Add MS 63748

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE: plan relating to the enclosure of fields surrounding Warden Hill in the parishes of Chipping Warden, Byfield and Aston-Le-Walls; circa 1550. Scale variable. The plan would seem to illustrate a dispute arising from the unauthorised enclosure by Sir Thomas Gryffyn of parts of the highway from Byfield to Banbury and of two 'wayes of sufferaunce' leading from Byfield to the Welsh Road. The eastern 'waye of sufferaunce' can still be seen, somewhat diverted in its southern reaches, in the first edition of the Ordnance Survey. The plan is annotated (lower right) 'Copiam huius habuit Ricardus Saltonstall miles 18 July ad assisam Northamptoniae'. The plan shows 'Maister butler's woodd'. Sir Thomas Griffin and Alban Butler were in dispute over lands in Chipping Warden from 1544 onwards (Add. Roll 6125).

The plan extends from Byfield to Banbury and from Aston-le-Walls ('Asheton in ye walles') to [West] Farndon, but the area around Warden Hill between Byfield, Aston-le-Walls, West Farndon and the now vanished village of Trafford, on the east bank of the Cherwell, is shown on a far larger scale. The boundaries of the disputed fields (which to the north-west in large part coincide with the line of an unnamed tributary of the Cherwell) are marked with heavier lines than the other boundaries. These field boundaries can still be recognised on the first edition, 6 inch Ordnance Survey of Northamptonshire, sheets LIV. NW & NE and XLIX. SW & SE. The map gives cardinal points but these are distorted: the plan seems to be oriented from Trafford. The open fields are indicated by hatching, towns and villages by market crosses, with their relative sizes suggested by the number of steps at their base. Windmill shown (left centre) near Aston-le-Walls. The disputed woods and fields are named, with their acreages given by estimation. Land use, as between wood, arable and pasture is also indicated and the line of the upper reaches of the Cherwell is shown near Trafford. Purchased at Sotheby's, 27 May 1986, lot 398.

Ink on parchment. 330 x 280mm.