110 TWELVE ACRE FIELD

Wednesday 13th March 2002
Cold and dry but with a cold wind.
This field has been sown with winter wheat and will need a further visit to detail the hedgerows and trees. The boundary along Long Spinney has a good amount of Dogs Mercury which indicates that the area was once ancient woodland. This also shows well in Long Spinney.
23rd March 2002
A further visit was made to measure the boundary trees:
Oak Tree 18 3.1m girth
Ash Tree 19 3.0m girth
Oak Tree 20 3.7m girth
Oak Tree 21 3.8m girth
Oak Tree 23 3.7m girth
Oak Tree 24 3.7m girth
Oak Tree 25 2.5m girth
Oak Tree 26 3.7m girth
Oak Tree 27 2.5m girth
All trees recorded as part of the Rothley Ancient Tree Survey. They are all spaced out within the hawthorn boundary.
25th September 2002
A lovely, sunny late September day with a cool breeze. The field has been drilled and sown and was very flat. We were field walking, looking for evidence of Roman pottery, flints and other objects of interest. There was a lot of flint to be seen and we did retain a few samples for Brian Verity, the Archaeological Warden for Rothley, to check out.
In July 2003 the samples were identified by Leicester Museums Service with one Black Flint being probably late Neolithic/Bronze Age.
On a return visit on the 3rd February 2007 all was much the same.

ROTHLEY ANCIENT PARISH SURVEY

The boundary of the field that runs along the back of the houses on The Ridgeway is part of the Rothley Ancient Parish Boundary and has been recorded in a separate survey. Stints W16 and W17 show the following:

Stint W16
Date 26th January 2008
We now have easy access to this part of the Ancient Boundary as it can be done from the field. The ancient boundary continues as a good ditch with remnants of trees and shrubs. Long Spinney is no longer a complete spinney but has become part of the rear gardens of some of the houses along The Ridgeway. The ditch is beside the field with the ancient hedgerow next to the gardens but the ditch has not been 'taken' as part of the garden. However, in places the hedge has been obstructed by either a wooden or wire fence so what is left does not get any management. Dogs Mercury grows on either side of the ditch.
There are some good ancient Ash stumps that would have been ancient parish boudary trees. An ancient ash trunk lies fallen over into the filed in Stint W16C. In part of stint W16D the owner has not disturbed the hedgerow so this is more intact than the rest of the stint.
One good thing about the owners not extending their gardens beyond the ditch is that the ancient ditch has not been filled in with garden debris or soil so part of our history remains intact in January 2008.

Stint W17

As in Stint W16 the ancient parish boundary ditch continues along the field boundary with Long Spinney. The boundary hedgerow in Stints W17A and B is unkempt with a lot of Snowberry which is very invasive. In Stint W17C we have part in Twelve Acre Field and then go over the fence into Site 105 Six Acre Field. There is a good sized Ash Tree close to the boundary where Site 110 meets Site 105 and this has been recorded as Tree 601 with an estimated girth of 3m. There are also smaller Ash trees along this part of the boundary.
At the end of Stint W17C and into D, where we are now in Six Acre Field, there is a noticeable change in the way the ancient parish boundary has been treated. On the maps, Long Spinney ends in Stint W17D, but there are still ancient trees in the rear of The Ridgeway gardens in the following stints. Here in Stint W17D we see wire fencing on the field side of the ditch, possibly 'taken' by a resident many years ago and planted up with hawthorn giving the appearance of a parallel hedgerow. Trees continue to be Ash and I have recorded one with an estimated girth of 2m as tree 602. This tree is being strangles by ivy and in a bad state.
The ancient parish boundary ditch is still much in eveidence but human disturbance is ahead.

For more information about the Rothley Ancient Parish Boundary please click on the following link:

Following the death of Kathleen Hyman in 2006 the farm will no longer remain in the Hyman family as Tenant Farmers. Further information awaited.

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