Unearthing Mansfield’s secret past in Sherwood Forest

Andy Gaunt of Mercian Archaeological Services CIC talking about medieval Sherwood Forest, Mansfield, and King John's Palace... in the Mansfield Chad

Full article: http://www.chad.co.uk/news/local/unearthing-mansfield-s-secret-past-1-6220209

Photo: Mansfield from the air- from Chad Newspaper.

Mercian Archaeological Services CIC

Mercian Archaeological Services CIC - the Kings Clipstone Village Project

In February 2013 Mercian Archaeological Services CIC (www.mercian-as.co.uk and www.facebook.com/MercianArch), a Community Interest Company undertaking Community Archaeology Projects in the East Midlands, ran an archaeological project to excavate test pits in the village of Kings Clipstone in the heart of Sherwood Forest.

The project was aimed at examining among other things the development of the settlement in Medieval times.

Picture: the ruins of King John's Palace in the heart of Sherwood Forest by Andy Gaunt, Mercian Archaeological Services CIC

The village north of the Mansfield Road consisted of long and narrow tofts and crofts which extended backwards from the road to the River Maun to the north.

Evidence from the excavation suggests that this part of the village was formed in the 13th century, as an expansion of the settlement around the royal palace that occupied the ground to the south of the road.

The interim report for this project will be available to download shortly.

The royal palace now known as King John's Palace was the centre for crown activities in Sherwood Forest until the end of the 14th century, with all the Plantagenet Kings from Henry II to Richard II staying there. It was built to accommodate the crown during visits to the forest, where hunting would take place in the royal park adjacent.

In the summer of July 2012, James Wright of https://www.facebook.com/ArchaeologyHistoryKingsClipstone and Andy Gaunt, David Budge and Sean Crossley (now Mercian Archaeological Services CIC) excavated trenches across the boundary ditch of the palace complex.

This report is being brought to completion over the next few weeks too and will be available to download via Mercian's document stores....

It is hoped that a number of publications will follow in the coming year which bring together all of the corpus of work undertaken in the village and at the palace to date, including extensive work looking at the landscape of the lordship and forest.

There will be more community archaeology work coming in the village very soon, with plenty of opportunities to get involved- watch this space for more information...


For more info follow www.mercian-as.co.uk/news.html and www.facebook.com/MercianArch

Mercian Archaeological Services CIC

Clipstone Peel and Spa Ponds in Sherwood Forest

The Spa Ponds- Medieval fish ponds in Clipstone Park (near Forest Town).

On the western edge of the former royal deer park of Clipstone, in the heart of Sherwood Forest- are a series of large ponds fed by a spring and a tributary of the River Maun. They are overlooked by steep slopes of ground to the east which once housed a fortification built by Edward II in the early 14th century. 

The Spa Ponds- Medieval fish ponds in Clipstone Park (near Forest Town).

For more photographs of the Spa Ponds please see the Facebook album

This fortification was Clipstone Peel- built as a refuge during 'a time of political turmoil. The peel was constructed in timber except for a stone gatehouse. When the peel was dismantled during the reign of Edward III, the gatehouse was left standing, and the small ruin known as Beeston Lodge is now all that remains' (Wright, 2008). 

The remains of the gatehouse to Clipstone Peel

Overlooked by this fortification the ponds were kept for provision of fish for the king- and represent a massive undertaking by the crown. They are a hugely important part of local medieval heritage, and are an important part of a national story relating to the time of Edward II. 

The area is now the ‘Spa Ponds Nature Reserve’ under lease to the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. The site now lies within Forest Town- and the Community wishes to purchase the site and to 'improve and enhance it for nature conservation, community access, and as part of the heritage work taking place throughout Nottinghamshire'. The community is looking to raise funds for this purchase and an appeal has been launched following a pledge by Forest Town- based Charity CIICI (Community Involvement in Green Infrastructure). To learn about their aims and maybe to pledge support to their campaign please visit http://www.foresttown.net/index.php/nature/

Mercian Archaeological Services CIC

Daily life in Medieval Sherwood Forest- Peasant Rights

Medieval society and the medieval landscape were for the common person predominantly rural and agricultural in nature.

Very little of the landscape was not utilised, and in some areas such as the ‘Champion’ (from the French champ- for field) landscapes of the Midlands, almost every inch was turned over to arable- especially in the boom years of population expanse during the 13^th century.

In Sherwood Forest it was similar, in that almost every resource was used.

Every village had its great open fields, where crops were rotated through the season, and the people farmed strips of land spread throughout them. Each year one field stood fallow to recover for the following years crops.

This fallow field was fertilized by the animals of the village. Pigs and sheep would be concentrated at night into temporary pens to ‘focus’ their fertilization efforts.

Between these times it was necessary to graze animals away from the open fields.

No matter how much an animal fertilizes a field it will always take more nutrients than it returns, if it grazes exclusively from the same field that it fertilizes, as it requires nutrients to grow.

An external source of nutrients and energy was therefore required, and in Sherwood Forest this came from the great heaths and Lyngges ( Old Scandinavian for heather- see There’s Vikings in the Heather entry).

Shepherds and swineherds would tend their flocks and herds on these vast swathes of lowland heath around Sherwood Forest that stretched for mile after mile across the open countryside. Vast areas such as ‘Basforde Lyngges’, the heaths of Rufford Abbey Lordship, ‘Budby Oute Fieldes’ and the ‘Moor of Kirby’, would be dotted with these herds, and the sight of flocks and shepherds would have been common to the traveller passing through the forest.

