Clay vale historic information

Generally mixed, but on a larger scale than e.g. Limestone Hills, with a preponderance of apparently planned enclosure, with some parliamentary enclosure. Larger field sizes with straight field boundaries are taken to indicate large scale, planned enclosure by landowners or larger tenants or groups of tenants. Alongside this there are substantial areas of less organised and piecemeal enclosure – smaller, less regular (in some cases very irregular) fields are taken to indicate less systematic enclosure by individuals or small tenants or communities. Alongside these are small patches of enclosed open fields, the origins of which are clearly indicated by sinuous field boundaries.

Known archaeology

Superficially, a landscape that is medieval in origin. The more people look, though, the more likely it seems that the medieval overlies earlier prehistoric features. The geology, and consequently the nature of the agriculture, do not lend themselves to the easy recognition of below-ground archaeological remains (by analysis of aerial photographs, for example). Consequently, our knowledge of historic and archaeological features is extremely limited.