Description

To date about seventy medieval parks have been identified in Hertfordshire – a large number for a relatively small county. In this ground-breaking study of parks created in Hertfordshire between the eleventh and fifteenth century, Anne Rowe has adopted a holistic approach to landscape history. The geographical locations of the parks have been determined and, in most cases, mapped using a combination of field- and place-name evidence, old maps and detailed fieldwork. The documentary history for each park has been compiled, including, where available, details from manorial accounts, which provide an insight into park management in medieval times. All the data for each park is presented in a valuable gazetteer, together with cartographic and field evidence which has been used to locate the parks in today’s landscape.

In addition, Anne Rowe has carried out detailed analysis of the parks and their owners and explains how the parks related to the physical and social geography of the county in medieval times. Parks were particularly numerous in the north-eastern part of the county and relatively sparce in the south-west. The underlying reasons for this pattern are explored, focusing in particular on the unusual relationship between the distribution of the parks and the distribution of woodland in the county at Domesday.

Based on an enormous amount of original work, this meticulously researched book opens a window onto medieval Hertfordshire and illuminates a significant aspect of the county’s landscape history.

Paperback: 255 pages
Publisher: University of Hertfordshire Press, 2009, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-912260-10-2
Product Dimensions: 1.1 x 24 x 30.3 cm