Each parish had their own areas of woodland, usually at their edges.

In the more populated southern ‘Thorneywood’ area they occupied the high ground between parishes, such as on the ridges between the villages of Lambley, Woodborough and Calverton.

These woods often joined together to form giant woods that could cover miles, but they each had names reflecting to whom they belonged. Carleton Wode, Gedling Wode, Basforde Wode (named after villages) Kettulbarne Haw, Fox Swaht, Prior Stobyn, Samson Wode (after landscape features or owners past and present).

In the ‘High Forest’, (the northern part of Sherwood Forest) these woods were sometimes vast such as the great Maunsfelde (Mansfield) Wode, Sutton Wode, Blidworth Wood and Hay Wode, as well as the great crown woods of the Hay of Birklands, Bilhaugh and Lyndhurst Wood (see Lyndhurst Wood- the chief wood of Sherwood entry).

It is worth reminding that nobody could actually cut down the tress in these woods for timber because it was forbidden by Forest Law (see Forest Law page). However the rights to the woods were heavily guarded by the people, because they had other kinds of rights within them.

As well as the rights to pasture on the great heaths and commons peasants had the right to graze their animals in woodland at certain times of the year. One such time was the ‘Pannage’ season (just after the acorns fell) when peasant could graze their pigs on acorns in the woods of the forest.

Picutre: A peasant beating acorns from the tree for his pigs

These rights to access woods were strictly controlled under Forest Law with ‘Agisters’ acting as tax collectors to control quotas and extract fines (see Forest Law Page)

Peasants also had the right to take some smaller timber from the woods for ‘Haybote’ (hedge repair) and ‘Husbote’ (house repair).

These rights were often jealously guarded!

An Inquisition Post Mortem into the rights of the people of Clipstone Manor, dated 20^th April 1327 early in the reign of Edward III shows some of the rights of the peasant to the resources of their land.

The Inquisition was presented in front of John De Crombwell Keeper of the Kings Forest beyond Trent, by the oath of John de Annesley; Philip de Caltoft, knight; Thomas Whaton; Richard Russell; Richard Ingam; John de Holm; Richard de Bestewod (Bestwood); Thomas de Lyndeby; Simon de Lameley; John le Warde of Crathethopre; William Basage; and john Moigne of Carleton…

‘The King’s tenants of his manor of Clypston in Shirwod (Sherwood), which is of ancient demesne of the crown of England, and their ancestors, tenants of the same manor, from time immemorial have been accustomed to have all ferns growing in a place which is now called the park of Clypston, for thirteen shillings and six pence, to be rendered yearly to the King’s ancestors by the hands of the justice of the Forest; and to collect the leaves fallen from the trees in the same place for manuring their lands, without rendering anything therefor; and to have pasture for all kinds of beasts in the same, doing in return the custody of the vert and venison in the same place by two of the tenants’.

This shows how the peasants had customary rights to access the ‘park’ for livestock grazing, and to gather ferns and leaves for fertilizer, (in exchange for looking after the deer and timber for the King)

It also shows that they were empowered enough to appeal through the court system to protect those rights.

The reason for the inquest is that Edward II had closed off access to the park, preventing them from their customary rights. The newly crowned Edward III was being petitioned by the men of Clipstone to have their rights returned. They also informed the King that he was losing the money they would normally pay for their rights!!!

Presumably he would be more likely to listen if his wallet was affected.

The men also pointed out that they could not get sufficient pasture outside of the park for their needs- as stated earlier nutrients for flocks and open fields needed to come from somewhere other than the fields themselves.

So as can be seen the landscape of Sherwood Forest provided opportunities for people to make their living from agriculture and from accessing the resources that the Forest provided around them. It was also the case that people would guard these rights vigorously, petitioning through the courts and to the legal system.

The laws of the land prevented many people from having many things, but they also enshrined rights over generations and the law could be called upon to protect those rights if they were threatened.

(More on farming practices in Medieval Sherwood Forest including the ‘Breck System’, and more on the courts and laws of everyday medieval life coming soon).

Lyndhurst Wood- the 'chief wood of Sherwood'

Medieval Sherwood Forest was not one giant wood, but had a mixed landscape of villages with their arable fields, pasture and meadows. The forest however was chosen because it had a large amount of woodland and heath.

There were many different woods across the forest- most had names of their own.

A huge area of woodland stretched north-eastwards from Nottingham along the clay ridge now known as Mapperley tops. This wood was divided into many separately named woods belonging to all the different villages nearby (more of that later).

In the northern High forest there were also many woods such as the mighty Mansfield Wood, Kirkby wood, Haywood Oaks, and the woods of Clipstone and Edwinstowe. (these will be discussed in turn at some point).

The crown also held the two great woods of Birklands and Bilhaugh (now the Sherwood Forest National nature Reserve).

Alongside all of these was a wood described as the ‘chief wood of Sherwood’ in the Forest Book; Lyndhurst Wood (spelt Lindhurst in modern times).

Lyndhurst means ‘lime-tree wood’ suggesting that species was dominant at one time. In the medieval period it was mainly oak- used for the upkeep of Nottingham castle.

‘During the extensive works that took place at the castle between 1358 and 1368, when Stephen Romylowe was constable, a great deal of timber was taken from Lindhurst. The surviving accounts give details of the employment of carpenters and sawyers there and of the expenses of carting the timber to Nottingham.’ (Crook 1981 in bibliography). 

