Leighfield

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Leighfield
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Leighfield
Location within Rutland
Area3.68 sq mi (9.5 km2)  [1]
Population10  2001 Census [2]
  Density 3/sq mi (1.2/km2)
OS grid reference SK832024
  London 82 miles (132 km) SSE
Unitary authority
Shire county
Ceremonial county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town OAKHAM
Postcode district LE15
Dialling code 01572
Police Leicestershire
Fire Leicestershire
Ambulance East Midlands
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Rutland
52°36′47″N0°46′19″W / 52.613°N 0.772°W / 52.613; -0.772 Coordinates: 52°36′47″N0°46′19″W / 52.613°N 0.772°W / 52.613; -0.772

Leighfield is a civil parish in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. There is no settlement centre in the parish, only a few isolated properties. In the 2001 census it had a population of 10, which was the fourth smallest of Rutland's parish populations. [3] At the 2011 census the population remained less than 100 and was included in the civil parish of Ridlington. It shares its name with Leighfield Forest, a much larger area from Braunston-in-Rutland to Stockerston and from Skeffington to Ridlington, a triangle of land roughly 4 miles (6.4 km) in each direction. [4]

The village's name means 'Wood/clearing'. Spellings with the addition of the Old English word 'feld' meaning 'open land' started to appear from the 14th century. [5]

The Leighfield Way is a 7.4 miles (11.9 km) waymarked route joining the Leicestershire and Rutland Rounds at Belton-in-Rutland with the Hereward Way and Viking Way at Oakham. [6]

Leighfield Forest

The lane to Leighfield Lodge Lane to Braunston-in-Rutland - geograph.org.uk - 599262.jpg
The lane to Leighfield Lodge

In the medieval period, Leighfield Forest was an extensive Royal forest straddling the borders of Rutland and Leicestershire. It included large numbers of sizeable wooded areas, which would mostly have been individually enclosed. The Forest also included roads, villages and farmland so was not ideal for Forest administration. [7] It had been created soon after Henry I became king in 1100 and it was initially known as the Forest of Rutland (although a significant portion was in Leicestershire). Sauvey Castle, near Withcote, was probably built by King John in 1211 as a secluded hunting lodge. In 1235 all the Leicestershire sections were released from Forest Law, and in 1299 an eastern section was similarly disafforested. [7]

Abuses by the Royal Officers would seem to have been at least as big a problem as poaching by the lower orders. One forester was found to be keeping 300 pigs in the woods. In 1269 the forester Peter de Neville was arraigned by the king's justices for taking for his own use timber, firewood and charcoal to the amount of 7,000 oaks and other trees. [7] At least four deer parks were enclosed within the Forest, at Lyddington, Ridlington, Flitteriss Park and Cold Overton Park. Of these only Cold Overton still has ancient woodland. [7] By the late 16th century, the Hastings family of Ashby de la Zouch were the Forest Wardens. It was by then known as Leighfield Forest, and was administered as three bailiwicks: Braunston, Ridlington and Beaumont. 33 individual woods are named in an inquisition of 1566, totalling 1060 acres. [7]

Skeffington Woods, remnant of Leighfield Forest Skeffington Wood, Leicestershire - geograph.org.uk - 208333.jpg
Skeffington Woods, remnant of Leighfield Forest

The end of the Forest came about in 1630 when Charles I removed the royal protection, and sold off his lands. It was rapidly given over to agriculture, whether pasture or tillage, and by 1700 nearly all the woodland has been cleared. The surviving ancient woodlands in the area include Prior's Coppice, Bolt Wood, Owston Woods, Skeffington Woods (listed as Leighfield Forest SSSI), Great Merrible Wood, the Launde woods, Wardley Wood and Stoke Dry Wood. [7] The greater part of the former Forest, including Leighfield parish, is now an open landscape, although with species-rich hedgerows. [8] Removal of many hedgerows during the 20th century has made the Leighfield woodlands increasingly isolated, but the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust's 'Living Landscape' project has targeted Leighfield as one of its landscape-scale projects, and is working with the Forestry Commission to create new woodlands that can act as links between the ancient sites. [9]

Several fragments have been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest as Leighfield Forest SSSI. [10]

Related Research Articles

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Lawshall Human settlement in England

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Sauvey Castle Castle in the United Kingdom

Sauvey Castle is a medieval castle, near Withcote, Leicestershire, England. It was probably built by King John in 1211 as a secluded hunting lodge in Leighfield Forest. It comprised a ringwork or shell keep, with an adjacent bailey; earthwork dams were constructed to flood the area around the castle, creating a large, shallow moat. The castle was occupied by the Count of Aumale in the early reign of Henry III, but it then remained in the control of the Crown and was used by royal foresters until it fell into disuse in the 14th century. By the end of the 17th century, its walls and buildings had been dismantled or destroyed, leaving only the earthworks, which remain in a good condition in the 21st century.

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Frithy and Chadacre Woods

Frithy and Chadacre Woods is a 28.7 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in the parishes of Lawshall and Shimpling in Suffolk, England.

Great Merrible Wood

Great Merrible Wood is a 12 hectare nature reserve east of Hallaton in Leicestershire. It is owned and managed by the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, and is part of the Eye Brook Valley Woods Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Leighfield Forest SSSI

Leighfield Forest SSSI is an 11.3 hectares biological Site of Special Scientific Interest east of Skeffington in Leicestershire, England. It consists of several fragments, including Tugby Wood, Loddington Reddish, Brown's Wood, Skeffington Wood and Tilton Wood, of the former medieval hunting Leighfield Forest, which straddles Leicestershire and Rutland. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade II.

Bolt Wood is near to the western boundary of the Parish of Stockerston, Leicestershire, England. It is suggested that the woodland on this boundary is part of that mentioned in the Domesday Book. Bolt Wood was part of the extensive Royal medieval Leighfield Forest. The first written reference to Bolt Wood is in an undated charter probably dating before the reign of Henry VI, in which it is referred to as 'Boutewood'. An alternative date offered is between 1422 and 1461.

References

  1. "A vision of Britain through time". University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 14 March 2009.
  2. "Rutland Civil Parish Populations" (PDF). Rutland County Council. 2001. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 14 March 2009.
  3. Rutland Civil Parish populations, 2001 accessed 24-Oct-2011
  4. Leighfield Forest Project. Leicestershire County Council, accessed 24-Oct-2011
  5. "Key to English Place-names".
  6. "Leighfield Way". Ldwa.org.uk/l. The Long Distance Walkers Association. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Squires, Anthony; Jeeves, Michael (1994). Leicestershire and Rutland Woodlands Past and Present. Kairos Press. ISBN   1-871344-03-4.
  8. Discover Rutland: Leighfield Forest
  9. LRWT Living Landscapes Archived 2012-07-13 at archive.today
  10. "Designated Sites View: Leighfield Forest". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 13 November 2017.