Remembering the deer parks
DEER parks studded South Yorkshire in Medieval times.
John Speed's map of the West Riding of Yorkshire, dated 1610, shows seven deer parks near Rotherham. These were Aston, Conisborough, Kimberworth, Kiveton, Sheffield, Tankersley and Thrybergh.
Deer parks were areas of private land, usually bounded by a wall or bank with a paling fence, where the owner kept deer, hares and rabbits for his family's table.
The map shows the position of the park in Aston, enclosed in the yellow oval. The rounded edges are typical of a medieval deer park.
When the land was enclosed it was divided into fields with the names Petty Close, Moor House Close, Owen Close, Tagg Close, Top Old Park, Far Old Park, Great Close and Triangular Close, two of the names reflecting its previous use.
It also contained a Spring Wood, the old English name for a wood where some trees were coppiced and some allowed to grow into timber.
Coppicing means cutting trees close to the ground so that a number of poles grow from the stump. The cycle of cutting and growing varied from a few years to 25 years or more, depending on how the wood was to be used, from basket and hurdle making to pit props or bark.
In 1256/57, the lord of the manor of Aston, Osbert de Arches (or de Arcubus) was given a grant of free warren – a royal licence to keep deer and other animals of the chase – by King Henry III.
Readers will remember the article about Aston's link to the village of Eyam with the marriage of George, son of William Mompesson, Rector of Eyam during the plague.
I asked if anyone knew why George had married at Aston. A reader has replied that after the death of William's wife Elizabeth during the plague, he married a widow, Elizabeth Newby.
Elizabeth was the granddaughter of Anne Darcy, sister of John Lord Darcy of Aston Hall. Elizabeth and her new family visited Aston frequently.
by Ann Key, secretary, Aston-cum-Aughton History Group
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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