Lyndhurst was originally all the 'wode growing on the eesh parte (east part) of the grete (great) way that leedeth betwxyt Notynhham (Nottingham), and Maunsfeild (Mansfield) unto Sothwell rode (Southwell road) in lengith (length), and the syke (stream) of Rayewath (Rainworth Water) on the southe parte, and the valey where a syke called oulde Idle (foulevil brook- see below) hathe the course of the northe parte in lengith, is called the chieffe wode of the foresh of Shirewood (the chief Wood of Sherwood Forest)'  

As stated above the wood was defined by Rainworth Water (a tributary of the River Maun) to the south, and on its northeastern side by a stream called ‘foulevil brook’ (a tributary of Rainworth Water)- the name does not suggest it formed a natural beauty spot at the time.

The Wood was positioned to the south of the manor of Mansfield and to the north of the manor of Blidworth. The Manor of Mansfield belonged to the King, and Blidworth to the Arch-Bishop of York.

Lyndhurst was a jealously guarded property of the crown and was separate to the Manor of Mansfield.

It had its own keeper: in the 13^th and early 14^th century its keeper was Ralph Clere who lived in a lodge called the ‘new repair’ on its south side.

A rectangular moated site survives – sometimes called ‘Friar Tuck’s Island’ (where Robin Hood was reputedly thrown in the river in the 'Curtal Friar) at this location known as Fountain Dale, Lyndhurst. It is on the opposite side of Rainworth Water to the spring known as Friar Tuck's Well.

The site can be visited from the A60 near Harlow Wood and Thieves Wood on the road to Mansfield. 

This keeper of Lyndhurst as well as looking after the wood had the job of collecting the tax of Cheminage, a toll on carts passing through the forest, payable to his master the Keeper of Sherwood Forest (see Road Tax entry) Robert D'Everingham.

 

Geophysical Survey of King John's Palace

In the heart of medieval Sherwood Forest lies King John's Palace, a royal hunting palace.

A Geophysical Resistance survey of King John's Palace , Clipstone, Nottinghamshire was undertaken in 2010 by the author Andy Gaunt now of Mercian Archaeological Services CIC.

As part of a Masters Degree at the University of Birmingham.

This subsurface survey of the Medieval royal hunting palace in the heart of Sherwood Forest discovered many buried features- most notably the medieval boundary of the royal hunting lodge.

This survey and the work undertaken alongside it led to Channel Four's Time Team excavating at the site in Spring 2011.


It also led to an archaeological excavation in July 2012.


The Project design is discussed on the King John's Palace wikipedia page, authored by Archaeologist James Wright:

2012 archaeological evaluation

'Another archaeological evaluation is scheduled to take place at King John's Palace during July 2012.

The purpose of this work is summarised from:

• Gaunt, A. & Wright, J., (2012) King John's Palace, Clipstone, Nottinghamshire - Written Scheme of Investigation for an archaeological evaluation

A feature was identified by Gaunt (Gaunt 2011) as a geophysical anomaly of approximately 180m in length by 3-11m width running south-east to north-west through the centre of Castlefield from its boundary with the Vicar Water.

This feature was sectioned during April 2011 as part of the 19th series of Channel 4’s Time Team (Wessex 2011) and was found to be a substantial ditch approximately 2.4m in depth.

No corresponding bank was identified.

Despite excavation during the 2011 evaluation the interpretation of this feature is still unclear.

Gaunt states that: “The large high resistance linear anomaly is interpreted as probably a ditch filled with rubble or the remains of a wall. It lines up with the edge of the enclosure marked ‘Manor Garth’ on the 1630 William Senior map, and probably represents the edge of the manorial complex” (Gaunt 2011).

John Gater’s magnetometry survey interpreted the anomaly as a modern field boundary on site, and as “an old field boundary seen on first edition OS mapping” in the subsequent report (Gater 2011, 3).

This attribution of a modern date for the ditch was also asserted by Professor Mick Aston in his interview with the Western Daily Press (9 February 2012).

The archaeological report from Wessex Archaeology uses the same definition as John Gater for the ditch (Wessex 2011, 7) and also as a substantial ditch containing medieval pottery (Wessex 2011, 13).

Finally the programme as aired stated that this was the medieval boundary ditch to the site.

Given the confusion that has arisen over the attribution of this feature the evaluation in 2012 will seek to answer the following questions:

• What is morphology of the feature?
• What period(s) does the feature date from?
• What was the function of the feature?
• Does the feature represent a limit or boundary related to the medieval royal palace on the site?

Agreement has already been made with Keith Challis as editor of the Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire to produce a published summary on the findings of the evaluation as part of a wider article or monograph on the archaeology of medieval King’s Clipstone.

A “grey literature” site report will also be produced and lodged with the landowners, site archive, Nottinghamshire HER and English Heritage NMR'.

The results from this excavation will be discussed on this site soon.

Open publication - Free publishing - More andy gaunt

A Journey through Sherwood Forest: Rufford Abbey to Nottingham

Picture: The Undercroft at Rufford Abbey, Sherwood  Forest, Nottinghamshire.

Rufford Abbey was a monastery of Cistercian monks in the heart of medieval Sherwood Forest (see the monks and friars of Sherwood Forest).

It was situated in the high forest area to the south of the village of Ollerton, and to the west of the Royal Palace and Deer Park of Clipstone.

