Walkers in the park will be aware of areas containing strips of
undulating ridges and furrows. These are the visible remnants of a
medieval system of farming which ceased in Allestree in 1763 when the
village lands were ‘enclosed’.
These strips were arable land for growing wheat (bread) and barley (ale). Their ridged nature was due to the method of ploughing. The plough was first taken along the centre of a strip and then up and down each side alternately, turning at the end each time so that the mould board always turned the soil towards the centre of the strip. This eventually created a ridge. The strips were aligned with the slope of the land so that the furrows created between them drained the land effectively. There exists in Derby Local Studies Library an excellent map of 1737 of Allestree. It shows the medieval system of farming with the great open arable fields, the meadows, pasture and common land. The arable land was divided into groups of ridges and furrows called ‘furlongs’. On the map each farm carries a letter. That for Hollies farm is E and each piece of land associated with it carries an E and a consecutive number. The most prominent ridge and furrow in the park is that just on the north side of the lake and running down to it. This is Broadmore Furlong. If you stand with your back to the lake and count the ridges from the left, the seventh one belonged to Hollies Farm. Between Broadmore Furlong and the present main path a series of shorter ridges and furrows run at right angles to Broadmore Furlong. This is Oak Tree Furlong and Hollies Farm had three separate strips here.
These strips were arable land for growing wheat (bread) and barley (ale). Their ridged nature was due to the method of ploughing. The plough was first taken along the centre of a strip and then up and down each side alternately, turning at the end each time so that the mould board always turned the soil towards the centre of the strip. This eventually created a ridge. The strips were aligned with the slope of the land so that the furrows created between them drained the land effectively. There exists in Derby Local Studies Library an excellent map of 1737 of Allestree. It shows the medieval system of farming with the great open arable fields, the meadows, pasture and common land. The arable land was divided into groups of ridges and furrows called ‘furlongs’. On the map each farm carries a letter. That for Hollies farm is E and each piece of land associated with it carries an E and a consecutive number. The most prominent ridge and furrow in the park is that just on the north side of the lake and running down to it. This is Broadmore Furlong. If you stand with your back to the lake and count the ridges from the left, the seventh one belonged to Hollies Farm. Between Broadmore Furlong and the present main path a series of shorter ridges and furrows run at right angles to Broadmore Furlong. This is Oak Tree Furlong and Hollies Farm had three separate strips here.
RIDGE AND FURROW TO THE NORTH OF THE LAKE - Bill Grange 2007
If you enter the park by the Evergreen Hall and then turn right to go down through the woodland you will find yourself crossing more ridges and furrows which abruptly change direction at one point. These are Over Yealt Furlong and Nether Yealt Furlong. (Yealt = sloping).
Between the line of woodland, which runs up from the east end of the lake towards the Hall, and Duffield Road there is excellent ridge and furrow in what was part of Broadmore Furlong, Morris Nook Furlong and Burley Furlong. Other ridge and furrow north of Broadmore Furlong was ploughed out during the war as part of the ‘dig for victory’ campaign.
Under the medieval system of farming, a farmer had his strips of land distributed all around the village. He was obliged to grow in them what was decreed each year by the manor court so that each furlong contained the same crop. He may also have had ‘closes’ which he could use as he wished. In Allestree the meadow land (for hay) was on low lying land close to the Derwent. Pasture for cattle and sheep was on rougher land by the river or on sloping land which was difficult to plough. The common land was on higher land in what is now part of the park in the area of Big Wood.
In 1763, the Enclosure Award allocated some 90% of Allestree to Mundy of Markeaton and his kinsman, Mundy of Shipley, as owners. The old arrangements of land were swept away and it was divided into the squarish fields which we think of as so typically English. The old ridge and furrow was grassed over to make pasture. Mundy of Markeaton purchased Mundy of Shipley’s land but became so financially extended that he had to sell most of Allestree. The purchasers were Thomas Evans of Darley, his son in law Charles Upton and one Thomas Austin. In 1795 they sold a large portion of land in the north of Allestree to Bache Thornhill of Stanton in the Peak who commissioned the fashionable architect Samuel Wyatt to build a house there. This was the beginning of Allestree Hall and Park.
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