Monument record 7346 - Little Wood

The extensive ironstone extraction in the Rothwell area, the loss of Little Wood to urban development and the early clearance of the woodland in the post medieval period means that it is unlikely that the former woodland areas offer any significant potential to study woodland development and its relationship to Saxon or earlier settlement.

{1 In 1262 the demesne of Rothwell manor included two woods, of 84 and 312 acres respectively. Little Wood was the smaller area of old inclosures to the north east of the town. This comprised 45 acres in 1819, compared to the 31.5 acres of 1262. In both cases exact correspondence would not necessarily be expected between customary and modern acres. The open field to the north of Rothwell, encompassing the two woodland areas was itself known as Wood Field in 1819. The medieval woods survived on part of the boulder clay capped ridge to the north of the town. It seems likely from the extent of the boulder clay deposits that the woodland will have been far more extensive in the late Saxon period, with substantial clearance in the late Saxon and early medieval periods. The absence of any reference to woodland in 1086 may mean that the amount of woodland was already extremely limited by this date and may have been little more extensive than that recorded in later centuries. The woodland will also presumably have extended west and east also on the clay capped ridge into Thorpe Underwood, where Rothwell Wood existed in the 19th century, and eastward into Glendon. This woodland represents a western extension of Rockingham Forest which, at least as an area of jurisdiction extended westward, as late as the 13th century, as far as Brixworth.

<1> Foard G, 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Rothwell (Medieval and Post Medieval), (unchecked) (Digital archive). SNN100514.

<2> 1819, Rothwell Inclosure Map 1819, (unchecked) (Map). SNN100516.

Record last edited

Oct 25 2012 11:40AM