Nestled amongst it's domestic buildings and accomodation, the church of St. Mary the Virgin would have been a glorious landmark, standing in the heathland of the high forest.

The abbey would have been a welcome sight to the traveller passing throught the forest.

A traveller heading south from York might have spent the previous night in the inland medieval port town of Bawtry on the Yorkshire border, or maybe in the castle town of Tickhill, or at the monastery in Blyth.

The Idle marshes would have been negotiated along with the heather-clad fields of the district of Hatfield; before the traveller crossed the River Meden at Cunningswath Ford into Sherwood Forest (see the King's Wade entry for more details). 

Having found accomodation in the Abbey at Rufford- the traveller could enjoy a restful night in the dormitories of the abbey.

Restful that is, if they could sleep through the chanting, bell-ringing and hymns that sounded for and in the church services that ran at intervals through the night.

The life of the medieval monk didn't seem to involve much sleeping!

Sleeping on a straw-filled matress may not bee too restful either (many hundreds of people may have slept on it before)- but at least the stop over included breakfast!

It was part of the duty of medieval monks to provide accomodation and food to travellers (of course the level of comfort depended on wealth- and more importantly social position). 

The poor might receive the left-overs from the kitchen and be offered a communal dormitory above the stables- whereas the rich would dine well and even be hosted in the abbots quarters.

Having woken, eaten and departed the traveller would head east to meet the road to Nottingham.

The trackway from the monastery might have been shared by some of the Cistercian 'Lay Brothers' heading to till the fields of Cratley (a village taken over by the abbey in the 12th century) to the east.

Cistercian monks were not permitted to work- so they employed a group of 'Lay brothers' who could do their work for them. 


The meadows of the abbey covered the shallow valley of Rainworth water to the south of the road, and the woods of 'Welley (Wellow) Beskall' and 'In Beskall' hugged the north side of the road and extended into the distance.

On reaching the Kings Highway the road was rejoined and the journey south continued following the higher ground of the Mercia Mudstones ridge overlooking the meadows of the abbey wich lay on the western side. These meadows would provide fodder for the abbey's animals, and may have had the occasional Lay Brother tending flocks in the months when grazing was permitted.

Having crossed Rainworth Water at the 'Derun Forthe' (ford); the road began to cross the heathland of the lands of the Lordship of Rufford- one of the homes of the great flocks of sheep grazing for the profit of the abbey.

The road from the Kings Manor of Mansfield in the west to the Archbishop of York's great manor and collegiate church at Southwell (see the Archbishop of York and Sherwood Forest entry) in the east- crossed the King's Highway 3 1/2 miles to the south of the abbey

The heathland covered the area up to the Southwell road and was up to 2 miles wide.

Just before reaching the Southwell road the Abbey's wood known as the 'Burne Abotote wode' (the brown wood of the Abbot) and the wood of 'Leytle Hawe' dominated the road to the western side, with the lands of the vill of Farnsfield stretching down the valley of the River Greet to the east.

The Abbot of Rufford had a ditch dug around his woods 50 ft across to keep out animals and presumably people, but also to help seperate it from 'ye Byshope wode' (the wood of the Archbishop of York that joined on to it on its southern edge). It would not be wise to be caught damaging or stealing anything in either of these woods as the punishment could include eternal damnation (see mutilation and damnation entry).

These woods formed an area of woodland that the road passed alonside for 2 miles.


This woodland was also 2 miles wide and could well have sheltered many oulaws in its shadowy depths. 

The traveller would be well advised to stick to the road. 

Little time could be spared anyway to explore these deep woods- if Nottingham was to be reached safley before nightfall. 

These woods were divided into 'Blidworth Wood', 'Lerche Haw', 'Balkhaw', 'Seyre Birkes' and 'Hay Wode'. 

Haywood Oaks is still a popular tourist destination today with many veteran oak trees in its woodland.

Continuing up and down over the undulating Sherwood Sandstones the road crossed the Doverbeck River which headed to the southeast forming the boundary of the forest from this point; and the road continued south over Salterford Waste.

The great Common of Calverton village stretched of to the southeast and the King's Highway passed into and through a small area of woodland known as 'Samson Wode' (A plantation of pines now carries the name).

Upon leaving the shadowy bows of Samson Wode the road now headed across the heather clad 'Arhall (Arnold) Common' which stretched for nearly 3 miles to the south; here again great herds of swine and sheep grazed on the land, tended by shepherds and swineherds.

After crossing this great heathland two roads converged with the King's Highway- a 'Packman's Way' (see road tax entry) which headed northeast towards the King's Manor of Mansfield; and the road which ran northeast towards Calverton. 

They met at a standing cross on the road known as 'Xpian Cross'. The road from here then climbed steeply to pass through a deep holloway cut by traffic and footfall through the Mercia Mudstones. 

This cutting exposed red clay deposits of the Mercia Mudstones and Sneinton Shale deposits, and was therefore known as 'ye rede (red) royde (road) hil' (The ridge is still known as 'Redhill' to this day).

Nowadays this cutting marks the entry into the 'Greater Nottingham Conurbation' from the surrounding countryside; and in medieval times it would have also been a mark of having left the great wilderness of the 'High Forest' region of Sherwood. 

The traveller was now entering the gentler 'Thorney Wood' area of the forest.

The King's manor of Arnold nestled to the east of the road beneath the surrounding highland, where the woods of 'Arnold Common Wood', 'Swine Howse' and 'Basforde wode' occupied the clay ridge. 

