 6: Fifteenth Century Conflicts In the fifteenth century, two conflicts appear to have affected Lincolnshire at the same time. Wars of the Roses The dynastic conflict known as…

Medieval Warfare Topic 5: Peasants’ Revolt To date, little evidence has been found of the peasants’ revolt in Lincolnshire. However, as the revolt could be seen as a symptom of…

Medieval Warfare Topic 4: Second Barons’ War The Second Barons’ War (1264 to 1267) was fought between a baronial oligarchy lead by Simon de Montfort against the Loyalist forces of Henry…

Medieval Warfare Topic 3: First Barons’ War The First Barons’ War (1215 to 1217) saw conflict between King John and his nobles, and an attempt to seize the throne by Prince…

Medieval Warfare Topic 2: Dynastic Conflicts The medieval period saw a number of dynastic conflicts beginning with The Anarchy of the 12th century (1135 to 1154). This was initially a civil…

Medieval Warfare Topic 1: Norman Conquest Medieval warfare covers the period of the Norman conquest through to the massed use of gunpowder weapons. The beginning of medieval warfare occurs in…

Topic 1: Online research Online research has the advantage of being available in the comfort of your own home and at any time that suits you. It can provide a…

Topic 3: The influence of people on the landscape As people live in a place, they change it. In this section we will look at the clues left behind as people…

Looking at the Landscape Topic 1: What can we see in the landscape? When we look at the landscape, what are we seeing? A fen landscape seen from the churchyard…

Rural landscapes have also been constructed by people. Over time, people have lived and used the landscape in different ways and for different things. In the same way that you…