To the west the road was now overlookd by the 3 metre high deer fence of the Royal Park of Bestwood (see Bestwood Park and Trespass in Bestwood Park in 1440 entry for more details).

The arable field of Arnold to the side of Bestwood park was known as 'Parke Field' and this was crossed by the road from north to south.

At its southern end the road forded the Depe Broke (modern Daybrook). 

The road then crossed the 'South field' of Arnold before climbing the ridge of sandstone known as 'Brymisdale Knoll' in medieval times, and descending into 'Brymmsdale' to the south.

This area was 'Basforde Lyngges' another vast expanse of heather clad heathland (see there's Vikings in the Heather). 

This wasteland was crossed for two miles, but stretched 3 miles wide; as far as the eye could see. It would have been grazed by the flocks of Basforde but also by those of Nottingham. 

Having crossed the heath from the northeast to southwest the road turned to the south to climb the Mount Hooton escarpment across 'Nottingham Linges' (modern day Forest Fields). At the top of this ridge (modern day Forest Road) stood the medieval town gallows. 

After nearly 15 miles on uneven and un-surfaced roads- the site of the town walls of Nottingham at the foot of the sloping fields of the town- about half a mile to the south would be very welcome.

Here accomodation and ale could be found a-plenty, as well as foods and shopping galore at the weekday and saturday markets.

If the saturday market was being held- then spices, fish, meat and any kind of consumable could be purchased- although care had to be taken that it was fresh (more to come soon). 

The traveller had made it across the forest, hopefully with time to find a bed and a table at an alehouse or inn, to exchange stories around the fire place with other travellers, and to prepare plans for the journey across the arduous Midland Clays on the London road to the south.

For now though at least, Sherwood Forest had been safely navigated once more.

the Melee and Jousting: Tournaments in Medieval Sherwood Forest

Picture: The Medieval Melee

In 1194 Richard the Lionheart gave a licence to hold tournaments to five locations in England. Interestingly for our story one of those was at Blyth in Nottinghamshire.

In the 12^th century when this royal Licence was granted Blyth was within the Royal Forests of Nottinghamshire.

King Richard had to bring about this act because his father Henry II had made tournaments illegal.

He saw them as a source of disorder.

Bunches of heavily armed testosterone fueled young men running around armed to the teeth was not regarded as a sensible idea by Henry II: desperate to restore order to England after 20 years of civil war.

Unlike his father, King Richard I saw the tournament as the best way to train men for combat.

They rapidly became a method for skilled and ambitious men to become rich and famous, and tournaments were held across the continent.

The original tournaments were based on the melee, where large numbers of knights would fight as individuals or in teams- on horse or on foot.

The fights were not for fun, they were treated like real battles, and combatants who were captured were ransomed

This meant plenty of money could be made by the would be champion.

Perhaps the greatest Knight of his age, William Marshall the later Earl of Pembroke-  rose through the ranks at the tournaments to become firstly the tournament captain for Henry II's son (Henry the Young King), then after winning his fortune around the tournament fields of France and England he managed a short spell on crusade in the holy land,  became the trusted servant and general of King Richard I and King John, before being made Earl of Pembroke and then the Regent of England for the young Henry III in 1216.

In this role he helped defeat Louis of France who had made claim to the English throne- leading the charge at the 2^nd Battle of Lincoln in 1216 aged in his seventies.

He oversaw the sealing of the Magna Charta in 1215, and then brought into being the separate Chater of the Forest in 1217- that would have a great impact on the boundaries and rules of Medieval Sherwood Forest (more soon).

Quite a life by anyones standards!

He became a Templar Knight on his deathbed and is buried in the Temple Church in London.

It was the opportunity of the tournament field that gave him his start on the road to greatness. It was a road that through Magna Charta, and the subsequent Forest Charter would have a great impact on Medieval Sherwood Forest (more soon- see boundaries page for some information).

Picture: William Marshall in a tournament

These original tournaments became the testing ground for Knights across Europe.

The tournament melee could seem a disorganised affair- but in the hands of such tournament captains’; great skill and ingenuity was employed to bring glory on the field.

Melees were incredibly violent, and injury a likely occurrence- William Marshall’s helmet was so badly dented on one occasion he could not take it off. When they wanted to present him with his prize he was eventually found with his head on the blacksmith’s anvil having the dents beaten out of his helmet by the blacksmiths hammer; so he could remove it!!! (Jones 2007).

In the forests of Nottingham it was at Blyth in these earlier days that these tournaments were held.

Blyth was in the Hatfield District of the Wapentake (Hundred district) of Bassetlaw in North Nottinghamshire.

An expanse of natural heath (Hatfield means heath field), it was an area obviously suited to a royal forest.

Blyth was in the forest by at least 1100, and remained so until 1218.

It may have been in the forest since soon after the conquest, but the boundary at that time is not fully known.

Blyth belonged at Domesday to the great baron Roger De Bully whose land holdings were based on the castle of Tickhill about four miles to the north.

This grouping of lands was therefore known as the ‘Honour of Tickhill’.

These lands defaulted to the crown in 1100 when Roger’s successor Roger Belleme fought on the wrong side during Henry I’s campaign to regain his Norman possessions.

With the honour of Tickhill in crown hands forest law seems to have spread over the area.

The Historic Environment Record (HER) for Nottinghamshire lists ‘Raker Field’ to the south of the village of Styrupp near Blyth as the tournament field- but this is disputed- certainly it would be small- as melee fields could be up to three miles across.

But it is in the right area: in his ‘A History of Nottinghamshire’ Cornelius Brown wrote in 1891:

‘A level tract of land between Blyth and Styrrup was the locality where feats of horsemanship took place, in which the flower of English chivalry sometimes under the personal patronage of royalty itself. We can well imagine the animated scenes that must have occurred at these war-like gatherings... Many allusions are made in the Close Rolls to the Blyth meeting, which continued till the end of the sixteenth century, when popular taste began to change and tournaments became but a reminiscence of the past’.

So it seems that tournaments at Blyth were a common feature throughout the period.

Public tastes did indeed change, and the tournament evolved through the medieval period.

Melees often started with a joust where protagonists would charge at each other in an attempt to unseat the opponent or ‘tilt’ him from his horse. Once this had happened the melee would ensue.

The statute of Arms of Edward I in 1292 brought in the use of blunt weapons in the tournament. By this time jousting had begun to take over in popularity from tournament fighting via the melee.

Picture: Medieval Joust

The joust would take chivalrous spectacle to new levels. It is this method of contest that is the most familiar to us from the medieval tournament.

In 1334 Edward III held a tournament in Nottingham in Sherwood Forest.

Perhaps to tie in with the Forest Eyre court held in that year (see the 1334 Sherwood Forest Eyre Court entry for more details).

No description of the affair survives, but a near contemporary description survives for a joust and tournament, and it sounds like a spectacular affair:

‘When the earls, barons, and a great number of ladies had gathered on the Sunday, January 19, the king gave a solemn feast and the great hall of the castle was filled by the ladies... At this great gathering there were two queens, nine countesses, the wives of barons, knights and citizens, whom they could not easily count... in tents and other places, where food and all other necessities had been prepared; everything was on a generous scale and served unstinting... In the evening dancing and various entertainments were laid on in magnificent fashion. For three days following, the king with nineteen other knights held jousts against all comers; and the king himself, not because of his kingly rank but because of his great exertions and the good fortune that he had during the three days, was held to be the best of the defenders’.  Adam of Murimuth 1344 (Munby et al 2008).

This description of tournament comes from Edward III’s Round Table Feast where he founded an 'Order of the Round Table' based on the legends of King Arthur.

This order of the Round Table would be reduced later in his reign into the 'Order of the Garter' which survives to this day.

The joust and the tournament had moved from a training place for young knights in blood thirsty melees to the height of the chivalric ideal.

In Sherwood Forest the tournaments at Blyth and Nottingham were part of this embodiment of knightly virtues.

Alongside the archery training and tournaments that are the stuff of the legends of Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest- the pursuit of the common freeman- (see Archery in the Forest entry for more details) there were also knightly tournaments of both the early melee and later jousting traditions in Sherwood Forest.

As stated above, at Blyth there are accounts of tournaments throughout the medieval period, showing how popular this form of entertainment was to the upper echelons of society in the medieval period, and how it formed a colourful and glamorous part of the story of Medieval Sherwood Forest.

(more to come on chivalry, knighthood and military service, as well as knightly outlaws in the medieval forest)

Bestwood Park

Bestwood Park was the largest of the royal deer parks of medieval Sherwood Forest.

It was enclosed as a deer park some 200 years after the other parks of Sherwood in 1349 (see Nottingham Castle Park,  King John’s Palace,  Royal Parks, and Poaching in Clipstone Park entries for more details).

‘On 30^th May that year Robert de Mauley, the chief forester of Sherwood, was ordered to cut down all the wood in Linby Hay and sell it for the King’s use, and to use the money raised from the sale to enclose Beskwood (Bestwood). The work had been completed by 1357’ (Crook 2002). 

Before this time it was known as the Hay (hedged wood) of Bestwood.

Enclosing this park- to surround it with a 3 metre high deer-proof fence would have been no mean feat.

The park stretched from current day Arnold Road in the south (approximately 2½ miles north of the medieval town walls of Nottingham) almost to the village of Papplewick some 4½ miles to the north of that.

It was 2 miles wide at the middle stretching from the town of Bulwell in the west to the Manor of Arnold on the eastern side.

The perimeter fence stretched 9 miles around- the number of trees (and people) required to make such a fence must have been incredible.

It would certainly have been impressive and would certainly have made no understatement that access was not welcome.

The park enclosed an area of largely wooded higher ground cut by a number of dales and valleys.

The outline can still be traced in the modern landscape.

In Medieval times it was bounded to east and west by the two great roads running north from Nottingham. The road to the crown manor of Mansfield marked the western side of the park, passing Newstead Priory just to the north, and the King’s Highway to York on the east.

A journey up either of these roads would have led the traveller along side the fence of the park for a number of miles.

To the north, the park was defined not only by a 3 metre high fence, but also by a stream which emerged from a spring to the north of the Red Hill road cutting (called ‘Rederode’ (Red road) in a 1334 boundary perambulation- a recounting of the boundary). 


This stream ran around the northern edge of the park to join the River Leen on the western side of the park, which then flowed south to the River Trent.

The River Leen was the western boundary of Sherwood Forest from the 13^th Century.

On the northern edge of the park this stream was dammed to form a lake perhaps for fish and for deer to drink from. It is depicted on the 1609 Crown Survey Map of Sherwood Forest by Richard Bankes (Mastoris and Groves 1998).

This map calls the park ‘Bescott Park’ and lists it as a part of Lenton parish, Bestwood was first mentioned in the records in a grant to Lenton Priory by Henry I in the Lenton Register (Crook 2002).

A second pond is shown in the western part of the park on the 1609 map, along with a ‘Waterfall Yate' (gate) a crossing point of the Leen.

The Perambulation mentioned above dating from the 1334 Forest Eyre calls Bestwood ‘Hayea de Beskewode’ (Boulton 1964) and also mentions a 'Waltongate' – presumably an entrance into the park, and a 'Beskwodeforthe' (ford) presumably crossing one of the streams or rivers.

The 1609 survey shows the park to be mainly open pasture dotted with presumably large pollarded oak trees, along with a number of enclosed woods on the eastern edge.

This could reflect the medieval landscape of the park, but it is likely that many of the trees had been removed by this time.

A picture of the landscape of the park can be gained from the oldest surviving map of Sherwood Forest (the Belvoir map) which is dated to the late 13^th or early 14^th century (Barley 1986).

This map lists a number of landscape features including ‘Holy Stone seke’ (stream) the name for the stream running around the northern edge of the park, ‘Ye Waterfall’ (by the waterfall gate), and a Walton Gate’ the locations of which are confirmed by the later 1609 map depictions.

The hilly topography is shown by the presence of a ‘Kyngg’us hoc hill’ (King’s Oak Hill), ‘Syre hill’, 'ye kosckshote hil’ (cock shoot hill) and ‘Beskwode hede’.  

This higher ground is cut by a number of valleys including ‘Marke holyndale’, a ‘paddock dale’, a 'Woldale' and ‘Rydale’.

As well as these valleys an ‘Apultre (Apple tree) Dale ', and a ‘Ye Elder Tree Dale’ suggest that like the Nottingham Castle Park, Bestwood Park provided more than just deer.


This multiple land use is backed up by the presence of 'ye Medow' (meadow) on the eastern side of the park).


Deer lawns were also present in the park as at Clipstone with 'ye lawnde noke' being shown in the north of the park.

The care of this landscape was the responsibility of the ‘keeper of the forest of Bestwood’ who oversaw control of this park from a lodge named ‘loge’ on this medieval map.

In 1284 Gervaise de Clifton Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire was permitted 10 marks for the building of this lodge for the King, and in 1286 he was ordered to pay Robert de Tybotot ‘keeper of the forest of Bestwood’ 10 marks (Crook 2002) to complete the job.

The park of Bestwood may have been enclosed as it was in 1349 to improve deer management in the southern part of the forest, following the reduction in the size of Sherwood Forest in the 13^th century (see Boundaries page for more details).

Whatever the reason for the emparkment, Bestwood became the largest park in Sherwood Forest and largely replaced Clipstone Park in the north of the forest in the 14^th century in terms of royal patronage.

The strategic location of Bestwood between the two great roads through the forest, in close proximity to Nottingham, with its lodge occupying a vantage point commanding views all the way to Leicestershire to the south; made it a great location for a royal stay.

It was from this very park that Richard III would set out on his fateful journey to the battlefield of Bosworth in 1485, which would bring an end to the  medieval Plantaganet dynasty and bring around the Tudor-Stuart dynasty of the 16^th and 17^th centuries...

... But that is another story...

(see the Landscape page for more details; including work on reconstructing the landscape of medieval Sherwood Forest through mapping and documentary research).

(more stories concerning Bestwood Park from entries in the court rolls of Nottingham and of Sherwood Forest coming soon).

  

the Caves of Medieval Sherwood Forest

Medieval Sherwood Forest was a landscape of woodland, heathland, towns and villages.

It was an ideal location for a Royal Forest because it was underlain for the most part by sandstone bedrock (see why Sherwood Page for more details on the location of Sherwood).

There were other rocks underlying the forest including the Magnesian Limestones group and the Mercia Mustones. But the forest sat predominantly on the group of sandstones laid down in the Triassic Period 250-200 million years ago. 

Picture: Sherwood Sandstones under Nottingham Castle

 

They were formed as flash-flood deposits in desert basins, with pebble-beds of quartzite stones and flakes concerntrated into thin layers of conglomerates reflecting these storm events. Depostional layers are clearly seen, as is the direction of deposition. They were originally known as the ‘Bunter Pebble Beds’ because of these horizons in the rock. 

They were however renamed the ‘Sherwood Sandstones’ because of their link to the medieval forest.

The sandstones were highly permeable, resulting in leaching of nutrients from the over lying soils. The result was that this landscape was less suitable for arable in the medieval period, than the surrounding geologies and so maintined a relatively higher amount of woodland and lowland heath (see why Sherwood page)

Ideal for deer and hunting.

Another property of the Sherwood Sandstones was that they could be dug into using handtools. The sandstone were relatively week and friable (easily scraped away)  but thanks to a clay cement they could be shaped into self-supporting caves, with stabe roof spans.

As a result Nottingham, but also to a lesser extent Mansfield (rock houses) had an incredible array of rock-cut caves used for domestic and commercial purposes in the medieval period.

Some of the caves of Nottingham and their use in the medieval period will be discussed here. There are many many caves in Nottingham- infact more than in any other town in the country, but many date to later times (see the City of Caves Exhibition) and these have been excavated by, and are currently under excavation by the Nottingham Historical and Archaeological Society.

In Medieval times there were many caves in Nottingham- almost all of them were located within the limits of the medieval town- between the castle in the west and the later Lace Market area in the east, and the 'Backside' (currenty day Upper Parliament Street) in the north and the cliff face near Broad Marsh in the south.

Picture: John Speeds Map of Nottingham 1610

 

Further south of this the rock was beneath the water-table and saturated.

Many of the caves that may have existed in medieval times have either been re-worked in later times or removed as the cliff face became unstable and was cut back. There are some however that survive to this day to gives us an insight into subterranean life in medieval Nottingham.

Contratary to popular legend and myth the caves did not form tunnels down which Robin Hood avoided capture by the Sheriff of Nottingham- but their history is no less interesting for that.

They generally formed cellars under buildings- with a variety of forms.

Brewing was a large industry during medieval times and some of the surviving caves are Maltkilns, where spherical rooms were carved into the sandstone with either a continuous ledge around the edge or notches cut to support beams to hold the grain which was roasted from charcoal fires beneath (Waltham 2008).

Booze and boozing has always been popular in England and it was no different in medieval Sherwood Forest where as well as a legitimate brewing industry, demand must have out-stripped supply, as a large number of people are recorded as ‘brewing against the assize’ (either selling over price or without licence) in the Micketorn Jury Presentments for the 14th century.

Another major industry in Sherwood Forest was tanning  (turning raw animal hide into leather).  The oak bark from the forest provided a perfect ingredient for the process- as did the urine from the town folk of Nottingham and other odure used in the process.

A number of tanners are listed in the Nottingham Borough records and other sources, including a Willelmo le Tanur (William the Tanner) from 1222-23 in the Rufford Charters (see Rufford Charters: landscape, people, trades and lives in Sherwood Forest entry for more details).

Evidence of the use of oak bark in the industry is still preserved in the name ‘Barker Gate’ a street in the later Lace Market area of the old town- the old English Quarter (see Medieval Nottingham entry).

In the presentments of the Mickeltorn Jury for 1395 it is claimed that:

‘the tanners (tannarii) of Nottingham sell leather not well tanned, and that each of them sells leather in his house without the view of the market or being placed in the market for sale.’

The tannery caves of Nottingham were located to the southern side of town and were cut into the base of the cliff. 

Picture: Nottingham Tannery Cave - City of Caves Exhibition.

 

The process used vats cut into the bedrock to allow fluids for different parts of the process to be held. 

They are the only underground tanneries in Britain and must have stunk to high heaven!

In  the 1395 Mickeltorn Jury presentments it is later stated that the ‘tanners dwelling in Littlemerche (Littlemarsh) of Nottingham on the southern side block up the common water which is called Lene with stakes, poles and turves in time, and lay their leather in the aforesaid water'.

Tanners along with dyers and fullers were commonly in trouble with this court as the people of Nottingham complained about the smells and ‘odure’ associated with their trades.

This relationship, however uneasy, had a long history and was also in existence in the 13^th century and earlier:

One of the tannery caves contained a cess pit in the tannery floor which contained pottery from 1270-1300 (Waltham 2008).

Caves were also used as dwelling places, possibly around the base of Castle Rock, and on the main holloway road ways into the town (Derby Road and Hollowstone)- unfortunately any medieval caves along these roads are now destroyed- later ones however still line the sides of Hollowstone which was the main thoroughfare into the town from the south in medieval times.

Maybe one of these caves provided shelter for William Leech and Thomas Kay who ‘unjustly occupied the King’s Highway under the cemetery of the Church of the Blessed Mary’ in 1395.

Cellars were used for the storage of wool and other commodities (Waltham 2008) a number of occurrences of these being left open to the road are recorded including a William Dalahowe who ‘holds a cellar open at the corner towards mothalgate (moot hall gate) to the serious detriment of the town'  also in 1395.

Alongside these caves that were part of the everyday life of the townscape of Nottingham there were a number of larger caves in the rock under Nottingham Castle that were involved in events of national importance. 

Nottingham Castle sits atop a steep sided sandstone bluff overlooking the town and dominating the river valleys to the south and west (see Medieval Nottingham Castle entry).

One of the most famous caves cut within the rock is known as 'King Davids Dungeon' and may have held King David II of Scotland in the 14^th century.

The most famous cave in Nottingham is Mortimers Hole- a tunnel which provides access to the castle from the brewerys and mills on the south side of the base of the cliffs, up to the castle bailey above.  It enters the rock to the west of 'Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem Pub' which has rock-cut cave rooms inside, and claims to be the oldest pub in England.

It was through this tunnel that Edward III’s men broke into Nottingham Castle in 1334 and captured the usurper Roger Mortimer- who with his lover Queen Isabella (wife of Edward II) had seized the throne in 1327. Edward II had supposedly died with a red hot poker up his 'rear-end' in Berkeley Castle, and now Edward III retook the throne for himself via this tunnel.

All in Nottingham Castle in medieval Sherwood Forest.

The caves of Nottingham then, were an intrinsic part of day to day life in the heart of medieval Sherwood Forest, and as well as giving us a glimpse into how people lived their lives they also sometimes played their part in the lives of the great and good, and on the lives of the people of medieval England as a whole.

The caves of Nottingham, are one of the lesser known secrets of Nottingham and Sherwood Forest, and hopefully with these new archaeological projects and potential redevelopment as a bigger tourist attraction their history will become known to a wider audience.

Mercian Archaeological Services CIC